Well, dear readers, here it is, another Friday. On this particular Friday I have shorter hair because I had a haircut yesterday. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too? I actually awoke at five-thirty this morning, but I refused to get out of bed and I just lay there until I finally and sporadically slept again. That kind of sleep is the worst for me, and now I am groggy and have a headcache. Has anyone noticed that I just inadvertently typed “headcache” instead of “headache”? This is what happens when one is groggy and has a headache or, in my case, a headcache. Frankly, I’d like to empty my headcache, clear all the cookies and effluvia that have built up in there in the last few weeks – oh, a computer metaphor. Does anyone have a clue as to what the hell I’m talking about?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could occasionally clean our headcaches and reinstall the software in our brains? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could occasionally push control/alt/delete and get rid of all our problems. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could shut down and reboot? That’s the way I’m feeling today, probably caused by my headcache.
Last night, prior to my headcache, I watched a motion picture entitled Spirited Away, an anime from the director of Princess Mononoke. I’d started watching a screener tape a few weeks ago but stopped in five minutes because I couldn’t stand the English dubbing. Then, a dear reader told me that a copy of the original version on PAL DVD was just coming up for auction on eBay. I went right there, there was a Buy It Now price of fourteen bucks, I had money in my paypal account, so I Bought it Now. That same DVD sells for thirty-six bucks here in Los Angeles, California. Well, thank goodness I did not just give up on the movie after watching the bit I did – it’s a wonderful animated film, and the original Japanese voices are perfect. The animation and backgrounds are simply breathtaking and it is a visual stunner. It has a good story, good characters and a fantastic score by Joe Hisaishi. Subtitled, of course, and this DVD comes with a whole second disc where you can flip back and forth between the finished film and the work-in-progress. The only slight downside is the film’s length, which is 125 minutes, which does seem a bit long for this sort of thing. In any case, it is captivating and it does what American animated films don’t seem to do these days – tells it’s story well, and without pounding you over the head with everything.
Perhaps if I downloaded some of what’s in my head, my headcache would get better. In the meantime, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below.
I also watched the first half of The Benny Goodman Story. I like these sorts of bio-pics, even though they’re all the same and they all fabricate the lives of those they’re telling the story of, in this case, Mr. Benny Goodman. However, as you’d imagine, the film is loaded with great music. It has a bad transfer, good color but very grainy because they’ve zoomed in on the image for some strange reason and the framing is all off. It should have been a widescreen release anyway, so why they did it this way is an enigma. Steve Allen plays Benny Goodman and it is abundantly clear why Mr. Allen did not go on to film stardom. He is a total bore, almost sleepwalking through the part. We all know that the late Mr. Allen had a terrific personality, so why he doesn’t show any of it here is strange. And you can double the boredom factor when discussing director Valentine Davies. But, oh, that music. And featured in the film are just about every jazz great of that era – Stan Getz, Gene Krupa, Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, Kid Ory, etc. If they did this sort of transfer on The Glenn Miller Story I will not be purchasing it.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must rid myself of this headcache and then I must contemplate many things which need contemplating. More about that later. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD and DVD/video players. I’ll start – CD, The Act cast album (I wanted to see exactly what had been changed) and the soundtrack to Spirited Away. DVD player, the aforementioned Benny Goodman Story to be followed by Mildred Pierce. Your turn.