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September 28, 2003:

THE INVIGORATING WHATNOT

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I hope you are all having a perfectly perfect Sunday. I just woke up and am groggy but I’m quite certain I’ll be having a perfectly perfect Sunday just as soon as I become de-grogged. Certainly I had a very nice Saturday, catching up, running errands, paying bills, and whatnot. The whatnot was especially invigorating. In fact, I haven’t had such invigorating whatnot since the cows came home (yes, Virginia, the fershluganah cows finally came home, although when I woke this morning they were gone again – damn them, damn them all to hell).

Last night I ran some bits of some new DVDs, including The Adventures of Robin Hood which, I must say, did not look as good as I’d hoped. It’s a bit soft but maybe that’s just the way it is with that film. I’d remembered the last laserdisc edition being much better, so I put that on, but while it may have been great for its day, the laser transfer is equally soft and the color is so pumped up that it bleeds all over the TV screen. I’ll watch the rest, though, and maybe it gets better as it goes along. I then watched some of Scrooge, a movie I’ve always been very fond of. It is, of course, now treated as if it’s some kind of classic, but I remind that upon its release it was an unmitigated disaster – poorly reviewed and a total flop at the box-office. Only in the last decade has it done this turn-around, probably from its cable and TV showings, and now practically everyone perceives it as a classic. This has happened with two other films that I loved when I saw them originally, but that were reviled by reviewers and public – Marnie and Once Upon a Time in the West. Even people who decried the latter when they came out have suddenly forgotten they decried the latter and have now decreed them classics. I hate when those that have decried have decreed, don’t you? Why don’t those who have decreed decried? Just for a change of pace? In any case, Scrooge was wonderful then and it’s wonderful now and the transfer is excellent. However, be prepared – the film was shot with heavy filters and has a very filtered look to it, but the transfer replicates that look perfectly.

I then watched Mr. Al Pacino in Mr. Brian de Palma’s Scarface. I haven’t seen it since its original release. I did not love it then and I do not love it now, although it is so over-the-top and kooky that it’s somehow fun to watch. The transfer, to my mind, seems a bit soft, while I have no memory of the film being soft at all, especially as shot by Mr. John Alonzo. There are quite a number of extras on a second disc and I watched all those, too.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below so we can see if there’s any invigorating whatnot awaiting.

My goodness, this section is filled with invigorating whatnot and it hasn’t even begun yet. Can you imagine what it will be like when we begin the begin? Why, it will be filled with invigorating whatnot, which is better than being filled with ennui or even Anouilh. What the hell am I talking about?

I have been in Percy Faith heaven, listening to his take on Li’l Abner. I love it, of course, but I do wish he’d done I’m Past My Prime and Put ’em Back the Way They Wuz. The other album included in the two-fer is called Broadway Bouquet and it is indeed mistakenly in mono. Next up is the Percy Faith two-fer with Clair. I also listened to Mr. Henry Mancini’s wonderful score to Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, which was recently released by Intrada and produced by our very own Nick Redman. I really think Mr. Mancini could do no wrong back in the early 60s and Mr. Hobbs is a delight and great to finally have.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must go shopping for various and sundried foodstuffs and liquid beverages, I must continue editing (slowly, ever so slowly), and then I must be here for our Unseemly Live Chat at six o’clock Pacific Mean Time. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you get to discuss any old thing your collective hearts desire. Now, yesterday was a little barren around these here parts, so let’s make up for it today or our lovely stats will come crashing down around our collective feet and we can’t have that, now can we? So, let’s have loads of lovely posts and discuss everything and anything with vigor – yes, let’s have some invigorating whatnot right here at haineshisway.com.

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