Well, dear readers, today is Columbus Day. On this day Columbus did something. But what exactly did Columbus do on this day? Did he create his famous Circle? Did he sail on his boats, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria and, if so, did he sail on all three at once? Did he direct two Harry Potter films on this day? Is this the day that someone named Columbus discovered America? Is this the day someone named Columbus discovered that the world goes round, just like Kander and Ebb? Just who is this Columbus and why does he get his own fershluganah day? Well, we’re off to a fine start here at haineshisway.com on this festive Columbus Day. So, how shall we celebrate this festive Columbus Day? Shall we all discover round things? Shall we all discover something? Shall we all draw a circle? Shall we all go and direct a Harry Potter movie? Or, being wise, shall we all make pasta. I mean, Christopher Columbus was Eyetalian, wasn’t he? Or was that just Queen Isabella? If Mr. Columbus was really Eyetalian, was his name originally Christopher Columbo? Since he discovered that the world goes round he was quite a detective, and who knew that years later Peter Falk would play him on TV? You know, if anyone has a clew as to what the hell I’m talking about when you speak of it, and you will, be kind. In any case, happy Columbus Day to one and all and also all and one.
Yesterday, we finished designing the hardcover and paperback book covers and they look pretty terrific. I then supped with Mr. Grant Geissman, our very own Nick Redman, and his friend, Julie Kirgo. We went to Schwab’s and I had a deliciously delicious bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado sandwich(BLTA, in Internet lingo), French fries, a Caesar salad and rice pudding. It was yummilicious. I then came home and finished watching the new DVD of Mr. Roman Polanski’s film of Tess. I’d only seen bits of it, so it was nice to see it from start to finish. I don’t know why I never got around to seeing it, given that I was and am such a Polanski fan – just one of those things – oh, a Cole Porter reference. It’s quite a good film, not a masterpiece like Rosemary’s Baby or Chinatown, but beautiful to look at, with excellent performances. Nastassia Kinski is ravishing and looks and sounds so much like Ingrid Bergman it’s astonishing. Peter Firth is fine (not my favorite actor), and Leigh Lawson (husband of our beloved Twiggy, and a terrific fellow) acquits himself very well. The best thing about the film is its photography and the always interesting direction of Mr. Polanski. And the score by Philippe Sarde is wonderful. Mr. Polanski and Mr. Sarde let whole long sections of this very long film go by unscored – today every frame of it would be scored, and Lisa Gerrard would provide wordless vocals to banal music. The days of composers who were allowed to have totally unique voices are gone – they just want scores that sound like other scores today, and I really can’t stomach ninety percent of them. You think back to the sixties, for example, when the major film composers were Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini, and old stalwarts Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman and so many others were all writing unique scores in their unique styles. And add up and comers Lalo Schifrin and Quincy Jones, and interesting Brits like Richard Rodney Bennett and Johnny Dankworth and John Barry – everyone different and, most importantly, allowed to be different. And I haven’t even scratched the surface – Laurence Rosenthal, Neal Hefti, Dave Grusin, Johnny Mandel, Alex North (still going strong and writing some of his best scores), Miklos Rozsa (ditto), Dimitri Tiomkin, George Duning, Maurice Jarre, Georges Delerue, and in the early seventies, Billy Goldenberg, David Shire, and so many others – each one writing scores that didn’t sound like anyone else’s. An amazing time, when you think about it. Now we just get cookie-cutter scores that all sound alike because these idiot producers have now created a position wherein someone is hired to actually temp every frame of every picture with the same five scores and they insist that the composer follow the temp. Is it any wonder movies are where they are today?
What am I, a ranter all of a sudden? I just went off on a tangent, didn’t I? A Columbus Day tangent. The Tess DVD has a decent transfer, reasonably sharp but there’s something that’s not quite right about it – it has a slightly “video” look to it, despite it’s being enhanced for widescreen TVs.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because we must start celebrating Columbus Day.
Didn’t Columbus wear pantaloons? What sort of pastas shall we make today? Or am I getting it wrong – was Columbus French, or Hispanic, or Croatian, or Asian? Or was he a bit of all races and creeds and colors? Perhaps you dear readers can fill us in on the ephemera and effluvia of Columbus, because frankly I’m through talking about the guy.
I even intend to work even though it’s a holiday. I will try to write three to five pages today whilst wearing pantaloons and eating pasta. Then Miss Juliana A. Hansen will arrive (she changed our supping to tonight rather than Wednesday) and we shall catch up or, at the very least, ketchup.
All right, some wiseacre told me it was Columbus Day yet I can find no information that this is correct. Is it or is it not Columbus Day? I asked someone yesterday if today was a holiday and they said it was Columbus Day. I have the name of that person and I shall be merciless if I’ve written these notes all about Columbus Day. Well, I’ll just pretend it’s Columbus Day because who has time to go back and fix it now? Or, maybe it is Columbus Day. Or maybe it should be Columbus Day. Damn them, damn them all to hell.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, celebrate the mysterious Columbus Day by watching something with an Eyetalian flavor (garlic and clam sauce). I must write, I must do some errands in my automobile, I must pay some bills, and I must watch a DVD or two. Don’t forget, tonight is our Unseemly Live Chat at six o’clock Pacific Mean Daylight Savings Time. Be there or be round. Today’s topic of discussion: As most of you know, I am not a drinker, I am a Diet Coke person. But, what are your favorite libations – your favorite drinks, exotic drinks, wines, and why do you like them? Tell us everything, won’t you? Let’s have loads of lovely real or faux Columbus Day postings, shall we, whilst we sit around in our pantaloons eating pasta and sauce.