Well, dear readers, it was another lovely day yesterday, weather-wise, work-wise, play-wise, and food-wise. What am I, a wise guy all of a sudden? Starting with the weather, it was a sunny day, not quite as warm as other days have been recently, but lovely nonetheless – I even took a walk, which I haven’t done much of late. Moving on to work – yesterday was one of those days when everything just flowed. I love when everything flows; it’s pure ecstasy. For example, Monday and Wednesday everything did not flow and writing every page was agony and I ended up having to do quite a lot of polishing on those pages. Yes, Virginia, it’s the agony and the ecstasy around these here parts. Then there was play – I drove about in my motor car, I mailed a package, I walked, and I listened to music. Finally, there was food. I supped with a Pogue and a Pogue supped with me. We’d been craving the House of Pies and that is where we went. It’s quite an acceptable coffee shop, and the pie really is excellent, if not a bit heavy. Or, as the Righteous Brothers once sang, “It ain’t heavy, it’s my pie.” All in all, all was faboo, day-wise.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled – well, you won’t believe it – but it was entitled The Agony and the Ecstasy. I’d never seen the film all the way through and I must say I quite enjoyed it. The subject matter is, of course, fascinating (the relationship between Michelangelo and the Pope, and the painting of the Sistine Chapel), the two leading performances of Mr. Charlton Heston and Mr. Rex Harrison excellent, and the direction of Mr. Carol Reed, smooth, unobtrusive, and elegant. The film was shot in ToddAO – the photography is lusciously luscious, the art direction superb, and the score by Alex North is really terrific. It’s one of the shortest “epic” roadshow films ever made – the film itself, sans prologue, intermission and exit music, runs a mere 122 minutes. The prologue, sort of a mini-bio of Michelangelo (to give you his background, little of which is covered in the film proper), runs thirteen minutes, and features its own score by Mr. Jerry Goldsmith. The only area where The Agony and the Ecstasy really fails is in the final showing of the ceiling. It should be a magical and majestic moment, a tour of the entire work of art, set to glorious Alex North music. Instead, we get a brief look accompanied by a bunch of choral hallelujahs. The whole film builds to that moment, and it does not deliver the goods. The transfer is really excellent – beautiful perfect color (the film has beautiful reds and blues and yellows), full-bodied 5.1 sound, and a nice sharp image in its proper ratio. Best of all, with a little searching, the DVD can be had for about seven bucks.
I tell you, writing that endless paragraph was the agony and the ecstasy. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I feel there is some ecstasy still to come. We don’t need any more fershluganah agony.
Can one say that one is having ecstasy in today’s world? It’s taken on a whole new meaning thanks to these wild kids today. Has anyone noticed that it’s Friday, and that the weekend is just about here? I have, and that is causing me to have ecstasy. In fact, I am flitting about like a gazelle on ecstasy just thinking about it.
I wonder what I shall do all weekend long? I know I shall get out of the home environment a bit more than I have during the week. Perhaps I’ll drive somewhere interesting. Perhaps I’ll visit the real Farmer’s Market. Perhaps I’ll roam around the city and go to some favorite haunts that I haven’t been to in a while.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must write (hopefully it will be ecstasy rather than agony), I must do errands, I must hopefully pick up some long-overdue packages, and I shall eat some interesting foodstuffs. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – car CD, a four CD set called Claus Ogerman: A Man and His Music. It’s an import that I got on eBay. This album was released recently in the US as a two CD set. I’d bought that, listened to it once, and found it a distinct disappointment. Now I know why – because Universal, in its usual brilliance, has eviscerated a brilliant four CD set by deleting over half its contents to make it more “friendly” for us US citizens. The four CD set is perfection – everything flows just right, the selections that are missing from the US release make this set work – it’s really carefully put-together. I’m a huge fan of Mr. Ogerman’s music and arrangements, and if you can find this four CD set, snap it up. Home CD, Quincy Jones’ amazing album, The Quintessence from 1961. It’s one of the best-sounding albums you’ll ever hear – we may have more technology at our disposal, but we’re not making better-sounding albums. DVD, next up is Shall We Dance, the Japanese version, just released on DVD. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we? I know it is sometimes agony to post, but it’s always ecstasy to read the posts.