Well, dear readers, my head is swimming. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, my head is swimming. It feels a little strange to be writing these here notes whilst my head is outside swimming in the pool, but one must do what one must do. My head is out there doing laps, and I’m in here making with the snappy repartee. First of all, I’m finding it very difficult to write these here notes right now because I forgot to shut the TV off in the other room, and I keep being distracted by The Blob, which is being shown on TCM. Have you ever been distracted by The Blob? It’s maddening, actually. Perhaps if I got my head to come in, dry off, and get back where it belongs, like Dolly Levi Gallagher, then maybe I could be a bit more lucid. Maybe not. I tell you, I cannot function with the fershluganah The Blob playing. Excuse me for a moment. There, blessed silence. I think I had a point when I began writing these here notes, but I think said point is lost in the blob. It was something about my head swimming. Ah, that’s it. There is just so much going on right now, I find it difficult to keep it all straight. Hence, certain things are bent when they should be straight. I made the decision to go to a twelve-page booklet on After the Ball – it will cost more, but without cutting photos and/or text, it was the only decision I could make. We continue to slog ahead on the website, and our designer should have all her materials by tomorrow, so that by Friday, I should be able to see how everything is working. Then, we’ll spend the weekend doing tests, seeing if our shopping cart works properly, along with our audio and video clips, photos, and all the other stuff we’ll have. We’ll add to the site as we go, but I’m trying to have as much done as we can when we go “live.” Yesterday was another of those days that just flew by – I got up at nine, the next thing I knew it was 12:30 and Tammy and I were meeting a potential actor for the play. He seems very good, but isn’t exactly right physically. He may be fine for the reading, though. Then I had to go out and do some errands, and then, all of a sudden, it was three and I had to pick up stuff from Kinko’s. By that time, I was starving, so I made myself a couple of sandwiches. I was cute as a couple of sandwiches, but I got bored and made myself me again. By that time, it was after five and my mental facilities were closed for the day. I did manage to write four pages just prior to my mental facilities closing, so that was good. And that, dear readers, is why my head was/is swimming.
Last night I managed to watch two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled The Train Robbers, starring Mr. John Wayne and Miss Ann-Margret. Duke was in a real rut when he made this film, and it’s one of his worst. Oh, he’s fine, and the rest of the cast is fine (although Ann-Margret has a couple of moments where you just want to fast-forward), but the script is just hopeless. There’s little conflict, the bad guys are just a bunch of faceless, nameless bodies on horses, and the ending is inane and unsatisfying. Burt Kennedy, the writer/director, is usually better than this. As a director he’s clearly trying to pull a Sergio Leone (especially in the first scene of the film, which is shameless). But, as soon as Dominic Frontiere’s awful score begins, the Leone aping goes down the toilet. The one are in which the film succeeds perfectly is in William Clothier’s gorgeous photography. He was one of the greats. The transfer is excellent. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, entitled Modesty Blaise. I must say, that when this film came out it was one of my favorites. In fact, I followed it around town, from theater to theater, and probably saw it more than ten times in two weeks. I thought it was strange and hilarious and I was quite smitten with Miss Monica Vitti. It was all too too cool, baby – it was mod, and gear, and fab, and I ate it up. I haven’t seen it much since then, and I’d only checked out the transfer when I first bought the DVD when it came out. Watching it now, I scratched my head and wondered how I could have ever thought it a great film. Parts of it still are visually amusing, and the cast is great – Monica, Terence Stamp, the great Harry Andrews, Clive Revill (in a double role), Tina Aumont, and Dirk Bogarde as the villain – he is clearly having a field day playing fey for all he’s worth. The film is actually incomprehensible – you can rarely understand what people are saying, let alone understand what they’re talking about. It’s also endless, clocking in at just under two hours. That’s two hours with a non-existent plot (it’s something about stealing diamonds), and arch scenes that sit there like so much fish. It’s amazing how time changes your perceptions of things, isn’t it? The Fox DVD transfer is not stellar – color is great, but it’s muddy-looking and too grainy for its own good.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, because my head just did a half-gainer and is coming in, having tired of swimming.
Today will be another day of one thing after another. I may have to meet someone in the morning, then deal with trying to get this endless After the Ball booklet right, then hopefully the Guy Haines master will arrive for me to approve, then I should also have several other important packages, then I have to go over the hill and rehearse with Mr. Kevin Spirtas and his musical director, Mr. John Boswell. After that, I may have supper, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. I also have to get prepared for this trip to Portland, and that means sending ahead some books to sell, which has to be done today as well.
I’m quite looking forward to meeting you hainsies/kimlets of the Pacific Northwest. That is where Portland is, isn’t it? Of course, all no-shows will be bitch-slapped from here to eternity and hell and back, and will be shown no mercy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must write, do all the other things listed above, and must drive about in my motor car all the livelong day. In the livelong night I hope to watch a DVD, in my quest to catch up on all these movies sitting on my coffee table like so much fish. Today’s topic of discussion: Taking a leaf from my Modesty Blaise thoughts – what movies (or plays or books) did you absolutely love when you first saw them, and, on viewing them years later, realized that they were really terrible? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and hopefully my head will be swimming less today.