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June 13, 2005:

THE BEAT GOES ON

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, here it is, Monday, the start of another week, and the beat goes on. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, the beat goes on. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you find out such information as this? Nowhere, that’s where. Yesterday, just prior to the beat going on, I had a perfectly something-or-other day. During the morning hours I had to go to Gelson’s, as I was completely out of Diet Coke. I also did a spot of writing. Then my lunch date arrived. We drove down Ventura Blvd. trying to decide where to eat, when suddenly I was dragged, kicking and screaming, the the Getty Museum, a place I have happily avoided like the plague. Once there, I was fascinated by how strange the jernt was. First of all, it was jam-packed with all manner of people, mostly families with young children. First one had to wait in a long line of automobiles, and then one had to park in a parking garage in which the first three levels were cordoned off for no reason whatsoever. Then we had to get on a tram – a TRAM, for heaven’s sake. At a museum. I don’t want to know from a tram at a museum. We were then trammed up a big hill and deposited at several odd-looking buildings. We were hungry, so we ate at the cafeteria-style cafĂ© (there is an expensive restaurant, but the menu looked awful). My friend had a vegetable sandwich and I had a tiny little three-cheese pizza, in which all three cheeses were on two pieces of pizza, whilst the other three pieces had nothing but sauce on them. When I say this thing had five slices, each slice took approximately half a bite to eat. I believe the entire pizza wasn’t quite as big as a slice of New York pizza. We then walked around, but it was just too crowded. We visited the pretty gardens, but didn’t go to any of the exhibits. They are having an exhibit of famous crime photographs, and if I want to see that I’ll go back early on a weekday, when the family trade is elsewhere. You’d have thought you were at Disneyland or Knott’s Berry Farm – that was the whole vibe of the jernt. I then came back to the home environment, did corrections on the Guy Haines booklet, had a few telephonic conversations, picked up the After the Ball final mastered CD, and then ate two count them two ham sandwiches of my own concocting. They were bite-sized, so I still think I did pretty well yesterday, food-wise. And that was my something-or-other day.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Target, a film of Arthur Penn, starring Gene Hackman and Matt Dillon. For reasons I can’t remember, I saw Target on one of my New York jaunts (I rarely go to the movies in New York, so I don’t know why I made an exception for Target). I’d wanted to see it because Arthur Penn is always one of those directors I give a break to. But, by the 80s, it was over for Mr. Penn, and Target was dreadful then and it’s dreadful now. Mr. Penn’s work is adequate, but the same cannot be said for the completely awful script, a script filled with sequences that are mind-numbingly terrible. The first twenty minutes of the film are embarrassing to watch. Then there are a couple of good sequences, well directed and acted. And then the whole thing just becomes preposterous, with one inane scene after another. Mr. Hackman is always fun to watch, but Mr. Dillon is really bad. The score by the usually great Michael Small, is only a shadow of his fine work. Something happened to a lot of good craftsmen in the 80s – the decade is littered with truly bad films by truly interesting directors who’d already, it seems, done their best work in the 60s and 70s. The transfer is grainy like the film has always been.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because, I hear tell, the beat is going on in the next section.

Yes, by gum and by golly and buy bonds, the beat goes on. La dee da dee da. Don’t forget, you have until midnight tonight to submit your answers to the Unseemly Trivia Contest. For those who haven’t seen the questions and for those who deemed it important to be errant and truant over the weekend, you ought to catch up on notes and posts because we had a high old time here.

Also, Donald should have a new radio show up today for your listening pleasure.

This week will be filled with proofing, writing, finalizing certain things, hearing the finished Haines mastered CD, and sending off the two CDs to be pressed. We’re also hoping that the new Kritzerland website will go “live” a week or so from today. Lots of exciting things happening. And don’t forget, next Sunday I shall hie myself to the Land of Port for our hainsies/kimlets gathering that evening, and then a reading/signing on Monday. I’m hoping there will be lots of you in attendance on Monday, and bring your friends – we want a big old crowd. It’s the first time I’m doing this sort of reading – in a big room, reading from the three Kritzer books and Writer’s Block. I may even give a preview of the new book. Be there or be round. Do let JMK know if you’re going to attend, so he has some idea of how many there’ll be.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, I must lunch with Miss Tammy Minoff, I must visit Kinko’s with Miss Minoff, I must do errands, pick up packages, and maybe watch a DVD or three in the evening. Today’s topic of discussion: I generally feel that the 80s began the downward spiral of the film industry. However, there were, at least, a handful of good films made during the decade. What are your favorite 80s films? I especially find interesting the choices by people who actually grew up during that decade. I’ll start – I like My Life as a Dog, Once Upon a Time in America, Ran, The King of Comedy (hit and miss, but a lot of it is really good), and a few others. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we? And do remember – the beat goes on. And, conversely, on goes the beat.

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