Well, dear readers, December is speeding by, like a gazelle with a hot foot. How we are already in the middle of December is an enigma wrapped inside of a conundrum or vice versa or even versa vice. I mean, one week from Saturday is Christmas Eve, and the following weekend we load in our set to the theater and shoot a couple of video sequences for the play. And then, a week after that we tech and start previews. My mind is boggled, frankly, and a BK with a boggled mind is a boggled BK. I have to do my Christmas cards by Friday, I have to buy some gifts, and there is just no time to do anything. Add to that working with Miss Linda Purl, and a few other little things that need doing, and I think it shall be a very busy few weeks. I just wish the fershluganah time would slow down. Why can’t time be like a gazelle after a big meal? Why does time always have to be like a fershluganah gazelle with a fershluganah hot foot? Where was I? Oh, yes, a boggled BK. In any case, yesterday went very fast. I can’t even remember most of what went on during the day, other than I did errands and relaxed, not necessarily in that order. I made telephonic calls, I answered e-mails, I did a little this’a and a little that’a, with an emphasis on the latter. And then I went to rehearsal. Last night was almost my favorite rehearsal thus far – actors are really starting to “get” the characters, the blocking is really working (I’m very fast, but very methodical, and I constantly tweak every time we run a sequence), and the latter half of act two has some wicked comedy that I can already tell is really going to play well. Tonight we’ll be finished blocking (only three pages to go) and then we’ll run individual sequences for the rest of the evening. After rehearsal, I was starving, so I got a nice turkey sandwich from Jerry’s Deli and ate it whilst sitting on my couch like so much fish. When I arrived home, the plumber was still under the house, fixing what were some major problems with the pipes. Everything is now fixed and working, although I notice the drain in the shower is still draining slower than it used to – I suppose I’ll just have to get used to it. I think it’s just the additional water pressure, which is now much stronger than it used to be. However, if I start not to like it, I’ll just use the other shower, which works marvelously well. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Yesterday, I managed to watch one count them one motion picture on DVD entitled The Five Pennies. I think it’s pretty well known that I love this motion picture, and I was thrilled to see it finally arrive on DVD. I wrote about the picture briefly in Kritzerland, I believe, and I’ve written of it here a couple of times. It’s a wonderful biopic about Red Nichols, played beautifully by Danny Kaye, in one of his finest performances. Some people are baffled by Danny Kaye and just don’t “get” him – I’ve always loved his clowning, but his performance in The Five Pennies goes way beyond that – it’s a genuinely moving and nuanced performance, and it’s a shame he was not nominated for it. Of course, one of the reasons it’s a favorite is because of former dear reader and den mother, Susan Gordon. Her performance as Kaye’s young daughter is terrific – one of the best child performances ever. If there was ever a child actress who could have given life to Benjamin Kritzer’s Susan Pomeroy, Miss Gordon was it. Previous video incarnations of this film were a sad joke – full-frame, fuzzy, and almost unwatchable. I’m happy to report that the new DVD is very sharp, and that the color is very nice, albeit with the flesh tones way to pasty-looking and pale (an easy fix if anyone in the transfer phase really knew what they were doing). I watched with the new 5.1 soundtrack, which is nicely done (only the music is in stereo and it sounds great). The mono track is present as well, but that sounded a bit tinny to my ears. No extras, but I’m just grateful to have it looking and sounding as good as it does.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? I hope not, because frankly they are two of the biggest buffoons masquerading as film critics that there are. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, because time has flown even as I’ve been writing these here notes – that just boggles my mind, and we don’t need my mind more boggled than it already is.
Today, I shall be shipping a few packages, I shall be picking up some packages and some mail, I shall be ordering my Christmas cards (usually a two-day deal), I shall be taking in my very overdue dry cleaning, I shall be paying a bill or six, I shall be writing a paragraph or three, and I shall be rehearsing a play.
Now wait just a darned minute. Can you believe it? It’s time to put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, it’s time to break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, it’s time to dance the Hora or the Swim, because today is dear reader Tomovoz’s very own birthday. So, let us send a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our favorite Tom from Down Under. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR FAVORITE TOM FROM DOWN UNDER!!!
If there’s a Down Under is there an Up Over? Just asking. Is there an Up Down and an Under Over? Is there an Over Down and an Under Up? A boggled BK indeed.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do everything I’ve already mentioned and then some, like putting gasoline in my motor car so that I can drive around whilst time moves like a 78rpm gazelle. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like, and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers, shall we?