Well, dear readers, it is Super Bowl Sunday and I, for one, say hoop de doo (ood ed pooh, spelled backwards). I will not be celebrating, I will not be watching, I will be blithely unaware of the passing parade, Super Bowl Sunday-wise. In fact, I intend to have a lovelier than lovely day writing, planning my musical theater workshop, and watching DVDs. I’ve already made the decision not to attend today’s matinee – there are several reasons for this, none of which I feel like going into at this time, oh, no, I do not feel like going into them at this time. So, I will be at home having a Super Non-Bowl Sunday. Do you know that I do not feel motivated right now? Yes, Virginia, I do not feel motivated right now and thus I am having trouble writing these here notes. I am just sitting here like so much fish, feeling unmotivated and a bit peculiar. I may take a hot shower to wash all of those feelings away. Hot showers always do that for me. I’m also a bit overtired, which I’m sure has something to do with it. Speaking of overtired, yesterday I was also overtired, because I didn’t fall asleep until three and then I woke up at nine. I hate when that happens. I was fairly logy all the livelong day, and just lounged around the home environment like a dead herring in the moonlight. Oh, I did go trade in forty count them forty DVDs and got a couple hudred dollars in credit – that was nice. And I did attend the evening performance of the play, although the play was so completely oversold that every seat in the house (including eight obstructed view seats and eight added seats) was taken and for the first time I had to not see the play. That was actually just fine. I hung around and listened to some of it, and it seemed a bit “off” from what I could hear, but at the end of the show the audience seemed very pleased and the buzz coming out of the theater was great. I then came directly home and sat on my couch like so much unmotivated fish, and then I began to attempt writing these here notes, which I am doing my best to get through. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Yesterday, I did manage to watch a motion picture on DVD entitled All The President’s Men, starring Mr. Robert Redford and Mr. Dustin Hoffman, directed by Mr. Alan J. Pakula and written by Mr. William Goldman. The film remains as fresh and brilliant as the day it came out, and one cannot fathom how they would make this film today. Well, one can fathom – wall-to-wall thumping music, boring actors, and hyped-up over-edited direction. The first note of music in All The President’s Men occurs at exactly the thirty-minute mark. Can you imagine a film today going thirty minutes without music? David Shire’s score is sparse, but very effective and just terrific. Gordon Willis’ photography is aces, as are all the production values. I wish I could wax completely enthusiastic about the transfer – it’s definitely much better than the original DVD, but, like quite a few of Warners’ transfers recently, the clarity is there, but the color is ever so slightly to the brown side. Most people don’t notice that stuff, but I do and it really is bothersome that the people who do these transfers just don’t have a clue how the film they’re transferring is supposed to look. If they’d bothered to watch the documentaries that are included, they would have heard Mr. Gordon Willis say exactly the look he wanted – blue, cool, cold. A little more blue by the colorist, or a little less yellow/brown would have fixed things easily. It’s no disaster, but when you’re being told it’s a Special Edition, then the transfer should be top-notch in every way. But, the film’s the thing, and All The President’s Men is a great paranoid political film, beautifully directed by Mr. Pakula, and perfectly acted by its large cast (our very own Miss Penny Peyser has a wonderful scene with Mr. Hoffman early in the film).
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am not feeling motivated on this Super Non-Bowl Sunday.
I have an intensely busy week this week. Tomorrow I’m in the editing room all the livelong day, and then may have dinner with a friend afterwards. Tuesday, first thing in the morning, I start my musical theater workshop, which I hope to heaven I’m prepared for. After the class, I have to hie myself to West Hollywood for a lunch and a work session with Mr. David Wechter. I’ll also be working with Miss Linda Purl a couple of times, but we haven’t set those times yet. If I need it, I have a half-day of editing on Wednesday and then I have to turn in my first cuts of the promos on Wednesday or Thursday morning. Thursday morning I also have the second musical theater workshop class. And then we have the performances of the play, although at this point I’m not sure how many of said performances I’ll be attending, for many reasons, none of which I care to discuss at this time. I’m sure I’ll get notes on the promos, and then have a day of editing to address them. So, it will be go go go (that is three go’s) for the entire week.
Have I mentioned that I am not feeling motivated right now? If I were motivated right now it wouldn’t be close to one in the morning and these here notes would have been posted forty minutes ago. Ah, well, that is what happens when you are feeling like a dead herring in the moonlight.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be excruciatingly arch, I must be motivated, I must write, I must plan, I must watch a DVD or three, and I must have a Super Non-Bowl Sunday. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Super Non-Bowl Sunday, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we get to make with the responses to the topics. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we? We shall.