Haines Logo Text
Column Archive
June 22, 2006:

EMPTYING THE TRASH

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, it’s a little day we like to call Thursday. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you get such information? Nowhere, that’s where. This week has already flown by like a gazelle having a hissy fit. Well, I shall get right down to the nitty-gritty and also the gritty-nitty because shortly I must call Apple and find out why I cannot empty the trash on my computer – at least the two items that are left. I attempted to do my weekly hard drive backup and it didn’t do it. I suspected it was because of two attempts to update Adobe Acrobat Reader that, for whatever reasons, didn’t complete. I ended up downloading the update from the Adobe site, and that worked fine. Then I trashed the two versions that didn’t work, one of which will not remove itself from the trash. It got rid of everything else but that and I get “can’t empty trash because ppklite plugin in use” and “version” in use, whatever the HELL that means. So, I’ll need Apple’s help to remedy this problem because I think once I can get rid of that, then the hard drive backup will probably work again. Yesterday, I awoke extremely early, like six in the morning. That was ridiculous, if you ask me. But, I had things to do so I did them. I took an early jog, then did some more things that needed doing. I did errands and whatnot, picked up a package (not one I was expecting, actually – it was my free copy of The Doris Day Season Three, sent to me by the DVD producer), ate the last couple of ounces of the tuna pasta salad, and I solidified the recording schedule for this little gig I’m still doing for the Music Center. I then toddled off to the editing room, where I met up with Mr. Kevin Spirtas. I feared it was going to be a painful session given that Kevin said he had lots of little nitpicky notes, but he really only had about twelve things we had to look at, eight of which were just swapping shots. So, we were done in an hour, and then we did our loony commentary track, which is somewhat amusing, somewhat informative, and somewhat wacky. Hopefully, people will enjoy it. Afterwards, we went to Marie Callendar’s and Kevin had pie and I had a little dinner salad. After that, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.

Yesterday, I finished watching the latest in my Ozufest – The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice. It’s another wonderful film – it leisurely sucks you into its characters and its world and it’s just a lovely, simple film. It’s a bit atypical for Ozu, in that there are at least twenty moving shots in the film – much more than his normal one to three moving shots. They’re quite nice, these moving shots, but they’re very brief, usually just a dolly back or a dolly forward and that’s it. The acting in Ozu’s films is so understated and wonderful, and thus far each film has been a gem. I now look forward to each and every Ozu film I can lay my hands on – I have two Criterions to watch now – The Story of Floating Weeds and Early Summer. Actually, it’s three, since the Floating Weeds disc has both the silent version of the film and the 50s color remake. I cannot recommend these films highly enough, although I tell you you must prepare yourself for their leisurely pacing and deliberate and formal style.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must figure out how to empty the trash and rid myself of whatever is causing this little backup problem.

Last night, I also watched the pilot of Young Love, which is included as an extra in The Doris Day Season Three box set. What fun it was to see it after all these years. We shot it in January of 1971 over at CBS Radford, which is now just five minutes from the home environment. It stars Michael Burns and Meredith Baxter (her first job), and, in addition to my very own self, my pal Alex Henteloff (whom I knew from LACC – he graduated a couple of years prior to my arrival – he just took part in our 75th Anniversary show), Brenda Sykes, Alan Oppenheimer, Leo Fuchs (I’d forgotten he was in it), and Dick Van Patten (totally forgot he was in it). The show, which plays without laugh track (very daring for 1971), is earnest and a bit turgid, but somehow appealing. It was a great deal of fun to work on because its creator and director, Norman Tokar, was a great guy. Many lovely memories came back as I watched it: The fun rehearsal period we had – the fun shooting – Burns and I looking through the prop LPs and laughing for hours when we found one called Let’s Pachanga by Renee and His Pachanga Orchestra – becoming close friends with Burns – getting champagne and a lovely card from Perry Lafferty at CBS, basically telling us we’d be on the air – and attending the screening and then a party at Norman’s house. Of course, we didn’t go on the air – at the last minute, they bumped us aside for another pilot called The Chicago Teddy Bears, with Art Metrano. That was off the air so quickly it wasn’t even funny (nor was the series – one of the all-time worst). I think had they chosen us that we would have done well – we had a unique show for the time – very real, and very down-to-earth. There are some wonderful glimpses of 1971 Westwood (including the Village and the Bruin movie theaters – playing Love Story and Where’s Poppa respectively), and Meredith is adorable. I look impossibly young and have quite the head of hair and quite the sideburns. They also have the version that aired as part of The Doris Day Show – it’s very cut-down to allow Doris’ scenes with Meredith. The long sequence in which I appear is cut in half in that version. Of course, my favorite memory is the day that Miss Day came to visit the set (the show was produced by her production company, Arwin) – she was incredibly sweet and incredibly beautiful, and even seeing her then I didn’t understand why they felt it necessary to use all those filters on her, as she looked vibrant and young. The other interesting factoid is that Norman took a chance on a young cinematographer, whose first big job this was – Vilis Lapaneicks. I liked him very much, and wondered, over the years, why he never worked much after that. I later found out he had a bad drinking problem. Years later, when I was shooting The Creature Wasn’t Nice, poor Vilis was assisting the cameraman I hired, Doug Knapp (who’d shot Nudie Musical). My associate producers weren’t happy with Doug’s pace or the work, and we let him go and Vilis took over. He was great up until the last week, when the pressure got to him and he hit the sauce again. We got through it, but there were a couple of days when he was so soused that he actually fell off the dolly. In any case, it’s just amazing to me that in one year I’ve had the gift of having this pilot and the Tabitha pilot released on DVD.

Today, I must really do some writing, I must finish this fershluganah song I’ve been slaving over, and I must pick up a package or three, one of which is the amazon package that should have been here yesterday, but which is still sitting somewhere in their shipping department.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do all of the above and more, including calling Apple so that I can at long last empty the trash. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the single worst thing you’ve ever had happen on any computer that you’ve owned? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we once again have a go at emptying the trash.

Search BK's Notes Archive:
 
© 2001 - 2024 by Bruce Kimmel. All Rights Reserved