Well, dear readers, ohayo. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, ohayo. Why, oh, why, oh, why oh, why did I ever say ohayo? Because ohayo means good morning in a little language I like to call Japanese. More about ohayo in a bit. Well, we started June off with a bang around these here parts. In fact, we had our tenth biggest posting day ever. And the best part is that this here site is working perfectly now, and all our woes are hopefully over. Yesterday morning, we had complaints of “too many connections” again, so I shot off an e-mail to our host. Well, apparently it wasn’t enough that they’d found the problem they’d found and corrected, oh, no, apparently it wasn’t enough. No, we now had to archive old postings because having them all together in one huge section of over 200,000 posts was slowing everything up, especially if there were a lot of people on at once trying to post. So, Mr. Mark Bakalor got on the case and very quickly split up the postings into archives (while the site was down for maintenance for about an hour) – and once he did that and put us back online everything worked like a charm. The site loaded with great speed, posts went through with great speed and all was finally well with haineshisway.com’s discussion board. After all that drama, I sat down at Ye Olde Computer and finished the lyrics to two count them two songs I’ve been working on. I then did a few errands, had luncheon at Stanley’s, then came home and worked some more. I had to have a very long telephonic conversation regarding our upcoming cabaret series at LACC – basically going over all the details, including the design of the theater, how lighting will work, sound, and all that stuff. It was a very good conversation. And that was my day, and I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled – wait for it – Good Morning (Ohayo) and was a film of Yasujiro Ozu. From what I’ve seen of his films thus far, Ohayo is an atypical Ozu film, although it’s shot in his usual formal, static style (not even one moving shot in the entire film). It’s gorgeously directed, very funny, affectionate, warm, and sweet. It’s almost like a 50s sitcom. And it has some of the funniest flatulence ever put on the screen – and years before Mr. Mel Brooks would break that particular taboo here in the United States of America. The nominal story is about two young boys who take a vow of silence until their parents buy a television set. It’s just a wonderful movie, filled with laugh-out-loud scenes, and I must say some of Mr. Ozu’s shots made me laugh out loud. I wish I could say the transfer was wonderful, but it’s terrible – and this is a Criterion disc. They say boldly on the back, transferred from a 35mm low-contrast print. That’s fine. The color is milky but at least there. But what excuse do they have that the whole damn thing is basically out of focus? Certainly the print is not out of focus. It just baffles me – and if any other company had put out such a travesty, there would have been cries for a recall. Not with Criterion, though. In any case, a wonderful, wonderful film. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, starring Miss Bette Davis and Miss Joan Crawford. What a great movie it is, too. In all the times I’ve seen it, it never fails to entertain. The two stars deliver powerhouse performances, and Mr. Robert Aldrich’s direction is aces. DeVol’s score is great, as are the art direction and costumes. The transfer, while not perfect by any means, is better than the previous DVD and, of course, enhanced for widescreen TVs. However – I would like to know what nincompoop wrote the copy for the back of the case. They really do get the most incompetent people to copy write for these things and it’s embarrassing. This one starts off with: Robert Aldrich’s story – and then proceeds to tell the plot of the film. Well, excuse me, Mr. Aldrich was the director of the film, not the writer. Baby Jane was adapted from a novel by Henry Farrell, and was written by Lukas Heller. It’s enough to make you want to vomit on the ground.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because, after all, I must have my beauty sleep soon so that I can arise and say ohayo.
Today I shall be doing quite a few things – making notes, doing errands, having a few telephonic conversations, and finishing the lyrics to two more songs. After that, Miss Cindy Williams will be coming over and we shall journey to the Wood of West where we shall attend the opening night of Bermuda Avenue Triangle, starring Mr. Joe Bologna, Miss Renee Taylor, and Miss Lainie Kazan. I haven’t seen the show before, and I’m looking forward to it.
Tomorrow, I shall be in the editing room for a bit, beginning the Kevin Spirtas CD, and I may try to toddle off to Pasadena for the Book Fair, even though the Pasadena fair is never any good. But, I like to see certain dealers who I know, so I’ll see how I feel. Then I attend another opening night – this one a new musical whose name I can never remember. I will, of course, have full reports on all of the above.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, say ohayo as many times as possible – and if we have any dear readers or lurkers in Ohio, then we can say oyaho Ohio. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, I’ve been listening to my Darius Milhaud CDs and realizing just how much I love his music. DVD, the extras for Baby Jane, and then The Man Who Came To Dinner. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all say in unison – ohayo.