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July 17, 2006:

HEAT WAVE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, we’re havin’ a heat wave, a tropical heat wave. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, we’re havin’ a heat wave and it’s becoming completely unbearable here in Los Angeles, California, USA and environs. Every day seems hotter than the previous day. All this heat makes one very weary and not very energetic. All one wants to do is sit on one’s couch like so much fish with the air conditioning on. Wow, I started writing the above at eleven-twenty and it is now eleven-fifty-one. You see, it’s too darn hot and I have just been sitting here like so much hot fish unable to do anything. Also, my back is killing me. What I ever did to my back that should make it want to commit a homicide against my person is anyone’s guess. In any case, I was wilting and it is impossible to write these here notes when one is wilting. I have turned on the air conditioning again and now I am wilting less. Of course, now I only have four minutes to write these here notes and now the heat is on for me to finish them. Damn that heat, anyway. Where was I? Oh, yes, speaking of heat, yesterday was hot, but I was cold. Yes, Virginia, it was another scorcher, but I was inside at the Hollywood Collector’s Show, where it was about twelve degrees. My helper, new dear reader Adriana, was very helpful and we had a good time, as did neighbor Mr. Kevin Spirtas. The show was sparsely attended yesterday, and yet I did quite a bit of business, almost as much as the day before. We sold books, DVDs (even Naked Space sold a few), CDs, and photographs. We stayed almost until the bitter end. I did a bit of trading and got two first editions from my pal Dan The Posterman, who always brings interesting books with him. I got them VERY inexpensively, and then I did a little checking online and was very pleased with what I found. One book was the true first UK edition of John Osborne’s first play, Look Back in Anger. The cheapest version I found in like condition (actually none of the copies listed were in as good condition as what I got) was $150, so considering, in trade, it cost me about fifty bucks, that was a good deal. But not as good as the next deal – a true UK first of Quentin Crisp’s The Naked Civil Servant. That one was about seventy-five bucks, and the cheapest price I found online in like condition was – wait for it – four-hundred-and-sixty bucks. That was a good deal. Anyway, I had the best time I’ve ever had at one of these shows and I did the best I’ve ever done. After the show, I came home and jogged (very difficult – I must say, I’m now officially a morning jogger). Then I went to get some food – for that nightmare, see my long post in yesterday’s posts. Suffice it to say that not only was it a waste of a meal, it was fattening to boot, which is most annoying considering I wanted to vomit on the ground afterwards.

Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled A Fine Madness, a quirky film that has not aged well at all and which wasn’t all that good to begin with. It’s quite arch and filled with performances that are scenery-chewing at its finest. Sean Connery is simply annoying as poet Samson Shillitoe – the character itself is annoying as well – a pushy, obnoxious, loudmouth whom we’re supposed to find endearing. Joanne Woodward plays his wife, and she’s very cute but very over the top. Jean Seberg comes off best as the unhappy wife of smug therapist Patrick O’Neal. The film does have a wonderful supporting cast of players including the amusing Sorrell Booke, Zohra Lampert, Mabel Albertson, Bibi Osterwald, Jackie Coogan, Clive Revill, and a few other excellent character types. The transfer is quite nice, and the film has a good score by John Addison. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled The Black Swan, starring Mr. Tyrone Power and Miss Maureen O’Hara. It’s quite an enjoyable swashbuckler – very short (eighty-five minutes), but not completely satisfying. For example, there is a character who’s feeding information to George Sanders – he never gets his comeuppance and he basically just disappears from the last third of the film. Tyrone and Maureen make a handsome couple, and Sanders is awfully strange as a pirate, and Laird Cregar is unusually over the top. There is some excellent swordplay and a rousing Alfred Newman score, but it’s a slight movie. Therefore, it’s a bit odd that Fox spent millions of dollars (according to their press release) restoring it. It’s a very nice transfer, with excellent color, but it isn’t quite the second coming that I was led to believe it was. Watching the restoration demo really tells the tale. They went from a fading CRI (an internegative), did color correction and cleanup. But, that’s not quite the same as going from the separation masters. The before and after is interesting because there are times the before looks brighter and better and sharper (but that may be deceptive on the comparison, because the actual transfer is excellent on its own). I will say that the color is very Technicolor-like in many scenes (a few scenes are REALLY good) and it’s much better than the recent spate of Betty Grable Technicolor films, which are all lackluster, color-wise (except for Weekend in Havana).

What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s very late now and I’m very tired and must get my beauty rest.

Today I must get up early and jog because Kevin is coming over early to pick up some more CDs for a show he’s doing in Vegas. I then have to go meet a friend for a late breakfast at Hugo’s in West Hollywood. I must then hie myself back to the Valley and do some urgent errands, and then I must mush ahead with my writing. It’s actually going to be a really busy day.

I’m a bit of a wreck, back-wise, and I really need a massage, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen in the next few weeks. I also need a haircut and may try to do that this week if Teddy has an opening.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, arise, jog, eat, meet, write, and drive about in my motor car doing various and sundried errands. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite historical films and documentaries – I’m interested in watching some, as it’s not a genre I usually cotton or even silk to. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let’s hope we get over this heat wave very soon.

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