Well, dear readers, sometimes I feel like a motherless child. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, sometimes I feel like a motherless child. For example, right now feel like a motherless child. I don’t know why – perhaps a visit with a motherless child would do me a world of good. Conversely, sometimes I feel like a childless mother, but that is a whole other kettle of scrod. Of course, I have no clew as to what the HELL I’m going on about and frankly you can blame it on the heat, you can blame it on Rio, you can blame it on the Bossa Nova, you can blame it on the summer night, but don’t blame me because I’m being driven insane by the disco inferno that is Los Angeles, California, USA. I went out of the house last night at ten o’clock, to put my car away. It was no less than ninety degrees out there. That is just wrong. Damn them, damn them all to hell. As Barbra Streisand once said, Enough Is Enough. I cannot stand this infernal heat. This Infernal Heat – that’s the title of my next novel. Or is it the title of a Douglas Sirk film? I know not, I care not. All I know is I’m tired of this infernal heat and I wish it to go away. Speaking of this infernal heat, yesterday was a scorcher. I jogged at nine-thirty and it was already broiling and I do mean broiling. Upon my return, I had to do a couple of errands, and then I actually managed to write about four pages. I’m really trying to get another ten or so pages done because I have to start on a new project this coming weekend and I want to have the style and tone of the new book down before I do. I’m pretty much there, but am still feeling my way just a teeny bit. After lunching and some more writing, along with several long telephonic calls and whatnot, I finally was finished for the day. At that point I decided I felt like a motherless child.
Yesterday, I managed to watch a motion picture on DVD entitled Capricorn One. The US DVD was awful and I never gave it more than a cursory glance. Now, there’s a new region 2 DVD from the UK – that one is anamorphic and a new transfer. I first saw Capricorn One about two months before its release, at a sneak preview at the Village Theater in Westwood. I liked it a lot, as did the audience – there were lots of laughs and the ending brought cheers. So, imagine my surprise when the film didn’t exactly ignite at the box office. It’s not a great film by any means, but it’s highly entertaining and it has a great score by Jerry Goldsmith. The color on the transfer is fine, but the dialogue (especially for the first half of the film) is almost completely distorted (the music is fine), and the entire transfer is soft bordering on being almost completely out of focus save for tight close-ups. I don’t really understand it – certainly whatever their source material is (a print or a negative or whatever) has to be sharp as a tack, so why they can’t have the transfer be that way is beyond me. I then watched four more episodes of I Claudius and it continues to be, for my money, the best mini-series I’ve ever seen. I have to believe that this region 2 DVD from the BBC is of better quality than the region one, and it definitely is unexpurgated, unlike its region one counterpart. There have been several things cut from the region one – some nudity, a bit of violence, and a couple of short scenes. The acting is superlative, the directing is simple and to the point, and the script is brilliant – filled with great characters, high drama, unexpected comedy, and plotting that keeps you coming back for more. It’s completely addictive. I have but three more episodes to watch, then a disc of extras, and then I may watch the whole damn thing again.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because sometimes I feel like a motherless child and sometimes I feel like a fatherless gazelle and sometimes I just feel like not being in this section anymore.
Well, one thing’s for sure – these here notes are getting posted on time this fine and hot evening. There shall be no shilly-shallying or even any shally-shillying, notes-wise. Up they will go and that’s all there is to it. Well, no, sometimes there’s more to it than meets the eye. Have you ever met the eye? I met the eye once and enjoyed the experience very much, much more than when I met the ear. In fact, meeting the eye made me feel on top of the world – like a king. In fact, I wrote a musical about the meeting, entitled The King and Eye. It was quite melodious if I recall correctly. I do recall correctly, hence my mentioning correctly. If I didn’t recall correctly then I wouldn’t mention correctly at all. I have an idea: Someone shoot me now.
Today I shall be writing a few pages, as well as doing many errands. Then, tonight at six, Mr. Kevin Spirtas and I will be appearing on the Skip E. Lowe show. I’d already done the Lowe show with Susan Egan a couple of weeks ago, but Kevin really wanted me to be there, so I said yes. We’ll have some fun, and then perhaps we can sup somewhere interesting and nice.
We had a few answers to our Unseemly Trivia Contest question. Here was the question:
This particular season had some notable hit musicals, notable hit plays, and some not so notable flop musicals and plays. The season had several plays directed by directors who were much more well known for their film work. However, we’re not concerned with them. We’re concerned with one of the biggest flop plays of the season. It ran less than twenty-five performances. It was written by a playwright who would, a few years later, write a very successful novel that would then be turned into a very successful film. The film would be turned into a not-so-successful musical. The play was directed by someone who was not really known as a director, but was well-respected in the field he was known for. The star of the show had recently played a career-defining role in a hugely successful film. Also in the cast was a man who, just a few short years later, would star in a successful and beloved TV series. So:
Name the play, the playwright, and the very successful novel which would become a film and a musical.
Name the director who was known better as something other than a director.
Name the star of the show, the career-defining role and the film he played it in.
Name the cast member who would star in a successful and beloved TV series and name the series.
And the answers are:
Harold/Herman Raucher/Summer of ’42
Larry Blyden – Actor
Anthony Perkins/Norman Bates/Psycho
Don Adams/Get Smart
Our winners were FJL, George P. Dougherty, Michael Shayne, and Jeffrey Kauffman. We put all the names into our handy-dandy electronic hat, which randomly chose our High Winner: George P. Dougherty. So, if GPD will send his handy-dandy address he will receive a sparkling prize. Congratulations to all our winners.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, write, drive about in my motor car, make telephonic calls and do a plethora of other things. Today’s topic of discussion: We haven’t had a food day in a ‘coon’s age. So, maybe it’s time for one of our mouth-watering post-fests about our favorite pasta dishes. Let’s be very detailed with our descriptions, and tell us your favorite pasta dishes to make (recipes always appreciated) and your where you’ve eaten your favorite pasta dishes. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and maybe if we do then I won’t feel like a motherless child.