Well, dear readers, did you ever stop and think that an apostrophe is just a comma, only higher? I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you read such a sentence? However, there is no disputing the fact that an apostrophe is just a comma, only higher. When it came time to invent the apostrophe, Mr. Herbert Apostrophe said, “You know, I’m just too lazy to invent a new symbol, so why don’t I just take a comma, put it higher, and call it an Apostrophe?” And thus was born Apostrophe’s apostrophe. Now that you’ve had your little history lesson, it’s time to move on to yesterday. Yesterday, now there was a day. For me, it began at three-thirty in the morning, when I woke up in a state of high nausea. I was so nauseous I was nauseous. I chewed a couple of Tums, made a few postings here at haineshisway.com, and then went back to bed, where I tried to think of everything but my state of high nausea. About thirty minutes later, I fell asleep. I woke up about eight-thirty and revised my Creature notes, typed up the cue track titles, and came up with an excellent idea regarding what I could give the CD producers to use in the booklet. I then picked up Miss Adriana Patti at the subway stop and we headed over to the Colony Theatre. It was good to see the space again and I got a few ideas whilst roaming around. Then we headed over to our rehearsal space, where we had a read-through of the script. I made notes, and was very pleased with the reading. I gave our writer/producers some suggestions for cleaning up and strengthening a few things in the script, and then I turned the rehearsal over to our choreographer. I then went to storage and actually managed to find a few Creature related items, so that was good.
I then toddled off to Vinnie’s to finesse a few more mixes, four to be exact. First we redid the synth part on one song, then our musical director left, and we began our fixes to the mixes. They all sounded very good to begin with, and all I really had to do was smooth them out a little, and do some vocal comping (about which, I am maniacal). I then asked Vinnie if he could do frame captures from a DVD – he thought he could, so we put in the German import DVD of Naked Space, the excellent transfer from my print. We found a frame we liked and he tried, but he couldn’t do it in any of the programs he had on his Mac. However, within ten seconds he’d searched image capture DVD and found a free program to download that would enable him to capture paused frames on a DVD. A minute later we were able to grab any frame we wanted – I found ten excellent frames and now they have beautiful color photographs for the booklet of The Creature Wasn’t Nice CD. I then left Vinnie’s and met the CD producers for dinner. They were thrilled that I actually came with everything they’d need to finish putting together both CD and packaging – they had the notes (six pages worth), the cue titles, where my songs go within the program, a couple of editing and level notes, ten color photos, our actual title treatment for The Creature Wasn’t Nice, and a couple of behind the scenes black-and-white stills. Best of all, I believe I found the very rare alternate vocal for I Want To Eat Your Face. I sang two versions of the song – the Sinatra-like version that’s in the film, and a “character” version as The Creature (our Creature design had a bad underbite, and that’s the kind of voice I used). It took me weeks to choose, but I ultimately went with the Sinatra-like version because it seemed funnier to me. So, if what I found is what I think it is, it will be included as a bonus track. And, that’s not all. I also found something else, which I’m not going to mention, but if it’s what I think it is, it will be on the CD as a hidden track. We shall see. They’re putting this release on the fast track, so it could be out within the next month or so.
After that, I came home and showed Miss Adriana Patti a motion picture on DVD entitled Chinatown, which she’d never seen. Chinatown is one of those films I can watch over and over again and never tire of. It’s interesting that Roman Polanski has made two films I can say that about – Chinatown, and Rosemary’s Baby. Every time I watch Chinatown I can do nothing but marvel at what a perfect motion picture it is. Every single element of the film is nothing less than brilliant. The acting by everyone is superb, right down to the smallest role. Mr. Nicholson is at his best, as is Miss Dunaway, who is actually breathtaking in her role, an incredibly complex character, which she makes completely understandable. As her father, Noah Cross, John Huston gives one of the greatest supporting performances ever put on the screen – every line reading of his is memorable and unique (The future, Mr. Gittes, the future). The way he continually mispronounces Gittes (Gitt-ease) as Gitts – the way he walks, the way he looks at both Miss Dunaway and the actress who plays her daughter – it’s just an amazing performance. The camerawork of John Alonzo is wonderful, and the script by Robert Towne is justifiably thought of as one of the greatest film scripts of all time. Mr. Polanski’s direction of the film is perfection, too – every shot, every angle, every camera move, the way the performances work together – he should have won the Oscar, but Mr. Coppola took it for Godfather II. Another marvelous thing about Chinatown is that it presents a completely believable LA in the 30s without one trick shot, without any special effects. Today it would be filled with CGI and show-off production design, like The Black Dahlia, but what happens when they do that is that they keep calling attention to the effect and design and, for me, it takes me right out of the film. In Chinatown, it’s just shot with the right angles in the right locations and the production design of Richard Sylbert is great, but it never calls attention to itself – it’s just right and natural and real. The film originally had a score by Philip Lambro, but Bob Evans, the film’s producer, felt it wasn’t the right score and he went to the mat over it. He won out, and thank goodness he did. It’s not that what Mr. Lambro did was terrible – his main theme is evocative (for sax, rather than trumpet), and some of his dramatic underscore is also good. It’s his music for the end of the film, the Chinatown sequence that gets weird – on the cut to Chinatown, he has Chinese-style music, and it’s just awful. Mr. Evans decided to replace the score and called on Jerry Goldsmith to write a new one in just two weeks. Mr. Goldsmith came up with one of his greatest scores, maybe in his top five. There’s really only about twenty-six minutes of it, but what there is is beyond cherce. It takes a great film and makes it iconic – his main theme is one of the best main themes ever written. The transfer on this fairly early Paramount DVD is decent, but a little too dark in the darker scenes. It would be great if this got the full-blown Special Edition treatment with a beautiful new transfer, but until that happens, the current DVD will do.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have to work today and have much to do before said work begins.
I think we should create a new dance called The Apostrophe, don’t you? Someone please come up with the steps, shoot some video with said someone doing the steps, and then post it to YouTube and link to it.
Today, I hope to sleep in till nine, then I’ve got to package up a couple of orders, and then have my first day of blocking, which I’m really looking forward to. I’m not sure if Vinnie will have anything for me to listen to, but I do have the late afternoon open if he does. Otherwise, I’m just coming home and watching DVDs.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, write, rehearse, possibly mix, eat, and watch DVDs. Today’s topic of discussion: Tell us about the most memorable trip you’ve ever taken – mode of transportation, where you ate, what you did, and what made the trip so memorable. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let’s all do The Apostrophe whilst we read them.