Well, dear readers, the next sound you hear will be me sleeping quietly in my bedroom environment. I have another early mix session and therefore the next sound you hear shall be me finishing these here notes. The next sound you hear will be the next sentence. I tell you, if this keeps up we’re going to have a cacophony around here. Speaking of a cacophony, yesterday was a loud day. In the morning, I went to a mix session, where we completed all but one song (and some incidental music). We listen to things pretty loudly, hence the loud day. We have one more song to finesse, then we have to add some dialogue bits to the beginnings of tracks, and then I have a few minor smoothing notes for the tracks we’ve already done – just nitpicky things. After the mix, I had a rehearsal and we blocked one very short scene and one very long scene and we reviewed the scenes we’d already done. We’re now halfway through the show and in very good shape. My plan was to have everything blocked so we could begin rough runthroughs on Friday. We may actually be ready for that by Thursday (our choreographer should be done with his stuff by then, too). After rehearsal, I got some mail from my mail place and then I came home, where I sat on my couch like so much fish. The next sound you hear will be the next paragraph.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Lagaan (Land Taxes), a film from India or Bollywood. Most Indian films are really long, but Lagaan is REALLLY long, longer than Ben-Hur – 225 minutes or so of long. The plot is fairly simple – in olden India, villages are forced to pay land taxes to the British Empire and their lords. Because they were allowed to slide one year’s taxes, they will now have to pay double. The problem is that there has been no rain and their crops are languishing and they can barely get by. They go to plead their case with the arrogant British head officer – when they arrive, the Brits are playing cricket. The young, handsome Bhuvan impulsively calls cricket a silly, stupid game that anyone can play. The arrogant British officer then challenges Bhuvan and his cohorts – they’ll play a cricket match – if the villagers win they will not have to pay taxes for three years. If the Brits win, they will have to pay triple taxes. Bhuvan accepts, much to the shock of his cohorts. And that’s the basic plot. The film has very magical moments, and the characters are well drawn and it does manage to hold one’s interest despite the long length. However, it would be better if it were forty-five minutes shorter, and you could shorten it without losing one scene of the film, just by tightening each scene. The music is great, the musical numbers have some excellent staging, the photography is excellent, and the actors (save for some of the Brits) are all very good. The cricket match has a lot of suspense, but it must go on for about seventy minutes (it’s broken up into different days, but the actual footage really must be seventy minutes long) – imagine the climactic fight in Rocky at seventy minutes long. In any case, I enjoyed it very much and the transfer is fine, if not exceptional.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? The next sound you hear will be that of people clicking on the Unseemly Button below.
As I said (but shall say again), this morning I’ll be finishing the mix. Then it’s on to rehearsal, where I shall block the one musical number that doesn’t really require choreography – I’ll also do the longish scene that precedes it. After those are done, there are only a few more very short scenes, and we’ll get all those tomorrow. After that, I think Miss Jessica Rush is coming over to help me with some Kritzerland business, like importing names into Constant Contact, and beginning the arduous task of figuring out sales for the last six months. She’ll be doing this several times over the next few weeks.
I still haven’t finished the fershluganah synopsis for the Brain booklet, but will by tomorrow, so that the booklet can be completed. Then I can get back to the new book, which I haven’t even looked at in five days.
I cannot wait until Thursday evening when I shall be dining at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. First of all, I haven’t had a great steak in a restaurant in heaven knows how long. Second of all, I haven’t been to Ruth’s Chris in ages. Third of all, I love Ruth’s Chris’ steaks in sizzling butter.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, mix, rehearse, work with my helper, and sup. Today’s topic of discussion: I’ve been enjoying our quote topics, so let’s continue along those lines – what are your favorite quotable lyrics – not full lyrics, but those brilliant lines or rhymes in songs that just amaze you, touch you, or make you laugh. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we? The next sound you hear will be – the posts.