Well, dear readers, this week is flying by like a gazelle doing a wheelie. I mean, honestly, how can it be Wednesday already? You know, I’ve got to get some new blood into these here notes. I’ve got to get some snap, crackle, and pop into these here notes. These notes have been way too Frosted Flakes and not enough Sugar Pops, if you ask me. Oh, we occasionally have a little Quaker Oats and every now and then even some Raisin Bran. But where are the Sugar Pops, that’s what I want to know? Sugar Pops, after all, are tops. I’m sitting here trying to figure out what all these cereal metaphors are about, where they came from, and where I’m going with them. I mean, there I was, writing these here notes, when all of a sudden, out of the blue and also out of the green, cereal references starting to snap, crackle, and pop. Suddenly there were cereal metaphors galore and I suddenly had an urge to kill the metaphors – to kill them as dead as you can kill a metaphor. Some people can kill a mockingbird, and I wanted to kill, and I do mean kill, the cereal metaphors. Would that make me a cereal killer? Man, it took a long time to get there, but damn it all, we got there and that’s all that matters in this or any other world. In any case, I have felt over the last six years a certain sameness creeping in to these here notes, and I felt that today was the day they should just have some snap, crackle, and pop. Speaking of pop, yesterday was a day filled with whatnot. After I got up (rather later than usual), I had to do an annoying little errand, which put me in a foul mood, and also a fowl mood. But, I quickly got out of my foul and fowl mood because of a couple of nice e-mails. I then spent a few hours going over music for the reading next week. I then paid another visit to Carney’s and got some hot dogs to go, along with chili cheese fries to go, and then came home and ate them all up and, like the day before, everything was quite yummilicious. After that, I had to do a few more errands and whatnot and make a few telephonic calls, and then, finally, it was time to sit on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I managed to watch two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled The Neptune Factor: An Undersea Odyssey. This film was one of those 70s Canadian things that were all the rage – you know, get three or four “name” American stars, and cast the rest in Canada, shoot it there, use all Canadian crew and you got lots of breaks, budget-wise. The American “stars” of The Neptune Factor: An Undersea Odyssey are Ernest Borgnine, Ben Gazzara, Walter Pidgeon, and Yvette Mimieux. This is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. It has something to do with some undersea exploration, and there’s an undersea earthquake, and a couple of people are trapped and have to be rescued, only we don’t know anything about them, so we don’t really care. In fact, we don’t really know anything about anything – not the story, not the characters, nothing. It’s as if the writer sat down and said, “I think I’ll write a script with lots of shots of fish.” As I watched the endless beauty shots of lovely and exotic fish, I shook my head and said, “What is it, fish?” Ben Gazzara sports a bad Southern accent, Miss Mimieux looks like she’s on Lithium, Mr. Pidgeon seems happy to be working, and Mr. Borgnine is always nice to have around. The transfer is gorgeous – funny, they can get a terrible film like this right, but fail with some of their classics. The film sports a score by Lalo Schifrin, which is not one of his best. The original score by William McCauley was tossed out, but is included as an extra – I liked it quite a bit. My guess is they previewed the film, saw that it was a disaster movie (and not in the way they wanted), and, as always, instead of blaming the film they made, blamed the music. Nothing could have helped this film. But, if you like lots of pretty shots of fish, this could be the movie for you. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Hang ’em High, starring Mr. Clint Eastwood. I believe this was his first Hollywood film after making the three Sergio Leone westerns. I believe it was also the first time that Eastwood’s production company would be credited (co-produced by Malpaso Productions). Unfortunately, despite vain attempts at emulating Leone, Hang ’em High is a conventional Hollywood western and not a very good one at that. It has its moments, and the cast is good, but it’s just average all the way, thanks to the not-very-inspired direction of Ted Post. I must say that the transfer is one of the worst I’ve ever seen – soft, off-color, overly grainy, it looks like it was taken from a print. I hadn’t seen it since the day it opened, and I liked it better then than now, but funnily I never saw the need to see it again, which isn’t the case for almost every other Clint film.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got to give these notes some snap, crackle, and pop, because right now they’re pooped.
Today, I shall be going over the script for the reading, and looking at the music again, as well as attending to a bunch of details that need attending to. I was asked to attend a music rehearsal tonight, and I’m going to. My character has the most singing in the show – it’s really daunting, actually. Five solos, and then things in about four other songs. Holy moley on rye why did I agree to do this? And why is it three performances?
Tomorrow, I’m hoping to do a lot of stuff for our fundraiser show, like making lists of performers and material, and perhaps talking to the two gentlemen we’re honoring in song.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, attempt to jog, look at script and music, rehearse, find time to sup, and then watch a DVD or three. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like, and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings. And, for some extra snap, crackle, and pop, what were your favorite cereals when you were growing up?