Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early and also early and bright and I shall have to take my leave, and hence I must get to bed at a reasonable hour so that I may get as much beauty sleep as I can. But before I go any further, may I just speak of the madness that occurred yesterday. Yes, yesterday madness occurred and it was astonishing to see. All over this fine nation of ours, insane people lined up in the wee small hours of the morning, and they stood in line all day and all night. And what was the cause of this phenomenon? Well, I’ll tell you what the cause of this phenomenon was, because why should I withhold such information from the likes of you dear readers? The cause of this phenomenon was the iPhone by Apple. Yes, people all over this fine nation, rich, entitled, must-have-the-newest-and-latest-and-greatest people. Can you imagine how many of these things were sold yesterday, and at completely outrageous prices of five and six hundred dollars? After I ate dinner last night, for fun I drove to my local Cingular store and there they were, lined up like lemmings, a line a block long, with some people too lazy to even stand – they brought folding chairs to sit on and liquid refreshment and it was like a block party or something. Keep in mind, that once they actually get in the store, they don’t get to ask questions, they don’t see a demonstration, they don’t get a friendly salesperson to help them set up the phone. No, they get to hand over their dough and leave the store. I gotta tell you. People, and the world, never cease to amaze me. They just had to be the first on the block so they could immediately walk around in public and have people look at them in awe. I’ll look at them, but it won’t be in awe, let me tell you that. It looks like Apple has another winner, because they really seem to know which buttons to push with the public. But these people who line up for hours and hours – they looked like rotten Apples to me. Speaking of rotten Apples, yesterday wasn’t only an Apple day. For me, it was a day in which I went hither and thither and yon, especially yon. Once again, I only got about four or five hours of sleep. As most of you know, just prior to bed I smashed my foot into the wheel of my bed frame and it was not pretty for three of my toes. It took five Band-Aids to stop the bleeding, and I think I was in minor shock because of the force involved (I almost passed out). So, I didn’t get to bed until one-thirty, and then I slept until six, got up, sat in front of Ye Olde Laptop, and then went back to bed until nine. The pain in Ye Olde Foote had abated, and it wasn’t as difficult to walk as I thought it would be. It was very difficult to get my sock on (interesting, given the title of yesterday’s notes), but once I had it on I got my shoe on pretty easy. I then went to Teddy and got coifed. I have nice, short hair again, just in time for summer. I then came home and basically stayed off my foot for the rest of the day, whilst making many, many telephonic calls to various types, talking to them about The Brain. For those who haven’t seen yesterday’s posts, I got the good news that The Brain is playing the Acorn Theatre on Theatre Row. It’s the biggest venue, stage-wise, so that we should have no problem fitting our cast of seventeen and our band of five on the stage. We also know that our opening performance is on September 20th and our closing performance is on September 30th. I spoke to a stage manager – she seemed like a nice person, and she did a NYMF musical last year. So, unless I talk to another I like better, I’ll probably set her on Monday morning. I put in a call to a General Management office, but they haven’t returned it yet. Then I went and got some dinner, then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD, two authentic terrible movies, both of which have their odd pleasures, guilty though they may be. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Queen Of Outer Space, starring the one and thankfully only Zsa Zsa Gabor, and MBarnum’s very own Miss Laurie Mitchell. It’s really bad, but because it has a starring role played by Mr. Dave Willock, who is wonderful in it, I’ve always enjoyed it. Mr. Willock was, of course, the father of my muse Margaret. Zsa Zsa is truly awful, Miss Mitchell is truly hideous behind her mask (not in real life, it’s just the makeup), and the whole thing just plods along like so much fish. No one ever accused Edward Bernds of being able to direct, but the shocker here is that the screenplay is by Charles Beaumont, a really good writer who wrote lots of short stories and several excellent Twilight Zone episodes. Not only that, but it’s based on a story or idea by Ben Hecht of all people. The Cinemascope transfer is pretty good – pretty sharp, and with very good color (except in the opticals, as is to be expected). From what I’d read on the Internet, I’d expected a faded mess, but it’s not that at all and it looks pretty much the way it looked back when it was released. I don’t think the regular Warners telecine guy did all these cult classics transfers, because they’re better than some of the Warners classic film transfers, color-wise. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Attack Of The 50-Foot Woman, starring Miss Allison Hayes and Miss Yvette Vickers. It also is a very bad motion picture, but it is howlingly funny, so one can forgive it. And the special effects make the films of Bert I. Gordon look like they were done at ILM. But Miss Hayes and Miss Vickers are having lots of fun and some of the dialogue is truly priceless. The transfer is excellent.
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 go to amazon.com and see what the rotten Apples are writing about the iPhone, because let me tell you, you know that fifty percent of these insane people wanted to be the first to share their blather with the world.
This morning I have quite a few packages to ship – things have been backing up because of the late delivery of the Skinner/Ripley repressing. Then I have other errands to do, then I’ll come home, make calls, try to relax a bit, and then it’s off to see our very own Mr. Cason Murphy in Cabaret, and I can’t wait to see both he and Miss Karen. Hopefully, we’ll find somewhere fun to go afterwards.
Don’t forget, if you haven’t ordered your Milla Ilieva CD yet, feel free to do so. You can check out the cover art and hear tracks from it at www.kritzerland.com.
Tomorrow, I have a little work session with Miss Alet Taylor, and then the rest of the day should be mine all mine. Then on Monday, the real madness begins, because I have to finish hiring the entire creative and below the line staff by next Friday. In addition to that, I have rehearsals almost every day with Miss Joan Ryan, and also several meetings and meals to attend. But I know my fellow hainsies/kimlets will keep me calm and even-keeled, not necessarily in that order.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, package, ship, drive about in my motor car, make telephonic calls and see Cabaret. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite special effects in movies – the good, the bad, and the ugly? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and I’m happy we have no rotten Apples amongst us.