Well, dear readers, what a weekend we had. Yes, Virginia, what a weekend we had. It was, in fact, an affair to remember. The Best Birthday Ever, a lovely book signing, and the second best posting day ever, all in one jam-packed and fun-filled weekend. For those of you who may have been errant and truant, good luck reading all sixty-four pages of Saturday’s postings (and they’re all worth reading). I gotta tell you. If you have to turn sixty, this is the place to do it, with the best group of people on all the Internet. I had a ball, it was a whoop-up, I was like a wildcat, dude it was great even though Nick and Nora weren’t there, there were good vibrations in this dear world – what am I, a litany of musical flops all of a sudden? In any case it was an affair to remember and I’ll remember it until the cows come home (which means I’ll remember it forever, since the cows show no signs of EVER coming home – damn them, damn them all to hell). But now, we’ve got to get the nose back to the grindstone, which is, after all, the cheap way of getting a nose job. Speaking of a nose job, yesterday was a fun little day. I got up, puttered around the home environment, played on the computer, and then toddled off to the Media City Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. I’d never seen The Nutcracker before – in fact, I believe I’ve only seen one ballet live. So, I didn’t know what I’d think of it, but I found a lot of it entrancing, especially in the first act, which moved along quite quickly. The music was prerecorded (have no idea which performance), and the dancing was fun, and there were some spiffy magic tricks on view. Act Two could have benefited from some pacing (there were long bows after almost every solo in the second act, which I found disruptive), but that music is glorious and I had a good time. I was seated next to Mr. Rex Smith, with whom I’d just worked in our fundraiser show. We had a good time chatting after the show at the little reception. I then went to Gelson’s and got some halibut and came home and cooked it up splendidly and ate it, and it was quite yummilicious if I do say so myself and I do. I then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled The Iron Horse. It’s a John Ford film from 1924 and the first silent Ford film I’ve ever seen. It’s part of the humungous Ford At Fox box set that just came out. I watched the International version of the film, which is fourteen minutes shorter than the US version. I may try to watch the US version to see if I spot the differences, but I can say I don’t think I’d enjoy seeing it be fourteen minutes longer. The International restoration was done by Kevin Brownlow. The film looks pretty good for its age. For this release, Nick Redman had Christopher Caliendo write a new score. To begin, the film is terrific – all the seeds are there for what Ford would do again and again in the future. George O’Brien is wonderful in the leading role, and the film almost feels like you’re there in the actual period in which the film takes place. The new score works most of the time – I thought there were a few places where it went off-track (pun intended), but most of it complements the images very well. I’m now looking forward to the other Ford silent films, as well as a bunch of the talkies that I’ve never seen. This set is quite something to see – a nice book, a scrapbook style holder for all twenty-four films, souvenir books, and the documentary housed in its own slim line case. All housed in a huge box. It’s pricey, but if you love John Ford it’s sort of a must-have.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got to get my nose back to the grindstone or have an affair to remember, whichever comes first.
Today, I have a lot of stuff to catch up on, and a bunch of errands to do, and this evening I’m seeing some sort of musical revue based around the songs of Gene Pitney. It’s entitled Town Without Pity and I’m very much looking forward to it.
I know I have something to do tomorrow, some lunch or meeting or something, but I cannot remember what and I apparently didn’t write it down, and I can only hope that someone calls and reminds me about what it is.
The rest of the week is filled with meetings and meals, and I must go back to that barbecue place.
I’ve also been listening to a plethora of new Bernard Herrmann film music rerecordings – Fahrenheit 451, Mysterious Island, and North By Northwest. I think they all tried to beat each other to the punch, which is why we have all three releases (the first two from a new label, and the latter from Varese Sarabande) at the same time. For the most part, all three are very good – I have little nitpicky caveats on Fahrenheit and North By Northwest, but it’s only because I know those scores so well. But, for Herrmann freaks, it’s nirvana.
Now wait just a darned minute. We’d all better put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, we’d all better break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, we’d all better dance the Hora or the Bollywood Twist, because today is the birthday of dear reader MBarnum, or, as we like to call him, MBollywood. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader MBarnum aka MBollywood. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO MBARNUM AKA MBOLLYWOOD!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, catch up, do errands, and see a show. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite silent films? And what was the first silent film you ever saw, when was it, and what did you think of it? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as we all put our collective noses to the collective grindstones and have various and sundried affairs to remember.