Well, dear readers, the recurring theme of these here notes for the past few days is that it is late and I must write the notes in a hurry. I like when the recurring theme of these here notes is the theme from The Ten Commandments. It’s quite rousing, as recurring themes go and very majestic in a Biblical sort of way. I also like when the recurring them is from The Donna Reed Show. Of course, I have no clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about, but I’m not going to let that stop me, no siree (eeris, spelled backwards). Speaking of backwards, yesterday was certainly a pleasant day, although no orders came in, and I do prefer a day in which orders come in. I got up rather early, I did a rather early errand, and then I took a rather early two-mile jog. Then I proofed the liner notes of the new Kritzerland release, made a few changes, and then sent them on their merry way. We’re definitely going to wrap the booklet up by the end of the week, and I’m hoping to have the title up for preorder by the end of the week, as well. After that, I did a little magazine reading, I did a couple more errands, I had some telephonic conversations, and then I decided to go to Hugo’s so I could sit down and have a nice meal. Of course, I said I would not be going back there, because I find the whole vibe so obnoxious, but it was five-thirty and I knew it wouldn’t be too crowded, and that proved to be the case. My plan was to have my favorite, Papa’s Eggs, and a small Caesar salad. Unfortunately, Hugo’s has decided they don’t serve Papa’s Eggs at dinner time, even though I’ve gotten them at dinner time many times. I don’t like these annoying changes, and I should have just left, but they were serving Pasta Papa, which is Papa’s Eggs served on top of spaghetti. Now, if they can make Papa’s Eggs to serve on top of spaghetti, I’m hard pressed to understand why they can’t just leave off the spaghetti. But, I think we all know the answer – Pasta Papa is more expensive than Papa’s Eggs. Anyway, I went ahead and had the Pasta Papa and the small Caesar. The Pasta Papa was excellent, but a lot heavier than I’d intended to eat. Still, I’d been eating a 1000 calories or under for the last four days (as usual without losing any more weight – very annoying), so I didn’t mind splurging this evening, especially as it was my one and only intake of food for the day and evening. I was really full, but I think it was a good sort of meal to eat. Plus, the pasta itself was dry, with just the scrambled eggs, sausage bits, and scallions mixed in – no oil, no butter – so, I’m assuming that while it was very filling, it probably wasn’t over 1500 to 2000 calories, and I should at least not gain anything from that amount of calories. After dinner, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I revisited two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture I revisited on DVD was entitled Back To The Future. I hadn’t seen it in a few years, and I must say it’s a wildly entertaining film with an almost perfect screenplay. Bob Gale and Robert Zemekis get everything right in their script – it’s about the characters and situations, and everything else is in service of that. The pace is very fast, yet scenes play out without being over-cut, the jokes never cease to be funny and very clever (the laugh that comes from Marvin Berry calling his brother Chuck, when Marty is playing Johnny B. Goode was one of the biggest laughs I’ve ever heard in a theater – a great, great gag), and the acting could not be better. Michael J. Fox was the perfect choice for Marty (even though Eric Stoltz began the film), Lea Thompson is subtle and very affecting as his mother, Crispin Glover is one of the weirdest actors who ever lived, but it works in this film, and Christopher Lloyd is a wonder as Doc Brown. But everyone is great, right down to the smallest role. Alan Silvestri is a composer I don’t really love, but his score here is very good and propels the film. Amazingly, there are only about thirty-two special effects shots in the entire film – and what a relief and pleasure that is after all this bloody CGI crap one is forced to endure in today’s films. The art direction and photography are great, too. I had a wonderful time watching it again. I then immediately watched the second motion picture I revisited, Back To The Future, Part II. I’d only seen it once before, when it came out, and I didn’t love it back then. I enjoyed it more this time around, but it just isn’t as clever or fun as the first film. Too much time is spent on exposition and explanations, and the film feels weird right from the get-go by having Elizabeth Shue as Marty’s girlfriend, rather than Claudia Wells from the first film. Obviously, they had to reshoot all those ending scenes of the first film with Miss Shue, and it just seems weird. While the non-appearance of Crispin Glover is addressed in the special features (his demands were, apparently, outrageous, and the writers/director passed – he appears only in scenes from the first film), it’s not explained why Miss Wells didn’t return. I found the first third of the film extremely annoying, but at about the halfway mark, it gets more interesting for a while, until it finally ends with the teaser for the third film, which was shot concurrently with this one, and which I shall watch tomorrow (I remember really not liking the third one, so I’m interested to see how I feel now, all these years later). The transfers are both fine, and I’m sure when they’re released on Blu-Ray they’ll look better.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst we all sing the recurring theme of Tammy, from Tammy and the Bachelor.
Today, I have no plans, other than jogging, doing a bit of writing, and trying to lock down the schedules for our music rehearsal this week. I also have to map out the rehearsal schedule for next Saturday and Sunday. And I’ll eat a light repast today.
Tomorrow and the rest of the week will be filled with rehearsals, trying to avoid minefields, and putting feelers out to performers for this benefit in December. It’s going to be a busy little week, and I hope I can indeed avoid the minefields enough to get through it without too too much stress.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, do a bit of writing, figure out schedules, and plan rehearsals. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let’s let this week’s recurring theme be sending all the excellent vibes and xylophones you can.