Well, dear readers, our long Labor Day weekend is in its final day, and then it will be back to work, so let us all enjoy the finale of the Labor Day weekend by stopping and smelling the roses or the coffee or the canned salmon. Not JUST the canned salmon, mind you, but the canned Sockeye salmon. What is Sockeye salmon anyway? I don’t know why it just popped into Ye Olde Cranium, but I remember always being amused by the Sockeye. Why am I talking about canned salmon, Sockeye or otherwise? And should Sockeye be capitalized? Is it a proper name? A city? A state of mind? What the HELL is Sockeye or even sockeye? However, what better way to welcome in the month of September than by talking about Sockeye/sockeye salmon. Speaking of Sockeye or sockeye, yesterday was a day in which I didn’t do much of anything. Oh, I got up, I did the long jog, I visited Cinecon and delivered five Scent Of Mystery CDs to a dealer, I ate stupid food from Gelson’s for my meal o’ the day (three chicken tenders, a small amount of lobster salad, and a small amount of some sort of chicken and noodles in glop hot food) – what a complete waste of a meal. I think, given the long jog, that it was diet-friendly, but what a bunch of mediocre food it was. Otherwise, I just listened to various and sundried CDs, and watched some motion pictures on DVD.
Yesterday, I watched some motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Five Fingers, starring Mr. James Mason, Mr. Michael Rennie, and Miss Danielle Darrieux. I’d never seen it before, and I must say I found it a wonderful motion picture entertainment, a fast-moving espionage thriller with a terrific screenplay by Michael Wilson, and excellent direction by Joseph Mankiewicz. I loved the performance of character actor Oskar Karlweis, and also the performance of John Wengraf, who played more Nazis than almost any actor. I do love these sorts of films, especially when they have such good actors as James Mason starring – I really feel that Mr. Mason was one of the greatest of all screen actors – young actors today could learn much from watching him, but they’d rather whisper and mumble and be completely boring in the guise of being real. Mr. Mason was a master at being real, but he’s also interesting, has a great voice, and you can HEAR him. The score by Bernard Herrmann is also excellent. The transfer on this Spanish import DVD is very good. The second motion picture on DVD was entitled The Big Racket, one of those Euro-crime films, this one directed by Enzo Castellari, he of Inglorious Bastards fame. It’s a cheesy version of Dirty Harry meets Death Wish, but without the emotional underpinnings of those films and without a pretense of character development. As is usually the case with these Euro-crime thrillers, they brought in an American actor to do a small role, in this case the wonderful Vincent Gardenia. It would appear that he had a very good time doing it, and he certainly looks like he’s having fun, but unfortunately in the American dub of the film his voice is dubbed by some other actor who sounds nothing like him, and it ruins his performance. There’s a lot of killing, some nasty sex stuff, and it all moves along quickly. The transfer is okay, as is the sound. I then watched a TCM Private Screenings interview with Tony Curtis. Shot in 1999, it was pre Mr. Osborne’s facial surgery and weight loss. Mr. Curtis has on a very high hair piece, but is fun to watch as he goes through his career (although, annoyingly, they skip so many films it would be fun to hear about) – he’s very candid, doesn’t lack for ego, and has some frank things to say about his ex-wife Janet Leigh and his drug and alcohol addictions of the 70s and early 80s.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because all I can think about right now is canned Sockeye/sockeye salmon.
Can you believe that it’s September? We’re in the final four months of the year and I just don’t know how that happened. Still, we are hoping that September will be a great month for one and all and also all and one. Frankly, I think we should make September Sockeye Salmon month.
Today, I shall, of course, do the long jog (very difficult the last few days), watch a movie or three, and then attend a Labor Day partay at neighbor Tony Slide and Bob Gitt’s home environment. They always put out a nice spread, but I’m not sure how much I’ll actually partake – last time I was there, I didn’t eat much of anything.
This week will be filled with meetings, telephonic calls, meals, and then our first LACCTAA event on Saturday. If you’re a West Coast dear reader or lurker, I really encourage you to join us for The Barbara Deutsch Approach – she’s an amazing motivational speaker who works with actors, writers, and big corporations to get people focused and on track with what they actually need to do to realize the important things that aren’t being realized. Normally her seminars would cost $150 and up, but this is only ten bucks to get in (my dictum was to keep these events affordable for everyone). The event begins at eleven and ends at three-thirty (there will be a thirty minute break), and you can make reservations by dropping a line to lacctaa@yahoo.com.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, watch a DVD or three, and attend a Labor Day partay. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s everyone’s favorite, The Initials Game™. You know the drill – you’re on the honor system – no looking things up on the Internet or in books – you must know the person you’re listing and you can look them up if you’re just making sure they’re who you think they are and to spell their name correctly. Celebrities, sports figures, characters in books, plays, or movies, cartoon characters, etc. And today’s initials are, J.D. I think those are going to be a lot of fun. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all go out and buy a can of Sockeye Salmon in September.