Well, dear readers, all I have to say is Shipoopi. That is because as I type these here notes Shipoopi is playing in the background. I decided to take out the Telarc version of the score – I’d forgotten how bad some of it is, but the orchestrations (a mix of the stage and film) sound great, the tempos are so weird they defy sense, it features both Being In Love and My White Knight and it has no pizzazz and none of the punch of the Broadway cast album or film soundtrack. What it does have is all the dance music (from the film) and I love hearing that. But, you know what you’re in for when Doc Severinson is playing Marcellus. A curio, but it is better than the Matthew Broderick TV version (a high school production would be better). There are also a surprising amount of incorrect lyrics, which is very sloppy. I think next I’ll play the London version with Van Johnson. I hope Shipoopi is on there. One simply cannot have enough Shipoopi. Frankly, it put a smile on my face when I began these here notes. Yes, I’m like a grinning gizmo and all because of Shipoopi. Long live Shipoopi. What the HELL am I talking about? I just wrote an entire paragraph wherein I talked about Shipoopi. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you find such a paragraph? Nowhere, that’s where. Speaking of nowhere, yesterday was an odd little day. I got up early and did the long jog, which was easier than usual, and brisker than usual. I came back to a nice reorder from an online store for Scent Of Mystery – of course, I haven’t been paid for the first 240 they bought, but they tell me the check is on its way. I packed that up, along with three other orders and took them to the postal office and dropped them in the big parcel slot. After that, I went to the mail place and picked up some mail and a couple of small packages, then got a turkey sandwich from Subway. That was ordinary (I’m really getting tired of Subway). Then I tried to have the brief annoying telephonic call, but the person was out. I left a message about when to get me, but I didn’t get a call back. I was later told that the person attempted to call me right back, but I was very clear that I couldn’t be reached for an hour after I left the message, and not only that, this person didn’t leave a message, so I guess I was supposed to divine that he called back. I’ll be having the brief conversation this morning and hopefully it won’t be too too annoying. And might I just add – Shipoopi. After that, I was on my way to have a short work session with Mr. Sean McDermott and Mr. John Boswell. We did our work very fast and we’re much happier with the arrangement of the problematic song – it should work better now. After that, I stopped at Gelson’s and got some fruit and a miniscule amount of crab salad, and that was my evening snack (along with a few sour cream and onion rice cake things – low-cal, low-fat). After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched part of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, a new DVD version from BFI in the UK. I was really hoping for a brand new transfer, as the last DVD, both from France and the US used a transfer done in 1996 when the film was restored. I don’t think the film was truly restored in the sense that most films are truly restored – I think they just made up a few new prints off a new internegative. I saw it when the restoration played LA and wasn’t too impressed – I owned a 16mm scope IB Technicolor print – that was impressive. The colors, while fine, didn’t pop as they should and the whole thing was slightly lackluster, which it most assuredly shouldn’t have been. The restoration was supervised by the widow Demy, filmmaker Agnes Varda, but I think her husband would not have been thrilled with the results of her labor. Sadly, the BFI uses the same master – it’s a little sharper here and some of it does look a teeny bit better, but it needs a fresh hi-def transfer with a little color tweaking. As to the film, I find it a wonderful film and always have (I’ve written about it here several times so no need to rehash my opinions). I also watched the 1993 hour-long documentary on the then 25th anniversary of the film. It’s a very good documentary, filled with home movies taken on the set (in color and black-and-white) and then-contemporaneous interviews with the townspeople of Rochefort, who reminisce about the filming. All in all, an enjoyable evening of viewing.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst we all say in unison: Shipoopi.
Did you know that Shipoopi is Ipoopihs spelled backwards? Today, I shall do an early morning long jog, then have the annoying (and brief) telephonic conversation, and then do a bunch of errands and whatnot, plus do some work on the computer.
At seven, I’ll be joining Mr. David Wechter for a meal, and we’ll be going over the Brain contract so I can get them our very inconsequential notes, and then we’ll be discussing David’s thoughts on the Nudie Musical adaptation. I’m very much looking forward to it.
Tomorrow I have no idea what’s going on. I think I have something to do or some work to finish but I can’t remember what it is right now. Saturday will be our first LACCTAA event, with my pal Barbara Deutsch. Again, if you’re an LA dear reader or lurker and want to attend, drop me a line asap. Barbara’s incredible and it’s going to be a great workshop. It begins at eleven and ends at three-thirty and I recommend it strongly, especially as the fee to attend is a mere ten bucks instead of the $150 plus you’d have to spend if she was doing one of her regular workshops.
I’ve also settled on the date for my book signing/reading – it will be on Saturday, October 4th at two o’clock at Mystery and Imagination Books in Glendale. I do hope that some of our West Coast dear readers and lurkers will attend and yes there will be Parisienne cake afterwards.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, have a brief and hopefully not too annoying telephonic conversation, do errands and whatnot, and then have a working meal with Mr. David Wechter. Today’s topic of discussion: I love foreign films and always have – what are your all-time favorite foreign films? That includes any film made outside the United States of America not by an American company. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let’s all sing a rousing chorus of Shipoopi right this very minute.