Well, dear readers, I have clean, sparkly teeth, but am not through with visits to the dentist. It’s not that my teeth aren’t in good shape; they are, despite the fact that I have let a considerable amount of time pass from my last visit. I had no cavities, which is always good news. But, as I suspected four weeks ago, I did break a small piece off one of my lower back teeth – I figured it was that or a filling had come loose, and actually it was a combo platter of both. So, he’ll put a porcelain crown on that tooth. Then, my last two top rear teeth on my left side have a huge gap between them now – that’s happened during this gap where I haven’t been to the dentist. Apparently one tooth moved – perhaps the other tooth was hurling vile epithets at it. In any case, Dr. Chew feels we must put a crown on one of those teeth to close the gap, so that no further problems happen and so that the gums there don’t have problems. And then one other tooth has an ancient filling that’s coming out, so we’ll be fixing all these problems over the next eight weeks. I’d prefer it not to take that long, but Dr. Chew is quite the most popular dentist and he’s quite booked up. The cleaning of the teeth was a bit excruciating, because there had been quite a lot of tartar buildup during my absence from Dr. Chew, despite the fact that I floss twice a day and brush at least twice, if not three times. So, he had to use some ultra-sonic whirring pick to get at the tartar and let me tell you it was pretty painful, what with him going high into the gums. High Into The Gums – that’s the title of my next novel. In any case, my teeth and gums are now quite sore and sensitive and I suspect they’ll remain that way for a couple of days. After the dentist, I came home and answered e-mails, did some more work on the new lyric, and then, because I’d left the day free, decided to take my painful gums and teeth and treat them to a motion picture entertainment. So, I toddled off to the El Capitan, Disney’s Hollywood showplace theater, to see the new Pixar movie, Up. I hadn’t been to the El Capitan in I don’t know how long – maybe even as far back as the work print screening of Beauty and The Beast, prior to that film’s release. I may have been there one time after that, although I have no real memory to back that up. I treated myself to a VIP ticket, which is about eight bucks more than the standard ticket, but you get a reserved seat in a special section all your own, and a free drink and popcorn. So, no standing on line, no having to be there early – I quite liked that. There was about a third of a house, mostly made up of very young children in various groups. They were quite unruly, mainly because parents today don’t instill in their children the knowledge that you should shut the hell up in a movie theater because – wait for it – you are not at home and there are other people who are there to watch the film and not listen to chattering children. I took my reserved seat, and then a woman and her three children sat down right next to me. Her kids never shut up the entire film and she thought that was just fine. I shushed them a few times and they finally moved down the row as their mother mumbled, “That man is grumpy.” Yeah, right. And you, dear woman, are just another entitled idiot who thinks they can do whatever they want whenever they want, no matter how it annoys others who have also paid their money. Once the film began, the groups of children were relatively well-behaved, save for one loud exodus where twenty kids got up with an adult and went to the bathroom. Amazing. Because, you know, it’s so hard to sit for a whole eighty minutes. And then there was the man three rows ahead of me who kept opening his bright cell phone to text and read messages. I finally spoke to an usher about it, but the usher could never catch the guy in the act. It’s just so annoying, but, you know, this type of behavior from an “adult” is why kids do whatever they want. Prior to the show, they have a nice thing they do with multiple curtains and lights, then they showed several trailers, all in 3-D. That was fun. The groups of kids screamed loudly every time one of the 3-D effects happened. Then they had a little stage show with two singers, very loud backing tracks and about twelve dancers. The very long song they sang was quite bad and the whole vibe and staging was like something we’d done four years ago with The Party Animals. The kids seemed to enjoy it. And then, finally, it was movie time.
Let’s get the 3-D out of the way first. Boy, have they made fantastic advances in 3-D projection. First of all, it’s great not to have the red and blue glasses. Second of all, even though the glasses do rob the film of some brightness, it’s really minimal, and the colors seem to come through pretty well. Up, unlike most of these 3-D films that are no better than what they were doing in 1953 by having people throw things at the camera constantly, takes its three dimensions very subtly – I don’t really recall any scene where they purposely made you feel like it was a 3-D trick. No, here it’s just got three dimensions and it’s quite well done but not really necessary and the film will play wonderfully in 2-D. But I was very impressed with how far they’ve brought along the technology. As to the film, well, it’s another masterpiece from Pixar and I’d rank it right up there with my favorite, Wall*E. The film opens with a young boy and girl meeting – it’s a real meet cute in the classic style, and then we have a ten-minute sequence with no dialog where you watch their relationship grow – they marry, try to have kids, and live their lives, all in this absolutely brilliant montage, which is so touching and heartfelt that it brought a tear to my eye. I don’t know any other studio that would have had the chutzpah to do a sequence like that, which not only had joy, but also sadness – you know, real life. And I don’t know any other studio that would have the chutzpah to have as their protagonist a close to eighty-year-old man. But they do have the chutzpah and it pays off at every turn. The film is funny, beautiful, wonderfully paced, touching, thrilling – it’s got it all. The musical score by Michael Giacchino works really well, and the voices, led by Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer (really the only name actors involved), are all perfection. The characters are all as three-dimensional as the 3-D. While it’s not really a film for little kids, the little kids in the audience were mostly very attentive in the more dramatic scenes, and they did get a kick out of the funny scenes. It’s another Pixar film to treasure, and I, for one, will have the Blu-Ray the day it’s released. Highly recommended by the likes of me.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because my teeth and gums are sore and sensitive and I really need my beauty sleep.
After the movie, I went to Hugo’s and had pasta papa, which was easy to eat and not hard on Ye Olde Teethe. I then came home and watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Towering Inferno, which is still a fun disaster picture, although it does lumber along for a whopping 165 minutes, which is about thirty minutes too long to lumber. I do love Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, so they’re fun to watch. I don’t like to see William Holden in this kind of role, but he’s good, as is almost everybody else. The effects are still pretty solid considering they were done long before CGI. And the score by John Williams is a corker. As to the Blu-Ray, well, it’s certainly not the sharpest I’ve ever seen, but the color’s fine and it’s certainly acceptable but really should look sharper with more detail. I’m sure they used the same transfer they created for the last DVD – or maybe they did a new one, but it’s just a hair soft for a Blu-Ray. The sound, which is mastered a bit low, is quite punchy once you raise the volume.
Today, it’s liner notes time – I must finish them and get them to the designer. And I hope to hear our new master by next Monday. I also have to run errands and whatnot and do a few other things, including hopefully picking up some errant and truant packages.
Tomorrow, it’s more of the same, and Saturday I’ll be attending the Hollywood Show, and then hopefully going to Mr. Geissman’s to do the book design. If not, I’m sure we’ll do it on Sunday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, I must write liner notes, pick up packages, do errands and whatnot, and eat something easy to chew. Today’s topic of discussion: I love book covers, especially paperback book covers from the classic age, but also great dust jacket covers. What are your all-time favorite paperback and hardback book covers – those that made picking up the book a must? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I begin writing my new novel, High Into The Gums.