Well, dear readers, I am listening to rousing music as I write these here notes, and therefore I feel these here notes should be rousing. The only problem with that is that I can barely keep my eyes open, I’m worried Dr. Chew will be sticking a needle in my cheek, and I am sitting here like so much fish, and it’s hard to be rousing in a solo setting. Other than that, I shall make these notes a rousing experience. How I will make them rousing is another story – a rousing story. Shouldn’t one be on a horse if one is to be rousing and have a galloping grand adventure? I just looked around the home environment and there is no horse, so I don’t see how I can have a galloping grand adventure. What the HELL am I talking about? Well, perhaps I will speak of my adventure-filled yesterday. For example, I got up. That was rousing. I did the long jog, and then I had to return some tapes to the MGM tape vault, where I picked up three tapes for a potential upcoming project. I then drove to the transfer studio where we looked at the three tapes. One box said stereo and had several takes of a handful of cues – in other words, about twelve minutes of usable music. The other two boxes said mono and, according to the logs, were merely what was on the stereo tape. We put up the stereo tape and it was absolutely amazing-sounding – gorgeous stereo recording of a mono film – why stereo is anyone’s guess. And the music was heartbreakingly beautiful – to a film I only saw for the first time in the last couple of months. We’ll be checking out the two mono tapes because they could end up being something other than what the box says – that’s happened several times. I’ve also asked the powers that be to see if they can dig a little deeper and try to find what is probably two other stereo tapes – I think the score in the film runs between thirty and thirty-five minutes. But I’ve already decided that no matter what I will find a way to issue these twelve minutes if that’s all we can find – I just have to find an appropriate album where they’d make sense – either a film by the same composer, same director, producer, whatever – anything to tie it together. There are a couple of other soundtracks by this composer that I could reissue (they’ve been on CD before but are out of print now), but neither is appropriate for this music. So, we shall see. After that, I came back to the Valley and did some errands and whatnot and picked up two packages – many more due. Then I went to my favorite barbecue jernt and had some hot links and fries – very yummilicious. I then came home, answered scads of e-mails, had a few telephonic conversations, and then sat on my couch like so much fish, tired from all my rousing adventurous adventures.
Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD – yes, DVD, have you heard of it? The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Don’t Talk To Strange Men, a quota quickie from the UK, circa 1962 – what we would have called a programmer here, or a bottom half of a double bill. The film runs a brisk sixty-two minutes and I liked it quite a lot. It’s a very low budget affair, with no musical score at all, and yet it manages to be very suspenseful. The lead gal, Christina Gregg, is really fetching and a good actress, and it’s always grand fun to see Dandy Nichols. The region two transfer is, unfortunately, open matte, but the quality is quite good and I’m glad I saw it. I then watched what is surely one of the all-time stinkeroos ever made – an abomination called Endless Love, directed by Franco Zefferelli, starring Brooke Shields, and a lot of actors who should have known better, including Shirley Knight, Don Murray, Richard Kiley, and Beatrice Straight. The film also features really early performances by James Spader (here billed as Jimmy), and, in a one-scene bit part, Tom Cruise, whose voice is at least an octave higher than it is now. Miss Shields, while cute, is not so good (I’ve liked here elsewhere) – and in one scene she is so irritating that I almost hurled my shoe at the TV. The leading man, newcomer Martin Hewitt, is, well, let’s just say he deserved his Razzie Award nomination. Mr. Zeferelli’s prime interest, it would seem, was to show Mr. Hewitt’s ASS as many times as possible (he seems to not have much interest in showing much of anything of Miss Shields or any other female, if you get my meaning), and takes every opportunity to have Mr. Spader shirtless. Mr. Cruise’s brief scene finds him in the tiniest jeans shorts imaginable, and my guess is that Mr. Zefferelli had a hand in the men’s wardrobe, if you get my meaning. The dialogue is hideous, the pace leaden, and considering it’s Mr. Zefferelli, it’s a little shocking to find no visual style whatsoever. The title song is catchy and was a hit, and the film has an interesting score by Jonathan Tunick. At two hours, it was a real endurance test, but I stuck it out to the bitter end. I understand that the novel on which the film is based is quite good.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must try to get a good night’s sleep so I can gird my adventurous loins in case Dr. Chew whips out the big needle, and that is NOT a metaphor.
If I should arise by seven, I may try to do at least some version of the jog – if not, then I’ll have a day off. I’ll then go to Dr. Chew and get my official crown (and I hope that’s ALL that happens – so excellent vibes and xylophones for no big needle and Novocain). After that, I purposely planned nothing else because these dentist visits really take it out of me.
Tomorrow, I go HD-TV, so I’ll have to be home between eight and noon. Then I’ll have a lot of errands and whatnot and maybe even a meeting. Friday, I have a work session, and I think the weekend will be pretty clear.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog (time permitting), I must visit Dr. Chew, I must get a permanent crown, I must do just a couple of errands and whatnot, and then I must take a half-day off. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, and do make them rousing posts, won’t you?