Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle having a bi-sexual relationship with a giraffe and a kangaroo. Well, that was outré, wasn’t it? Did you know that kangaroo, for example, is ooragnak spelled backwards? Just asking. The Gazelle, The Giraffe, and The Kangaroo – that’s the title of my next novel, a story of fantasy in the netherworld of the Kingdom of Org or, in this Internet age, the Kingdom of .Org. I have lost my train of thought or, at the very least, my airplane of thought. I’m quite sure I had something to write about, but now, whatever it was, it has slipped into the ether never to return. So, I shall start anew and afresh and anow. A one an’ a two an’ a three – what am I Lawrence Welk all of a sudden? Don’t we miss Lawrence Welk? I miss performers like him and Liberace and Korla Pandit and their ilk. It was fun when we had performers like that. I have gone off on a tangent, a Lawrence Welk tangent. Perhaps we should all get up right now and dance the Champagne Polka. I ask you, where is Myron Floren when you need him? Furthermore, I ask you where else on all the Internet can you read such a sentence as “where is Myron Floren when you need him?” Well, I have the answer to that question, you doubting Thomases and doubting Winifreds. Where is Myron Floren when you need him? Why right here, playing the Champagne Polka. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwtYdGioC2Y. Wasn’t that exhilarating? I’m filled with polka energy right now and wish I could go outside and hit someone. But instead, I think I shall write some notes – some champagne notes.
I had quite a pleasantly pleasant day yesterday. It began in the usual way, with me getting up. I did not feel like jogging and therefore I did not jog. What I did do was go pick up a Fed Ex package that had arrived for me. After that, I did some work on the computer and took care of some business, and then I went to the tape transfer place to transfer some tapes. Because these were archival tapes from the archive of a composer, the archivist brought them and had to be there whilst they were transferred. He was a very nice chap and we had a nice chat during the two hours it took to transfer the two tapes. I thought this might be a difficult thing to put together, but we lucked out in that the composer had assembled a proposed album master – that tape sounded fine and was in film order. The second tape had slightly better quality and was the takes used for the album assembly but a generation closer to the scoring tapes. If we use those, we just have to edit out the slates and stuff. I leave that up to our mastering engineer. After that, I came home briefly, then went and had a sandwich and onion rings. Then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching a Blu and Ray entitled Logan’s Run. It’s an amusingly 70s film made just before Star Wars changed everything. The effects are very old-fashioned and somewhat charming, the script is not so good, and the actors are fine. Jerry Goldsmith’s score works very hard to make the film more than it is and occasionally he succeeds, but there are some really cheesy synthesizer cues that are not up to his usual standards – in fact, they are at the bottom of the rung. Michael York is a very thin Logan, a sandman whose job it is to kill runners – people who try to escape living in the Dome because their life clock is running out as they approach thirty. Are you with me so far? I would like this film if for no other reason than to watch the comely and very wonderful Jenny Agutter. But Peter Ustinov is also around to lend some humor. The transfer is another winner from Warners. There have been a lot of complaints on various boards from the usual dreary armchair experts spouting off as if they actually knew what the HELL they were talking about. This is what the Internet has given us. These people are so unrelentingly ignorant it’s simply laughable, and yet people read these posts, believe them, and don’t buy the Blu-Ray. That just boggles the mind. The complaints have to do with sharpness and grain. Note to armchair experts: Logan’s Run is filled with optical effect shots from start to finish. What does this mean? This means lots of grain in those shots. This means less sharpness in those shots. But let’s just put on our thinking caps, shall we, and try to figure this one out – how come when it cuts to a non-effect shot it’s really REALLY sharp and beautiful-looking? Apparently, none of the armchair experts own thinking caps is the problem. If you like this film you can’t do better than this transfer.
After that, I watched a DVD of the film whose score we transferred today. I’ve actually only seen the film once before – I quite like it. It was not loved at the time of release, but it’s aged quite well and the performances are really excellent and the picture still packs quite a punch. The score is fantastic, and what will be interesting to people is to hear the composer’s original main title, which is really different than the one that replaced it. I actually watched that sequence with the original main title, and I must say one could see why the composer went where he did originally – it apparently wasn’t what the director wanted and it was changed to a completely different feel. The new feel works okay, but the original went with the images much more.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly I have to watch that Lawrence Welk/Myron Floren clip again and dance the Champagne Polka.
Today, I shall be having a business lunch with the MGM lady and we’re going to one of LA’s greatest Mexican jernts, El Cholo. I’d best be doing the long jog this morning, that’s all I know, because I intend to scarf down at least two cheese enchiladas and maybe even a beef taco. I haven’t had Mexican food in quite some time. After that, I have to arrange the date to get the booklets signed, and I have several errands and whatnot to do and new liner notes to begin.
Tomorrow, I have several things to do and then I’m attending the opening night of Baby, It’s You at the Pasadena Playhouse. I will, of course, have a full report.
Not sure what’s happening on the weekend, but I’m pretty sure the booklet signing will have to occur then, and we’ve got to get a lot of packages addressed and stamped.
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 lunch meeting, do errands and whatnot, and then watch a Blu-Ray or three. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first controversial film you ever saw? One where you sat up and realized you were seeing something really different and adult that you’d never seen before? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all do the Champagne Polka.