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March 25, 2010:

EXOTIC MUSIC

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, at long last a day off. And I do mean a day off. I don’t mean at long last a day on, I mean at long last a day off. What does a day off mean? It means a day off, that’s what it means. In other words, darling kiss me. I shall not have long telephonic calls, I may or may not answer the barrage of e-mails I know will arrive, I will not read and/or proof anything. I will have a ME day. The fact is, I had about a third of a ME day yesterday, which was quite lovelier than lovely. I’m listening to exotic music as I type these here notes and I’m feeling I should join the French Foreign Legion right now. Said exotic music is for a potential upcoming Kritzerland release and I quite like this exotic music. Where was I? Oh, yes, the third of a ME day. I got up a little earlier than planned, but still got a reasonable night’s sleep. I then answered e-mails, after which I had a short meeting with our stage manager. After that, I had some bacon and eggs and then did some errands and whatnot. After that, I came home and did some work on the computer and then I began my ME day by sitting on the couch like so much fish.

Yesterday, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The African Queen, starring Mr. Humphrey Bogart and Miss Katherine Hepburn, directed by Mr. John Huston, and written by Mr. Huston, James Agee, and Peter Viertel. Believe it or not, I had never seen this motion picture entertainment before. Oh, I’d seen scenes from it but never the entire film. Sometimes it is quite wonderful to have a classic like this be fresh and new to one’s eyeballs and it is a classic. It’s very entertaining, funny, suspenseful, thrilling, with two amazing movie star performances the likes of which we will never see again. Add to that the great Jack Cardiff Technicolor photography, a good score by Allan Gray (the latter two “borrowed” from Powell and Pressburger), on location filming, and everything just works perfectly. The film was restored last year and we all know how wildly different restorations can be. But I’m happy to report that this one is superb – the detail and clarity is astonishing, and thankfully they got the color just right – this is exactly what three-strip Technicolor looked like back then. If you’re a fan of the film the Blu-Ray is a no-brainer. If you don’t have a Blu-Ray, this same transfer just came out on DVD as well. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

After the film, I did a little work on our rehearsal schedule, sent a few e-mails, and, of course, listened to exotic music. One simply cannot have enough exotic music. Now I want to watch Morocco. Oh, yeah, I also watched the one hour “documentary” about the making of The African Queen. They have some good people in it, and some good tales are told, but as usual these silly people who do these things think they’re making these for eighth-graders – so, for example, if someone says, the river was beautiful, they cut to newly shot footage of – a river! If they’re talking about ants, they cut to newly shot footage of – ants! It’s just so stupid.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must go to bed and sleep the sleep of a tired Jew.

Today, as noted, will be a day off. Perhaps I’ll do nothing but listen to exotic music. Perhaps I’ll jog. Perhaps I’ll have something fun to eat, like barbecue. Perhaps I’ll go hither and thither and maybe, just maybe, yon. Perhaps I’ll watch two or three motion pictures on Blu and Ray. Perhaps I’ll do none of the above. We shall see.

Tomorrow, it’s back to work with a vengeance. I must paper block the long musical – this will probably take most of tomorrow and a lot of the weekend, but it’s the only way to be prepared for what will be a lot of material to block in virtually about twelve hours. So, the more prepared I am, the better. I am keeping the evenings open for now.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, perhaps jog, perhaps eat, and perhaps relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite films of Bogart. And Katherine Hepburn? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I let the soundtrack of my day off be exotic music.

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