Well, dear readers, we had us a little heated discussion around these here parts yesterday, and I will say that it was clearly instigated by the likes of me and I’m glad that I did it, frankly and even stevely. It resulted in some interesting by-play, some annoying by-play, and some stimulating by-play. Then the heat evaporated and it was calm, cool, and collected. I appreciated all comments, even ones that were incorrect. And now I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the evil eye will be here all too soon and soon too all and I must make some attempt at a good night’s sleep. Hence, I shall post these here notes early and hit the road to dreamland. Yesterday, was a nice day. I had a really good night’s sleep, and then I answered e-mails and then picked up the new draft for the long musical, after which I decided to go to the Kansas City Barbecue for barbecue. I ordered something I’d never ordered before, at least together – a trio platter of ribs, one hot link, and some shredded chicken. By the end of rib one I was ready to burst. I ate all three ribs, only a couple of bite of the chicken (which wasn’t that hot), and about two-thirds of the link (which was hot and great). A couple of bites of baked beans and some sweet potato fries and I thought I was going to explode. Had I, this is what you would have heard: “One Adam 12, see the man – exploded.” After that, I picked up a few packages (not real packages, though – supplies), and then I came home to the home environment, where I did some work on the computer. After that, I decided to just sit on the couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I finished watching the Blu and Ray of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. What a wildly entertaining film it is, and one that was quite influential on world cinema, the most famous example being Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, which is Yojimbo with spaghetti. It was such a blatant clone, in fact, that Kurosawa sued and won. The look of the film, in black and white and scope, is fantastic and pure Kurosawa. And the score by Masaru Sato is one of the greats. As mentioned yesterday, the transfer is gorgeous and perfect. After that, I watched a motion picture on DVD, another Warner Archive title entitled Saint Joan, a film of Otto Preminger, starring Jean Seberg. This was one of the few Preminger films I’d never seen, even though I’ve always wanted to. This release looks pretty good, and it’s a very interesting film with a very nice performance from Miss Seberg, as well as John Gielgud, Richard Todd, Felix Aylmer, Harry Andrews, Anton Walbrook, and many others. The oddest performance in the film is given by Richard Widmark, playing childish and fey – he does a very good job of both. The score by Mischa Spoliansky is wonderful. The screenplay (from the play by George Bernard Shaw herein called Bernard Shaw) is by Graham Greene).
I then began watching a third motion picture, this, too, a Warner Archive DVD entitled The Picasso Summer, a film I’ve always wanted to see because I always wondered just how bad a film had to be to be shelved and released straight to TV in 1969. Well, it’s pretty much that bad, although it’s hard to tell just how bad or good the film’s original intentions were, since the director was obviously not involved in the horrendous post-production meddling. In fact, the original director was Serge Bourguignon, the man who made the masterful Sundays and Cybele. But apparently he was a one trick pony, because this and The Reward are pretty much unwatchable films. In fact, he is not credited on the film at all – the credit goes to someone named Robert Sallin, whose claim to fame was being one of four producers on Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan. Whatever his contribution (and one suspects it is mostly the almost incoherent editing of the film), I’m sure he made the film even worse than it was. The stars are Albert Finney and Yvette Mimieux (looking gorgeous), and France. The photography by Vilmos Zsigmond is stunning, and the score by Michel Legrand is lush (and includes one of his best tunes, eventually turned into a song called Summer Me, Winter Me). Interestingly, the opening Warner Bros. logo reads Warner Bros. Television. I’ve actually only ever seen one other film that was shelved – something called Fade Out (or Fade In, can’t remember) with Burt Reynolds, shot concurrently with Blue. I saw it at a sneak preview and there wasn’t a person in the theater by the time it was through, save for me. That never saw the light of day until some TV showings.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’m going to get these here notes posted early because, after all, the early bird catches the worm, and I’ve a hankerin’ to catch me some worms.
Are we really heading towards the end of March? Holy moley on rye. Today, I shall be up early and then doing some errands and whatnot, after which I shall return to do some paper blocking and some organizing. Then some actors are coming to pick up scripts here, and that will continue through the afternoon. One of those actors will be Mr. Barry Pearl and then he and his ever-lovin’ Cindy and I will be going to some place called The Steak Joint or something like that. I really don’t want to eat that much meat, so I’m guessing I’ll have fish or chicken, but I’ll probably sneak a bite of someone’s steak – I actually haven’t had a steak in I don’t know how long – maybe over a year. After that, I’ll come home and do some more work on the script blocking.
Tomorrow, we were going to be addressing packages but I screwed up and don’t have enough boxes to cover the orders. Those will arrive on Monday and I’ve asked my helper if she can change days. If not, we’ll do as many as we can on Sunday and I’ll have to do the rest by myself on Monday.
And then the week if filled with rehearsals for the long musical. While I will give an occasional perfunctory report, given the posts of yesterday, I will not be saying much about it at all.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, paper block, hand out scripts, and sup. Today’s topic of discussion: We haven’t had a good art discussion in eons. So, who are your favorite artists, and of those favorites, whose paintings have you actually seen in person? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as I post the notes early and hit the road to dreamland so that I, the early bird, can catch the fershluganah worm.