Well, dear readers, it was sunny, it rained, it didn’t rain, it rained. What am I, a weatherman all of a sudden? I predict today shall be sunny/rainy with a chance of rainy/sunny, some low clouds followed by some high clouds. The high clouds will make fun of the low clouds whilst dancing the Lambada (The Forbidden Dance). The high clouds will then be arrested for smoking the marijuana cigarettes and then there will only be the low clouds. The precipitation will precipitate at precisely the time precipitation usually precipitates. Then we shall have gusts of wind from the northeast and winds of gust from the southwest. Then the northeast gusts and southwest winds will meet and play pinochle. There is also a tsunami alert and an alert tsunami is a tsunami that knows what its doing. I do hope my weather report is accurate – if not, blame it on the bossa nova, blame it on rio, put the blame on mame, but don’t blame me. Well, that was a fine waste of a paragraph, wasn’t it? But it got the ball rolling and did cause the clouds to get high on the marijuana cigarettes, the Mary Jane, the blunt, the bogie, the reefer, the doobie. As for me, I had a pretty nice day yesterday. I had a somewhat sleepless night due to some tummy problems, but I was fine by morning and by morning I was fine, not necessarily in that order. I didn’t get enough sleep, of course, but maybe this weekend I shall catch up on sleep. I got up, answered e-mails, including an annoying one that I answered twice, each time more tersely. If these people write me another e-mail that annoys me, I will simply not respond. I then went to the Hills of Beverly to have a lunch meeting and a very productive and fun meeting it was. It certainly has resulted in three new Kritzerland projects, and on top of that it was Nate ‘n’ Al’s and I had a splendidly splendid New York – pastrami on rye with cole slaw and Russian dressing. I had a side of onion rings, too, and those were quite yummilicious. I then came back to the Valley, picked up three count them three packages (but still not the particular one I’ve really been anxious to get – but that one is coming from Spain), I did some banking, some errands and whatnot, and then I prepared everything for our new Kritzerland announcement. That was one of the e-mails I came home to – approval on the packaging, which happened in one day – that was very pleasing. After all that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched this week’s episode of Lost. As I said, I’m with it until the bitter end, but I didn’t think much of the episode, save for a couple of good moments. The alternate timeline has simply become, for me, irritating and I really want them to get on with whatever they’re doing. And I really wish the network would dispense with that pompous voiceover telling us in hushed and heated tones “questions will be answered.” No questions were answered. And that same obnoxious voice does all the ABC promos – and I’m so tired of hearing “this week’s all-new episode – secrets will be uncovered, mysteries will be solved” blah, blah, blah. It’s such a bloody bore. TV has always been about hucksterism, but the hucksterism of today has reached epic proportions and is nothing like the hucksterism of yesteryear. I then watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Clash Of The Titans. I didn’t care for it when it came out, and time has done nothing to change my opinion. It’s a good fifteen minutes too long, and most unpardonably, too much of it is a crashing bore, with endless chatter. But I do like the Ray Harryhausen animation, and Judy Bowker is easy on the eyes. The score by Laurence Rosenthal does not help the film at all – they clearly wanted a John Williams Star Wars type sound, and it just doesn’t work – all one need do is listen to any of the Herrmann/Harryhausen scores to know what is really called for. The film has always looked terrible, due to lousy film stocks, and the fact that ninety percent of the film is optical effects of one sort or another. Now, I went and read several “reviews” on several DVD/Blu-Ray websites and not a one of these brainiacs understands about the film. They all think it would suddenly look much better if a full restoration was performed. Unfortunately, these wags don’t know what the HELL they’re going on about, but that sure doesn’t stop them from pontificating as if they did. You could perform ten perfect restorations on this film and it would never look better than the transfer on this Blu-Ray, which is, in fact, PERFECT. It PERFECTLY replicates what this film has always looked like, only it’s a little better on Blu-Ray because it’s closer to the negative (and may be directly off the negative). But opticals, especially opticals with four and five passes, have a LOT of grain. You can restore until the cows come home, but it will never look like production photography. In fact, every time we go to a non-optical production shot, the transfer and color are gorgeous. The most ignorant of the reviews was at the Home Theater Forum – our very own MattH is about the only person there who speaks with knowledge. The gentleman who reviewed Clash Of The Titans clearly knows nothing about film so, well, why would you allow such a person to pontificate about a transfer and possibly scare people off buying what is a terrific job? Why indeed.
After that, I listened to some music and then suddenly it was time to write the notes. Well, let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am not longer the egg man I am no longer the walrus, I am the weatherman and I’ve got more weather report in the next section.
This section will be cloudy with a chance of sunshine and/or rain. Today, I have a pretty open day, save for my noon appointment with our very own Teddy – he will be making me look much better – right now my hair is so long that I have curly ringlets hanging over both ears. I look like Princess Leia. After that, I will hopefully pick up a package or three, and then I’ll eat something amusing.
Tomorrow, something is going on but I cannot remember what it was. Cason will be coming over on Sunday to address packages and to begin planning our rehearsal schedule. And don’t forget our Annual Oscar Bash is this Sunday. I cannot believe they’ve moved the show up again. What will next year be – in February? This show always took place in mid to late April and why that had to change I have no idea. In any case, this is the place to be for everything Oscar – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have my hair styled and coifed, I must do an errand and whatnot, I must eat, and then I must watch at least two motion pictures on Blu and Ray. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Ray Harryhausen movies and what is your single favorite Harryhausen creation? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and stay tuned in the posts for the latest weather report.