Well, dear readers, it is Sunday, a day of no rest for the likes of me. Oh, I thought it was going to be a day of rest, but silly me for thinking so. But right now I need floss. Sometimes one simply needs floss, don’t you think? Without floss I cannot suck air through my bottom teeth, and I find it very annoying not to be able to suck air through my bottom teeth. So, hold on a tick and I’ll return momentarily. Ahhh – much better. Now I am sucking air through my bottom teeth with the best of them. Where was I? Oh, yes, floss, sucking air through my bottom teeth and writing these here notes. Yesterday was a perfectly pleasant day in which I did perfectly pleasant things. I got up. That was perfectly pleasant. I then did some work on the computer, had a couple of telephonic conversations, and then I moseyed on over to The Hollywood Show to pay a visit and say hey to my dealer pals. I’ve made no secret that I think the new people who now run this show are crass, all about money (for themselves) and not about the celebrities, and that they’ve turned the thing into a circus-like sideshow. This weekend’s show was about as bad as I’ve seen it there. When I arrived at noon I was told to look at the list of celebrities who’d cancelled – it was a pretty shocking list that included almost all the major attractions. I simply think celebrities are onto these people and not appreciative of the atmosphere. No George Hamilton, no Angie Dickinson, no Celeste Holm, no Robert Horton, and on and on. I still went it. I don’t think there were more than 150 people in the room, which is, for prime Saturday, completely pathetic. Not one celebrity, no matter who they were, had a line. Some sat and had no people stop at their tables the entire time I was there. I did see Don Murray, and I had a lovely chat with my old pal Kaye Ballard, but that was about it. The real problem and the real stupidity of these people was that this weekend is ComicCon in San Diego, a huge event. You cannot fight that, I’m afraid. Therefore, most of the dealers that I went to see, weren’t there. These people advertise boldly on their website – 100 dealers. There were maybe twenty, a few of whom weren’t even selling movie-related stuff – they were selling jewelry. See what I mean? I didn’t last more than forty minutes, I’m afraid. I beat a hasty retreat because the hasty retreat was annoying me and deserved to be beat. I then went to the mail place, where I picked up a manila envelope stuffed to the gills with covers from albums I’ve produced – someone sent them to me to have me sign them, and sign them I will tomorrow. I then drove to the car wash place and had them detail my car – I’m told that one should do that every six months, so it was time. They said it would take three hours, so I walked about a mile and a quarter over to Hugo’s, where I had my small Caesar and pasta papa. I hung out there for about ninety minutes, then walked the mile and a quarter back, and by walk I mean brisk walking. I then walked an additional two and a half miles, and by the time I got back to the car wash they were close to being finished. The motor car looked quite splendid. I then drove immediately home and put it in the garage. After that, I did some more work on the computer, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I was seeing if there were any movies I wanted to record on the DVR (there weren’t) when HDNET began to run The Professional (aka Leon: The Professional aka Leon). As always happens with this film, I got sucked in and couldn’t stop watching it. Natalie Portman is extraordinary as Mathilda and Jean Reno is great as the “cleaner.” This version they were showing was the theatrical cut, which I don’t think I’d ever seen. It’s about thirty-three minutes shorter than the so-called International or director’s cut version. I will say that the theatrical version certainly plays okay, but the material that was cut is so key to understanding the relationship of the two leading characters that scenes play in the short version that make no sense without the setup to them. It gets to the climax much too quickly. Basically, with the exception of one short dialogue exchange in which Mathilda tells Jean Reno’s character that she’s 18 (she’s really about twelve), the first hour and ten minutes is exactly the same in both cuts. Then there’s a twenty-one minute sequence of Reno “training” Natalie Portman that is absolutely key to the plot. Then we get a couple of scenes from the theatrical version, after which we get another ten-minute sequence – one that presumably made Columbia very nervous and having to deal with the two leading character’s relationship. In the short version, Mathilda does express her love for Reno, but it’s never in weird territory, as all those scenes have been cut. Nothing is blatant and is, in fact, enigmatic in the long version, but you get no hint of anything in the short version. In any case, it’s a wonderful film, with a wonderful score by Eric Serra, and a supremely weird performance by Gary Oldman. And it’s always a pleasure seeing Danny Aiello.
After the film, I went back to the computer to find someone had sent me a rave review for our Promises, Promises release – by Steven Suskin in Playbill. It made my night, I must say, and here is a link to the review so you can read it with your very own eyeballs.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/141471-ON-THE-RECORD-Promises-Promises-Then-and-Now/pg2
I then began making notes about an idea that Barry Pearl and I are going to seriously pursue – putting on our own celebrity show, but done with a sense of humor, fun, warmth, and entertainment. I have some great ideas and we really think we can pull it off. I talked to several dealers who said they’d definitely be willing to take tables. So, stay tuned for more details.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have flossed and am quite giddy as I suck air through my bottom teeth.
Today, as noted, is no day of rest. I must approve the new master (it is VERY late in getting to me and I’m getting no response from the mastering guy but have told him I have to have it by late afternoon today so I can get the audio samples to the web guy). And I have to not only start the liner notes I’m doing for another label, I have to finish them and get them on their merry way. Once those tasks are completed, then I have to prepare our eBlast, and also enter about three hundred new names into our eBlast list. I will, of course, find something light and amusing to eat, and I’ll definitely do some sort of jog.
Tomorrow, I have an eleven o’clock meeting with a singer, then the helper is coming and we now have quite a few packages to ship, and then Barry Pearl is coming over and we’re going to sketch out all our ideas for the celebrity show and begin doing the research and trying to figure out a date that will work and not come anywhere near The Hollywood Show. The rest of the week is quite busy, and I’m thinking that Romantic Comedy may ship out towards the end of the week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, approve a master, prep an eBlast, and write and finish liner notes. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I continue to reap the benefits of flossing by sucking air through my bottom teeth.