Well, dear readers, the time has come to write the notes and yet I do not feel like writing the notes and yet the time has come to write the notes and one cannot argue with time or even thyme or parsley, rosemary and sage for that or any other matter. No, I must write the notes whether I want to or not because notes must be written or haineshisway.com will be off-kilter and we cannot have THAT, now can we? Actually, now that I think of it – now wait just a darned minute. Why should I think of it when it never thinks about me, not one time? As a matter of fact, I’m feeling a little off-kilter but maybe I wouldn’t be if I put on a kilt. You know, it occurs to me that I do not have a clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about. Yesterday, I was awakened by the knock, knock, knocking of she of the Evil Eye. It took me a while to get my bearings because I couldn’t find the damn bearings – I hate when I misplace the damn bearings. In any case, I got my bearings and then did a three-mile jog, after which I went and had some matzo brei for breakfast (second day in a row for matzo brei). After that, I moseyed on over to Public Storage, where we finalized our new terms. Then I hung out at the Iliad Bookshop where, as always, I found no books that interested me, save for some wildly overpriced things in their back room. But it was a good way to kill time until she of the Evil Eye left. Then I had my motor car washed, which it really needed. I had to raise a tiny ruckus with the manager because the two guys who are at the head of the wash and whose job it is is to hose off the cars and scrub the wheels and rims as well as use a brush (two guys, one on each side), after which they move down the line and hand wash the car. Well, they did that for every car until they got to mine – the car ahead of me was a monster truck and it took them so long they barely got back to mine and then they did none of the pre-wash stuff – it’s happened before and I usually let it pass, but I signaled the two guys that they needed to hose and brush and they just looked at me without doing it. So, I got the manager and he got out there and made them do it, and then they did the hand wash – they rushed through it, but at least it got done. After that, I went to pick up some packages and an important envelope – unfortunately there were no packages and there was no envelope, which was most annoying. I then came back home. I did some work on the computer, talked to the sound and light man at the Gardenia, and then I watched the last two episodes of Adam-12, Season Five, both of which were fine, but with no great location shots, save for one shot on Riverside and Ledge, which at that point had a bunch of empty lots around it – it’s all apartment buildings now.
At around five I was hungry, so I went to the Daily Grill and had a grilled artichoke and their small chopped salad – a nice, low-cal meal. I then came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture in high definitions on the DVR entitled Sweet Smell of Success. I’ve actually only seen the film twice before, so it still packs plenty of surprises for me – and what a brilliant movie it is, with a great and memorable script by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman (who wrote the novella on which it’s based), great direction by Alexander Mackendrick, unbelievably great lensing by James Wong Howe, and iconic performances from Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster. There’s a lot going on here, most of it unpleasant, but completely mesmerizing and compelling. And what a supporting cast – Marty Milner as the one really nice guy, Susan Harrison as Lancaster’s sister (their relationship must have been more than a little shocking back then, even though it’s all implication), Emile Meyer as a cop not above beating the hell out of people, Sam Levene, Barbara Nichols, and on and on. Milner plays a jazz guitarist fronting what was really the Chico Hamilton quintet – on bass is Fred Katz, who would go on to write the score to Roger Corman’s The Little Shop of Horrors. The location shots of 1957 Times Square are amazingly great – it’s just like you’re there, there in a time when there were three movie theaters on every block of Broadway – now, there is not a single movie theater left on Broadway in Times Square, which is more than a little shocking and truly nauseating. The score by Elmer Bernstein is one of his all-time greats. And the film has some of the greatest quotable dialogue ever, especially the film’s most quoted line, “Match me, Sidney.” The hi-def transfer has some pretty great moments, but I’m not sure it’s not an upconverted transfer. Still, a lot better than the non-anamorphic DVD. “Match me, Sidney.”
After the movie, I didn’t feel like watching anything else and I was quite restless, so I went out and did another mile and a half jog, for a total of four and a half miles. And that was my day and that was my night. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst we all say in unison, “Match me, Sidney.”
Today, I’m having an early lunch with a film music aficionado, and then I’m seeing a reading of a new play by my pal Lissa Levin. I’m sure I’ll know lots o’ people there, so that will be fun. Then I’ll come home and watch the new episode of Mad Men.
Tomorrow, we announce our new title, and I have to start new liner notes and prep our next release, which announces the following week. The rest of the week is filled with meetings and meals and a rehearsal and a lot of errands and whatnot.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, have an early lunch, see a reading of a new play, and relax. 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 – oh, and “Match me, Sidney.”