Well, dear readers, I am battling bad allergies. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am battling bad allergies. I haven’t had any real allergy problems for quite some time, but I gather I am not alone in this battling thing. It started attacking me during the day two days ago, and I took a pill. Then I forgot to take another and by the time I was going to bed I was sneezing and it was going right to my throat. I think I got about three hours of sleep – very annoying indeed. I finally took a pill at three in the morning and that helped pretty quickly. I was better yesterday, but the damage to my throat had been done and I was still really congested and “heavy” sinus-wise. So, since I am not a happy camper when I’m under the weather like that, I can’t say that yesterday was a bowl of cherries – it was just a bowl. At least it wasn’t the pits of the cherries. I worked with the helper, who was quite late but she understands the deal now. Then I stopped at the mail place and picked up no packages and no mail. That was the pits. Then I came home to await the arrival of three singers. None arrived until four-thirty when the beautiful Jane Noseworthy picked up her stuff. By that time I was starving, so I left two envelopes for the other singers, but one of them pulled up just as I was about to leave. The third picked up hers late in the evening. So, that just leaves Juliana, who’ll get hers this morning. Our musical director also picked up his stuff, so that’s good – he’s got a lot to go through, but this time I’m at least five days ahead of schedule with getting everyone everything. I had some chicken soup and a taco salad with chicken, both good. Then I came home, answered a slew of e-mails, had a few telephonic conversations and then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Manchurian Candidate, the original not the horrendous remake. I would never have known this was out on Blu and Ray had I not read something on the Internet – that’s because it’s a Best Buy exclusive (so is The Thomas Crown Affair and a few others) – I’m sure it will be out eventually, but for now these Blu-Rays are bare bones – they start right up with no menu and no extras. But the movie’s the thing and I have to say that as many times as I’ve seen The Manchurian Candidate (the original, not the horrendous remake) I am bowled over by its brilliance in just about every department save for the focus puller. This film was really cutting edge back then – there’d never been anything quite like it. The story is compelling and clever and shocking (courtesy of Richard Condon’s novel and the George Axelrod screenplay), the direction of John Frankenheimer is amazing, and the performances are best of careers for several of these actors, most especially Frank Sinatra, who really gives the best performance he ever gave. Laurence Harvey is quirky and excellent as Raymond Shaw, Janet Leigh is fetching as a girl Sinatra meets on a train, John McGiver is a treasure in his short role, James Gregory is perfect as the disgusting and manipulated politician and Angela Lansbury is chilling as Laurence Harvey’s mother (they were, in reality, only three years apart). And then there’s Leslie Parrish – the beautiful, incandescent Leslie Parrish who is so heartbreakingly wonderful in this film it’s just amazing that her career took the fast path to nowhere after this. There are so many classic sequences in this film – the brainwashing scenes are breathtaking in their creativity, the scenes with Miss Parrish and Harvey are affecting, the sequence with Harvey and McGiver and then Parrish is one of the most shocking in screen history, at least it is for me. I’ve seen the film many times with audiences and it has never failed to produce a huge collective gasp. And the finale is incredible. The scenes between Sinatra and Leigh are completely outré and weird, but they somehow just work, even though audiences of today would deride them. The photography is great, the David Amram score is beyond great, and everyone is simply at the top of their game. Except for the poor focus puller, who manages to get Sinatra’s most important scene completely out of focus. In fact, when they saw the dailies they reshot the scene but Sinatra could never quite get the magic and they used the out of focus shot – and there are several others in the film, although none quite as bad. The transfer is excellent – nice and sharp with rich contrast. The sound has been re-jiggered for 5.1 and I can’t say it’s very good – and there’s no original mono track either. Maybe when this gets its wide release those things will be added. If you’ve never seen the film, hie yourself to the nearest store or Netflix – it’s highly recommended by the likes of me.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I want to get to bed early and try to get some semblance of a beauty sleep.
Today, it’s more work with the helper in the morning and then as soon as Juliana picks up her music I’m basically done for the day and can relax and try to feel better – at least that’s the plan.
The weekend should be fairly relaxing, too, at least that’s the plan. Monday will be a little crazy – I’ve got seven hundred CD boxes arriving and I also have to pack and be ready for the trip. Someone will be watching the house whilst I’m gone for the two days, so that’s good.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work with the helper, and then relax, do some errands and whatnot, and try to figure out who in Chino Hills logged into (or tried to log into) my Facebook account. I got a notice and I immediately changed the password. I have no idea what anyone would think they’d be able to find on Facebook – it has absolutely zero personal information other than my e-mail address. But I’m thinking I have a notion about this and I will see if I can do some subtle detective work. I may actually change all my passwords for everything when I return from my trip. I hate to do that, but I know it’s safe to do so every year or so, and I’ve never done it. I have four different ones that I use, one of which I believe is totally unique and wouldn’t ever get guessed. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, many upcoming projects. Blu and Ray, Fellini’s Amarcord. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hope that the tale of the allergies is done and finished.