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October 25, 2011:

FRUITFUL

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I had a long but fruitful day yesterday. I had some melon, an apple, and some pineapple. If that’s not a fruitful day I don’t know what is. I was up at six to announce the new Kritzerland limited edition CD, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Within six hours it became the biggest selling film soundtrack title ever for copies ordered directly from Kritzerland. In fact, it only took ninety minutes for all the signed copies to be spoken for. After I announced everywhere, I went back to bed and got another three hours of sleep, which I really needed but which wasn’t quite enough. I was awakened by the ringing of the telephonic device, and it was the composer of this musical we’re going to be putting on CD. We were going to meet, but he said traffic was going to be terrible everywhere because President Obama was in Los Angeles. So, we postponed and will be meeting at some point today. I got up and spent the next forty-five minutes printing out a LOT of orders. Then I finally did the four-mile jog, after which I did my banking, picked up two count them two packages, and then had a BLT-A and fruit, after which I could not resist a small slice of custard pie. Then I came home, printed out more orders, and began writing the contextual commentary for the Gardenia show. I really want to get this out of the way, but I only got three songs in. I had a little meeting at Jerry’s Deli at six – I had some matzo ball soup – not too many calories but VERY filling – I’m still full as a matter of fact.

Then I came back home, printed out more orders, answered e-mails, read a positive if weirdly-written review of the Nudie Musical Blu and Ray, and finally sat on my couch like so much fish, trying to fight a headache, which I’m sure has been hovering due to being overtired – and it’s only Tuesday.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Conversation, starring Mr. Gene Hackman, Mr. John Cazale, Mr. Allen Garfield, Mr. Harrison Ford, Miss Teri Garr, Mr. Robert Duvall, Mr. Frederic Forrest, and, of course, our very own Miss Cindy Williams. What an exciting time for film were those first five years of the 1970s, and they continued to be exhilarating and exciting right up through the early 80s. It is inconceivable that The Conversation could be made in this era of filmmaking – at least not in the way it was made then. Today, it would have a moody and then thumping wall of music nothingness, rather than the absolutely one-off and brilliant score of David Shire. No composer working today would be allowed to experiment and come up with what Mr. Shire did. Today they’d build up the suspense angle and have shaky-cam and use all of today’s cliché film tricks. And that’s the difference between then and now. Mr. Coppola answered to no one but himself and his collaborators. His film is, in a word, a masterpiece, masterpiece being the word and not “a” being the word. His direction is precise and perfect. The sound design of the film is one its greatest assets. The screenplay has not a bit of fat on it, nor does it conform in any way, shape, or form to any screenwriting rules and let me tell you, that’s a good thing. The performances are all exemplary. John Cazale was a great actor who died way too young. Miss Williams and Mr. Forrest do a whole lot with a whole little. Mr. Duvall, who is only on the screen for less than five minutes, does more with a few looks than most actors can do with an hour’s worth of screen time. Harrison Ford is weirdly menacing. Teri Garr is sweet and touching in her one scene role. Allen Garfield is oily and annoying as a fellow surveillance person – which means he’s doing a great job of acting. But obviously the film belongs to Gene Hackman – simply put, he gives one of the greatest film performances in history. The transfer, in my opinion (IMO, in Internet lingo) could be better. It’s not bad, and the film was shot on 1970s stock in some very low-light situations, so some of it looks accurate, but because we shot on the same stock a year later I’m just acutely aware of what the film grain looks like and this looks slightly processed. I’m not sure this is a brand new scan – that’s what I’m thinking. It’s much better than the DVD – some of it is very sharp, some not, but that’s the way it’s always been with this film, by design. So, while not perfect, it’s more than acceptable and if you’re a fan of the film I think you’ll be fine with it. If you haven’t seen the film, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

After that, I checked out the region B release of Doctor Dolittle, the original, not the remake – the disc comes from Germany. Travesty is the first word that comes to mind. I only watched the first ten minutes – the titles look okay and the sound seems fine. And then you hit the first shot of the movie and it looks like a DVD not a Blu and Ray. The color is completely wrong – all brown and drab and ugly and it stays that way. There is little detail outside of what looks like artificial sharpening. Horrible. Then I checked out the transfer of another German region B Fox title, Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation. The quality is better here, but again the color is drab and brown where it should sparkle – all it takes, folks, is a few turns of a few knobs and voila, you’d have perfect color. But, that seems just too difficult for the people doing these transfers. One suspects the elements are just put up and then transferred with as little work as possible.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have a really long day ahead of me that will lead right into the evening – I probably won’t be through until almost eight-thirty if I’m calculating correctly.

Today, I think shall be another fruitful day but sans actual fruit. I shall hopefully sleep in, then I shall set the meeting with the composer. I’ll do the four-mile jog prior to the meeting, which will hopefully entail some lunch, as I won’t really have another chance to eat. Then I’ll do errands and whatnot, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’ll try to at least get halfway through the contextual commentary. Then we have our first rehearsal for the Gardenia, after which I’m auditioning about seven fellows for the LACC show. At no point shall I eat any fruit, despite the day hopefully being fruitful.

Tomorrow, I have to go to my engineer’s home environment and record all the voice-over stuff for the three episodes we just shot of the web series, and I have to record the introduction for Melody’s CD – the live introduction was not miked and you can’t really hear it, so I’m doing it for the CD. After that, it’s writing and CDs are arriving for a title we haven’t even announced yet, but will shortly, in tandem, most likely, with Melody’s CD. It’s a reissue of an off-Broadway cast recording that’s been OOP for many years – one of its cast members has gone onto become a bit of a name and is currently one of the stars of the Follies revival, and the other gals in the cast are all great, too. Thursday, I have a lunch meeting, and tons of other stuff to do, and then hopefully I’ll pay a visit to the editing room at some point.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the four-mile jog, hav a meeting with a composer, do errands and whatnot, write, and then have a rehearsal and some auditions. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite performances of that splendid actor Gene Hackman? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shan’t dream of fruit but shall dream of a fruitful day and week.

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