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October 16, 2011:

LOSING TRACK OF TIME

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, what the HELL am I doing up at one-thirty and why the HELL haven’t I written these here notes? Those are the questions that are roaming around the windmills of my mind. The fact is, I was reading a magazine and lost track of time or, conversely, time lost track of me. Then I didn’t feel like writing these here notes so I did some surfing of the Internet. Then I looked at the time and by gum and by golly and buy bonds if it wasn’t one-thirty in the morning. I should have been asleep an hour ago and yet I am up and just beginning these here notes, which I’m here to tell you will be VERY short.

I did not sleep in yesterday, in fact I was up at eight – I hate when that happens, when I can actually sleep in and then for some fershluganah reason I just get up at eight. I started my day by doing the edit road map for the next Kritzerland release, which is a two CD set and a little bit complicated. I took a break, intending to do the four-mile jog, but after a half-block I turned around and came back home – I was just too exhausted to do it, frankly. So, instead I went over to Jerry’s Deli and had some matzo brei and a bagel. After that, I picked up no packages and disconcertingly no important envelope. Hopefully that will be here tomorrow. Then I paid a visit to my favorite bookshop, Mystery and Imagination. I always enjoy my chats with owners Malcolm and Christine and I perused the shelves as is my wont, and I bought the latest copy of Firsts magazine, as is also my wont.

Then I came back home and finished the edit road map. I also had to transfer some material from a Blu and Ray and then had to upload that to my iDisk – with eighteen tracks to upload that took about two hours. Then I did the four-mile jog. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Star Wars. I cannot call it Episode Four, I cannot call it A New Hope, I can only call it by its original name, Star Wars. I don’t like revised history and I don’t like what Mr. Lucas did to this film. As I’ve mentioned in the past week, the prequels are not loathsome to me and I can accept them for what they are. What I cannot accept is after the fact filmmaking. I would have had no problem with Mr. Lucas fixing a handful of really bad mattes, but that’s IT. I absolutely hate all the changes – the addition of CGI creatures and set pieces and all that crap. That’s never what Star Wars was about. Part of its enduring charm, if you ask me, is that it was a little rough around the edges, although, that said, back in 1977 it seemed pretty amazing and the effects were then state of the art. I do have to laugh at the kiddies who complain about the wooden acting and bad dialogue of the prequels, but who then act as if Star Wars was written by Shakespeare. Sorry, there is a LOT of bad dialogue in Star Wars – but it works, just as it works in the prequels. It’s part of the deal. And do these people really think Carrie Fisher is giving a good performance? In fact, she’s all over the map – literally. At first she sounds like she’s doing a terrible Brit accent, which she is. The minute Harrison Ford shows up all traces of the bad Brit accent vanish and she’s a whole different gal. Go know. Mark Hamill is natural and good as Luke Skywalker (when I was given the script to read, pre the audition where all us young actors met Mr. Lucas and Mr. De Palma on the same day – for Star Wars and Carrie – the character was called Luke Starkiller. Go know. The film moves slowly but as soon as Harrison Ford shows up, everything falls into place and the cast suddenly has actual chemistry and the whole thing becomes a grand adventure film. Alec Guiness is another reason the film works so well once he enters, and the other huge plus is James Earl Jones voicing Darth Vader. I also had to laugh at how many voices my ex-manager’s boyfriend dubbed – I counted at least three. His name was Peter Hobbs, a very good actor. I’ve read a lot of comments bashing this transfer. What exactly these people are basing the bashing on is an enigma – they’re all too young to have seen Star Wars theatrically, so their entire frame of reference is video and TV. Sorry, bashers, you simply have no idea what it is you’re talking about and frankly you should just shut your ignorant traps. Star Wars looks great on Blu and Ray. Are there some soft shots? Of course, the film is LOADED with opticals. But guess what? Every time you cut out of an optical to first generation photography, everything looks absolutely sharp as a tack, with amazing detail. Some have complained that the colors are too saturated. Note to complainers – the color is perfect and exactly what the theatrical prints were like, save for indeed being a little more vividly saturated because Mr. Lucas told the color timers to match perfectly to his Brit dye transfer IB Tech print – Technicolor was no longer making dye transfer prints in the US, but British Technicolor continued to do so for several more years. So, a very pleasing transfer of a fun film, with robust sound. It’s just a shame that all the dreadful additions have to be there. Like mostly everyone, I wish they’d included a nice transfer of the version that everyone saw back during the original release. Believe it or not, none of us care a whit or even two whits about bad mattes or empty streets or bland hallways. Note to filmmakers – once your film is released, and especially when it becomes instantly iconic and is a HUGE hit and moneymaker, you are DONE. Leave the film alone. Do not touch it. You are mucking around with history and trying to rewrite it – no. Bad. Off.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get these here late notes posted and then get my beauty sleep.

Today, I’ll write liner notes, do the four-mile jog, and I am here to tell you I will watch motion pictures and relax. And no one had best try and stop me. I’ll also review the footage from Thursday and Friday and make notes on my choices of takes – I’ve already done a little of that already.

This week will be filled with meetings, meals, writing, prepping our new release, finding the final person for the Gardenia, getting everyone their music and CDs, and doing endless errands and whatnot.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write liner notes, do the four-mile jog and then relax and watch a motion picture or three. 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 hit the road to dreamland, where I shall lose track of time until I wake up.

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