Well, dear readers, I am operating on little sleep. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am operating on little sleep. You see, little sleep has to have its appendix out and I am doing the operation. I have never taken out an appendix, although I once took out a table of contents. My life is endlessly exciting, isn’t it? So, after these here notes are posted I shall operate on little sleep and we’ll all hope for the best. I shall remove the appendix but leave the footnotes. You know, if anyone has a clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about now would be a good time to speak up.
You see, I did not fall asleep till almost three-thirty in the morning, and then I was up at nine thanks to the ringing of the telephonic device. But the news was good: The Follies print was finished and going to the plant on Thursday morning. Then I ascertained that the plant had received the master and they’re going to try and turn it around quickly – if all the stars are in alignment then maybe, just maybe, we’ll have Follies CDs at the end of next week, hugely early. Then I answered e-mails, printed out orders, the helper came by and picked up more invoices, and then I took the motor car to the car wash and got it all sparkly and clean, which it desperately needed. Then I went and had an omelet and a bagel, after which I picked up a few packages. Then I came back home, did some work on the computer, futzed with the show order, which I think is going to work very well, and then I decided to write a little piece on how our Follies remix came to happen – it’s now up and available for reading on the Kritzerland site under “News.” That took a couple of hours, and then since I knew I was operating on little sleep, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a classic and perfect motion picture entertainment on Blu and Ray entitled Singin’ in the Rain, starring Mr. Gene Kelly, Mr. Donald O’Connor, and Miss Debbie Reynolds, along with the absolutely brilliant Jean Hagen. It’s such a joyous film filled with the love of filmmaking and song and dance and it’s just impossible not to grin ear-to-ear whilst watching it. The movie contains some of my favorite screen choreography ever and three of its numbers are amongst my all-time favorite filmed numbers ever: Fit as a Fiddle, Make ’em Laugh, and the gloriously glorious title song. The humor is wonderful, and everything about the film works like gangbusters. Looking around the Internet, I’m seeing mostly love letters to the transfer. I wish I could give it one, but that’s just not ever going to be possible, because the film’s original camera negative was lost in a fire many years ago. So we are many generations away on this transfer and it shows. Given what they had to work with, it looks nice, there’s no question about it. But I’ve owned both 16mm and 35mm dye transfer Technicolor prints on this film, and it simply does not have the sparkle or the sheen or the pop of those prints. And this movie is all about sparkle and sheen and pop. This time around they’ve gotten the color better than the brownish DVD. There is reasonable detail considering the elements used and I know most people will be thrilled with it. I wish I’d never sold my IB Tech prints. And have I mentioned how brilliant Jean Hagen is? Simply put, one of the greatest female comic performances ever put on the screen.
I then watched the fourth Varg Veum film. This one was a little different than the previous ones, in that it’s fairly simple to figure out who the killer is and what the killer’s motivation is, which is okay since they reveal it halfway through, so it’s a fun switch-up. Again, a really good film – this one and the first one were released theatrically in Norway and both are in the scope ratio. The direct to DVD or TV films are in 1.78. These films are really well directed, with almost no shaky-cam at all, and all have very good musical scores.
After that, I sat in the Jacuzzi for a while, then ate a couple of low-cal hot dogs for my evening snack. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button because I must get a good night’s beauty sleep for tomorrow is going to be a very long day’s journey into a very long night.
Today, I shall be up early, I shall do some banking, I shall, then I have my teeth cleaning with Dr. Chew, after which I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then hopefully print out more orders, do some prep work, and then I’ll mosey on over to the Hills of Beverly where I shall dine at Kate Mantilini’s and then go to the Samuel Goldwyn Theater to see a 70mm screening of Lawrence of Arabia, which I’m very excited about. It’s a four-hour movie so I won’t be home until midnight, I’m sure.
Tomorrow I have to do lots of errands and whatnot, get to storage, and then I may or may not have dinner with someone. The weekend will be half relaxation, half work, and I have to finish the contextual commentary, and start on some new liner notes. Then next week there’s lots going on, especially if the Follies CDs arrive. The best part is how early we got the singers in the Kritzerland show their material – they will have had it almost a month, which is a first. I keep thinking rehearsal is next week, but it’s not till the week after. This week I’m actually going to start planning the two-year anniversary show – I’m thinking of some really fun stuff, and we’ll probably be bringing back some performers who’ve done these – more than our normal five – I think our normal five, whoever they may be, will only do two songs each, and we’ll bring in five other people to do one song. There will be some youngsters in this show, because I know what two of the numbers are for sure and their youngster numbers. In fact, I’ve already cast them.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do some banking, have my teeth cleaned, hopefully pick up some packages, do some prep work, dine, and then see Lawrence of Arabia. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hopefully no longer be operating on little sleep – little sleep has decided to keep its appendix.