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November 6, 2012:

GOING ABOUT MY BUSINESS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, today is one day when I will not go anywhere near Facebook or any other site like it. I think you might be able to figure out why. I will just go about my business and I will leave all else to the pundits. Everyone has their “side” and everyone has made their “side” known for months and months now – some passionately, some like high schoolers run amok, some downright obnoxiously. It really does seem like high school to me, only with obvious higher stakes. In honor of the stakes I may even eat a steak. I have seen reasonably intelligent people, including some friends of mine, behave like complete twits, as if people are not allowed to have their own opinions and feelings about things. That is, I’m afraid, what makes horse racing and the world go round. I dislike a lot of films and plays that people love – so what? I don’t hate the people who differ with me – they think what they think and I think what I think. My favorite Facebook post I read during these last few irritating months was “If you disagree with who I’m voting for and my opinions, please unfriend me now.” I mean, what is that person, twelve? Anyway, I’m sure whatever the outcome, some will be thrilled and some won’t be, and both sides will be making sure everyone knows how they feel, blatantly and often. And that is why I will stay away from Facebook and other social media this day. There will be a winner and there will be a loser. And in my opinion nothing much will change in the next four years. It’s just the way it is. It is the nature of the beast and the beast(s), sadly, are the big corporations and big oil, and they control everything. When that changes, call me.

Yesterday, I saw the most amazing thing. A woman had pulled her car over because a fire engine was coming down the street, sirens ablaze. Check. She was blocking a parking lot driveway slightly, but enough so that should a car wish to exit they would not have been able to. As I walked by her, I could see she was busily texting. Naturally, a car wanted to exit the parking lot. She kept on texting. The car honked. She was oblivious. The car honked again. She was oblivious. I stood there and watched in fascination. She didn’t even bat an eye nor did she look up from her phone. The car honked several more times, and then the car behind the car began honking. This woman NEVER MOVED. I finally moved on to my destination and I really hope someone got out of their car and gave this woman a piece of their mind. Had I been in the car, I would have gone up to this woman’s vehicle and she would have RUED the day she ever bought her iPhone. When honking fails repeatedly, getting out of one’s vehicle and giving someone a large piece of your mind in the strongest way possible is the only good alternative. What a selfish, excuse my French, bitch. What an entitled peckerhead. This was not a young girl, this was a middle-aged woman. My guess is that long before she had a cell phone that she could text on that she managed to get through her days just fine without checking that damnable machine every four seconds and causing other drivers grief. The police, of course, are never around when crap like this happens. They’re too busy lying in wait in their little speed-traps. What a world.

Otherwise, yesterday was a fine little day. I got up at six and announced our new title, then went back to bed for another three hours of sleep. Then I printed out orders for an hour, and then I went and had my new favorite lunch – a cobb salad with thousand island dressing. After that I did some banking, picked up no packages, and then I came home and printed out more orders. Then I had to mosey on over to the Oaks of Sherman for a meeting with my new agent and Jason Graae, who is also with the agency. We had a lovely meeting and we’ll see what happens from here. To early to talk about anything yet. Prior to the meeting I’d stopped at K’s Donuts and bought my favorite donut with whipped cream inside. I was also delighted to find they had a donut with peanut butter inside so I got one of those, too. After the meeting I came home, printed out more orders, and then sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Vertigo. I’ve loved Vertigo since the day I saw it back in 1958. Even though it was confusing to this then ten-year-old, I just found the film hypnotic and beautiful, and I loved the music. I saw it a couple of times back then, then saw it over the years on TV, then in its one reissue. In the 1970s the film basically disappeared and became impossible to find, since it was one of a handful of films that Hitchcock owned himself. Those who had 16mm IB Technicolor prints were wooed so we could see the film. In the heyday of my collecting 16mm it was my Holy Grail and I never ever came close to owning it. And then in the late 1970s I got word of a print that someone wanted to sell – not 16mm, but 35mm IB Technicolor. I was the first to hear about it, and I can’t remember the exact event that was going on (it was before these celebrity shows, so maybe it was a movie poster show – something. I remember the guy wanted a huge amount of money for it – $750. I met him at whatever the event was, gave him the dough and got the print. As far as I knew, I was the only one in LA with such a print. He’d told me it was in very nice condition and that proved to be the case when I finally ran it at that year’s Kimmel Movie Marathon. It was an astonishing print, absolutely stunning, and to see it projected on a carbon arc 35mm projector was amazing. It’s funny that today when a dye transfer print is run they look yellow and ugly and people scratch their heads and ask what was so great about Technicolor prints. Well, they weren’t timed to be shown with Xenon lighthouses – that produces a yellow light. They were timed for the cooler carbon arc lights and that’s the only way those prints should be seen. Unfortunately, from what I understand there is only one movie house in the entire country that still has carbon arc projectors – it’s in New Jersey. Eventually, someone I trusted told me he’d seen the new prints they’d done on Vertigo when the Hitchcock family made the deal for Universal to re-release the films that Hitchcock owned. He said they were stunning and better than the IB Tech prints. And so, feeling comfortable in that and knowing the new prints were on LPP stock, which does not fade, I sold my print to someone for a huge amount of money. And then I saw the reissue prints, which were, in a word, HORRENDOUS. They were made off a faded internegative and looked awful. I never forgave that idiot who told me they were gorgeous, and the few times I’ve seen him since, I just want to deck him still.

And so, I’m happy to say that 90% of the new Blu and Ray of Vertigo looks absolutely amazing. The color for much of it is VERY close to the look of the dye transfer prints and is breathtaking, and the clarity is incredible. So, it only makes the 10% that is problematic even worse. I’m told that with some more work, that 10% could have been fixed, and it should have been, but wasn’t. They did fix a couple of issues when they postponed the set by almost two months, but they should have gone the extra mile because Vertigo deserves it – it’s one of the most beautiful-looking films ever made. One of the problems occurs right away in the credits – they look great and then suddenly the color goes all wonky for about ten seconds and it’s really annoying and just as bad as what happened to the same title designer’s titles in West Side Story, where they also botched his work – the designer being Saul Bass. Then there are just a handful of problematic shots during the course of the film, and not last that long. But the entire ending doesn’t look good – the whole dragging Kim Novak up to the bell tower sequence at the end. The color is almost sepia, and the flesh tones are completely wrong and there is no depth to the shots. It’s a real shame, but I have the other ninety percent to revel in – because what’s gorgeous about this transfer is TRULY gorgeous.

It’s not much of a surprise that Vertigo was a huge flop when it opened. It’s really a weird film, with an obsessive protagonist who is ultimately not very likeable. The direction is brilliant but at times really bold, with very strong choices of color and light – it really works, but I’m sure audiences in 1958 weren’t really expecting that kind of thing from Hitchcock. The performances are wonderful, the music is stunning, the photography is glorious and it’s just a fabulous, dream-like film.

After the movie, the helper came over and got invoices so she could prepare our new release for shipping. Yes, we actually got it in stock – amazing. I made some soup for my snack. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get a good night’s beauty sleep.

Today will be a liner notes day – I’m so behind and must finish all three sets and get packaging in for approval. Other than that, I’ll jog, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and do errands and whatnot. But mostly it will be the liner notes.

The rest of the week is meetings and meals and going to the editing room to see the cut of the second episode. We may make one change in episode one – just swapping out one shot – I just have a feeling that a lyric will be clearer if we’re on a slightly different shot, because the lyric line should get a laugh, but because of the shot that’s currently there, one is distracted from hearing it clearly. We’ll see if it works – if not, it’s really fine as is.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, write, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, write, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Let’s have some stories and/or anecdotes of annoying things or even dangerous things you’ve experienced because of idiots using their cell phones or texting. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland after which I shall arise and just go about my business.

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