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July 26, 2013:

THE SORT OF DAY OFF

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I did almost achieve a sort of day off yesterday.  I suppose there’s no way to have a complete day off, so having a sort of day off was the next best thing and the next best thing was sort of having a sort of day off.  My sort of day off began when I got up at ten after eight hours of blessed sort of sleep.  I answered some sort of e-mails and had some sort of telephonic calls, and then I just felt like eating some damn thing, so I went to some damn restaurant called Jerry’s Damn Deli where I had the damn chicken tenders, which were damn yummilicious.  I picked up one sort of package but not one of the overdue ones (these overdue packages are beginning to irritate me), and then I came home.  Sort of.

Then I did a three-mile jog, which I did a little more briskly than usual.  Then I had to do a little work, i.e. proof the packaging for our next release.  I did that, made two tiny corrections and that has now gone off for approval and happily this particular company tends to approve quickly.  By then, somehow the damn day was over.  Sort of.  So, I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Twixt, the latest “film” by Francis Ford Coppola.  Once upon a time, Mr. Coppola made some terrific motion pictures.  I was a fan from the get-go with his low-budget Dementia 13 and then I absolutely loved his film You’re a Big Boy Now.  It’s quite dated if you see it today, but it was funny and fresh and weird back then, with a bunch of then-fresh faces in the cast and a very cool soundtrack by John Sebastian and The Lovin’ Spoonful.  The film was never released on DVD until the Warner Archive did a movie on demand DVD-R of it – I wasn’t aware of that until just typing these here notes, but I just bought it on Amazon.  I missed The Rain People, but was there on opening day for Finian’s Rainbow, which I must say I rather enjoyed, save for the lame choreography of Hermes Pan.  And then came The Godfather, which I also saw on opening day at the Village Theater in Westwood (coming out of the theater from the previous showing was Fred Astaire).  I loved The Godfather, as did everyone, and I saw it several times.  Then came The Conversation, with Gene Hackman giving a great performance, and my wonderful pal Cindy Williams in it, too.  I thought it was a great film and still do.

Then it was Godfather II, which I have a weird history with, which I don’t need to go into – it was the year I was separated from my then-wife.  But even with the weird history, I saw it and loved it.  After that, Coppola just kind of lost it for me.  I wouldn’t even go see Apocalypse Now because of the stories I heard.  I eventually saw it, and while I know it has its supporters, I kind of loathe it.  I was on the lot writing The Creature Wasn’t Nice when Coppola was making One From the Heart.  I saw it on its opening day and really didn’t like it – I liked the look and phoniness of it okay, but it was just a mess, at least for me.

Then it was The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, both of which I didn’t like at all.  It seemed to me that Coppola was so consumed with his own brilliance and his technological experiments that he forgot about storytelling, something that only a few short years earlier he did brilliantly.  Even with its troubled history, I cottoned to The Cotton Club – I thought it very well made, liked the cast, and the story held my interest.  For me it was a brief Coppola return to form.  After that came Peggy Sue Got Married, which I also really liked and I thought, well, maybe he’s back.  Garden of Stone wasn’t really to my liking, but Tucker, as much of a mess as it was, looked great and was interesting enough for me to go with it.  Coppola’s segment of New York Stories was awful, I thought.

Then it was Godfather III and after seeing that horror film I really thought Coppola had lost his sanity (perhaps that really happened on Apocalypse Now).  I hated Bram Stoker’s Dracula with every fiber of my being, missed Jack, saw The Rainmaker, which was good and had a good script, then there was nothing for an entire decade, after which we got Youth Without Youth, which I didn’t see, and Tetro, which I did and which I found unwatchable.  Which brings us to Twixt.  What to make of Twixt?  Based on a drunken dream that Coppola had, that’s pretty much what it looks and feels like – a drunken dream made by a filmmaker who had seven million dollars of his own money to spend making a digital film, with two sequences in 3D yet.  That is not to say the resulting film isn’t interesting, because it is.  That is also not to say it’s a good film, because it really isn’t.  But I was never bored, thanks to the film’s brief running time of eighty-three minutes (plus end credits), and Val Kilmer, and actor I’ve never really cared for, actually gives a weird and interesting performance that I found mesmerizing.  Mr. Kilmer has put on a LOT of weight and looks bloated and puffy, but it works for the role.  And Bruce Dern is obviously having great fun.  Elle Fanning is cute in her way, and the rest of the cast is certainly competent.  The whole film plays like a weird dream, which is obviously the point.  It’s not enough of a point, and it just kind of goes along with no real momentum and in the end it doesn’t really add up to anything, but along the way there are just enough interesting scenes to keep you viewing, especially a scene that made me laugh out loud with Kilmer (playing a horror novelist) trying to write an opening paragraph for a new book – as he gets successively drunker his behavior gets successively weirder until he starts doing impressions of Marlon Brando, James Mason, and somehow morphing into a gay, black basketball player talking about short shorts.  That scene alone has to be seen to be believed.  The digital camerawork looks okay but would look better on actual film.  I have no idea what two sequences were in 3D and can’t imagine they made much difference.

After the movie, I watched a little of the making of featurette, directed by Coppola’s granddaughter.  I wish I hadn’t.  Because watching Coppola, sitting like some demented Buddha, pontificating to everyone and seeming like he really has lost some of his sanity, well, I just shut it off after ten minutes because it was making me nauseous.  The film had no theatrical release to speak of (I believe it may have run a week in a couple of cities) and, of course, lost every penny of its seven million dollar budget.  I can’t really recommend it, although if you’re looking for something quirky you might get some little enjoyment out of it, as I did.  Transfer seems okay – the digital photography, I’m sure, looks like it looks.

After that, I listened to some music and that was that.  I was going to put another song from Pals in the notes, but since the one I put yesterday didn’t get one single comment, maybe that’s not something I should share.  So, no song today, I’m afraid.

Today, I shall be doing some errands and whatnot, I shall be doing a jog, I shall be paying a few horrendously large Kritzerland bills, hopefully picking up some packages, and probably starting a second set of liner notes, as well as prepping Monday’s release announcement.  I’ll eat something very light, because I may be meeting some people for a late-night snack later in the evening.

Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye is here and I have several things to do, and I may also have a dinner to go to.  I’m finding it very hard to believe that it’s already been a week since we recorded the band for Sandy’s album, and I’m also finding it even harder to believe that it’s the end of July.  How did that happen?  Sunday, I’m seeing Joan Ryan’s new cabaret show, and Monday we have our first Kritzerland rehearsal, after which I’ll go to my engineer’s house and start comping vocals.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, I shall do a jog, eat, write, hopefully pick up some packages and maybe meet some people for a late-night snack.  Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player?  I’ll start – CD, endless things.  Blu and Ray – Ozu’s Tokyo Story, Harlow, and Summer and Smoke.  Your turn.  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland happy I had a sort of day off.

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