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April 5, 2014:

WHAT IS PERFECTION?

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, what is perfection?  Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, what is perfection?  I’m sure we all have our own ideas about what perfection is.  Here’s mine:  Watch the following clip.  It’s from Swing Time, starring Mr. Fred Astaire and Miss Ginger Rogers.  It is perfection.  The song that precedes this clip is also perfection.  It’s called Pick Yourself Up, and it is my defining song.  This clip is the two-minute dance that follows the song soon after it is sung.  It is two of the most glorious minutes in the history of cinema.  Now, I’m sure you all have seen any number of motion picture musicals in the last decade – Hollywood’s attempts to revive movie musicals.  I don’t like too many of them and one of the reasons is their need to over edit the musical numbers, Chicago being the worst example of that, where you literally cannot actually see the dancing thanks to an edit every three seconds.  As you watch the following clip I want you to count the number of edits once the dance starts.  I’ll save you the trouble.  There are two cutaways to Eric Blore and other than those two cutaways, which are very brief, there are NO edits in the entire dance.  None.  Not one.  Zero.  We SEE the dancers doing the dance.  The camera movement highlights what they are doing – it does not call attention to itself – the camera simply dollies back when it needs to, pans when it needs to, and dollies forward when it needs to, all in service of the dancers and the number.  It is simple and, yes, perfection.  It is art of the highest order.  Watch and marvel.

Was I right or was I right?  I was right.  There is nothing about that number that could be improved, especially by inserting forty edits to feet and hands and different angles and close-ups of faces, which is exactly what the filmmakers of today would do.  I just don’t think it gets any better than that number.

Well, that was a preamble, wasn’t it?  She of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon so I best get to the point of the notes.  Yesterday was a very relaxing day in which I relaxed.  I awoke an hour earlier than I wanted to, which was irritating, but even if I’d slept another thirty minutes the neighbors were out and noisy so I would not have gotten the amount of sleep I wanted no matter what.  I stayed in bed for an hour, then got up, because I had to meet Caitlynne Medrick for breakfast.  She was in town for some awards thing for her web series, Out With Dad.  So, I met her at Jerry’s Deli and we had a good deal of fun catching up.  I had some eggs benedict, which, while not as good as the House of Pies the other day, were very tasty.

After that, I drove to the Dale of Glen after putting gas in the motor car.  I dropped off books at Mystery and Imagination and so we’re all ready for the signing a week from this day.  Then I picked up no packages, did some banking, wrote an obscenely large Kritzerland check (harder and harder to keep up with the big pile of relentless bills), and then finally sat on my couch like so much fish with some popcorn.

Yesterday and last night, I watched several things.  Two of the several things were on Netflix and were documentaries.  One was called Marilyn Monroe in Manhattan, and according to the synopsis, purported to give us the lowdown on Marilyn and the Kennedys.  The first fail was – it gave us the lowdown on nothing and about a minute was devoted to the Kennedys.  It was a horribly produced and “directed” documentary and other than some interesting photos and clips, a complete waste of time.  I then watched another documentary, this one much more interesting, called TWA Flight 800.  While I thought some of the presentation did exactly what the filmmakers accused the government of doing, i.e. presenting only partial information to make a case, there is so much that is so wrong with how the investigation into that horrible crash was handled – it would be obvious to anyone.  It was a sorry joke, the investigation – abridging witness interviews, subtly threatening the witnesses, never allowing witness testimony at the various hearings – just one thing after another, including evidence tampering.  The film ends with one scenario, which you may or may not buy, but what I definitely don’t buy is what the government fed us back then – not a word of it.  The filmmakers do lay it on awfully thick, though, with heavy, dramatic music to underscore everything and some “with it” editing techniques that don’t serve to bolster their case because it’s editorializing and commenting.  Still, I found it fascinating.

I then watched the first half of a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled All the King’s Men, starring Mr. Broderick Crawford.  Shockingly, I have never seen the film before, and it’s kind of really great – I’ll have more to say after I finish it, probably this evening.

After that, I did some work on the computer, proofed some charts, and relaxed.

Today, I shall be up early, I may try to jog, then I’ll do some errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up some mail, and then we have our stumble-through.  After that, I’ll be supping with Muse Margaret and hubby Richard.

Tomorrow is, of course, sound check and show.  Monday, I start planning the next Kritzerland show, casting it, choosing its songs, plus I have many meetings, many meals, liner notes to write, releases to prep, editing road maps to do, as well as attend a production meeting, have a book signing a week from today, and then making sure all is ready for our first rehearsal on the following Monday.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, maybe jog, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up packages, have a stumble-through and eat.  Today’s topic of discussion: Perfection.  What are you choices for absolute perfection, whether a movie scene, a play, a book or a song.  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall hopefully have dreams filled with perfection.

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