Well, dear readers, can you believe it, this is the final day of 2014. Where in tarnation did this year go? It just flew by, like a gazelle playing pinochle. Does anyone still play pinochle? Pinochle was quite popular with the populace of old cockers who lived near the Ocean Park Pier, where they had a huge Pinochle Parlor. My grandfather went there all the time. When they built Pacific Ocean Park the Pinochle Parlor went the way of all flesh or the way of the gaucho or the way of the world. Why am I talking about Pinochle on this, the final day of 2014? But you know what that means, don’t you? That means that tomorrow is the first day of 2015, and also the beginning of January. And it is my fervent hope and prayer that both 2015 AND January will be a year and month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.
The final day of 2014 wasn’t bad at all, save for one truly irritating piece of mail, which I promptly ripped in two and deposited in the trash unopened. I got up at ten after, I don’t know, seven hours of sleep – maybe I got eight. I then did my morning ablutions, after which I moseyed on over to Jerry’s Deli where I met Sami and her mom. We had a spot of lunch – mom had eggs, which she didn’t eat because they weren’t well done enough, Sami had chicken soup and fries, and I had a Cobb salad and an English muffin. We had fun and then we all went back to the home environment.
Once there, I handed Sami the six or seven monologues I’ve written and had her cold read them. That’s never easy, and especially with wordy monologues, but she barreled through them and even as rough as it was, you could just tell that once she understands what they’re about and how to play them and what the very specific rhythm is, it’s going to be very funny. Even as rough as it is we all laughed out loud at several points. The subject matter of each is interesting and it really does seem to sit in Sami’s voice very well. Some of them I had her read twice. She’ll now take them and work on them, although based on what I heard I made several changes including a couple of cuts, some additions, and some moving stuff around. That’s why I like to hear them out loud.
After that, she sang through the three original songs I’ve written (there are a total of five songs at this point, but two of them already existed), and those she was up on and they sounded really good. One is an opening number, one is a song about loving to sing, and one is an I Want song that’s literally called I Want. I think there might just be something here and we might come out with a worthwhile project. Time will tell.
Then they left, and I went and picked up one package from our very own Sandy and, as mentioned, an irritating piece of mail that I promptly deposited into the trash, unopened. I came home and immediately opened the Sandy box, which had two framed things in it – one, a great photograph of Sandy and me, and two, a framed thing of the three CD covers and the photo of us from the back of the booklet. I must find the perfect place to hang them. Then I listened to the new Donald Feltham The Broadway Radio Show right here at haineshisway.com – this week’s show is his favorite 2014 cast albums. He also plays three tracks from three vocalist albums he liked, and one of them I’m happy to say was Sandy – he played Here On Earth. After that, I did the little revising on the monologues, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching a motion picture on Blu an Ray entitled Heaven and Earth, a film of Oliver Stone starring Tommy Lee Jones and a newcomer named Hiep Thi Le. It’s based on the memoirs of Le Ly Hayslip about her young years in Vietnam, her hardships and tragedies as she grew to adulthood, and it’s quite an affecting movie that I’d never seen before. The film’s release must have been a well-kept secret – it should have been nominated for several Oscars, only for that to happen they’d have actually had to see the movie, which apparently didn’t happen. Hiep Thi Le’s performance is fantastic and should have had a nomination. Tommy Lee Jones should have had one, too. And certainly the photography of Robert Richardson should have had one. It’s shameful really. The film boasts a terrific score by Kitaro, although I suspect that the score’s orchestrator, arranger and conductor, Randy Miller, had a whole lot to do with the actual score. Randy should have been a major composer – I worked with him several times at Varese – great guy, great composer, and his work on Heaven and Earth is spectacular. The transfer – I know you’re waiting to hear about the transfer. It has been the subject of much controversy, with many finding it substandard because they’ve surmised it’s an older master and they think it’s filled with “jaggies” and “combing.” One reviewer, who had given the video a 4.5 rating, downgraded it to a 4. Still, four out of five is pretty good, but that doesn’t faze these five or six people who always do this. They spoke of one scene in particular filled with “jaggies” and pixilation. I got to that scene with great anticipation and waited to see these horrors, these affronts to mankind and the world in general. Only I didn’t see them. I didn’t see these jaggies and pixilation and combing and I combed really hard. I even went back and watched it two more times and still didn’t see them. One wag on one of these boards actually said he hadn’t seen any of them but was still angry knowing they were there. Yes, that’s what we’re dealing with here – it’s insanity. It probably IS an older transfer dating back a decade. But so are Judgment at Nuremberg, Birdman of Alcatraz, Inherit the Wind and the Woody Allen films, all of which have gotten high praise. So, I don’t really care as long as what I’m viewing seems fine to me and Heaven and Earth certainly seems fine to my eyes – great color, excellent detail, and some ravishing shots that look beautiful. I wrote about it on one board only to have one of the usual suspects who always comes after me tell me that I was either blind, had sight deficiencies, was sitting too far from my TV because all these terrible things were there for all to see. So how come a bunch of us haven’t seen them? Funny that. But everybody’s an expert in the world of Blu-ray. Could it look better with a fresh scan of the camera negative – sure. Is it a disaster of epic proportions, a lousy transfer – no, no, and no. It looks quite good to my blind eyes and the sound is fantastic. Finally, to put a nail in it, on the worst of these boards everyone was blaming Warners since they supplied this horrific transfer (not), knowing that Twilight Time can only issue what they’re given. Then one of the head honchos there comes on and actually says the transfer is fine but the authoring is the problem. And then everyone jumps on that bandwagon for a short time and starts blaming Twilight Time and their authoring house. Well, head honcho, you are, as always, completely wrong. There is no problem with the authoring because Twilight Time uses one of the best authoring houses anywhere, and they do it right and no one can dispute that because a simple look at the specs tells the story. Eventually people caught on that that was a crock of potato salad and the head honcho conveniently disappeared after his silly attempt at troublemaking. Anyway, the bottom line is, if the film interests you buy with confidence. I’m quite sure that none of the normal denizens of this here site will see anything wrong with the transfer.
After that, I watched a wacky little thriller on DVD entitled Chase a Crooked Shadow, starring Miss Anne Baxter, Mr. Richard Todd and Mr. Herbert Lom. It’s a rather silly film, but I kind of enjoyed it nonetheless. It has some good acting and some good scenes and it’s well directed by Michael Anderson.
Then I did some work at the piano, answered some e-mails and then relaxed. I learned that actress Luise Rainer died at – wait for it – 104 years of age. THAT is a life. I met Miss Rainer briefly around 1991 when I was working on Totally Hidden Video for Fox. We did post-production at Premore in North Hollywood and she and Van Johnson were there doing voiceovers for some show about the Golden Age of Hollywood. She must have been pushing eighty at the time, so I thought to myself, myself you should get a photo signed by her because she won’t be around long. So, I can’t remember how I quickly procured a photo but I did and she graciously signed it for me and was very warm and sweet. I still have it – and here it is.
Today, I shall be up by nine and then I have a ten o’clock work session with a musical director – that should take an hour or ninety minutes, then I’ll go grab a bite to eat, hopefully pick up some packages and NO irritating mail, then I’ll have a brief visit with Jason Graae, who’s coming to pick up some CDs, and then it’s our annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve partay right here at haineshisway.com, the safest, best and most fun partay anywhere on all the Internet. So, be there or be round as we countdown and wait for our balls to drop to welcome in 2015.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a work session, eat, hopefully pick up packages, have a visit, and then attend the partay right here at haineshisway.com. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you can ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, and get ready to bid a fond farewell to 2014 and a happy hello to 2015.