Well, dear readers, I’ve decided that if I ever compile a volume of these here notes (well, multiple volumes, since it would be thousands of pages), I shall call it Well, Dear Readers. That has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it? That has a certain something, doesn’t it? Not that I’m actually thinking about doing that, unlike someone else who use to frequent this here site. No, I cannot imagine anyone wanting to read fourteen YEARS’ worth of daily ramblings by the likes of me. Although it does present a certain look at passing time. When we began, there was no Blu and Ray, for example. There was no streaming, for example, at least not as we know it now. There was no – wait for it – Facebook, for example – HELL, there wasn’t even MySpace, for example. There was no social networking at all – that wasn’t even a phrase back in 2001. No, if you wanted fun and camaraderie and a family of friends there was only one place on all the Internet you could come to, and that was here. I believe we’ve been the most influential site in the history of history. Not really, but maybe a little. So, publishing multiple volumes of these here notes might be historically interesting as we traverse the years willy-nilly and also nilly-willy. I have no idea why I’m going on about publishing multiple volumes of these here notes because I have no intention of doing so, other than maybe I will, just for the halibut.
Yesterday was a day that went along. I was up by nine-thirty after about seven hours of sleep and some interesting dreams. Once up, I did my morning stuff, narrowed down song choices (this show is turning out to be very difficult – finishing the casting would definitely help), assigned a couple of songs to the singers I know are doing the show, then I went and had a chili, cheese, and onion omelet, which was only fair. I saw my pal, director Joel Zwick, and we had a nice chat. After that, I came directly home and did more work on the Kritzerland show. I know I did other things, but I can’t remember what they were. Oh, I did do a lot of research regarding two or three projects I’m trying to lock up for Kritzerland, and they’d be first up after we get the dough from the indiegogo campaign. We did have some action from yesterday’s prodding and we’re now at 32% funded and I’m going to keep prodding until we get this thing closer to 50% and then we have to do the BIIIIIG push in two weeks, and I do mean a BIIIIIG push, with five “I”s. I’d say the “I”s have it. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
I didn’t really watch anything all the way through – I watched a bit of Custer of the West on an import Blu-ray of astonishingly mediocre quality. Oh, yeah, I did finish watching a motion picture on the Flix of Net entitled Grace of Monaco. I understand there are three cuts of the film – a director’s cut, a writer/producer’s cut, and a cut that ran on Lifetime. I’m not sure what cut I watched but it was very, very bad. I’m not sure how any cut of this script could be good. It’s one long “who cares” movie about Grace Kelly in 1961, and Hitchcock’s trying to woo her back to the screen to do Marnie. There are endless stupid mistakes in the details throughout. The director defends those lapses by saying he’s making a MOVIE not a documentary. Sorry, director, it doesn’t work like that. Get the damn details right. The fellow who plays Hitchcock is better than any of the recent actors who’ve played it – he really doesn’t look like him facially, but physically he does and the voice is very good. Mostly the film is just boring. Nicole Kidman is okay as Miss Kelly, but I just wish she looked like her old self, if you get my meaning and I know you do. Frank Langella plays a priest in typical Langella style, and the rest of the actors are okay. The direction is wretched, with some of the stupidest-looking close-ups in the history of the cinema, in which the camera, framing from just above the eyebrows to below the mouth roams around Miss Kelly’s face for no reason whatsoever. And I am so heartily sick of the colorization of color movies, wherein every shot is colored to within an inch of its life. Why even have a director of photography if you’re going to subvert his work in post production because you are a director bankrupt of talent? I mean, one scene everything is yellow, just a yellow high-contrast wash over everything. Why? Then the next scene will have a blue wash over everything. Why? It’s so stupid and I’m so bored of this kind of inept moviemaking. Note to director: Put the damn camera down and learn how to tell a story. The End.
Then I decided to watch the motion picture entitled Fanny, because I’d come across the DVD and realized I’d never actually watched it beyond the opening credits. I was very critical of it when it came out late in the DVD game – 2008, I think – because I’d seen screen caps on a site and thought they looked like a yellow mess. Then I got the DVD and while it didn’t look like the caps at all, I still felt it was too yellow and brown for my taste. So, imagine my surprise to find a transfer with excellent color. But I understand why I felt the way I felt back then – in 2008 I hadn’t bought my new TV yet, my Samsung. So, I was watching it on a six year old rear projection TV. The Samsung, of course, was a much better TV, with much better color reproduction. I haven’t seen Fanny since it came out in 1961 at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. I liked it very much back then, and I must say I’m enjoying it very much now.
After that, I made about three ounces of pasta with butter and cheese for my evening snack, listened to some music, did a jog, tried to whittle the song list down, paired up some songs to make the list a little less unwieldy and that was that.
Before we talk about today, let’s all wish my dear friend Richard M. Sherman a very happy haineshisway.com birthday – it was yesterday and he turned a youthful eighty-seven years young. Here I am with this wonderful man.
Today, she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early, so I’ll do a jog, then go eat something, then hopefully pick up some packages, after which I’ll return home. I’m thinking about going to see a club act tonight, but will have to see how I’m feeling and how far I’ve gotten and getting these damn songs finalized. We shall see.
Tomorrow I’ll relax and then in the afternoon we’re reading through the Sami show so we can all see how the changes I’ve made work – sometimes it’s just a word, sometimes a deletion, sometimes I’ve added a few sentences. The last time I looked at it, it all seemed fine to me. Next week is busy with meetings and meals and all sorts of errands and whatnot and seeing some shows.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, hopefully pick up packages, choose songs and maybe see a club act. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Grace Kelly movies? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall ponder publishing multiple volumes just for the halibut.