Well, dear readers, I haven’t much to say but I shall, of course, say it with vigor and vim as well as vim and vigor, and I shall say not much with as many words as possible because these are, after all, the notes. Let me begin by saying I have had one entire week of not enough sleep – usually between five and six hours and I must remedy that in the next couple of days, because once we hit Thursday there will be no rest for the weary.
Yesterday, for example, I only got about six hours of sleep before the arrival of she of the Evil Eye. I did an early jog of two-and-a-half miles, then I had some unused credit at Amoeba so I drove over there. I hadn’t been to Amoeba in at least two or three years. I went to the classical section and found several three-dollar CDs of interest (American and Brit music) and one $13 CD, and then I went upstairs and bought one Blu-ray and that used up my credit. I love getting new things without having to actually pay anything. Oh, and I made a hilarious discovery, one I predicted would happen last year and it has indeed happened, but I will not be getting credit for being the one to predict it. What I predicted was that with the hipsters being all into vinyl again, because they’re all about making the retro hip again, that the next thing they’d bring back to relive the past for reasons only known to them was cassettes. And they have – I saw them – new cassettes of various and sundried things. I couldn’t believe it, really, but you could just see it coming. It is a joke, of course. Cassettes always sounded like crap, and frankly, most vinyl, while having good fidelity, always had ticks and pops and noise that always annoyed me. It is to laugh – and I did, rather loudly.
Once through, I came home, did some writing and work on the computer, listened to music, then Sami and her mom came by and we worked on The Brain. Sami had a good handle on the role, so I just had to give a few timing notes and clarify a few things and she’ll be really good, I think. She also sang her two songs, and those she does incredibly already. Then we went to Hugo’s for an early evening meal. I had a small Caesar and their excellent mac-and-cheese, Sami’s mom had a kind of skirt steak, and Sami tried their carbonara. Sadly, their carbonara basically sucks – they put wine in it and it just totally subverts all the flavors it should have. Sami was a good soldier and ate about a third of it, but I tasted it and I knew why she didn’t really care for it. So, I shared my mac-and-cheese with her and she loved that. I told her we’d have to go to Tony’s Bella Vista so she could taste what real carbonara is – and that she will love. Then I came home, did some Brain work, and then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching the short version of The Shining. Interestingly, basically all of the cut material had already happened – I left off at eighty minutes in the short version, which, in the long version was at 104 minutes. So from there to the end all that was missing was a single shot of about ten seconds duration. Then I watched a motion picture on Blu-ray entitled Boy on a Dolphin, starring Mr. Alan Ladd and Miss Sophia Loren, along with Mr. Clifton Webb. People have been raving about the movie on one of the Blu-ray boards – both transfer and the film itself. Well, the film is pretty bad, I thought. It has no momentum whatsoever – they keep having long dance sequences, which just stop the film cold. It’s also simply not a compelling story. The actors are all fine. Touted as a 4K restoration, the transfer looks very good (from Fox – the label is Kino) save for one sequence towards the end, and the color is the way I like it. Interestingly, all the people who scream and yell about how the Fox transfers that appear on Twilight Time are all TOO BLUE (we call them the Blue Brigade) and how they don’t look like some previous terrible DVD release, curiously not a one of them has commented on this Kino release – funny, huh? Makes you wonder. Because let me assure you this transfer is very much of a blue piece with all their other transfers. Go know. I did doze off for forty minutes so I had to go back and watch that section, but it was just a long slog to sit through.
After that, I uploaded some more music whilst listening to a symphony by a Brit composer named Arthur Butterworth, his first symphony – a very long piece, but I quite enjoyed it. This particular recording was made from a broadcast and had a problematic tape, but it’s conducted by the composer – but there are a couple of other recordings and I might try one at some point.
Today, I will hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep. Once up I’ll do the usual things, I’ll jog, do Brain work, and relax. Then I’ll go sup, then see a one-person show in NoHo.
Tomorrow begins the crazy busy week and I really do need all your most excellent vibes and xylophones for no irritants whatsoever. Send ‘em and send ‘em often because we need ‘em. In the evening I’ll be giving out a LOT of candy. Tuesday is our first Kritzerland rehearsal, Wednesday is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, Thursday is our first Brain rehearsal, Friday is our second Brain rehearsal, Saturday morning is our third Brain rehearsal, Saturday afternoon is our stumble-through for Kritzerland, Sunday is sound check and show, and then Monday is an all day and evening affair at LACC, and then it’s show time.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, do Brain work, relax, sup, and see a show. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy having made so much of so little. And I must leave you with this: There is a nefarious little bugger who’s been scamming actors and venues for two years – several aliases and always seems to come back. He’s been arrested on fraud charges and some other unspecified charge that has yielded a million and a half dollar bail. He was, in fact, back under yet another name with a season of shows that would not have happened. But he has a video up of his production of A Chorus Line – hard to tell where the venue is, but it’s clearly filled with amateurs. But you know just how amateur when in the opening Zach turns around and says: “Okay, let’s do the whole combination facing away from the mirror. A five two three four!” I am not making this up, I swear. A five two three four. Need I say anything more?