Well, dear readers, before I rant a bit, let’s get the big news out of the way. We are fifteen years old today here at haineshisway.com. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, we are fifteen years old today. Or is it sixteen? I can never figure it out. In any case, we were born on November 9, 2001, and in the ensuing decade and a half these here notes became the longest-running daily blog in the history of the Internet. It’s been quite a ride – people come, people go, like Grand Hotel, but to paraphrase my close personal friend, Mr. Stephen Sondheim, we’re still here. So, happy anniversary to all you dear readers – those who participate on our discussion board or just plain dear readers who come and read this blather every day. Here’s to another fifteen!
you all probably know you’re not going to read anything political in these here notes – I don’t do that. People voted for who they voted for, the results are not complete and life will go on no matter which candidate prevails. There have been Presidents in both parties that people despised and somehow we survived and went on. But what I will say is this: My loathing of the media could not be any stronger than it is now. It is, in fact, at a fever pitch, whatever that is. They are shameful, hideous beings, only interested in ratings and entertainment – they outright lie, they never apologize when they’re wrong, which they frequently are, and they think all this is somehow fun. It’s not fun. When the president (lower case) of CBS brags about how all this is good for CBS you know what you’re dealing with. These cretins are held accountable for nothing. They have made this election a reality TV show and a tennis game – one week going after this candidate with some scandal or other, then turning the tables and going after the other. And they’ve been played like a fiddle. I don’t care what side you’re on, but I do care about fair, unbiased reporting, which simply doesn’t exist anymore. And of course Facebook and Twitter have exacerbated all of it – I have never read so many lies in my life, about BOTH candidates. If you can’t say what you have to say about a candidate without sharing falsehoods, then, in the words of The Brain, you are a fool and a simpleton. End of media rant.
Yesterday was such a weird day in just about every way. I did have many wonderful comments about The Brain from Planet X waiting for me when I finally got out of bed. I fell asleep around three, was up at eight for an hour, then fell back asleep until eleven, so I guess that was seven hours of sleep. Once up, I answered e-mails, then tried to catch up on stuff that I haven’t had time to deal with because of the crazy last week. Then I went and satisfied a craving with a bacon cheeseburger and no fries or onion rings. I’m always amazed how much I like the bacon cheeseburger at Jerry’s Deli. After that, I picked up a couple of packages, then came home. I did some work on the computer, then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture entitled Tom Sawyer, with script, music and lyrics by the brothers Sherman, directed by Don Taylor. This was to prepare for tomorrow’s audio commentary that I’m doing with Richard Sherman for the upcoming Twilight Time Blu-ray release of the film. I’d only seen it once before and that was a long time ago and probably on TV or cable – I know I never saw it in the theater. I thought the script and score worked very well, and certainly the John Williams arrangements and underscore are fantastic. The songs are very catchy in that Sherman Brothers way. But it’s also a very weird musical in that many of the songs are what you would call interior monologues or duets or whatever – in other words the character on screen just walks around while we “hear” the song that they’re not actually singing on screen. It’s like the director was afraid of actually committing to making it a real musical. I suppose that kind of thing can work but I think the numbers where they do it would all work better if the characters were singing rather than walking around with their mouths shut. Mr. Taylor, who began as an actor, was never, for me, a very good director – serviceable comes to mind. They also credit Danny Daniels with the staging of two of the musical numbers, but if there was any actual staging I must have missed it. Johnny Whitaker is very good as Tom, and the young Jodie Foster is winning as Becky Thatcher, and it’s always fun to see Celeste Holm. The DVD I watched looked quite nice so I suspect the Blu-ray will look really good. I took notes, but I already had a lot of my questions figured out, because I know the interesting history of the film and how it came to be. The good news is that once you start Richard talking, he just is amazing – his memory is incredible and he just goes from thing to thing effortlessly. And thankfully the film is of reasonable length so we won’t be gabbing for two hours – just the ninety-six minutes it runs. I must say, I was humming several of the songs after I watched the film.
I just wasn’t in the mood to jog so I didn’t. I did watch a bit of Samurai 1, part of a trilogy of films – I’m enjoying it so far and I always enjoy Toshiro Mifune. Also, the score is by Ikuma Dan and I’m a big fan. Thus far the Criterion Blu and Ray looks nice. Then I did stuff on the computer and tried to stay off Facebook because as you might expect it was an absolutely crazy place to be. I also binged on some Halloween candy leftovers.
Today, I’ll type up my final list of Tom Sawyer questions, I’ll eat, I’ll definitely resume jogging, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll do some banking, and I hope to relax a bit and listen to more music. I’m currently in my Malcolm Arnold mode, listening to his symphonies and concertos – what a master of melody and color he was – I’ve always loved his film scores, and his classical music is of a piece with them. I got an 11-CD box set of his music, all of the Vernon Handley recordings done for the Conifer label – I got it with some credit I had left over at Amoeba – but the cost was pretty amazing – around twenty-two bucks for the 11-CD set on Sony. And the sound is very good on the four discs I’ve heard so far.
Tomorrow, Richard Sherman will arrive at ten, and then we’ll mosey on over to the sound studio where we’ll record the commentary. Then we’ll be lunching at a local Thai jernt that is Nick Redman’s place of choice to sup. I like the food there very much and I suspect Richard will, too. Otherwise, it’s planning the December Kritzerland – we’re fully cast save for one guy and frankly I may just have one guy because I also have three of our young performers. And Guy Haines always enjoys Christmas songs. So, I’ll finish choosing the songs and get everyone their material. I also have to finish the current set of liner notes, get that title announced, and see if we can do at least one other title before the end of the year. And I’ll have some photographs from Kritzerland and The Brain for you in tomorrow’s notes.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, type questions, write liner notes, eat, jog, hopefully pick up some packages, bank, listen to music, continue watching Samurai 1, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to 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, where I shall dream of a lovely land where there is a responsible media rather than a bunch of buffoons.