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September 10, 2017:

NOTES ON A PERFECTLY REASONABLE DAY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, here I am, sitting at the computer like so much fish, taking a break from my viewing to write these here notes because one simply must write these here notes or the entire balance of the Internet would crumble and wither on the Internet vine, and we can’t have that, can we? No, we can’t. The musical accompaniment for tonight’s notes is The Swan of Tuolena by Mr. Jean Sibelius, this version conducted by Mr. Herbert Von Karajan. It’s quite a nice version – I sometimes think that the Sibelius he conducted has the cleanest and clearest sound of all the stereo versions. I happen to be listening to this music because earlier in the day I finally got to hear the Eugene Ormandy early 1950s mono recordings of the fourth and fifth Sibelius symphonies, which have never officially been issued on CD. That is an enigma, since they are amazing performances and the mono engineering is simply tops. What I heard was an okay vinyl transfer with a lot of work done, but one can only imagine how good the mono masters must sound. After hearing the fifth I almost think that it’s now my favorite performance – certainly of the mono recordings, but it kind of puts to shame the stereo ones, too. Superbly played, perfectly paced, and the third movement is simply divoon. In fact, I’m now listening to it for the third time. If our first classical release does well, I may have to see about officially licensing this. We shall see.

Yesterday was a perfectly reasonable day – nothing horrendous happened and that’s always a plus. I only got about five-and-a-half hours of sleep due to arising early for she of the Evil Eye. I spent a bit of time in the garage going through more boxes, then I went and had a bacon and cheese omelet and a bagel for my main meal o’ the day. I picked up the one small package that contained the Ormandy CD, then came home. Once home, I did some work on the computer and some work at the piano, as well as had some telephonic conversations. Then I hunkered down and listened to ten synth mock-ups of Lanny Meyer’s Levi orchestrations – they’re pretty great even hearing these cheesy mock-ups – one can only imagine how good they’ll sound with real instruments. I even sang along as I listened a second time. Then I spent some time organizing the closet in the book room, which had become a little too disorganized for my taste. I also had a long chat with both Elizabeth and Richard Sherman. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on the Flix of Net entitled Fracture, a 2007 film starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling, directed by Gregory Hoblit. It’s a cat-and-mouse thriller and Mr. Hopkins is terrific. Mr. Gosling mumbles a lot but is okay. David Straithern is always great. But the direction is just about everything I hate about today’s films – these guys from TV just bore me, I’m afraid. It all wraps up a little too easily and quickly in the final eight minutes, but thanks to Mr. Hopkins, I enjoyed it. Oh, and the title really has nothing whatsoever to do with the film.

I then went to Gelson’s and got a couple of small chicken tenders and a tiny amount of the mac-and-cheese for my evening snack. I came home and ate it all up. Doug Haverty stopped by before going to the theater and I gave him a authentic period comic book – the script calls for a Superman comic book – this one is actually Action Comics but has a huge rendering of Superman on the cover. It’s from a little later than the play’s time period, but comics were basically the same back then – same size, same layout, same kind of covers. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish again.

I began watching a piece of sci-fi cheese called What Happened to Monday starring seven Noomi Rapaces. Someone had recommended it to my – why I know not – but it’s pretty wacky and the dialogue is risible. This script was one of the hot blacklist unmade films of 2010 and one can just imagine all the twenty-something executives thinking, “Ooh, cool” but not having the guts to actually green light it. But someone did and let me tell you it wasn’t Netflix, and yet the credit on the front of the film after the obligatory and endless production company logos is: “Netflix Presents a Netflix Original Movie.” Now while they would say there are many ways to interpret that, I say it’s bogus and that this film, other than being picked up for streaming, has nothing whatsoever to do with Netflix. And if their answer is “We didn’t say it did” my response would be, “Then you may as well say “Netflix presents an Original Netflix Movie” before showing Gone With the Wind – after all, all they did was pick up the streaming rights to it. Shame on them, really. I haven’t finished yet – I’m halfway through, but I do like Noomi Rapace, so there’s seven of her to watch. But it really does seem like the script was written by a barely out of his teens college boy. Well, turns out he was in his late twenties but we all know that this generation’s late twenties is late teens. It’s a terrible script with some truly horrendous dialogue. The Finnish director isn’t much better than the writer. This is the director who gave us something called Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. I mean, the movie business is dead – just bury it. I’ll probably finish it before going to bed.

Today I shall work on the Kritzerland show, then the Haverty clan and I are meeting at Genghis Cohen for a fine dining experience.

Then I have a busy week, with meetings and meals, doing a workshop at LACC, and then attending the opening night of The Red Shoes. Hoping that the cloven hoof of negativity stays far from my door. Do send those excellent vibes and xylophones.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do work on the Kritzerland show, then sup at Genghis Cohen. 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, done with the notes on a perfectly reasonable day.

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