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August 3, 2019:

GIVING THE GO-AHEAD

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to music and pondering those damn imponderables.  One of the imponderables that got pondered yesterday was the motor car. I never heard from the guy who was supposed to call me, and when I called what I suppose is his cell, I got a “this number is not in service,” which made me nervous.  So, I called their listed number and a woman answered, I told her who I was, and she told me that they’d found a refurbished engine with a similar amount of miles as I have on mine.  She gave me a figure that was less than the first figure I’d gotten and said they’d also fix the other stuff that was wrong (several smaller things they’d already told me about last time I was there) for the same price, and if I brought in cash there’d be no tax.  So, I gave her the go-ahead.  I should have asked why the guy’s cell was disconnected, but stuff like that happens. Anyway, it will take a week, so I’ll be doing a lot of walking this upcoming week.

I got about nine hours of sleep yesterday, did some work on the computer, listened to some music, and texted Grant to see if he was around and if he could do me a favor and take me to the mail place, the bank, and then I’d buy him lunch.  Thankfully, he was around and thirty minutes later we did all that stuff – I picked up a few packages and the important envelope, then we went to the bank (and he did his banking two doors down at the Wells Fargo), then we went to the nearby California Pizza Kitchen.  I had the calorie-friendly cedar plank salmon (580 calories – a bit less, probably, since I left the cheese off the vegetables (feta), and a small Caesar (270 calories and I didn’t finish it).  So, that was good.  Then he had to put gas in his motor car, so I got two large bottles of Diet Coke, since I was down to my last can.  Those should last me the weekend.  Then he dropped me at the home environment.

I answered e-mails, had one telephonic conversation, although I kept it short, just as I kept the lunch conversation short, trying to rest my voice. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I sampled the three new Twilight Time releases. I watched about forty minutes of The Chairman, a rather inane movie starring Gregory Peck – pure 1969 and dated even by that year’s standards, directed by J. Lee Thompson.  I’ll finish it tonight probably – I did fall asleep for a half-hour and had to go back to the beginning of it.  I will say that the transfer is fantastic, with absolutely perfect color.  I then did a two-mile walk to the Rite Aid and back, so I got my Claritin-D, since I was down to my last pill, which I took a little earlier in the evening.

Then I watched in its entirety a motion picture entitled Behold a Pale Horse, starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, and Omar Sharif.  It’s a completely weird, schizophrenic film and certainly not one of Mr. Zinneman’s greats – as Mr. Sharif said years later, “It was a bad film by a good director.”  I gather the book by Emeric Pressburger is very different.  This thing just plods along, you get a few good scenes, and then more plodding, and then it ends with a whimper.  It’s very clear why it was a flop.  The score by Maurice Jarre is typical of that era.  The black and white transfer from Sony isn’t quite up to their usual impeccable standards.

After that, I checked out a bit of Ten North Frederick, a film I’ve never seen.  For some reason, I thought it was a late 1940s thriller, but it’s a 1958 potboiler in black and white Cinemascope, directed by one of my least favorite Fox directors, Philip Dunne. The cast is great, though, with Gary Cooper, Diane Varsi, Geraldine Fitzgerald (with whom I worked and who I adored), and many others. It does have a lovely stereo score by Leigh Harline.  Looking forward to watching that, too.

Then I listened to music, rested my voice, and then it was time to write these here notes.

Today, I can sleep at least until eleven, then I’ll shave and shower and get ready for our two o’clock stumble-through.  Then I’ll give whatever notes I have, run whatever we need to run, and then some of us will grab a bite to eat.  I’m thinking Stanley’s or Hugo’s for the meal.  Then I’ll relax, watch stuff, and mostly rest my voice.

Tomorrow, I can sleep in, then I’ll relax until it’s time to get ready, I’ll start to warm up my voice, then I’ll mosey on over to Vitello’s, a little earlier than usual as our usual sound guy isn’t with us (I know the guy who’s subbing and he’s excellent and has done our shows before) – I’ll have to get there via Uber, and then I can Uber home or if someone is heading this way, perhaps they can drop me off at the home environment.  Monday, I have a lunch meeting, but I can walk to that, then the rest of the week I’ll be writing and working on the computer and not going anywhere much.  But that will be a good thing.  I’m beginning to do a lot of prep work for next year’s book, and it requires tons of typing stuff up.  So, I hope to get a lot done.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in a bit, have a stumble-through, eat, and then watch stuff, relax, and rest my voice.  Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, and Omar Sharif?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have made a decision about the motor car and that I gave the go-ahead.

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