Well, dear readers, I had a real, old-fashioned ME day, as opposed to a real, new-fashioned ME day. I listened to a lot of music and watched a motion picture, too. For example, right this very minute, I’m listening to Mr. Previn do the Rachmaninoff first symphony. I’ve never heard his performance before. The two others I like are Ormandy (of course) and Walter Weller. But this Previn is right up there with those two – in fact, it may be the best of all and I’ve heard ‘em all. It also sounds great. And prior to that I’d listened to a long opera entitled Faust by Charles Gounod. I’ve heard Gounod’s two symphonies, which I enjoyed and which, of course, I cannot locate anywhere ever though I got the CD last year, and like everyone on the planet I knew his Funeral March of a Marionette. In case the title isn’t familiar, it was used as the theme from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. And I’d heard one opera, Cinq-Mars, which I sort of enjoyed but didn’t love. But Faust is really terrific, and I can’t imagine a better recording than the one I played – Andre Cluytens conducting and Boris Christoff, Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, and Rita Gorr starring. This was recorded in 1958 and the stereo sound is spectacular. In Previn land, I also heard his Rachmaninoff Isle of the Dead, which was great, and his Symphonic Dances, which wasn’t. And a very nice album called Music Night, which has short pieces, mostly war horses, but I really enjoyed that album a lot. Carmina Burana, which I liked much more than I thought I would, and a nice album of Previn and Perlman doing Scott Joplin. I found it amusing that all the albums in this set that music critic David Hurwitz pontificated about in his review – the ones he said were terrible, well, they weren’t terrible. He has a devoted following of sycophants on the Tube of You, but I find him very irritating in just about every way. I should stop watching, but it’s now a game to see just HOW irritating he can be. I’m sure he thinks of himself as a YouTube star now, but that’s not quite how it works. Sometimes I agree with his assessments – for example, he loved the Ormandy box, but then again, you’d have to be a moron not to love it.
I also watched a motion picture entitled Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, John Vernon, Reni Santoni, and Andy Robinson, directed by Don Siegel. This was in the big Dirty Harry Blu-ray set, which I know I watched when it came out, but I didn’t realize just how long ago that was – over eleven years ago. I love Dirty Harry, it’s that simple. The script, the direction, the acting, everything, including the completely unique and brilliant score by Lalo Schifrin. It’s certainly one of the most ripped-off movies ever made, but none of the rip-offs have been anywhere near as good. It makes people uncomfortable, that’s for sure, and in today’s world it would trigger all the woke folks so much that their poor little heads would explode. And let’s face it, there are times on Facebook when I’d like to become Dirty BK. I know I saw this the first week it was out, and I knew it was on Hollywood Boulevard – for a moment, I thought maybe it was the Chinese, but no, this opened just before Christmas and the Chinese had Diamonds are Forever, which I saw there on its opening week, too. But I was sure close because Dirty Harry was right across the street at the Paramount. Looking at what was playing that week, I think I saw every film that was playing exclusively and a few that were in wider runs. It was a pretty damn good year for films. And prior to Dirty Harry, I finished up Hit the Deck. I’m not sure why or how this suddenly became some kind of classic, but that seems to be the consensus. It’s not a classic, it’s an okay musical film with a couple of really fun sequences and nice performances by Debbie Reynolds, Jane Powell, Ann Miller, Walter Pidgeon, and Russ Tamblyn. Also interesting, in a very small role, newcomer Alan King. The transfer got raves from everyone. It’s perfectly fine, but not when you compare it to some of the recent Warner Archive transfers. I’m sure they did the best they could with that sometimes-problematic film stock. The color’s fine and it’s mostly sharp, and maybe it really is the best the film can look. I thought for a minute perhaps I’d seen it first run, but I hadn’t yet been to the theater where it had its first run engagement, the Stanley Warner Beverly Hills. I think my first film in that theater was Song Without End, starring Dirk Bogard. So, I’m sure I saw it at the Stadium or Lido.
Yesterday, as mentioned, was a ME day. I got eight hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, found out that I got both actors I wanted for the little playlet, I did a few things on the computer, then went to Gelson’s and got a chicken Caesar salad, came home, and ate it all up. It was a bit smaller than usual but very good. Then I listened to music, had a couple of telephonic conversations, made a cheese and onion omelet for my snack – it was kind of gross – and then it was listening and watching and listening, not necessarily in that order.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and then I’ll mosey on over to the mail place to pick up a couple of little packages and then I’m joining Peyton and her mother for a nice meal at Peyton’s choice of restaurant. It will be fun to catch up. After that, I’ll come directly home and I’ll watch, listen, and relax. And I’m hoping I’ll have the final video we’re waiting on.
Then this coming week is all Kritzerland show stuff, Indiegogo shipping, hopefully getting our two titles in so we can ship those and whatever else needs doing. Obviously, I was hoping to announce our new stuff last night, but unless something changes before I have to post these here notes, I guess that’s not happening.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, relax, hopefully pick up packages, sup with Peyton and mom, then watch, listen, and relax. 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, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, liking the idea of my new Facebook persona: Dirty BK.