Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much frustrated fish due to a CD being stuck in my external optical drive – I’ve done everything there is to do but the disc will not eject. I may have to buy a new one and then pry this mo-fo open so I can get the disc out – very frustrating, I must say. There are less expensive versions than Apple’s own, but they all have the new USB-C plug, which means you have to buy an adaptor and so then it’s not such a big difference. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow but tonight I’d like to strangle a wildebeest and I would if only knew what a wildebeest is and where to find one. Oh, it’s a gnu. Did you know a wildebeest was a gnu? Who gnu? Certainly not the likes of me. Did you know if you shoot a gnu with a gun that you merely rearrange one letter? And the damn disc that’s stuck in there is part of a rare set that is not gettable anymore so you can be sure I’ll be prying this mo-fo open no matter what it takes. In fact, if I replace it with another Apple version then I’ll just take this over there and let them retrieve the CD. Damn them, damn them all to hell and all of it has caused me to JUST begin writing these here notes, which, as you already know, just makes me want to strangle a wildebeest. Currently, to calm my mood down, I am listening to one of my favorite violin concertos, this one by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a different and much less effective performance than the Hilary Hahn performance I heard the other day and wayyyyy less effective than Mr. Heifetz, although he is in mono. Not him personally, but his recording. This one’s part of a big CPO collection of Korngold, which I thought would be fun to listen to since I haven’t played this stuff in a few years. Prior to that, I did watch two count them two motion pictures, both of which were called The Omen. First, I watched the classic 1976 version, which should, of course, be the only version but more about that in a moment. I can’t find anything in the notes archive about when I last watched it, but it’s probably when it came out on Blu and Ray about a decade ago. I saw it in theaters, of course, at either the Egyptian or the Village, can’t remember which, although the Egyptian would have been more convenient. It was a huge hit, despite quite a few bad reviews and amusingly most of those reviewers have conveniently forgotten they didn’t like it and now speak of it as a classic. They call it silly and ridiculous, but I never found it so and clearly neither did audiences. That’s because director Richard Donner takes it seriously and keeps things moving at a terrific clip. And Gregory Peck gives the proceedings a certain gravitas. David Seltzer’s script is very good, too. Then you add the rest of the players, all of whom are perfect – Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens (as Damien), Billie Whitelaw as the nanny from, well, hell, David Warner, Leo McKern and the rest. Gil Taylor’s photography is very 1976 – diffusion galore – and Jerry Goldsmith’s score, which won him his one and only Oscar, is fantastic and brilliant and a textbook in what a film score should do. And it holds up quite well, I thought, and I really enjoyed seeing it again. Then, for grins, on the Firestick, I watched the 2006 remake on Amazon Prime. Well, from scene one it gets everything wrong and it, too, is a textbook example of why films should not be remade by idiots. In scene one, you are told everything in advance so there are no surprises, which in the original lets you discover things as the characters do. I was surprised to see the screenplay credited to the original writer. I couldn’t believe that he would mangle his screenplay so horribly and as it turns out, he didn’t. The film was written by two other people and the WGA in all its wisdom gave sole credit to the original writer because the rewrite didn’t veer too far and used so much of the original dialogue. These two hacks just made hash out of everything. Then you add an absolutely dreadful cast – Liev Schreiber, and actor I simply don’t get and certainly I can’t understand a damn word he says, Julia Stiles, whose appeal certainly doesn’t appeal to me, the kid, who is made to only play one note for the entirety of the film, unlike the original kid, and none of the rest of the cast are anywhere near their predecessors. Then we have the score by Marco Beltrami – well, he uses one of the famous four-note motifs of the Goldsmith score, but the rest of his score is just nothing and so typical of today’s film scores. And then to add insult to injury, he uses some of Ave Satani, Goldsmith’s main theme, for the end credits. All the set pieces are there but their all CGI and terrible. Oh, and I forgot Mia Farrow as the nanny – she is laughable in the role and especially amusing when having to spout dialogue about how great she is with kids. Everyone mumbles and has no energy ever, and it’s just horrid from start to finish. And they completely blow the ending and I mean completely. The original film has a little fake out thing, which is why the final shot worked so well in theaters. Not the remake. And it looks terrible, and the day “colorists” started enhancing every color on the screen to such unnatural levels, well, that was a bad day. All in all, if you want a fun exercise, do as I did and watch them back to back.
Yesterday, I got almost even hours of sleep and that seemed to do the trick in terms of getting rid of the lethargic and logy me. But, since I didn’t get out of bed until one, it kind of lost me some of my ME day. I answered e-mails and stuff and did a few things on the computer, and then around four o’clock I went to Uncle Bernie’s Deli and had a sky-high pastrami with coleslaw and Russian dressing – it wasn’t as good as the last time, so I won’t be having it again. And with it, a few fries. Then I came right home and began my viewing. After that, the CD got stuck, I had a telephonic conversation and now I’m trying to wrap up these here notes because they are LATE.
Today, I’ll be up by ten, I’ll shave and shower, and then the singer will pick me up and we drive way the HELL out wherever the pianist is, near Magic Mountain. We’ll rehearse for two hours, then come back here. I can then do a few things until it’s time to go to the going away partay for Hartley Powers. I’m told there’ll be around forty people there, but hopefully not all at once. I’m also told that the food will be Dino’s Pizza and that is VERY exciting. I’ll probably stay a couple of hours and then come home and watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I have a Zoom thing with David Wechter, then I have several things which will need doing, and then I go sup and see Kerry O’Malley’s duo show. Tuesday I have a lunch meeting, Wednesday is a rehearsal, and then there are other meetings and meals and things to do.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, shave and shower, rehearse, relax, attend a going away partay and 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 and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, whilst I try to get over wanting to strangle a wildebeest due to a stuck CD that won’t eject.