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December 6, 2021:

PLEASANT LITTLE SUNDAY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to no music and pondering the imponderables whilst having pondered the ponderables, which, frankly, was kind of boring. Imponderables, being imponderable, are much more fun and exciting to ponder. And now, I am pondering what the HELL I’m talking about. All right, I’ve now put on some music, as it always seems to be much easier to write these here notes to musical accompaniment – now playing is Sir Arthur Bliss’s marvelous piano concerto, which is marvelous. Earlier in the evening, I finished watching The Lost Daughter, which I just didn’t care for at all. I found the directorial “style” to be irritating and while the story may have worked well in the novel, for me it was not so interesting as a film. The actors are certainly fine, but I hated the score, and it just wasn’t my cuppa. As I said, it is the sort of film that gets critics all gung ho. I leave it to them. After that, I watched in its 163-minute entirety, No Time to Die, which is the last of the Bond films that will feature Daniel Craig. The film has made about 760 million worldwide (it did not do that well in the US) and yet it has not broken even yet, due to its bloated and insane budget and then advertising cost, which some put at 350 million. I find that amount of money for one film rather obscene. Think of the good that money could do, but we must have our movies. I wonder what these poor people would do if they had to actually make a movie like this for two hundred million less dollars. My guess is that they’d do it just fine. The best of the early Bonds, Goldfinger, cost all of barely three million bucks and it’s STILL the best of the bunch. So, you’ll say, yeah, but that was in 1964 – so, what would three million 1964 dollars be in 2021 dollars? Twenty-eight million, which is, you must admit, a far cry from 350 million. Certainly, there are some nice action sequences and settings and I’m sure Mr. Craig got a rather large and I do mean large chunk of dough, but it’s just a little bonkers. But how was the movie, you’re wondering. I haven’t loved any of the Craig films but have enjoyed a couple. This one falls into the enjoyed category, and I really didn’t think the long running time hurt the film – it did move pretty quickly. The prologue is quite long, about sixteen minutes before we get to the main titles, but it works very well. Then we get the main titles, which are in the style of all the Craig films and are fine. Less fine is the overly breathy vocals of Billie Eilish, who I just don’t get at all. Musically, it’s okay, nothing more. I don’t think Craig is a great Bond, but people seem to love him, so it’s working for most people. The rest of the cast is fine, but the one who almost walks away with the film and single-handedly saves it from being a completely depressing endeavor, plot-wise, is Ana de Armas, who shows up for one sequence and for her brief time on screen, kind of reminds us how much fun a Bond film can be. I’ve been raving about this actress from the first time I saw her in some low-budget thriller, at a time when no one had a clew as to who she was, but since then everyone has caught on and I hope she continues to climb up in the movie world – she’s just terrific. The Hans Zimmer score is mostly effective when it uses the music of the best Bond composer, John Barry. The On Her Majesty’s Secret Service song appears throughout the film. The ending is touching but do we really want touching in a Bond film? Anyway, I did enjoy it and it’s one of the best entries in the Craig films.

Yesterday was certainly a Sunday, that much I can say without fear of contradiction. I got nine hours of sleep, which was a good thing. Once up, I answered e-mails, chose a few more songs for the January Kritzerland show – I’m actually doing well on the choosing songs part – then I made some Wacky Noodles – about six ounces of ‘em – and that was very good. At some point, I did a quick Gelson’s run and got a muffin top, the tried to make a small deposit in the nearby branch of my bank in the ATM – it rejected the check saying there was a technical issue – luckily, it returned the check, so I guess I’ll have to try again today, but it was most irritating that these damn Bank of America ATMs are on the fritz more than any other bank. And that was pretty much the day and evening.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll once again have to call the AAA about the refund that still hasn’t arrived – I cancelled this awful company on November 3, nothing arrived, was told they reinstated me on November 7 so the could process the refund, after which they cancelled again, on November 17 I was told the refund had been processed and be in my PayPal account in five to seven days, and here we are on December 6. I gotta tell you. I’m not gonna be nice about it, that much I can tell you and have told you. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll do the deposit, and then we have our first Kritzerland rehearsal starting at three. We’ll probably wrap up that around five-thirty and then I’ll get something to eat, after which I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow, I’ll do some writing on the project with David Wechter, and some more notes on what I hope will be the new book, I’ll try to finish choosing the songs for the January Kritzerland, and then do whatever else needs doing. Wednesday is, of course, a new age for the likes of me and I’m being taken out for a nice dinner. Thursday may be an early birthday lunch, although I’m hinky about the long drive and also about getting back in time for our second Kritzerland rehearsal, so I might try to reschedule it for a day when I don’t have that kind of time crunch. Saturday is our stumble-through, and then Sunday is sound check and show.

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, call the AAA, have a Kritzerland rehearsal, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorites in the Daniel Craig Bond series and what did you think of No Time to Die? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a pleasant little Sunday.

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