Well, dear readers, this month is flying by, like a gazelle doing the Turkey Trot with a Chicken and both of them having a fine laugh about it. And here I sit like so much fish listening to Alex North’s singularly unique score to the movie version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, a score that no other composer would have approached in the way Mr. North did, which is true of most of his scores. But it was a time of singularly unique film music voices because it was a time of directors actually letting the film composer do his job and not asking him to imitate some other score. Perhaps someday film composers will once again be allowed to actually write film music that truly serves a purpose, said purpose being to underscore the story, characters, create subtext, all of those tools that the masters really knew how to do. Interestingly, earlier in the evening I watched a French motion picture from France entitled Counter Investigation, starring Jean Dujardin and based on a short story by Lawrence Block, which, after reading some reviews of said short story, seems to be very different from the French film from France – the basic plot is the same, but the characters are entirely rethought. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing I know not since I haven’t read the short story, but I did enjoy the film for what it is – a predictable but taut bit of business that runs a predictable and taut seventy-seven minutes (sans end credits). It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, and you, like I, would probably be ahead of it for most of the running time because the director, who also wrote the screenplay, is a bit too obvious in the major story turn, and then the turn after that is certainly not going to be unexpected by viewers who like these kinds of films. But to the point: The score by Krishna Levy works quite well as an actual film score. This composer doesn’t have a large filmography, but the one other score I’ve heard by him was great – to Francois Ozon’s fun film 8 Women. There was a CD release of the score, but it’s out-of-print and the only copies I’ve seen are from overseas. I’m trying to find a downloadable copy but haven’t had any luck. There is a seven-minute excerpt on the Tube of You on Mr. Levy’s own channel, so I’ll grab that. I also finished the documentary about Natalia Grace, which goes to many unexpected places and no one really escapes well from it. It could have been at least an hour shorter, and its filmmakers are completely manipulative throughout, but it was fascinating in all its wacky and twisty doings.
Yesterday, I got nine hours of sleep, awoke to an obnoxious text, ignored it because had I responded I would have put on the CAPS LOCK and I’m just trying not to devolve into those sorts of things. I answered a few e-mails, and then moseyed on over to the bank and cashed a check, then walked down the street to my branch and deposited the cash. No waiting at either, which was great. I then went to Gelson’s and got the Wolfgang Puck chicken Caesar salad, came home, and ate it – it was good. Then I did some work on the computer, had some telephonic conversations, and that was pretty much it. Later, I made some tuna and just ate it sans bread, as a snack, and it was okay. No sweets at all, so that was good. Then I watched, and here we are being afraid of Virginia Woolf and Alex North’s singularly unique.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll meet Marshall Harvey for lunch at one of our favorite little jernts, I’ll do another bit of banking, do whatever needs doing, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye comes so I’ll go have a light breakfast, do some errands and whatnot, and then I can come home and have a damn ME day. Sunday is more of a ME day, and then next week is non-stop stuff – rehearsals, meetings and meals, a coaching session, and will need a plentiful supply of major miracles.
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, have a lunch, do more banking, do whatever needs doing, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It really IS Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – nothing. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I will hopefully have some nice and singularly unique dreams, after which it would be nice to have a singularly unique nice day.