Well, dear readers, the long, long weekend continues and thankfully the word is that the banks are open today and that’s a good thing – the word might also be Grease. Someone just set off some fireworks somewhere nearby. I think they should be brained but then they’d have to have a brain to be brained. These people suffer from Dranium of the Cranium. And I don’t care who knows it. I was procrastinating writing these here notes due to a feeling of ennui and lethargy, but I have just eaten some Laffy Taffy and now I am feeling daffy and singing the entire catalogue of Raffi. This is what sugar does to the brain. This is what brain does to the sugar. Did you know, for example, that brain spelled backwards is niarb? Did you know that sugar spelled backwards is ragus? Did you know that I have no idea what the HELL I’m talking about? I do know that I watched one terrible motion picture last evening entitled You Have to Run Fast, a no-budget affair mostly shot on location in Mt. Baldy, California. I know this for a fact because the lodge at which most of the action takes place is still there and looking exactly the same. I, myself, have never been to Mt. Baldy, although Mt. Baldy has apparently been to my head, but not completely. The fact that I still have hair is amazing to me since I’ve been worried I’d lose it for the past fifty years. So, this motion picture apparently played the bottom half of a double bill with Town Without Pity in 1961 but just in outlying towns, which were towns where they were out lying all the time. Anyway, it has a very poor cast with only two recognizable character actors, Willis Bouchey and Grant Richards as the villain, conveniently last-named Craven in case we didn’t get the point. Willis Bouchey, whose name you probably don’t recognize, was in hundreds of motion pictures and if you look up his name you will instantly recognize him. More morons are exploding things – what is wrong with these people. And it sounds pretty close to here, too. And now, I am listening to my favorite Mahler symphony, the sixth. I’m VERY picky about the sixths and there are three or four performances I find completely successful. I would love to hear what Eugene Ormandy would have done with it, but alas, he never did it. His Mahler 10 is the greatest performance of that completed by others symphony there will ever be. Anyway, the wag on YouTube who reviews classical CDs and who I’ve been ignoring for the past year, was raving about the recently reissued Inbal-conducted complete Mahler symphonies. I had them when they came out and found them completely uninteresting, especially in sound and especially the sixth, which was just ponderous as all get out and I think we know just how ponderous all get out is. But I also found on the Tube of You Inbal conducting a live performance of the sixth and it’s much better than his recording. It’s not great, of course, but I’m enjoying it as I write these here notes. I believe it’s the Singapore Symphony, and they’re quite a good band.
Yesterday was almost a complete waste of time and that was fine by me. I got ten hours of sleep that felt like three hours, had weird off-putting dreams I’ve had before, got up, had nothing but spam in e-mails, so no responses needed, I puttered around the home environment for a bit, and the beginning of month bills I have auto pay for began making money disappear from my PayPal account – I hate when that happens – and then I dressed my person and decided to go out and drive somewhere for food to bring home. I passed by McDonald’s and Taco Bell, simply not in the mood, but saw there was no line at In-N-Out (well, there was a two block long line waiting for the takeout window – isn’t that the height of stupidity when someone with a functioning brain could just park, walk inside, and order and be out of there instead of having another thirty minutes to sit in their car), so I went in and ordered food and it was actually ready very quickly, about seven minutes, and I came right home – signals were with me – and ate my two cheeseburgers and animal fries all up. That was the only food I had until I had some of those bite sized Laffy Taffy things, which really is like eating flavored linoleum. After that, I did some stuff on the Internet, then watched the movie and the rest you know. This live performance of the sixth has the single worst performance of the gorgeous slow movement I’ve ever heard – it has no heart, no soul, it’s perfunctory, and almost laughable. So much for Mr. Inbal, who I shall now call Mr. Outbal. It is really hard to screw up the slow movement of this symphony because it’s so stunningly beautiful, but Mr. Inbal thinks it’s written by Mack Sennett.
Today, I’ll be up by ten, then I’ll mosey on over to the bank and cash a check, then take the cash to my bank and deposit it, which must be done. After that, I have zero plans, so I’ll eat something fun, and I’ll probably write some, and then perhaps I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is July 4, a day of Independence. I know many people who watch 1776 every year but I’m not one of them. I’ll just hang out, eat, and I’ll go outside when it’s dark and see if I can see any fireworks, but if memory serves, I don’t think any are viewable. The rest of the week I have meetings and meals and a needful need of a modern major miracle.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, do banking, have zero plans, eat, write, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Where are the most exotic locations you’ve been to and did you like those exotic locations? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having had four pieces of flavored linoleum.