Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to Carl Nielsen’s first symphony. I have two sets of the six symphonies and am, of course, playing the better of the two, Eugene Ormandy (his recordings will ultimately be in the second stereo box of Ormandy, whenever that comes) and Bernstein. The other is conducted by Ole Schmidt. Wacky Dave Hurwitz, who keeps regurgitating the same stuff in new video after new video – he’s in rinse and repeat mode – now doing “reference recordings” for everything that he’s already covered in best this and best that videos. I understand that he’s found a way to make money on YouTube but after a while it does get tiresome. But boy does he have fawning fanboys in the comments. For them, he can say no wrong and they agree with everything he says. I occasionally post a differing opinion just to do it. So, his reference recording for the six symphonies is the Ole Schmidt, even though he admits the sound is dry and it’s not well recorded. Well, dry is a deal breaker for me because if the listening experience is ugly then I can’t appreciate the music and, in fact, it fights the music every step of the way. When the recording was first released it was on Unicorn and it’s not much of a secret that all those Unicorn releases, including all the Bernard Herrmann releases, were poorly recorded – in some instances, embarrassingly so. Obviously, the Ormandy conducted symphonies on Columbia is in superb stereo sound, gorgeously engineered, played by the Philadelphia Orchestra in all their glory, and, for me, the conducting and interpretations top Schmidt by a country mile. The Bernstein recordings aren’t quite up to the Ormandy ones but I still prefer them to Schmidt. I wish Ormandy had done them all. Earlier, I did watch a motion picture I hadn’t seen before, entitled Inland Empire, a three-hour movie from the rather insanely odd mind of David Lynch. He didn’t have a script for the movie, he just wrote scenes from his subconscious as they came to him and hoped they’d all fit somehow in some sort of nightmarish whole. The lead actors both freely admit that they had no idea what the movie was about. It’s Lynch at his most Lynchian, with weirdness around every corner. This is the movie he made after what I consider his best film, Mulholland Drive. And he hasn’t made a movie since, and Inland Empire came out in 2006. All the reviewers fall all over themselves with their interpretations and how it’s a work of genius – one critic says “it might be a masterpiece – or not.” I like David Lynch. I love The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet, enjoyed the weirdness of Twin Peaks, but have absolutely loathed a few of his other movies until Mulholland Drive came along – that’s a great movie and one I enjoy watching once a year. Anyway, all I can say about Inland Empire is that I watched it, it had some interesting things in it, its three hours didn’t seem like three hours, but in the end it’s just whatever it is and what it is is not something I ever need to see again.
Prior to that, I got about six hours of sleep, arising at 8:50 – I just could not fall back asleep, but that turned out to be a good thing. At around 9:20 the cell phone rang – it looked like the typical “spoofed” 818 number and it said “Public Service” which sounded completely bogus to me. But some instinct said to answer, so I did and it was Social Security asking if it was okay to do our appointment earlier as he had a slot open up. Of course, it was okay. So, the next thirty minutes were doing the paperwork and all that. He asked why I’d waited so long to do it and I told him I’d tried to do it online five years ago and explained why that hadn’t worked and then the pandemic hit. He could only go back six months, but thankfully that’s a nice lump sum payment that will come next week and then the monthly payments start in June. I’m getting more than I thought I would, and it will all be very helpful. And just as importantly, he enrolled me in Medicare A and B. Ultimately, I want Medicare Advantage so I’ll be talking to someone dear reader Jeanne recommended and hopefully he can guide me through that process. It’s good to finally have all this finally happen.
To celebrate, I ordered from Don Cuco – taco, enchilada, salad, just like the other day. It arrived pretty quickly and while not hot, it was still warm and that was fine. Obviously, it’s never going to be as good as eating there, but the taco was great and the enchilada was excellent, as were the rice and beans. It’s all just better when it comes out on that really hot plate. The salad with their house Eyetalian was also excellent. And they gave me a bag of chips and salsa and throughout the day and evening I polished those off. For a light sweet treat I had a pudding cup. That was it for food. Then I watched the three-hour movie, and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven at the latest, I’ll shave and shower, and then at one I have what will probably be a two-hour work session with our musical director. Kerry and Jason will also be there, and we’ll get their stuff done quickly. After that, I’ll probably make either hot dogs or Wacky Noodles – hot dogs are much lower in calories so it may be that. Then it’ll be back to making a show order and writing commentary, after which I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow and the weekend are unknown to me, but I may do a Don Cuco early dinner one of those days. Otherwise, I’ll just finish the commentary and get ready for the week ahead.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven at the latest, shave and shower, have a work session, eat, write, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite David Lynch movies, and which can you not abide? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, so happy the Social Security has begun and that I’m officially in Medicare.