Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to Andre Previn’s fun score to Goodbye, Charlie, on a home grown CD. I haven’t listened to music, really, since the Indiegogo campaign began, but yesterday I uploaded a few things, plus the Beethoven symphonies set I got from overseas that everyone raves about, and it’s a pleasure to hear nice music issuing forth from the Audio Engine speakers sitting in front of me like so much audio fish. And I did watch a motion picture earlier and even got twenty minutes into a second motion picture. The first was my umpteenth viewing of The Young Girls of Rochefort via the Criterion Blu and Ray. This is the transfer that the widow Demy supervised and color graded – it’s okay but could be so much better with less yellow, which I can guarantee you the dye transfer 16mm scope print I had had not a trace of. There are still cotton candy colors galore, but the yellow bias robs them of their boldness. The other color films in this set had transfers color graded by Demy’s son and he’s a lot better because he’s not really a filmmaker like Demy’s widow, Agnes Varda, who likes what SHE likes. I love the movie, weird as it is, and boy is it weird. The music is fantastic, the cast is great, the choreography is just strange, but somehow it all works. I never saw it during its original run, mostly because I was living in New York that year and didn’t get to the movies much. The first time I saw it was when I bought the IB Tech 16mm scope print, which was minty fresh and stunning – and in English. They shot all the musical numbers with the actors mouthing the French lyrics and then mouthing the English lyrics, while the dialogue is all French with the usual kind of English dubbing that doesn’t really match. I wish I still had it, but alas I sold it. Criterion should have included the English version, but apparently the widow Demy doesn’t have it – she thinks she owns everything Demy did – but who knows if that’s true or not and what sources were used. Both versions are great, and we should have the damn English version. After that, I watched another film from the set, Donkey Skin. This is a film I didn’t see in theaters either, and it’s a film I’ve owned on every home video format. It’s also a film I’ve begun about fifty times but never made it past the ten-minute mark. I got twenty minutes in last night and I’m really enjoying it, perverse as it is. The production design and costumes are mind boggling, the performances so far are wonderful, and the Michel Legrand score is tops. The transfer’s contrast is a tiny bit milky, but the color is tops and yes it’s graded by the son, not the widow.
Yesterday was certainly some sort of day. I slept eight hours but erratically, waking up after two hours with some tummy issues that kept me up for two hours. I finally got up again at one. I answered e-mails, had a telephonic conversation, and then I moseyed on over to Vitello’s and had a nice celebratory lunch with Robert Yacko. I had a chicken Caesar – not too big there – and it was very good. No bread, so very calorie-friendly it was. Afterwards, I came right home. I really needed not to do too much work, so I didn’t do any. In the two hours I was up earlier, I did finish one set of liner notes and got those sent off so that was good. At some point, I did a quick CVS run for Pepcid and Ricola. The rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll alert the media about the web series but without giving away any details about it. I can’t remember what I’ve said about it here. I can’t reveal the title, but I wanted to create a series with an old-fashioned seventies vibe, one with lots of physical humor, music (one song per episode), and one we could shoot in New York so that I can use all my favorite Broadway folks that I’ve worked with over the years. The season will consist of ten episodes and each episode will run around twelve minutes, I suspect. I have three roles pre-cast, but will have to audition for the other regular, and there could possibly be two other semi-regulars, but I won’t know that until I finish more scripts. I’m about to start the fourth. It’s fun to know this is definite and coming up pretty soon. Flights are booked, where I’m staying is booked, and right now as I finish the scripts, they’re being broken down in terms of locations and props and all that stuff. A lot of it takes place in an apartment and I’ll probably shoot all those scenes over a two-day period. In other words, we’re not going to shoot an entire episode at once. We’ll be doing sequences based on where they’re shot. Right now, we’re planning to do eight episodes there, and two here, when our leading character comes home to visit. But I might end up doing it all in New York – we’ll have to see how the scripts go, as that will guide me. I’ll be in New York for ten days, so I’m hoping we can have a haineshisway.com get-together, and if anyone wants to visit any of the location shoot, I’m sure that can be arranged.
I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll begin writing episode four, I’ll eat, we’ll begin shipping the three titles we’re picking up today, and at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same. I’m finally getting a haircut tomorrow – I look ridiculous right now – it’s been over three months, I think. I’ll have some meetings and meals, and I’ll write more scripts. I’d love to get through episode six by the end of this week. I’m hoping the Indiegogo funds are disbursed by the end of the week, so I can begin planning our next series of releases. I’d like to announce something in the next week.
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, alert the media about the web series, do whatever needs doing, write, eat, ship, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are the weirdest musical films you’ve ever seen? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be hard at work on a new web series.