Well, dear readers, I have breaking bombshell news for you, so hold onto your hats – today is the fourth of July, Independence Day, the day we are dependent on being independent and I, for one, am feeling particularly independent in a dependent way. And even as I write these here notes, the San Fernando Valley Moron Society is setting off their loud and obnoxious and dangerous and illegal fireworks, just so everyone knows that they are indeed morons. There will be many legal and proper fireworks displays if one must see fireworks. Why, right here at haineshisway.com, we’ll have our very own Virtual Fireworks. Right now, I am sitting here like so much independent fish, listening to Anthony Willis’ soundtrack to M3GAN, which is not bad for a modern soundtrack. Earlier in the evening, I, in fact, watched M3GAN for the third time and it really is one of the best films of the 2000, completely successful in what it sets out to do as well as being a whole lot o’ fun. It was, of course, a surprise smash hit. One of the reasons I liked it so much was not only was it well directed, witty, weird, and well-acted, it was never overtly violent, always cutting away in the three scenes that have violence – the rating was PG-13 and it’s something the director did knowingly, even reshooting a couple of scenes to lose the blood and in so doing thinking it worked even better just leaving everything to the imagination. So, what does Universal do, now that they have a hit on their hands? They release an unrated version, which is probably less than thirty seconds longer, but contains the shots they took out and guess what? It’s not only a crass cash play, it is much less effective and actually hurts the film – including about five more uses of the F word to no real effect, including one for M3GAN herself, which really doesn’t work. If you haven’t seen M3GAN be sure you see the ORIGINAL PG-13 version – both are running for free on Amazon Prime and the unrated is clearly labeled. If you like Poltergeist – that kind of fun, scary movie, this will be right up your alley. It’s also surprisingly moving at times. The M3GAN doll is played by one person, voiced by another, and there’s also a puppet version. The young actress who plays her is really good, and the weird dance that became a TikTok sensation before the film was even released, was her idea. It comes really highly recommended by the likes of me and is certainly in my top ten films of the 2000s, as is the other film I watched for the second time, She Said, a journalism film about the Harvey Weinstein business. I’m a sucker for a good journalism film and this one works like gangbusters and yet, many DGA and Academy members couldn’t be bothered to even view it. I find that very peculiar. The acting is superb, the direction by Maria Schrader so outshines most of the films by women that get lauded (think Nomad), and the only thing that’s a fail is the score by Nathan Britell – where is Michael Small when you need him (well, dead) or David Shire (well, not dead). It’s not that Britell’s meanderings are good or bad, they simply do nothing for the film at all except sit there like so much fish.
I also watched a documentary from the early 1980s entitled The Atomic Café, which is fantastic, about the Cold War and nuclear fears. The cleverness of it is that there is no narration, no new footage, it’s all comprised of propaganda films produced by the government, interviews, and historical footage, edited very cleverly to present a vivid picture of how life was back then, and believe me, I grew up back then and remember so much of the stuff in this documentary. It was released on Blu and Ray by Kino five years ago, but they’ve put the entire thing on the Tube of You and it’s really worth seeing. The soundtrack to M3GAN is over and suddenly it’s Bruckner’s first symphony. I’m still getting used to my close personal friend, Mr. Anton Bruckner, but the more I get to know his symphonies the more I’m enjoying and appreciating them. I can’t really imagine a better set of the symphonies than the one I have, conducted by Eugen Jochum in great stereo sound.
Yesterday was okay. I got maybe seven hours of sleep, got up, answered a few e-mails, then moseyed on over to bank one to cash a check. No customers but me, so in and out in about three minutes. Then I walked over to my bank and while the line was small (me and three in front of me) there was only one teller, which is outrageous. So, that took about fifteen minutes. Then I headed home, did a few things, ordered a Ultimate Magnifico small pizza from Marco’s Pizza. I normally get the Magnifico Pepperoni – the Ultimate has pepperoni and two kinds of sausage, one pretty spicy as it turns out. I went and picked it up, brought it home, and ate it all up. I enjoyed it, but it was just a bit too spicy for the likes of me. I had a couple of telephonic conversations and then I had my viewing. Oh, and the night before the reason I was up so late was that I wrote about six pages of this thing. Normally, as you know, I write every day and try to do ten to fifteen pages a day, but I’m not doing that with this book and there’s a reason for that which will be clear when and if I decide if I actually want people to read it.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’m doing nothing but having a ME day and the only time I’ll venture out is to get something to eat. I have no idea if any markets are open – if not, I’ll probably do fast food from somewhere. Then I’ll just watch, listen, and relax, see if I can see any legit fireworks from the front of the home environment, and we, of course, will have our very own Virtual Fireworks right here at haineshisway.com and it will be very exciting.
Tomorrow it’s back to the daily grind, whatever that may be. I do have a meeting or meal happening – perhaps I’ll have the daily grind at the Daily Grill – I just can’t remember when, and then suddenly it will be the weekend already and who knows what that holds but who ain’t talking.
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 ME day, eat something fun, watch, listen, and relax and have our very own Virtual Fireworks right here at haineshisway.com. Today’s topic of discussion: What will you be eating on this fourth of July? Let’s hear all about it. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that we’ll all convene for our Virtual Fireworks where we’ll all be safe and sound right here at haineshisway.com.