Well, dear readers, I can barely keep my eyes open and yet I must keep my eyes open to write these here notes, for if I don’t keep my eyes open whilst writing these here notes, then the notes will look like this: webitn0 nflaktkjkaej. Actually, I rather like that look – we can invent a whole new language. I especially like that first word – webitn0. The second word, nflaktkjkaej looks rather Norwegian to me. In any case, I shall endeavor to keep my eyes open so that we don’t have to all learn a new language. Speaking of language, yesterday was the day that happened prior to today. I got up rather early, then she of Evil Eye arrived and I began my long jog. That took a little over an hour, and then I got in my motor car and did some errands and whatnot until around noon. I then came home and did many things around the home environment. I had a couple of longish telephonic conversations, and then it was time to deliver a big box o’ Scent Of Mystery CDs to an online dealer. I left a bit early and stopped at a good used CD and DVD store in Tarzana, where I did some trading and got four DVDs and a copy of my very own Sax and Violence, a film music CD I produced that I had only one copy of. I then delivered the CDs and came back home, at which time I showered and got ready to sup. Then I supped at La La’s. This time I tried something different than the half chicken, which has bored me lately. I had the double chicken breast with carmelized onions and garlic on top and it was quite yummilicious and very low-cal and diet friendly. The company was wonderful, the conversation was sparklingly sparkling and I even ran into actor Steve Landesburg (from Barney Miller), who was there with his family. The restaurant was very crowded although we were seated as soon as we walked in, at a booth yet. After dinner, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish. I could barely keep my eyes open and when I’d shut them I’d see webitn0 nflaktkjkaej.
Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Pete Kelly’s Blues, a film I’d never seen before. It stars Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O’Brien, Peggy Lee, and some amazing jazz musicians. The film was also directed by Mr. Webb. I must say, of the two Jack Webb films I’ve now seen (the first Jack Webb-directed film I ever saw was one I really liked – The Last Time I Saw Archie), Mr. Webb was a very good director. Pete Kelly’s Blues is beautifully shot, and Mr. Webb’s visual choices are all quite good, save for some unfortunate having objects in the foreground being moved as a scene starts, which is a hoary TV device. Mr. Webb does fine as the titular Mr. Kelly, and his miming of playing the horn looks very convincing. Janet Leigh is charming, Mr. O’Brien is in standard gangster mode, and Miss Ella Fitzgerald sings a few songs and has a few lines and it’s wonderful to see and hear her on screen. The most surprising performance comes from Peggy Lee, who’s just superb as an alcoholic singer. She, too, sings several songs as only Peggy Lee can sing them. Lee Marvin and Martin Milner both are members of the band and they both give excellent performances. The story is not light and perky and the character of Pete Kelly is a little annoying, but aside from that I really enjoyed the film a lot. The transfer is excellent – the full 2:55.1 scope ratio and a fantastic 5.1 stereo track that’s really robust-sounding with that classic Warners Ray Heindorf sound. The music’s the thing and it sounds amazing. All in all, a treat. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Disturbia, a combo platter of every bad thriller cliché of the last twenty years, with a big debt to Rear Window. Shia La Beouf stars as a troubled teen (in classic Screenwriting 101 style we get the reason at the beginning of the film – a horrible sequence), who punches his Spanish teacher in the face and is put on house arrest with one of those devices on his leg. Out of boredom, he begins spying on his neighbors (sound familiar). It takes twenty-five minutes to get to that point, however. Once that happens, we are treated to every cliché in the book – people appearing out of nowhere with REALLY loud music stings so that we’ll jump (the cheapest, stupidest way to goose an audience – Rear Window doesn’t do any of that and it’s twice as suspenseful), characters behaving stupidly because the writers need them to, and pathetic attempts at humor. The cast is typical of today’s casts, which means I did not care for any of them, even David Morse, who’s a good actor, but is here playing such a standard-issue role there’s nothing he can really add to the badness of the writing. There’s lots of loud thumping music and the entire thing is a big snoozefest except for those carefully calculated moments when the filmmakers insist on doing the “BOO” thing. Transfer is ordinary, sound is fine. This one’s going right back in the trade pile.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I can barely keep my eyes open and we all now know that these here notes look like when I write them with Eyes Wide Shut.
Today, I shall be doing very little. I’ll do the morning long jog, then I’ll do a couple of little errands, and then I’ll watch the other two DVDs I got yesterday. After that, I’ll be supping at Genghis Cohen, which is always cause for happiness.
This week will be rife with meetings, writing, meals, and an opening night to attend. And, of course, jogging – plenty of jogging.
Well, dear reader, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, do errands, watch DVDs, and then have a lovely supper at Genghis Cohen. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, and do try to remember – webitn0 nflaktkjkaej, which, roughly translated, means go to it.