Well, dear readers, as I sit writing these here notes, the accompaniment is not music, oh, no, the accompaniment is not music, it is the sound of thudding and booming of fireworks begin shot off just before midnight. What is wrong with people? First of all, it’s illegal. And it’s been going on for a week know and I’m sure the morons who are doing it will continue doing it for the next week. Perhaps I’ll put on some music to drown out the damn noise, which I find incredibly irritating. There, much better. The soundtrack of The Omen by Jerry Goldsmith, since these exploders of fireworks at midnight are the devil’s work. Speaking of the devil, I just happened to have watched The Omen last evening. I have it on a Blu and Ray, but it’s an ancient transfer. They redid it a few years ago and it’s so much better now and actually looks like a movie shot on film. Speaking of redid, they also remade the film, one of the most dreadful remakes in the history of film, where idiot writers get every single thing wrong from frame one on. The original has a great script, great direction, great actors straight down the line, and it’s paced brilliantly. And holding it all together perfectly is the Oscar-winning score of Jerry Goldsmith in his prime when, for my money, he could do no wrong. In the most tension filled scenes he notches the tension up 1000-percent – breathtaking, really. Plus, unlike most of today’s crap, it’s a real movie score that actually does what a movie score is supposed to do, which is NOT be part of the sound design, but to underscore the drama and characters and suspense and action. But the real reason The Omen works so well is that it’s all too believable and never strains credulity – AND, we care about the characters. And when you have the likes of Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Billie Whitelaw, Leo McKern, Martin Benson, and David Warner, you can’t really fail. Anyway, if you’ve somehow never seen it, it comes highly recommended by me. It’s a cheap streaming rental, too, under four bucks. I know I’ve seen the two sequels, and I may watch those again, too, although I’m not sure I cared for them, but I really don’t remember them much. I never saw the fourth Omen film. Usually, studios don’t know when to stop and they continue these things well past their expiry date.
Prior to that, I watched another good fourth of July movie, Earth vs. the Spider (SPOILER ALERT – Earth wins). It’s a Bert I. Gordon special filled with his special brand of low-budget effects that are surprisingly effective. Cast are Bert people like June Kenney and Ed Kemmer. One of the characters works in a movie theater owned by his father. Playing at the theater? Attack of the Puppet People and The Amazing Colossal Man, two Mr. BIG movies. It was a load of fun to watch it again. We, of course, released the very noisy score by Albert Glasser on Kritzerland. Other than that, I got seven hours of sleep (was up for two hours in the early morning), ordered food from the California Pizza Kitchen – the chopped Eyetalian salad and some spinach artichoke dip – both very good. I thought I deserved a nice meal. After that, I did a quick trip to the garage and amazingly found the thing I needed to find in about fifteen seconds. I thought it would take me hours. I did not find the second thing I looked for because there are about ten boxes in front of where it probably is. I’ll deal with that today. Then I watched the movies and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, which won’t be much, I’ll check with the mail place and see what’s what, I’ll definitely go out for food – either Gelson’s or I’ll pick up something from somewhere, but probably Gelson’s. I also have to do a quick ATM run.
The weekend should be fairly quiet. Next week will be devoted to choosing the songs for the August Kritzerland.
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, do whatever needs doing, check with the mail place and see what’s what, go out for food, do a quick ATM run, and then I can watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray/streaming player? I’ll start – CD, The Omen soundtrack. Streaming – maybe the Omen sequels. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having written some of these here notes to the accompaniment of fireworks.