Posted by td @ 02/22/2003 09:26 AM PST

Chris COOPER, Chris COOPER - I KNEW I should have double checked. Damn them, damn them all to hell.

Posted by bk @ 02/22/2003 09:32 AM PST

I, too, found ADAPTATION to be increasingly tiresome after a while (as opposed to MALKOVICH, which I enjoyed from start to finish--a much more sparkling cast, especially Catherine Keener). I felt no sympathy or antipathy towards any of the characters--just sort of nothing.
The highlight scene was Nicholas Cage, arguing with himself, and I thought that well-executed and humorous.

Extravagant purchase? Probably my entire AC-3 Denon system and all the speakers, ordered a month before Denon completed the chip, to the tune of over $4000, at the time. It's all relative: $4000 to me was like $40,000 to someone else...but I have loved every minute, using it.

Posted by KT @ 02/22/2003 09:59 AM PST

Thanks for the birthday wishes! We all had a splended time topped off by singing "The Last Night of the World" from "Miss Saigon" with my bestest friend, Raegena, in an almost empty bar at 1:30am, it was awesome!

Most extravagant purchase - while practical, but putting myself in a debt that I had never experienced before, is probably my brand new 2003 Honda Element. Worth all the debt one can but themselves in!

Posted by Matthew @ 02/22/2003 10:10 AM PST

Most extravagant purchase: A few thou, to send myself to London, Paris, and Rome a few years ago.

Regrets? Puh-leeze. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Posted by Lulu @ 02/22/2003 10:44 AM PST

Probably my most extravagant purchase was a VCR in 1980 when they first came out. It was over $900 which would be considerably more today. It was so new that the remote was attached to the VCR by a long cord which stretched out across the room and the dog I had at the time kept tripping over it. But this VCR lasted about ten years, much longer than subsequent less expensive VCRs I've owned did.

I enjoyed the BB interview and went to his web site where I found no mention of the mid-80s tour of SOUTH PACIFIC where he was Cable (Richard Kiley starred). It was the best SP I've ever seen. Looking at some of the 20 year old pictures of BB from "All My Children" I couldn't help noticing a slight resemblance then to Donny Osmond. BB has grown from a cute young man to a sexy hunk.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 02/22/2003 11:40 AM PST

Uhhh....I'm poor!

However, during my Navy career, I spent 9 1/2 years in Italy. The first four years were in the 1970s (73-77) and the last time was 1987-92. I was in a much higher paygrade my second time there and, while I'd enjoyed my apartments during my 70s tours, I wanted my time to be more special the second go-around. While I didn't purchase a house, I did rent a villa on a lake north of Naples, Italy and lived there for five and a half years. It had a gorgeous corner veranda that looked out over the lake which I had screened in (terrible mosquito problem in the summer) and it became one of my favorite things I've ever had possession of. I spent WAY over what I should have...more than half my take-home pay (they recommend one-quarter) per month.

It was SO worth it.

I've spent over $100 on a couple of CDs. I bid on a limited edition MGM Mirror once on eBay -- this was issued back in the 1970s and was almost instantly a collector's item. I don't recall what it cost new, but in 1972, I saw one going for $1,000 in a store in Jacksonville, FL.

The eBay bid got to $2,500 and I dropped out.

Oddly enough (and sue me for not cluing in the seller), I found another one on eBay as a fluke -- with a mispelling that probably precluded it being found by someone looking for one (and I had stumbled across it NOT looking for it). I got it for $275!!!!! I think I was only one of two bidders.

I've also paid too much for stuff and don't regret it -- paid about $200 for an autographed "To Kill A Mockingbird" (anniversary edition). Should have been about $50. On the other hand, I got a Gregory Peck autograph on a card that was sent to someone presenting them with the VHS of the restored "To Kill A Mockingbird". I got it for a song -- like $25 or something. It probably should have started at $100 for name value and could have gone higher in its unusual association with the film.

Another treasure I paid far too little for -- an Alfred Newman-signed receipt for a room at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, dated 1938 at some ungodly hour of a morning when he was checking in! I'd have paid $500 for it and got it for about $60.

Sorry, BK, but I ain't never seen nothing I'd pay $32,000 for except a house! (and maybe a car or two).

: )

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 02/22/2003 11:45 AM PST

Dang those darnling participles...and darn those dangling participles.

It was the veranda I had screened, NOT the fershluganah lake!! By the way, the lake and the community was named Lago Patria.

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 02/22/2003 11:48 AM PST

Most extravagant purchases? Hmmm...

Well, at the end of last year - just in time to get the write off - I bought a new E-mu 5000 Ultra Sampler (fully loaded!), and a Kurzweil PC2X. Total for both pieces of equipment about $3800 (or $4200 MSRP - does anyone sell at MSRP anymore?) - but after some wheeling and dealing, I got them both for around $2800.

The sampler was put to good use during South Pacific, and I'll be putting the Kurzweil (and the sampler) to good use shortly during Hair.

Other than that, anytime I go to New York, I inevitably end up seeing at least one show at full price - now that's extravagant!

And my one and only E-bay purchase was a "family" of Zippy the Chimp dolls. They were a gift. Thankfully, it was one of those auctions that got posted at a weird time, and, consequently, ended at a weird - slow traffic - time. There were other sets up for bid at the time, and this one ended up selling for at least $200 less then the others. And the squeaker still worked in the hand!

Posted by Jose C. Simbulan @ 02/22/2003 12:08 PM PST

Hmmm....I am not extravagant in anything, so I haven't really spent very much on a single item.

Like others before me - EBAY has gotten a lot of my money...my most $$$ paid would be for an Ayn Rand collection of videos & books.

But to make up for it - I found a first edition ATLAS SHRUGGED with dust jacket at Half Price Books for $50.00!! And I had a 20 per cent off coupon...

And like Jose - when I go to New York now and then - I see the shows I want at the regular price. For a long time my sister and I had our original subscription seats for the Broadway Classics series in Indianapolis - front row. But after a terrible season including a 42nd Street touring company that was VERY BAD and I think had recorded taps (you couldn't hear any taps as the the performers walked around, but once they started dancing it was Ann Miller time), a cancelled Debbie Gibson FUNNY GIRL, a Chinese Acrobat exhibition instead of a SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, and the extra? Mandy Patinkin. Next season...they started having their shows in TWO different venues and it was $800 for two tickets to 5 shows...whatever they might be.... I passed.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 02/22/2003 12:18 PM PST

Travel has been my one big spend spend spend over the years. It costs the earth from here in OZ to get to London and back and I have been there seven times (with side trips to Europe on some and three visits to the USA on the way back). Apart from all that (at least it was saved and planned for), buying tickets to see "The Lion King" in NY would be the worst. After the opening which is wonderfully effective, the show just went down down down hill. No soul and the audience from hell. (It was a matinee). I probably paid less than one third of the price for "The Producers" - I had prebooked before it opened on Broadway. We saw four NY shows in 5 days. We averaged the prices of the shows so we could justify the expense (to ourselves) of the LK! Even seeing "The Beautiful Game" and the "Witches of Eastwick" few weeks before had been less of a disappointment.

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 02/22/2003 12:20 PM PST

Where in tarnation is everybody? Do you suppose everybody is in tarnation? Is that where everybody is? Well, I don't want anyone to think that my art extravagance is an every day occurance - it's the ONLY time I've ever done anything like that - and, of course, I ultimately made a tidy profit off of it so it worked out fine and dandy and also dandy and fine.

As I read your posts I once again marvel at how different this site is than others - first, everyone writes well and thoughtfully. I was recently reading some "reviews" at the imdb and they are so illiterate it is not to be believed.

Posted by bk @ 02/22/2003 01:44 PM PST

My extravagances are my season tickets to the professional tours and my trips to LA with Sandra, which we do a couple times a year, if we are lucky! (And this year we've been lucky!)

Posted by Laura @ 02/22/2003 01:59 PM PST

I've tried to submit reviews to imdb, but they were rejected. I've also e-mailed corrections to erroneous information, multiple times, and nothing happened. I guess they don't believe me.

One of the more amusing kinds of reviews you find there are the ones written by people who haven't seen the film yet, before it's even been released. But once in a while you get a pretty competent pre-release review from someone who saw the film at a festival. Festivalgoers tend to be slightly more literate.

Posted by Sigerson Holmes @ 02/22/2003 02:38 PM PST

An HHW exclusive!!!!

Here are the main winners of
the César Awards that have
just been declared:

Best film:Roman Polanski's
Le Pianiste.

Best actor: Adrien Brody (Le
Pianiste)

Best actress: Isabelle Carré
(Se Souvenir Des Belles
Choses)

Best director: Roman Polanski

Best European Community
Film: Pedro Almodovar's
Speak With Her

Best Foreign Film: Michael
Moore's BOWLING FOR
COLUMBINE -- yeah, yeah,
yeah!!!

Special Awards to Meryl
Streep, Spike Lee and
Bernadette Lafont.................

Posted by François @ 02/22/2003 02:56 PM PST

Francois is even faster than Reuters!

We have had almost 2" of new snow in the past 2 hours and no sign of stopping. The satellite is out and it looks like it's going to be a stay in weekend the rest of the way.

STONES IN HIS POCKETS went very well...review not out yet...so TWT.

I have submitted a few corrections to IMDB most particularly TV episodes for Allison Hayes. They have always been accepted. Never tried a review. Usually I check out www.epinions.com for a variety of pre release and week of release reviews on movies AND DVD's. Check Epinions out, Sigerson. Join up for free and write away. You can check out my reviews under Jaynrand.

Posted by Jrand52 @ 02/22/2003 03:21 PM PST

My main, possibly only, extravagance is theater tickets, but we try to get those cheap. We have a religious objection to paying full price for NY tickets, and we try to save money at the Shaw Festival.
We are about to leave for a performance of Six Degrees of Separation, which is one of my favorite plays of all time, and I am in a tizzy of anticipation. Is anyone else a fan of it?

Are the people in tarnation, or just on the road to perditon?

Posted by Hapgood @ 02/22/2003 03:45 PM PST

"Tarnation" must be very busy today. I am off to a combined 70 & 80th bithday luncheon. You always feel young if you hang about with older people. I get to say a few words - the last few times my public speaking has been eulogies (No! I don't see dead people) so it will be a pleasant change.
Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Posted by Tom from Oz @ 02/22/2003 04:39 PM PST

My biggest extravagance, but very much a necessity, was a (then brand new) 1998 Ford Escort. When I test drove it, it only had 20 miles on it. I still have it and will soon have to pay a lot have the 60,000 mile service...when I get my income tax refund. Hopefully very soon!

The one time I went to New York, I spent $60 on the London cast recording of "1776." At the record store in mid-town Manhattan where I got it, I spent over $300 on records and CDs in one shot. I made a tape of "1776" as soon as I got home, but I'm finally able to have it on CD.

Also, I got to go to London in December 2001. I spent over $200 on CDs on that trip. My sister and her boyfriend paid for the flight and hotel, so that part wasn't my extravagance. It was my Christmas-slash-(half a year early) birthday present.

Posted by George @ 02/22/2003 04:50 PM PST

I don't know Tarnation.
I've been having a gift-ridden day!
Dear Reader Tom from Oz sent me a wonderful cd, a cabaret performance by (I would assume) Aussie Mark Fuller who takes 'girl songs' to the extreme and back again! Thanks, Dear Reader Tom!

...AND, I don't know if he's a Dear Reader here, but, I got a delightful videotape from a fellow in Missouri of a certain Sondheim show, that starred the delightful Judy Kaye. . .

Also, I picked up Kino's METROPOLIS dvd. May I just say that my mouth is agape? Stunning. But, every bit as important, was the promotional booklet enclosed with the dvd. For it is there that we learn that for the first time in 25 years, The American Film Theatre Series will once again be visible!
BOXED SET #1 - $119.95 SINGLE DISCS - $29.95
THE ICEMAN COMETH
RHINOCEROS
BUTLEY
LUTHER
THE MAIDS

BOXED SET #2
A DELICATE BALANCE
THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH
LOST IN THE STARS
THE HOMECOMING
THREE SISTERS

BOXED SET #3
GALILEO
IN CELEBRATION
JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS
PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME!

Finally, I know it isn't "Ask BK Day," but, Bruce, didn't you promise us yesterday that you would tell us all about Monica Mancini's new cd, or was that just my imagination running away with me?

Posted by td @ 02/22/2003 04:55 PM PST

Ach! Due Liebe,Augustine!

FRANCOIS, mon ami, who won the Cesar for film score??????????

I have collectibles of all sorts, actually, some more expensive than I hoped they'd be, and many less expensive than they'd any right to be.

I have tons of autographs both with photos or on index cards -- film music composers, Broadway music composers, actors, actresses and the "occasional" celebrity (with no talent, but good looks).

One of my favorite finds/oddities on eBay -- a bronze MGM Lion paperweight -- full figure of a lion with a base, on which is inscribed "You Are My Lucky Star." These were apparently given to MGM execs and distributors sometime in the late 1940s. I know nothing more about them, but they pop up now and then and sometimes the bidding gets fierce.

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 02/22/2003 04:55 PM PST

César for best filmscore:

Wojciech Kilar for Le Pianiste.

Posted by François, HHW French correspondent @ 02/22/2003 05:29 PM PST

td,

BK's cleaning lady is jealous
of Monica Mancini........

Posted by François, HHW French Gossip Reporter @ 02/22/2003 05:33 PM PST

Extravagant may be best viewed as what one has available to spend, rather than greatest amount spent.

I remember my freshman year in college, at the start of a long weekend in the dorms with the dorm cafeteria shut down. I was bound and determined to land a copy of the OCR for COMPANY, which took me all over Fresno just finding a store that had a copy. Then I checked my wallet and found that I only had enough for the record and $5 for food. And, remember, this was a three-day weekend and I had a college freshman's appetite!

Hot damn, that record was worth it!

Posted by S. Woody White @ 02/22/2003 07:33 PM PST

I don't know what would qualify as most extravagant. Unfortunately, I am very good at justifying (to myself) my expenditures. Art has often the subject of these expenditures. Although I have not spent $32,000 for a piece, the amount is all relative to circumstances and finances. I have also splurged on theatre and books and music. And no, I don't regret these splurges (a few of them make me break out in a sweat sometimes when I get my credit card bill, but I can live with it.) because they have made life worthwhile for me. I will tell you that I have regretted the times I didn't splurge on something (like a painting I saw and didn't buy and have never forgotten).

Posted by Kerry @ 02/22/2003 08:11 PM PST

The most extravagant thing I ever bought was the myth.

Posted by contrary me @ 02/22/2003 09:10 PM PST

Maybe you should have tried for the Myth-ter, you might have been a little happier. O, listen sister, I love my myth-ter man. . .Oh, a Hammerstein and Kern reference!

Posted by Mary Mary @ 02/22/2003 09:38 PM PST

Something else that probably can be considered an extravagance is that I have bought (most new) every published Stephen Sondheim vocal score, including the three for which he only wrote lyrics, as well as songbooks like the 25th anniversary edition folio of "Company," "Saturday Night" (no true vocal score available), "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" and "The Hansen Treasury of Stephen Sondheim Songs." "Sweeney Todd" was $75 and "Into the Woods" was $100. Now that's extravagant.

Posted by George @ 02/22/2003 09:52 PM PST

Dear Contrary Me:

Thanks for sharing. Why don't you just come out with it, eh? Or shall I come out with it for you? I'm afraid your paltry postings are very much hit and myth. Now, do toddle along and leave this place to the civilized folks.

Posted by bk @ 02/22/2003 09:56 PM PST

BK,

I think some parents should
not let their children fiddle with
the internet.....

Posted by François @ 02/22/2003 10:05 PM PST

I agree, Francois. I love people who hide, don't you? But, you know how the Internet works, and hiding is very difficult, isn't it? So, while I would hate to be contrary or a nasty Mary, I will not be idle about it much longer. If a brouhaha is what they want a brouhaha is what they shall have and in ways they can't even imagine.

Now, Kilar??? No one loves The Tenent more than I, but there really isn't all that much "original" score is there? Isn't it mostly Chopin and others. I can't remember, actually. But I am thrilled it won all those awards because I remain firm in my conviction that it is the finest film of the last several years. I've been watching lots of motion pictures this evening and will have lots to report on tomorrow.

Posted by bk @ 02/22/2003 10:28 PM PST

The TENANT???? What decade am I IN? Of course, The Pianist.

Posted by bk @ 02/22/2003 10:29 PM PST

Shame on me!

I haven't seen The Pianist yet!

It seems to be a "trend"; a
famous film tends to get the
awards in most categories,
even if it's not that justified....

Posted by François @ 02/22/2003 10:35 PM PST

Malodorous! That's what things are like right now.

I am on the top floor of a 4-floor condo in Oakland CA. I have no one looking in upon my balcony which has a view of rooftops stretching for miles and miles. Alas, alack, a higher promontory than mine obscures any "real" view of the S.F. Bay and cityscape, but it's my view and I love it!

That said, it's a malodorous view this evening. The ever-so-rare skunk has found its way into the garden area between my building and the next (3-floor) building.

It stinks to high heaven. I always wondered what that phrase implied. I can tell you that the fourth floor is not so high, but the stink is here and I imagine it goes much, much higher -- probably right up to heaven, come to think of it.

I'm staring at a pile of CDs I've yet to enter into my personal database. Sigh. This I must do so that I can shelve said pile of CDs so that they are no longer so much clutter. Sometimes, CDs piled high are kicked over and the clutter clatters.

(I think I'm possessed).

I've watched two DVDs this evening. One was a very, very entertaining "The Bourne Identity" with Matt Damon. There was a time -- right after I saw "Good Will Hunting", actually -- when I thought Ben Affleck was a better actor. Matt Damon (and Ben Affleck) has since proved me wrong time after time, wonderful performance after wonderful performance. I've not seen "Oceans 11" but I'm sure he's terrific in it.

The other film is a delightful, joyous romp entitled "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" with so many great folks who were so much younger then than now (except for the ones no longer with us). I checked my Maltin for a cast member and found he believes the film was seriously overrated back in 1966 and that it's not anything much more than a TV sitcom. With that pronouncement, Maltin became, IMO, not anything much more than a two-bit hack writer with scheise for brains. Perhaps, though, it's the "editorial" opinion not of Maltin but one of his ghost reviewers. The film is a gem and Maltin's book totally misses the mark on that perspective.

The movie that destroyed Meg Ryan's marriage is playing on HBO right now. I have no idea whether it's any good or not. Co-star is Russell Crowe, whom I like in general.

Earlier this evening, HBO showed "Joe Somebody" -- Woof! Tim Allen must have been on something when he agreed to do that script! It's a film that doesn't really have a center and NEEDS one badly.

I don't know what Ebert and Roeper thinks of any of them, and I don't care. I was a Gene Siskel fan!

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 02/22/2003 11:30 PM PST

Extravagance - I can't think of any one thing I've spent a load on, just the thousands of CDs which I feel compelled to buy by the little man in my brain who keeps saying "go on, buy it - you know you want to!".

I can't imagine the amount of money I've spent at Dress Circle over the years. In pre-internet days, it was about the only place I could get the American CDs which were never released over here, and I would have to pay about £16 (c. $25) for each one some 20 years ago. Thank God for the internet where I can now get things for around half that price.

Does anyone else do what I do and sneak in new purchases and put them on the pile of existing CDs as if they were there all along so your partner won't know you've just bought another humungous amount?

Posted by Allan @ 02/23/2003 01:50 AM PST

Chiming in late here, folks, as it's 2:25 AM in Los Angeles. I just got back from a combined birthday party for my 85-year old Dad, my nephew's wife and her aunt. My brother and nephew hosted the party calling the celebration - Fabulous February. So, Matthew - I raise my hand in a toast to you. Happy Belated Birthday!

EXTRAVAGANCES - Ah! One thing's for sure, I don't treat myself enough! My most expensive purchase was in 1997 when I bought a computer/printer package from Dell at $3000. I still have it and am right now typing these here notes on it.

I also once bought a subscription to a summer season's worth of performances by the American Ballet Theatre at the Greek Theatre in L.A. I saw Jerome Robbins rarely performed ballet, "The Cage" (predatory female spiders) plus Anthony Tudor's sublime "Jardin Aux Lilas" (mismatched couples at a wedding party) and Agnes DeMille's "Fall River Legend" (a ballet about Lizzie Borden). Ditto a season's worth of plays by the APA/Phoenix Theatre Repertory Company. I saw Helen Hayes in "Lady Windemere's Fan" and Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author" and "Right You Are (If You Say You Are)." The APA/Phoenix was an absolutely wonderful company of actors and directors. Sorely missed.

These performances (outstanding one and all) are etched permanently in my memory.

P.S. to Ron - I just last week saw "Ocean's Eleven" on tape and found it very entertaining (although a little "techy"). Everyone was good in it. Matt plays a kind of bumbling beginner. Have you seen him in Coppola's under appreciated movie, "The Rainmaker"? Matt does a terrific job.

Posted by Donna - Cabaret West @ 02/23/2003 02:25 AM PST

Up early for my Sunday morning shopping and a chime-in.

William E. Lurie: In re your post yesterday, I believe it is Wednesday, not Tuesday, that PBS will be broadcasting Rachel York and the Sexiest Man Alive in Kiss Me Kate. I will have my VCR primed for it but won't, alas, watch it till Thursday, because Enterprise on Wednesdays is sacrosanct around here.

Most extravagant? My current Dell computer system with Zip drive and CD burner, since all our other computer systems have been "last year's model" at considerable savings, but this time we bought everything that was "State of the Art" (for about 15 minutes)--oh, a Sondheim reference!

I'd have to include my birthday/Christmas present a few years ago, when my Joe and I went into NYC and stayed at the Marriot and saw almost every show in sight (I exaggerate) for several thousands of dollars U.S.

My posts have been scant this week, as we were digging out from under the Blizzard of Aught Three. Joe finally got a chance to give his DR Snowthrower attachment a real test. And with a hundred-foot driveway we were so glad not to contemplate shoveling two feet of the white stuff, both of us with bad backs.

Now it's turned into Noe's Fludde. Weather! Can we have a few weeks without weather please? And definitely not Ooblek. Oh, a Dr. Seuss reference!

Allan: Worse than that, I have amazon.com send CDs to my work address and then slowly integrate them into my home collection as I listen to them. Shhh! I am really grateful that Joe doesn't read these here notes.

BK: Loved the interview with the Sexiest Man Alive. And "working 42nd Street" was definitely meant as a bit of levity, people! I think that is one Jerry Orbach rôle that the SMA has not assayed.

Posted by William F. Orr @ 02/23/2003 03:19 AM PST

WFO - You are right. It is Wednesday in NYC. It may be Tuesday in some cities (PBS stations have the option of scheduling) so everyone should check their local listings.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 02/23/2003 08:29 AM PST