Haines His Way

Continued vibes for Vixmom

Anti-crud vibes for Ron

There were two movies on AMC this afternoon that were diverting.

First was the 20th-Fox "In Love and War" with Jeffrey Hunter, Robert Wagner, Bradford Dillman and Dana Wynter, France Nuyen and Hope Lange.

The beauty of this film, apart from its gorgeous San Francisco and coastal California cinematography, is an exquisite underscore by Hugo Friedhofer.  It's, arguably, his masterpiece among many masterpieces.  One need only watch this "soap opera-ish" war story and hear the underscore to truly understand what movies today sadly lack.

The other movie was "Morituri" with Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner.  Try as I might, I simply could not stay with it.  It had an interesting concept and Brando is never dull to watch...but black-and-white photography of him searching dimly lit below-decks spaces of a freighter just bored the socks off me....and I wasn't wearing socks to begin with.  It has an interesting Jerry Goldsmith score with an excellent theme that reminds me of a sort of waltz.  I'm sure the film is well-done, and it may be that it's either just not my cup of tea or my "crud" interfered with my concentration.

Evening all! Well despite all of the rain, everything is ok here in lovely uptown Seffner.  No major damage.  Just some small tree limbs down and I will no doubt have to mow the grass.  Now that it has had a good drink, I bet it will be waist high by the weekend.  

I should be able to take the laptop with me on the bus tomorrow.  I wish I could find a smaller one.  That thing (even though it is only five pounds) gets heavy after awhile.

Things are still about the same for my Mother and I.  Nothing truly earth shattering to report.

Well, maybe one thing.  

Bear has been mourning the passing of Brandi and I have had the vet several times.  He wasn’t eating and was losing a lot a weight.  The vet told me that I really needed to find him a buddy.  I have been looking and think/thought I found him a nice one.  

Her name is Sheena (the name she came with not one I picked) and I got her from the pound.  She’s a two year old lab mix.  Her ex owner was a service man who got called to active duty so he couldn’t take her with him.  She seemed very well behaved at the pound and is already house broke, knows how to sit/lay down/stay on command, already was spayed, had her micro chip and all of her shots.  

I’ve had her for a few weeks now.  I knew it takes awhile for both dogs to get to know each other and for her to get to know us.  But we’ve had some problems.  Some fighting (which has slacked off quite a bit--just misunderstandings about whose bowl/goodies/toys was whos and such) along with some digging and tearing things up.  Like my headphones for the computer.  I came home one night and they were completely destroyed.

Tonight I came home and she dug up my four O’clocks that was hand raising in the back yard in flower boxes.  I had to move them all the front yard.  Worse a week ago she dug up Brandi.  I had to rebury her and put the old lawn mower over the site to keep her safe.  

I like Sheena very much, as does Mom but I worry about some of the things she does.  I had to take Bears collar off of him because she started the habit of grabbing him by it and pulling him across the yard.   I was scared she might choke him to death.  She also can knock him down and has done so a few times.   I don't think she means to but she gets to running and just slams into him.  

She's a very happy dog, full of energy but might be a bit to young for Bear.  I knew better then to get a puppy but had hoped that a two year old would be a bit settled down.  Sheena seemed pretty quiet at the pound but once I got her home--Wow!  She's a little firecracker and is ready to GO!  

I hate the thoughts of taking her back to pound but I’m at the 50/50 point decision to do so.

On the other hand, she seems to love Bear.  She licks his face and has a fit when I try to clear his ear or if she thinks I’m hurting him.  In fact, she tries to lick his ear and his paw.

Bear also seems to like her as well.  He does play with her and  his eating has picked right back up right from the very first night I got her.

Tonight when someone walked in front of our house, they both stood side by side and “chased” the offending person down the street with their barks.  

Anyway, I think Sheena and I may need a bit more time before I make any decisions.  

And that’s the latest from my neck of the woods.    

Here is a picture of Brandi.  I don't think I ever posted one of her before.

Here is the first picture I snapped of Sheena.  That's in the back seat of Bonnie the day I got her.

She rides very nicely in the car.  I've taken her and Bear to the dog park and she just climbs in the seat and lays down just like this.

Another shot of her in the yard.

And a few minutes later, they were off and running!

One oughtn't to humor "bore detector" by acknowledging his trollish presence.

Stokes: Haven't heard the CD. He's a nice fellow though. Turned out he was in our office taping some kind of segment for TV about how Playbills are made. Quite odd. But I was able to tell him that he was one of the best to ever play the Pyramid, which he got a kick out of.

TPunk and I just returned from PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION. A generally agreeable affair. In it's Altman fashion, there is the sense of making up the plot as they go along. There are a few storylines that are introduced and disappear just as quickly. Yet, the setting is so leisurely, that it works more often than not. Kevin Kline comes off great, as do Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly.

It was funny to hear a guy telling his surprised his lady friend as we left the theater: "That's based on a REAL radio show!"

Anyone else get the Charlie Chan box set? (Besides BK that is).

Laird Cregar rules.

Dan (the Man), one of my better NYC roles was as the brother in FOR WHOM THE SOUTHERN BELLE TOLLS. That is a funny play.

I know this is heresy, but I never really got into Tennessee Williams. I know there are a lot of subtexts and so forth, but I never bought into the dialogue and the sturm and drang of it all.

The only Tennessee Williams plays I've seen have been very good, local productions of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (great set) and "The Glass Menagerie" (I don't remember very much of it, though).  Also, I saw the first two acts of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in London with Brendan Fraser, Frances O'Connor and Ned Beatty as Big Daddy.  Very, very good (especially Brendan )!

Mr. Mark Bakalor asked me to share this with you - it's a music video he directed - check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEb3YknGUks