Haines His Way

DR DerBrucer:  ROTFLMAO about the backside of a chicken.  I'm sure that part of the "backside" imagery most people carry is due to the fact that when you shop farmer's markets for fresh eggs, you often encounter eggs with chicken "doo" on them...lending the idea that "chickens s**t what we eat"!

DR Stuart:  I'm guessing not a few dancers have been horas -- of one kind or another -- while struggling through their careers!

Panni - Go for the food and stick the movie.  Did you know that it is big business and not Communists that the Angela character (Meryl in this version) is working for?  It's the Gulf War, not Korea.  And from the tv ads instead of being brainwashed the title character is given an operation.  

Re JEOPARDY: I have been turning it on for the last five minutes of finalJeopardy just so see if he keps winning.

However, since Purim fell during the middle of the rehearsal period... Hamentaschen! YUM!!!!  I had never had them before, and I just kept helping myself, and they just kept bringing them in for me.  Prune, cherry, and poppy seed.

DRJose, I love poppy seed and apricot hamentaschen; never cared much for prune, but I have never seen a cherry hamentaschen in any bakery of NY that I've entered.  It sounds quite wonderful, though.

DRJRand, we'll never see eye to eye on AOPP. but that doesn't mean for one second that I don't value your opinions about it and respect your affection for it.  It's like the Wagner opera debate several months ago; friends I respect like Wagner, but I think he's a self-indulgent Nazi who needed to learn the meanings of style and economy in his composition.  I think he's too long and too boring, but amid all the dross there are fantastic moments.  For me, the perfect Wagner opera is by one of his acolytes and contains all his brilliance of composition and tempers it with economy:  HANSEL UND GRETEL, 90 minutes long, with not one boring moment.  I'll hear about this one!

DRFrancois, welcome back!  Are you going to relate fantastic tales of your time away?

I just got back from seeing my doctor who basically said time would heal the pain.  He did, however, give me perscriptions for Ibuprofen and Cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant.  I hope to be stoned out of my mind by sundown.

Sturgeon eggs are fine with me.  It's the eggs from poultry I can't stand.  This whole TOD is grossing me out.  

Can I help?

I like my eggs raw - mixed in steak tartare, soaked in cognac for homemade egg-nog, or in my Cesar Dressing (raw, please, not coddled).

I like my eggs soft-boiled – straight-up in a cutesy egg cup (ala English - Breakfast) with a demitasse spoon to scoop out the luscious runny yolk – or over heavily buttered wheat toast.

I like my eggs poached – eggs Benedict, Florentine, Adam & Eve on a raft, or cuddling in a nest of crispy edged corned beef hash.

I like my eggs fried sunny side up on my Wienerschnitzel ala Holstein, or with a bit of anchovy on my Leberkaese Ala Holstein.

I like my eggs fried over easy with fried Taylor pork roll (or Scrapple) and lots of grits.

I like my eggs fried over hard in a scrapple sandwich with apple butter.

I like my eggs scrambled with caviar and sour cream.

I like omelets – California with avocado and Bacon, or with sautéed chicken livers

I like my eggs hard-boiled – sliced on wheat toast with Mayo and Swiss cheese; or packed in a brown-bag lunch with a little packet of salt and pepper.

I like my eggs deviled with good mustard and celery seed and topped with good paprika.

I like pickled Quail eggs as a canapé.

I like eggs in Béarnaise and Hollandaise on just about anything.

der hens best friend Brucer

PS I leave it to Jose to finish the gross out with his telling you about Balut

I think (Wagner)'s too long and too boring, but amid all the dross there are fantastic moments.

... I'll hear about this one!

Well - let's forget about the howling screeching  vocalizing - how about his orchestrations!

Die Meistersinger's Overture's triple counterpoint just sends chills! And let's not forget that Wagner gives full employment to many a French horn player. And surely the Anvil Chorus is a worthy show-stopper!

der Brucer (waiting for Jay to berate me for the "howling" comment)

PS For the best of Wagner listen to the BK recording of
Das Barbecü!

Did you know that it is big business and not Communists that the Angela character (Meryl in this version) is working for?  It's the Gulf War, not Korea.  And from the tv ads instead of being brainwashed the title character is given an operation.  

Seems the only decent thing to do would have been to give it a new title.

(I know, the really decent thing to do would have been to leave it alone!)

der Brucer

And surely the Anvil Chorus is a worthy show-stopper!

Ah, yes.  That fine chestnut from Wagner's Das Rheingold.

I wonder, what would Verdi say?

I doubt he could handel it!

MMMM-mmm!  Loves me my eggs.  Anytime of the day or night.  Scrambled, Fried, Omelet.  Like 'em hard-boiled.  Love 'em Devilled!  Like them garnishing Spinach salad and most any other kind of salad as well.  One of my all-time favourite eggs may be A SCOTTISH EGG! Yum!

Jerry Goldsmith was a lovely man...and a terrific composer.  I was privileged to meet him twice.  Once outside the Universal commisserary where Raffaella DeLaurentiis introduced me to him.  I had already mentioned him more than once for the composer of Dragonheart.  He had read the script and was very enthusiastic about it.  You knew he wasn't faking either because he could describe passages of the script in detail.  He wanted to do it.  I lobbied hard for him to do it.

Alas, he didn't get offered the gig.  But I later met Goldsmith at Miklos Rozsa's memorial service (my single best day in Hollywood) where he remembered me instantly and introduced me to other notables like John Mauceri and David Raskin and once more spoke glowingly about the script, saying it was one of those scripts that brought music to his mind. He was very complimentary about the work.

The rousing opening and main theme of The Wind & The Lion still stirs my soul everytime I hear it and his great, great original score for Legend is absolutely brilliant.  (In one of the most mind-numbingly stupid decisions in the history of Hollywood, it was discarded in favour of a score by Pink Floyd. I think they have restored Goldsmith's score to the DVD of Legend. Or you at least have the option to watch it with that score.)

Jay, so I'm not hallucinating? (Well, I could be, but that's another matter.) When I saw mention of the Anvil Chorus and Wagner, by our usually correct DB, part of me said - "Nem!" - That's "no" in Hungarian. (Because I first saw Il Trovatore when I was a child in Hungary.) But the other part of me said "Shut up!" The other part of me is rude. So I did. Until seeing your post. "So there!" other part of me.

Yes, Jerry wrote The Mephisto Waltz, the soundtrack CD of which our very own Mr. Nick Redman produced for Varese (when I was there and responsible for the Fox stuff coming there).  Coupled with his equally marvelous score to The Other.

DR Sandra, what's the word on the car? What's wrong with it? When will it be fixed?

Folks, I have been busy while my family has been away. Today I began painting the living room. Sandra has the camera, or else I'd show you all what it looks like -- it's kind of a grayish-yellow. Very interesting.