Haines His Way

I'm even too innocent to know how to do the Dance of the Page Four Veils!

It helps if you have a DVD player, of course.

 

Oh.  I put one in my VCR, and it jammed...    

Did another 100 pages while I was waiting for Abie to pee.

Now, were those single- or double-spaced?

I just read something that made me laugh out loud.  I was perusing another board and someone posted some bad reviews for Phantom of the Opera from England.  For about the eighth time, this woman comes on - she's seen the film twice, once at a screening and once on a theater screen - and she raves on about it again - how it's great and she loves it, and how it's going to sell out, etc.  Only in this post, she finally reveals that she's the moderator of the Warner Bros. chat board.  Suddenly, it all makes sense - attending screenings and premieres.  I mean, honestly.

For a truly un-biased, and surprising, mine-review, you should check out Ken Hanke's comments on the Scarlet Street boards under Now Playing.  Personally, I was stunned at his reaction.

I don't know from DVD video releases...Other than Gunga Din, I do not plan my life around them and don't know what comes out when.  I just go to the store occasionally and pick up stuff that interests me.  I picked up a DVD of the Ian McKellen/Judi Dench MACBETH the other day.  And a double-pack that has both of Richard Lester's 3 and 4 Musketeers.  I'm grateful for these DVDs and looking forward to watching them.

Re: der Brucer's article about the judge in Blackface.  This brings up something that is a bugaboo of mine.  When I was England, Rowan Atkinson was leading a group of comedians and writers and other artists, protesting a new proposed law where language deemed offensive or promoting hate toward a specific religion could be a crime.  Atkinson felt that the right to offend is more important than putting any curbs on free speech.

I agree absolutely with Atkinson on this.  And I think the judge should be able to conduct himself how he wishes in his private life.  We should be allowed to give a offense if that is what we so desire.  More importantly, in a democracy where free speech is sacrosanct, we should be free to say what we choose and people should be allowed to be offended without the law getting involved.  We should be allowed to be rude, stupid, socially repugnant morons...if we so choose...Let society's mores and ideas of acceptable behaviour censure the oafs and the cretins and the offensive assholes without making a nanny law every five minutes to protect the tender sensibilities of some hyper-sensitive someone who has thin skin.  Stick and stones, folks!  Let's worry about the real crimes...like murder, rape, assault, etc...not get in a dither just because some jerk judge parades his racism around in blackface or because some comedian tells a joke that offends some born-again Christian or Jew or Muslim or Buddist.

We're wrapping xmas presents today.  This is wearying.  All our relatives live back East.  They all have only one package to mail across country.  We have dozens.  Over the years we've winnowed this process down by sending just one gift for family (except for small children) and cheques for nephews and nieces, but it is still a hassle and still expensive.  This year the edict went out to The Lovely Wife:  Small and Light!  Everything can be packed into bubble envelopes of varying sizes, lots of CDs and DVDs (ones I think they should have...not necessarily what they want.  I don't even ask people what they want anymore).  The only heavy presents this year are two sets of Kritzer books going out to some friends in Kentucky.

Greetings, all - Just checking in quickly, while on my dinner break at work, to tell you that I became (for the first time) a great-aunt yesterday.  My husband's niece, Rev. Amy, had a healthy baby boy (yes, DRelmore, John is a grandfather!) on his great-grandmother Harriet's 88th birthday.  He's her first great grandchild.

May I just tell you dear readers that I am very excited?  I am drooling with excitement.  For several weeks I have known of some very interesting news.  I have known of the existence of a 70mm print (albeit faded) of a virtually lost film.  Well, tomorrow morning at eight a.m. I am going to finally see it.  Those who've read Kritzer Time know about this film, because I wrote many pages about it.  I saw it on its initial release here in Los Angeles, California, USA.  It only had an initial release, for the film never played any other engagements anywhere.  It was never transfered to 35mm.  Two years after that release, it was converted into three panels and shown as a Cinerama "feature" entitled Holiday in Spain, but without its raison d'etre gimmick.  The film's original title was Scent of Mystery and the gimmick was Smell-0-Vision.  The only time this was shown between then and now was a one-off TV showing, the film mercilessly cut down to a little over an hour, and videotaped off a movie screen (the video only shooting the center of the screen).  Unwatchable.  It was done in conjunction with 7-11, who gave out scratch 'n sniff cards.  So, I am seeing it tomorrow for the first time in over forty-three years.  In 70mm (albeit faded) and of course there will be no smells (I'm not sure which title will be on the film - Scent of Mystery or Holiday in Spain).  I will, of course, have a fuller than full report.

Interesting titles coming up, MBARNUM!

Sorry SWW - who posed the riddle?  Was it wFO?

td - good review of POTO by Ken Hanke.   Oh my, who would have thought?  Can hardly wait to see it.  I would post my opinion of things over there, but well.....you know what they think of MY reviews.

As a matter of fact I will be taking my souvenir program along with me - it's on the counter, ready to go.  We want the full roadshow experience.

Now, might I just ask where in tarnation IS everyone?  There is no disappearing during the Countdown to Christmas.

Earlier I was at Savon and noticed a big machine.  This big machine was a coin-counter, something I've never seen before.  According to the big machine, you could bring in your coins, feed them to the machine, and the machine would convert said coins into cold hard cash, or donate said coins to a charity, or you could also get a pre-paid calling card or credit card.  Well, imagine how excited I was because sitting in the home environment was a lot of coins that I've had for the last six years - in jars and in bags.  So, I emptied them into one bag and hied myself back to the Big Machine, where I fed the hungry beast each and every coin.  When all was said and done and also done and said I had me fifty bucks I didn't have before - a cold hard half a charlie in my warm pocket, to do with as I pleased.

Isn't it wonderful!  If you had only known before, MR BK, you wouldn't have had to carry that coinage down the street from the old place!

But aren't those machines noisy!?

I've seen those kind of machines around but I'm afraid it would not do a correct count.  So I sit and count and roll my coins.   People have given me a coin counting machine as a gift.  I still don't trust them and you know what?  I'm right.  Sometimes the machine does not do a correct count.  

I also meant to tell you about the accident I saw yesterday.  I was driving home when I came to light that was just changing from yellow to red.  I stopped.  The car across the way was making a left hand turn and made it to the middle of the intersection.  

Out of no where, a mini van passed me on the right, trying to beat light as well, I guess.  Wham!  He hit the car in the rear passenger door and dented it all in.

In my book, both of them were at fault for trying to run the light.  I do have a question.  Should I have pulled over because I witnessed the accident?  No one was hurt.  I saw both drivers get out of their vehicles.

No one else pulled over but one guy clapped loudly from his car.

What is the correct thing to do in a situation like that?

Now, where in tarnation does one get these pre-paid international calling cards?? I have researched them on the internet and the prices are very cheap...but does it make any difference which ones you get? And can you get them at stores rather then over the internet?

I think that my Sara Shane interview will need to be done via the telephone (she being in Australia) rather then via e-mail since we still seem to be having troubles with that.

DR MBarnum, is it possible to do the interview via some sort of internet chat room?

It helps if you have a DVD player, of course.

 

A few Christmases ago, I got a couple of DVDs even though I didn't have a DVD player yet.  People just assumed I was on the cutting edge.

Earlier I was at Savon and noticed a big machine.  This big machine was a coin-counter, something I've never seen before.  According to the big machine, you could bring in your coins, feed them to the machine, and the machine would convert said coins into cold hard cash, or donate said coins to a charity, or you could also get a pre-paid calling card or credit card.  Well, imagine how excited I was because sitting in the home environment was a lot of coins that I've had for the last six years - in jars and in bags.  So, I emptied them into one bag and hied myself back to the Big Machine, where I fed the hungry beast each and every coin.  When all was said and done and also done and said I had me fifty bucks I didn't have before - a cold hard half a charlie in my warm pocket, to do with as I pleased.

I wonder if they would bring that machine around on a truck to the houses of my mom, my sister and myself.  We each have a water cooler bottle that's filled to the neck with pennies.