Happy Late Sunday Night, Sweet Baby,
I believe I saw a Sweet Baby post earlier today, via one of your friends (Chelsea), so if that's what it was, then you are indeed back! Hooray! :):) I also saw a post about a fashion shoot in China, which I took to mean that you were perhaps working on your own fashion shoot today. If so, I hope you had a blast. I already know the results will be excellent; no hoping needed on that part. :)
I'm super-duper Alice Cooper mega tired, of course, this being Sunday. I was the only tenor in choir today, which was a bit of a challenge because I did not have the other voice to resonate with. I blend real well with our other tenor, and the resonance can cause the sum of our voices to be greater than the two parts. This morning's anthem was also heavy on the bass clef notes, very low stuff that is not exactly "in my wheelhouse" to use a baseball term. I can sing low, but I can't sing with power and sing low. My best power comes with mid-range to high tenor. I did my best though, and it was good practice for being the lone tenor, and it wasn't too shabby anyway. We did a one hour rehearsal afterwards, and learned a few new ones, one a Negro Spiritual called "Go Down Moses" that you can really put some soul into. So that's the Singin' Exploits for the day.
This afternoon I went out to Santa Susana for a hike to the top of The Slide. It was pretty smoggy out, so tonight I have a bit of the "shallow breathing 1960s-era smog thing", but it's not a bad case, just mild. One thing, though - for a while there, maybe ten or even fifteen years - it seemed like we had gotten rid of L.A. Smog. You never heard about it in the late 80s, or the 90s.....or maybe until the last five or ten years. So maybe we had gotten rid of it for about 20 years. But lately it is back, and that could be because of the number of cars in this joint, which are probably triple or quadruple what it was 20 to 30 years ago. The amount of cars, more than anything, are what is ruining the quality of life out here. The amount of people is tolerable, because L.A. is so spread out. But the cars are doing us in (he said, as he drove his car from place to place today). ;)
Tonight I watched a movie called "Child's Play". Not the one with Chucky, that horrible little doll, but one with the same title from 1972, directed by the great Sidney Lumet. It was based on a Broadway play and is the story of the goings-on at a Catholic Boys School in New York. The style of the film is gothic and slightly occult. This was the early 70s, the era of many popular horror movies in those genres. The boys of the school are starting to engage in acts of what looks like ritualistic violence against one another, and are also committing acts of desecration in the chapel (predating "The Exorcist" on that score). Two teachers are at the forefront : one, the kindly, encouraging Robert Preston (sporting a World Class Moustache), whom all the boys seem to love. His opposite is played by James Mason as a strict, sullen Latin teacher, who is older and on the verge of retirement. The fact of these two actors results in the main "pull" of the movie. Without them, the story might have lost it's muscle. But Preston and Mason are So Great.......and I've gotta say once again that James Mason certainly ranks as one of the greatest actors of all time.....that despite the slight weaknesses in the story, and in the translation from Play to Film, you are hooked at the beginning, simply by the two lead performances. One teacher seems to be pitted against the other, but which one is the good guy? The schoolboys all favor the nice teacher, Robert Preston (no acting slouch he, going toe to toe with Mason).
The movie looks to have been filmed in a Seminary. The color tones are all brown wood panels, red candles and earth tone yellow and beige walls. The religious backdrop is always present, and a few sub-themes are involved having to do with unpleasant innuendos of the type associated with Catholicism. However, these themes are turned on their collective head, as the accusers are shown for what they are.
It's a weird movie. I had never heard of it until I did a library search for Robert Preston, whom I had seen in something recent that caused me to see what a great actor he was and do a search for more of his movies. It's almost like a combination of later movies like "Dead Poets Society" and "The Omen", with a dose of "Goodbye Mr. Chips" as well.
For the first 45 minutes, you are absolutely riveted by the forward moving plot and the acting, and the atmosphere. Is it horror? Is it a Thriller? Lumet keeps you guessing. The film bogs down in the middle for a few minutes, but then rebounds strongly with surprises to the plot. The finish is maybe not as dramatic as it might have been on stage, and so denying you the big walloping finish you might be expecting. But I still give "Child's Play" a Thumbs Up, simply because of All The Other Stuff, the great acting, expert direction by Sidney Lumet, and a pervasive atmosphere of unease.
A 7/10 for me.
Well, that's all for tonight, SB. I will see you in the morning.
I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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