"Sarah, be my bloody valentine."

Figure I may as well post something. Tonight, the Revue Cinema is showing the uncut version of 1981's My Bloody Valentine, including a Q&A with the film's director, George Mihalka.

In tribute to that sure-to-be-awesome screening that I'm not attending, here's the film's end credits song, a stirring and emotional ballad that you wouldn't expect to find in a movie like this.

Theme (From "The Persuaders!")

There have to be at least 200 videos on YouTube spotlighting - whether in the original conception or in a cover - John Barry’s theme from the early-70s Roger Moore-Tony Curtis TV series, "The Persuaders", and yet, not a single one of them is anywhere near as good as this one:

For all the stick that Silva Screen used to receive over their less than faithful re-recordings, this is one instance where their version is unequivocally better than the original.

"Find them or I'll find you."

Just because I feel like it (and because I want to have this available as often as possible), I'm posting the unused end credits for Rambo: First Blood Part II. And to think: the producers had a choice between this and a Frank Stallone musical number and chose the latter (even if the great Jerry Goldsmith is co-credited with the song's creation). Cocaine is nobody's friend.

All I want is a carrot muffin. No, seriously. With the right amount of sweetness, it is a damn fine snack. Back when I was working at the grocery store, weeks when the muffins were on sale 10 for $10 were among the most bearable. Along with chocolate chip and banana nut, the carrot ones were my favorite. 

Then, someone decided to dump sugar onto the muffins. Even now, I fail to see the point as the muffins were already sweet enough. Needless to say, I bought muffins a little more infrequently.

Not long after that, the final insult: raisins. They put raisins in the carrot muffins and, well...

Just today, I tried another store. An interesting place with a handful of locations in the area, two of which I counted at my inventory job. They have carrot muffins...with cream cheese on them. Perhaps, I could've bought one and scraped the cream cheese off. Maybe, I will next time I'm out that way, but I was too mad today.

I suppose I'll just have to make my own.

Fun with carrots.

Once again, I don't think I'm asking too much.

Not too long ago, Buysoundtrax posted a blog post asking fans to list favorites among their eclectic releases. 2019 saw the Dragon's Domain release of John Morris's scores for the made-for-TV movies "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Electric Grandmother". I listed this among my faves, along with the tag, "(please do more John Morris albums!)".

At the time of the album's release, Ford A. Thaxton mentioned that they planned to do more non-Mel Brooks releases of Morris's music (presumably, dealing with the big studios is a giant headache, precluding the likes of High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein and Silent Movie ending up on CD where they belong). I can only wonder if said releases include the following:

Produced in 1976, this PBS special highlighted the life of John Adams and featured (from the evidence given) a stately Morris score that stands as an early example of how he was more than a comedy composer. However, the audio - warped by decades of wear, no doubt - can't help but produce a comical reaction.

Even so, the world cannot have enough John Morris releases.

"Governments should be afraid of their people."

Well. God must've been looking out for us because, as soon as a swing state with six or more votes is fully counted, this House is clean.

Fascinating coincidence that November 5th should come in the wake of Election Day.

BTW, this is not the last piece of music I will be posting in anticipation of this (sure to be) wonderful news.

Note to self: once I master editing software, get a DVD of The Hurricane Heist and replace Lorne Balfe's music with Hans Zimmer and John Powell's score from Chill Factor.

Seriously, tell me this music wouldn't fit better:

Okay, so advanced reviews of Ready Player One are out and people are calling it...not bad. I'm sorry, but the moment someone on Twitter called the original book 'bazinga-ass shit', I just died. That well and truly killed me, it was so funny. It also guaranteed that I wouldn't be seeing this in a theater. The Oasis scenes look so murky that you can't make out the characters said to be cameoing (and what's the point of that?) and, beyond that, I could not give less of a shit about the story.

I still think this cat nailed the movie:

For 20 years, I'd only been vaguely aware of the 1995 remake of Sabrina, starring Harrison Ford (in the Humphrey Bogart role), Julia Ormond (taking over the title role from Audrey Hepburn) and Greg Kinnear (making his film debut in the William Holden role), and to this day, I've not seen it.

In perusing film music sites, I knew that John Williams scored it and even earned an Oscar nomination for it (in the Best Musical or Comedy Score category - ah, good times). Much like the film, I hadn't heard any of the music.

That is until I was called upon to review the compilation "Lights, Camera...Music! - Six Decades of John Williams". The feather-light piano theme may not be seen as one of the composer's best or most substantive, but it is undeniably lovely. Like Williams's best themes, it stays with you long after the film has faded from memory. If you haven't heard it (or heard it in a while), I implore you to seek it out.

According to National Day Calendar's website, today is National Chicken Lady Day. This day is meant to honor the contributions of Dr. Marthenia Dupree, who for 12 years, worked for the world's second largest chicken restaurant as the Director of Community Relations and Training, thus earning her the titled nickname.

When I first read this, my mind went right here:

Be honest. I wasn't the only one.

Works of Art.

One composer I feel doesn't get enough credit is Arthur B. Rubinstein. I've mentioned him before and hope that more of his music can get released. In a dialogue I had with a soundtrack label head honcho, his response to my query about more Rubinstein releases in the near-future was 'Probably'*. Beats the hell out of 'No', that's for damn sure.

Somewhat off-topic, but the papers I used for track listings have disappeared, which is unfortunate, as I really wanted to share posts on John Morris' Fresno and Dominic Frontiere's Don't Go to Sleep. I suppose I'll have to do them over again. It's a good thing that the movies are on YouTube...as are a number of TV movies scored by Arthur B. Rubinstein. As one of the people who cares to see his music released, it will be my pleasure to go through his CV and post the track listings for his scores.

In addition to his TV movie scores, it'd be really nice to see a release of his "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" music. Listen to this suite and try to tell me you wouldn't want the same:

* - He likely meant a re-issue of WarGames or a premiere release of Blue Thunder, but, good as those scores are, this is a mere scratching of the surface.

In the American release of Supersonic Man, there was this fanfare that sounded a little drunk. It used to be on YouTube. Does anyone know where I can hear it (and no, I'm not interested in tracking the film down; if you've seen or heard of the film, could you blame me?)?

Edit: Well, I'll be damned...

Couldn't deal with repeating this day.

Things I've never been too keen on in all my life are games designed to trick the eyes. Hidden pictures, what's wrong with this pictures, spot the difference pictures, optical illusions; hate 'em all. They purport to teach people to be more observant to their surroundings, but they just throw me off-guard when all I'm trying to do is enjoy something I'm looking at.

All of which is to say I lost that sweet job I mentioned at the beginning of the year.

My department was to be checking the reports of field representatives who look at houses and look for hazards. Part of my training was looking at pictures and making sure that the sketches (architectural layouts) of the houses matched the pictures. All too often, when my work was being checked, I missed things. Sometimes obvious, sometimes not.

And, let me tell you, this was a sweet gig: paid every week, casual dress code, sit at a computer entering figures into squares and not have to answer phone calls from fucking psycho- and sociopaths all day.

At the very least, I maintained my dignity when I was told to hit the road. I still have some other ways to make money, big and small. Here's hoping they hit.

And, for now, all I can do is keep at it, even if I fail. Isn't that right:

"We're bad guys. It's what we do."

Suicide Squad. Long story short, the fascinating cast of characters helped to paper over its many, many, many flaws.

A long time ago (and now, in a way), I fancied myself a pretty decent editor. If I had high-end editing software and the exact know-how, I'd get to work on a fanedit. Wouldn't magically turn it into a masterpiece, but it would make the film more digestible.

Maybe, reshuffle some scenes, delete the superfluous introductions and (even more superfluous) soundtrack choices and (first and foremost) replace the anonymous score by Steven Price. It's, so far, the best underscore of any movie in the DCEU...and I still couldn't hum a note at gunpoint.

What would I replace the score with? Found music by Elliot Goldenthal. Sure, the obvious reason being that his music has a way of putting a silver lining on a DC Comics mess, but the main reason is because of this cue:

Extended from the opening cue on the official score album, listening to this just flipped a switch in me. How cool would it be to create a movie out of whole cloth and put an awesome soundtrack under it, to boot?

Yeah. This is definitely on my to-do list for 2017...or, maybe, 2018.

It's weird to think about now, but back in the 1990s, scores composed by such masters as Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein and Maurice Jarre would be routinely thrown out, like junking a Cadillac because it had a broken spring. One piece of music I've grown greatly attracted to in the last few weeks is "Felina's Story", part of Bernstein's score for Walter Hill's Yojimbo-updated-to-the-1920s-yarn Last Man Standing.

One listen and I'm sure you can hear what I do: a greatly flavorful piece of music. Though the primary focus is on the cimbalom and the inevitable Ondes martenot, there's also a bit of saloon piano, likely a pertinent part of the story.

I'm sure this has come up before, but it'd be a damn shame for a film score to be thrown out because it was too interesting.

So, Batfleck v. Superhunk: Yawn of Justice is getting toxic reviews. You hired the guy behind Sucker Punch to make this movie. You knew what you were getting into. 

Still a movie like this has serious mash-up potential. Behold:

This reminds me: I really should consider watching more "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".

P.S. Gotta love Zod's neck snap over '...and friendship (ha ha!) for everyone'.

Ah, the good 'ol days of the Sci-Fi Channel: anime, MST3K, a wide variety of genre programming (classic and new), and, of course, movies. These customized openings never failed to bring a smile to my face:

Really, would it take that much effort to bring these back; give some semblance that the inmates running the asylum give a damn about the network?

I've said it before and it bears repeating...

I so want this to be played at my funeral:

(This or "Billy's Funeral Dirge" from Game of Death. I'm not picky.)

We miss you so much, John.

Yeah, it's been kind of a while since I posted anything. Long story short: watching Halloween movies in-between enduring the worst job I've ever had.

I didn't even have enough energy to post a YouTube video. I guess that's changing now.

Last year, Encore aired a bushel of Stephen King adaptations. One of them was the miniseries of "Salem's Lot". I caught a good deal of it. It was all right. The strongest aspect was the music by Harry Sukman, highlighted by a galumphing main title cue that made exceptional use of the 'Dies Irae'.

The soundtrack received release on Intrada the year before last. I keep thinking that the label is gonna single it out for the 'available while supplies last' thing they do every so often. Trust me, it's happening soon...and I'll be ready to pick up a copy.

This is the John Ottman who scored X2: X-Men United:

This is the John Ottman who scored Astro Boy:

This is the John Ottman who scored Jack the Giant Slayer:

Now, feast your ears on the John Ottman who scored X-Men: Days of Future Past:

Depressing, no? And this score is actually getting a longer release for the film's 'Rogue Cut'. Fucking body snatchers.