Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Tuesday Ramblings

I have been losing myself in the Larry McMurtry novel Moving On which is in all essence about a crying, temperamental, gorgeous Texas girl named Patsy Carpenter. She and her husband Jim have been following the rodeo circuit for a photography book he was planning on putting together, only he never seemed to be taking any pictures. They met all the different folks of the rodeo and have now moved on back to Houston so Jim can forgot the photography and concentrate on graduate school, late 1960's. I'm a little spent at this point. It's been over two-hundred pages and I'm a little tired of Texas. Hell, I'd be tired of Kansas if that was what the book was about, so Texans take no offense please.

There's two things keeping me reading this novel: I like Patsy, and I like McMurtry's writing. But I think I'll put it down for just a moment and read something else just to clear my head.

Somewhere in Time was on yesterday—and you know how much I love Christopher Reeve. The movie, and his acting, was panned on initial release, but it has survived and become a cult classic, something I did not know when I saw it for the first time earlier this year. But, you see, I love time travel and this one does it very well, following Finney's theories of self-hypnosis from Time and Again.

The music in this film is really beautiful. I guess Jane Seymour, who plays Elise McKenna, asked a composer friend if he'd write the score and voila' magic! By the way, I never thought much of Jane Seymour until I saw this, but she is just perfect as the Victorian Elise. Her impromptu speech to Richard (Reeve) while on stage brings tears to my eyes whenever I see it. In fact, I can pretty much stand there and recite it from memory now, something which cracks Liam up. He likes the penny scene at the end, but I won't tell you anything about that!

Anyway, here's the beautiful score from Somewhere in Time.

5 comments:

  1. He really is the master of the movie score. I've not seen the film; I'll look out for it. I've always rather liked Jane Seymour, but she did herself no favours with that female doctor role.

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  2. John Barry is great! I guess Seymour knew him from her role in the Bond film, Live or Let Die. He also scored Midnight Cowboy, one of my other favorite movies.

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  3. Jane Seymour lived here in Bath (or nearby) in a flipping great manor which is now owned by a Russian geezer. I borrowed a room in it for a while when she was there, to store a telescope. I liked the way Mr Reeve adjusted his speech according to mechanical breath-intakes toward the end of his life, and I would like to emulate that by peppering my comments with, "But err...". It's a great way of giving yourself time to think. I have a friend here now who jumped into a dry swimming-pool and ended up the same way as Christopher. He is great (and can breathe on his own, but that's it). I've been to a few parties with him and he dances - with his head. I don't like the music - sorry.

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  4. "Russian geezer"—as if there's any other sort. Hey, Jane's been to the other side, a couple of times, and lived to tell the tale. I guess a huge castle is appropriate. Anyway, she has two different colored eyeballs and that must be a ticket to the sweet life.

    It's okay if you don't like the music. It's kind of corny unless you see the movie, and then something subliminal happens and you're hooked like crack. So my suggestion is to not see the movie at all, unless you want to join us Barry addicted freaks. Haha! I think I've had too much wine tonight.

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  5. I'm serious, I really have had too much wine and I'll regret it in the morning. Time to go drink a whole bunch of water before going to bed.

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