happy tunesday! כבר אחרי חצות

 

Last week's Tunesday I shared a recording of one of my songs, "Midnight Has Come and Gone." That post was here. At the time I offered bonus points to whoever identified the Israeli pop song that inspired it. For the record, my sister is the only person who got the bonus points. Which isn't really much of a surprise, given our shared childhood.

At any rate, my inspiration was "כבר אחרי חצות" ("Already After Midnight") by אילנית (Ilanit). It was Ilanit's first solo single, released in 1968. I first came across it at summer camp -- where I heard a lot of Israeli pop songs from the late '60s to early '70s.

Over the years I've wanted to translate it to English -- but not enough to actually do so. My Hebrew is good enough that I could get the gist of it, and come up with an almost-complete translation. But there are a few nuances that I couldn't get without cheating. Notably, the three verses each ends with a form of the word אהבה (love), and I never knew the specific meanings of the three different words.

So I never really created a full translation. Instead, I wrote my own song, borrowing some stylistic elements. For example, my song's title, "Midnight Has Come and Gone" is kind of a loose translation of the title of Ilanit's song (as noted, "Already After Midnight"). In both songs, each verse begins with the song's title. And both songs talk about sparing a moment. In fact, as I was writing my lyrics, I had Ilanit's melody in my head. So you can sing my lyrics to her melody. And, I suppose, vice versa. While we're at it, my chorus begins with the line "Tomorrow is another day," which is very close to the first line of Ilanit's chorus ("Tomorrow will be a new day").

But there are many differences. The lyrical similarities noted above are, I think, the extent of it. And Ilanit's song is optimistic, whereas mine is desperate. I also completely redid the melody and chord progression for mine.

As an aside, I note one peculiar thing about the structure of Ilanit's song. There are only three different verses, with the first one sung three times. The song goes: Verse 1, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Verse 3.

Anyway, I finally decided that I needed a full translation of Ilanit's song. I am sharing that below, but first I'd like to explain my methodology. I typed each line into Google translate, and then put the translations -- line by line -- into Word. Finally, I tweaked it a little for poetic purposes. Following is my finished translation (without repeating the chorus or the first verse).

Already after midnight.
They haven’t yet turned off the off the moon.
Because before they turn off the lights,
The lights of the stars.
Give another moment to the lovers.

Tomorrow will be a new day.
And what is possible
From a new day that we have yet to see?
So give us another moment
Just another moment
Even though it’s already after midnight

Already after midnight.
They haven’t yet lit up the morning.
Because before they clean
The yesterday from the streets
Give another moment of love

Already after midnight.
They haven’t yet lit up the sun.
Because before they distribute
The newspapers and the milk
Give us another moment
To be loved.

kosher banking?

At the bank today, I noticed they had this kashrut certificate up:

This had me kind of puzzled, since it was a bank, not a food market.

I asked the teller why the bank needed such a certificate, and she explained that it's for the lollipops. Yes, the bank did have a few strategically placed trays with lollipops. And I might have realized that that's what the certificate was for if I had read it carefully; the section in the middle indicates that it is for the "Chase Bank Jolly Pops."

But I am still left with a question. Under "Restrictions," the certificate indicates that "Kof-K symbol [is] required." The wrappers on the lollipops -- excuse me, jolly pops -- had the Chase logo, but not the Kof-K symbol. Of course, if they had the Kof-K symbol, that would have sufficed and the kashrut certificate would have been redundant. But without the symbol, it seems to me, there's nothing present to assure me that the lollipops are kosher. Or am I missing something?

snacks for the mailman

 

I have no idea how long we'll keep it up, but for now we keep a box of snacks out on the front porch for the mailman. And, I suppose, any other delivery people who bring us things.

It started a couple months ago. Blair and the kids were on the West coast, and I was home alone for a couple weeks. I invited a few people over to watch music documentaries with me on a Saturday night. I ordered pizza and bought snacks. As usual, I overbought.

There are several reasons I overbought. The primary one is that I'm neurotic. Growing up I heard my father tell and retell about the "lotta lox" incident. With that bit of family lore, I absorbed the notion that the worst possible mishap is to run out of some food or refreshment when there are guests over. But there's another quirk I have. Suppose, for argument's sake, I'm buying meat for a cookout, that there will be ten people, and that I plan to cook hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken breasts. I ask myself how many hamburgers I may need. I figure that the most hamburgers anyone will want is three. So, with ten people, I will need thirty hamburgers. The most hot dogs anyone will want is four. So forty hot dogs. And the most chicken breasts anyone will want is two. So twenty chicken breasts. I've gotten a little better about it over the years, but I still buy way too much. Also, I had a couple of cancellations, so I was expecting more people than actually came.

The upshot is that I had way too much in the way of snack food. And, this being the era of COVID, the snacks were in individual serving size packages. That way people didn't have to reach into communal bowls with their hands.

When all was said and done, I didn't mind having the extra snacks left over. I work from home, so I figured they'd last a while.

But when Blair got back from California a week later, she had other ideas. The snacks all went into a box on the front porch with a sign telling people to "please take." Probably just her way of making sure I didn't eat them. But it was a big hit with the mailman and delivery folk. They didn't make chazeirim out of themselves. But they've been taking. And we've been replenishing, including with some drinks.

As I said, we';ll see how long it lasts. But the fact is it's good to be on the mailman's good side.

cinema history class: rodan

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 4 (Bob-O)
Movie: Rodan (1957)
Directed by Ishiro Honda

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
Nuclear tests have freed a flying dinosaur from its long slumber. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

I have to admit that I went into this with low expectations. As I have said in the past, I'm not big on the Japanese monster movies.

But Rodan was much better than I was fearing.

There was a bit of a tease, in that before even see Rodan, we're treated to some kind of giant larvae-like creatures. The introduction of these larvae was very well-done. Initially, we don't see them -- we just know that miners are dying. And at one point we see them getting pulled under water. When we finally see the larvae in all their glory, it's actually disturbing -- in a way that the Japanese monsters rarely are. In a sense, I was actually disappointed when the story shifted and we meet Rodan -- a flying pteryodactyl-like thing -- I wanted to see more of the larvae.

But the rest of the story was handled reasonably well, and developed a touching quality. I can't help but thinking of literature's many star-crossed lovers and wondering if Rodan and Rodana should be added to the list.

I don't think Rodan deserves a 10, but it's high up there.

Ratings

Me: 9.5

Christina: 9.4

Dave: 10

Ethan: 8

Joe: 10
Keith: 9.8

it's zmedsday!! (ciii)

 

happy tunesday! midnight has come and gone

 

Here's another recording Toby Wilson did of one of my songs. I really love the way he imbued the recording with a feeling of desperation.

Incidentally, this song is kind of inspired by an old Israeli pop song. From 1968 IIRC. At one time I wanted to translate it. But then I decided to just write my own song, though I used the Israeli song as a jumping-off point.

I intend to make the Israeli song the subject of next week's Tunesday post. In the meantime, bonus points if you can identify it. As a hint, The verses from this can be sung to the tune of the verses in that. Ditto the chorus.

test footage part 3

 A few months ago, Keith Crocker shot some test footage for the upcoming Three Slices of Delirium. I wrote about that here and here. In addition to doing some lines from 3Slices, we did a little improv. That was a surprise Christina sprung on us. The premise is that we were all supposed to be professors expressing concern over the behavior of a new professor. That professor would be Rasputin, and this experiment was in service of Rasputin on Campus, which I understand will be Keith's next film project after 3Slices.

This is what came of our improv:

cinema history class: them!

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 3 (Dave)
Movie: Them! (1954)
Directed by Gordon Douglas

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
Giant ants are discovered in New Mexico. And they've spread. The military desperately tries to hunt them down before it's too late. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

Soon after Keith treated us to a giant monsters month (which included a giant scorpion movie), Dave brought (for his BYOM month entry) a giant ant movie. The guys in class were shocked to find out that I had never seen Them!, since it's acclaimed as one of the classic giant monster flicks. Wait until they learn that I haven't seen Tarantula.

At any rate, Them! deserves its acclaim. The mechanically-achieved ant effects weren't as effective as the stop motion that was used in The Black Scorpion, but  it was still worlds better than the typical CGI which looks impressive but fails to actually scare. The story was engaging and frightening. If you forget the square-cube law, you could almost believe.

Special kudos to young Sandy Descher, who played the little girl in shock at the beginning. One almost wishes that she had a bigger role, because she did such a good job pulling off what she had.

Perhaps the best part of Them! is the very ending where the scientist gives his ominous warning about the evils that have been unleashed. This immediately made me think of the physicist, Robert Oppenheimer. Upon witnessing Trinity, the first nuclear bomb test, he famously quoted the Bhagavad-Gita, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." That was the perfect way to end the film.

Ratings

Me: 9.5

Bob: 10

Christina: 10

Joe: 10
Keith: 10

what we have left of cream

Back in June when we took Cream to the vet for what we all knew was his final trip, Blair and I were assuming that we would bury him in the yard. We're Jewish, so our mindset is to bury. We have buried a bunch of cats in the yard over the years. And we just assumed that that's what Sharon wanted too.

We should have discussed it with her.

As we got close to home with Cream's body -- with normal traffic, this vet is about 45 minutes away -- Sharon finally told us what had been on her mind. She wanted him cremated. As I would later learn, she didn't like the idea of bugs eating his body. I have some thoughts on that, but the fact is Cream was her cat so Blair and I respected her wishes.

So we drove back to the vet, dead cat in the car, and filled out the forms. But it's not quite as simple as that. You can have your pet cremated with a whole batch of other similarly situated pets. For an extra fee, they'll cremate your pet by itself and return the ashes to you. And, of course, the crematory has lots of memorial souvenirs you can purchase to remember your pet. Cream was Sharon's first pet -- she barely remembers life before him. So Blair and I pretty much gave her carte-blanche to get what she wanted.

So Sharon has a little urn necklace, with a little bit of Cream's ashes in it. And a yin-yang pendant with Cream's noseprint and pawprint engraved on it. And the ashes (except for what's in the urn necklace) are in a satin bag in a box. At least until such time as Sharon decides to spread them out in the front yard where Blair created a Cream memorial garden (mostly flowers with white or off-white colors).

I am thinking about this now because of the timing. Cream took his final ride in June, right before Sharon went to California. When I heard from the vet's office that they have our Cream souvenirs, I asked if they can hold on to them for a bit -- Sharon didn't want someone else to pick them up without us. So yesterday -- Sharon's first Saturday at home after her trip -- she and I went to the vet to pick up Cream.

And somnetime soon we have to go into Manhattan and find a suitable chain for the yin yang necklace.

In the meantime, we have our memories.

cinema history class: address unknown

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 2 (Joe)
Movie: Address Unknown (1944)
Directed by William Cameron Menzies

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
In the 1930s, two German expats -- one Jewish, one not -- maintain a business partnership and friendship in San Francisco. When one returns to Germany, they find their friendship tested. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

I have been attending this class for something like eight years. And this is without question the most powerful movie we've seen. I tried, after we watched it, to describe the power. But words failed me.

They still do, to some extent. 

The story is obviously a big factor. It addresses topics such as loyalty, love, hate and cowardice. And it addresses the issue of how seemingly good people can be seduced into embracing evil.

But the film's greatness goes beyond that. I question whether this really qualifies as film noir, but the dialog is very noirish. And the cinematography is incredible. I loved the scene where the censor exited the theater after ordering the actors to cut dialog. He slowly gets smaller and smaller -- a tiny silhouette of black against a white background. And I am still haunted by the vision of Martin, terrified, peering through the iron fence around his villa.

We have seen some great movies in this class, and I have given out a bunch of tens over the years. But this may be the tenniest ten I've ever tenned.

Ratings

Me: 10

Bob: 9.0

Christina: 9.2

Dave: 10
Keith: 10

cinema history class: the little girl who lived down the lane

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 1 (Me)
Movie: The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
Directed by Nicolas Gessner

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
A secretive teenage girl, just trying to mind her own damn business, piques the curiosity and concern of various townsfolk. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

Sometime in the mid 1980's -- I forget the exact year -- I was pulling an all-nighter for a differential equations exam. Sometime in the wee hours I took a break and turned on the TV. A movie -- The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane -- was starting. I had never heard of it before, but that first scene was engrossing enough that I stayed with it. And it stayed with me. For years and years I remembered the film. Not in its entirety, but certain pivotal scenes. And the ending. I didn't watch it again, but these scenes were burned into my memory.

Last year, during lockdown,  I streamed it. It was just as engrossing and good as I recalled. And that was when I decided to bring it for BYOM month. Little Girl is a small but powerful movie. The screenplay was adapted from a stage script (via a novelization. As a result, there is a small cast -- only five roles of any substance, and there are never more than three of them together. But the dialogue is lean and efficient -- and sharp. It's not really a horror movie -- more of a psychological thriller. And it does thrill.

The rest of the class received the movie quite well. There were some concerns over some plot points, but nothing that anyone seemed to feel ruined the movie.

Ratings

Bob: 9.0

Christina: 9.3

Dave: 9.5
Joe: 10
Keith: 9.5

test footage part 2

Last month I wrote a brief post about shooting test footage for Three Slices of Delirium.

Keith's friend and (what? assistant? technician, film editing expert?), Steve, threw the footage onto backgrounds. This seems to be part of a process of seeing how much we can get away with using green screens vs. actual sets or locations. It is also helping us (and by "us" I mean "Keith") figure out what he can do to make the green screen shoots look more realistic. In this case, the chair that Chris used helps to give  the scene more depth. Possibly adding other real objects will help more.

This first snippet is of Chris running some dialogue from his slice, "The Last Kiss of Ullalume."

We also shot a couple short snippets of me as Professor Crisp in "The Premature Burial."

And another take: