Hello, Thrilling Days of Yesteryear faithful. Honest Ivan here again...but not to sell you anything. When the DISH Austerity Program first went into effect in the House of Yesteryear, I was a little crabby…and I may have even whined a little. (How do I know this? Well, when about half a dozen people say to me “Will you stop whining, ferchrissake?” that’s a little hard to ignore.) I had reached a point where I started to sound like Karl Swenson in The Birds: “It’s the end of the world!”
But a month into our whittled-down package…I’m beginning
to think that Nietzsche guy was right. I
speculated that when I
first announced the DISH news this experience might be a positive one for TDOY, in that such a removal of this distraction
might provide the impetus for more prolific blogging. At the risk of tooting my own piccolo, I have
been en fuego in the month of August. While the ‘rents search in anxiety for
something with which to be entertained (Mom is so sick of Dad’s constant
watching of MSNBC that I think she’s on board with Giant Meteor in November), I
sit smugly in Count Comfy von Chair with my tablet, composing blog post after
blog post. I’m not going to lie to
you. Occasionally, when I get wind that
a movie I wanted desperately to see is playing on The Greatest Cable Channel
Known to Mankind™, I tear up a little.
But it passes quickly.
This post is going to serve as sort of a guide to the “new” Thrilling Days of Yesteryear—what you can
expect in terms of content and such. Not
all of what I write about will appeal to everyone, so if you have an idea of
what will appear on the blog on a daily basis you can plan your visits
accordingly. (In a perfect world, of
course, you would not only read every utterance you would pledge complete and
unwavering fealty to TDOY…but alas,
we do not live in such a Utopian existence.)
Mondays – Book reviews. Again, because I’m under oath—or am I?—I must truthfully admit the few times I reviewed a book here at TDOY
in the past is when someone graciously sent me a free copy for the blog. (No money exchanged hands,
I cannot emphasize this enough. It’s
more “quo” than “quid”—if I may indulge in a little pun.) In most cases, there were books that I paid for myself with TDOY funds simply because it was something I was excited about reading. Since I invested in the new computer three
years ago and it came equipped with Kindle. I have found that it’s relatively
inexpensive to build an electronic library if you just keep an eye peeled for book
bargains. (BookBub is a great resource in giving
you a heads-up on this.) So I’m going to
make a concerted effort to read more than I have previously (the Kindle allows
me to effortlessly sit in Count von Comfy and accomplish this task), and we will see
where that takes us.
Tuesdays – It was
Todd at Sweet Freedom who first instituted
“Overlooked Tuesdays” and in the beginning, I tried my darndest to structure TDOY so that movies that don’t always
receive the greatest number of electrons here in the blogosphere would be
featured on “Overlooked Films on Tuesdays.”
My track record for participating, sadly, was the very definition of “spotty”;
I blame this on the fatigue and ennui I experienced after completing Serial
Saturdays and Doris Day(s) on Mondays. (More on this in a bit.) Nevertheless, I have seen the light, brother,
and am committed to making certain an overlooked motion picture gets its due on
Tuesdays, be it an edition of “From the DVR” or “Grey Market Cinema.”
Wednesdays – If you’re
going to place a bet in the pool of “Which feature will have the shortest shelf
life at TDOY”, this might be the
nominee that will pay off big time. It’s
not that I don’t enjoy a good shoot-‘em-up, it’s just that the number of
economically-shot oaters in the Dusty Thrilling
Days of Yesteryear Archives has
diminished in recent years: many of my B-Westerns were relegated to the trash
can (I decided about a year-and-a-half ago that I was going to stop recording
movies at anything lower than SP speed) and the others wound up on the eBay
runway. I know I’ve got some on hand; it
will just require my digging through a—what I call for lack of a better word—“pile”
of DVD-R discs. Still, B-Western Wednesdays is back with a
vengeance, baby—so saddle up for some good ol’ rootin’-tootin’ fun (in memory
of my dear departed Facebook compadre Lloyd Fonvielle).
Thursdays – Thursdays
will be devoted to “silent cinema”; it can take the form of comedy shorts that
I’ve acquired over the years (my recent
review of Steve Massa’s Lame Brains
and Lunatics no doubt inspired this) …or “On the Grapevine,” which
spotlights DVDs purchased from Grapevine
Video. There may also be silent
films both unknown and well-known tossed into the mix (discs purchased from Flicker Alley and Milestone Films). And there may be an occasional “talkie”
featured as well (I’ve socked away quite a few Alpha DVDs.).
Fridays – It’s Forgotten Noir Fridays! (Don’t tell me you’ve relegated yesterday’s
post to ancient history already.)
VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films’ acclaimed DVD series will be
examined on a weekly basis, one movie at a time. By the way, I made a lulu of a boo-boo yesterday in my
review of I’ll Get You: according to
friend of TDOY/film historian Richard M. Roberts, the Lippert film
library was never “orphaned.” “Robert
Lippert Sr. sold the rights to those films to the Weiss Brothers in the early
60's, where Weiss Global International kept them in perpetual television syndication
into the early 80's,” Richard wrote me in an e-mail. “When Adrian Weiss passed away in the early
00's, the rights and materials to the Lipperts and all other surviving Weiss
product was sold to Kit Parker, who has made them available ever since through
VCI.” I am so grateful that Richard is
around to keep me honest.
I’ve made the decision that with the exception of an
occasional post (like this one) or the announcement of swag to give away, weekends
will be kind of quiet here at TDOY. (Hey, I have book reports to write.) Which means that Serial Saturdays will be
retired (though I had two chapters left in The
Black Widow—if I can locate the DVD I’ll try to wrap those up) and as for Doris
Day(s)…well, again—a little honesty is in order. I have to watch these episodes in order to
transcribe the dialogue…and then a second time (I generally speed this up if I’m
in a hurry) for the screen grabs. I just
don’t have the intestinal fortitude for this anymore (and my recent diabetes
diagnosis doesn’t help, either—Doris is awful gooey at times). Maybe if MeTV decides to add it to its
schedule (I’ve seen the traffic for Mayberry Mondays shoot up since they
started airing RFD reruns, and I think
I thank them for that) I may apply some paddles but for now you’ll just have to
settle for memories of Leroy B. Semple Simpson. (Andrew “Grover” Leal keeps insisting I’ve
lost the Doris DVDs…this is simply not true, though I sometimes wish it were.)
So there you have it: the new Thrilling Days of Yesteryear.
(I feel like I just participated in a network upfront.) Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and meet me
back here Monday.
11 comments:
They do say that when you write down your goals like this that you really do accomplish them. This is why I never write down my goals!
Our Lady of Great Caftan espoused much wisdom:
They do say that when you write down your goals like this that you really do accomplish them. This is why I never write down my goals!
Gah! I'm becoming a grown-up. It's a madhouse!
I forgot that Hulu also has DORIS DAY SHOW.
*duhn duhn DUHN!*
Grover has breaking news:
I forgot that Hulu also has DORIS DAY SHOW.
Run fast, run far. That way lies madness.
Can we expect the occasional visit from you to other sites, or should we not push our luck?
Rich read from a prepared statement:
Can we expect the occasional visit from you to other sites, or should we not push our luck?
You may, and I cannot apologize enough for neglecting my blogosphere neighbors -- it was above and beyond the call of rudeness. In fact, if you glance at your recent "VCR" post you'll find me being a smartass right now. :-)
Wow, that's a pretty aggressive writing schedule, Ivan! But it looks like a lot of fun and I'm especially looking forward to those Noir Fridays...a nice way to end the work week.
Rick was quick to point out:
Wow, that's a pretty aggressive writing schedule, Ivan!
Admittedly, I'm a little concerned about biting off more than I can chew. The trick, I think, is to make a concerted effort to stay several posts ahead...and so far, so good.
The trick, I think, is to make a concerted effort to stay several posts ahead...and so far, so good.
Yet another reason you tossed Doris Day(s) aside like they were her kids. (I say that with full respect for your keen awareness that grappling with Dodo's duds is an exercise not conducive to schedule keeping.)
Grover unwitting provided me with the germ of an idea:
Yet another reason you tossed Doris Day(s) aside like they were her kids. (I say that with full respect for your keen awareness that grappling with Dodo's duds is an exercise not conducive to schedule keeping.)
I have just had a brainstorm...and believe me, anything in my brain is a storm. Now that you're all set to go with your screen grab software, you should accept the duties of further Doris Day(s) posts! You could provide clean, wholesome comedy to the TDOY faithful out there...and maybe learn something before it's done. What do you say, cartooners -- let's give Andrew some encouragement! (Crowd goes insane with applause)
Well, I have a lot of stuff ahead in the queue (and one day I want to get to ON THE AIR), but if you "misplace" the remaining discs in my direction, I *might* consider it.
And then unless I skip to the John Dehner era (or even then), I'll likely get to it at the same time you actually unwrap and watch any of your BARNEY MILLER set.
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