A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Illustration Credit: Pixabaay Greetings, Constant Reader, and welcome once again to Bloggin' On,  the section of A Certain Point of View that's not devoted exclusively to either reviews or political commentary. It's Saturday morning here in my corner of Florida, and right now it's a nice and cool one at that. The present temperature is 75℉ (24℃) under mostly cloudy skies, although the forecast for the area calls for a high of 85℉ (30℃) and lots of humidity and clouds in the afternoon. Well, I received my Blu-ray of Kenneth Shapiro's 2013 award-winning documentary  Great Voices Sing John Denver on Thursday; of course, I watched it as soon as I retrieved it from our mailbox and was pleased to see that the film includes entire performances by the 15 opera singers who participated in the creation of the eponymous tribute album produced by the late Milton Okun and Elisa Justice. © 2013 Great Voices Film Company and CDK Productions     All in all, I'd h

Great Voices Sing John Denver  (2013) Written and Directed by: Kenneth R. Shapiro Produced by: Elisa Justice, Milton Okun, Rosemary Okun, Peter Primont, Kenneth R. Shapiro, Mark Shimmel Music Arranged and Directed by: Lee Holdridge   Music and Lyrics: John Denver Starring: Danielle de Niesse, Placido Domingo, Placido Domingo Jr., Rodney Gilfry, Denyce Graves, Nathan Gunn, Thomas Hampson, Daniel Montenegro, Barbara Padilla, René Pape,  Matthew Polenzani, Patricia Racette, Shenyang, Stuart Skelton, Dolora Zajick On October 18, 2013, writer-director Kenneth Shapiro's Great Voices Sing John Denver, a 90-minute documentary about the making of the eponymous tribute album produced by Elisa Justice Holdridge, Milton Okun, and Rosemary Okun, which had been released in June of that year, was first screened. Featuring interviews with the Okuns, Justice Holdridge and her husband Lee Holdridge (who was the arranger and conductor for the musical performances),  Great Voices Sing

© 2013 Great Voices Film Company and CDK Films/CDK Productions Hi, there, Constant Reader, and welcome to another edition of Bloggin' On, the reviews-and-politics free zone of A Certain Point of View where I talk about this, that, and the other things in life. Today is Thursday, January 9, 2020, and as I write this in my corner of Florida it's a cloudy early winter morning. Right now, the temperature outside is 64℉ (18℃) under mostly cloudy skies. We're beginning a warming trend: the high for today is expected to reach 76℉ (24℃), while the rest of the day might be a bit less gray and somewhat sunnier. According to the latest information from the U.S. Postal Service, my Blu-ray of Great Voices Sing John Denver will be arriving sometime between 1 and 3 PM today. It was shipped from Los Angeles late last week, and it reached this section of the Sunshine State late Tuesday night. Because the main distribution center is nearly 25 miles away, and because it handles man

Photo Credit: Pixabay Hello and welcome once again to Bloggin' On, the blog-within-a-blog section of A Certain Point of View where I don't do either reviews or political commentary. It's Wednesday, January 8, 2020, and it's morning here in my corner of Florida. It's a cool morning; the temperature outside is 52℉ (11℃) under partly sunny skies. The forecast for today calls for a high of 66℉ (19℃) and partly sunny skies; the temperature will probably drop tonight to 51℉ (10℃) with no precipitation. According to one of our local TV stations, this will be our last cold day this week because a warming trend starts tomorrow. Well, Happy Days Are Here Again just finished principal photography; most of the acting-heavy scenes have been shot, especially those involving Anthony Hernandez and his father, actor-director Juan Carlos Hernandez. Anthony is available only for a short time because he has to go back to college soon, so (per what Juan tells me) all of his scene

More than 40 years ago, George Lucas introduced to the world his singular imagination, ingenuity, and creative genius. He also gave me an opportunity never before given to an operatic or film composer...the chance to work continually on a single project, and with each film, to add to a collection of musical themes which I hope will be seen as parts of a singular whole.  This experience has been one of the highlights of my professional life, bringing me so much joy in working with some of the world's greatest orchestras and musicians. I stand before the now completed nine Star Wars films with pride and gratitude for the gift of this extraordinary journey. - John Williams, in the liner notes for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack On December 20, 2019, Walt Disney Records published Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a one-disc recording featuring the musical score for the ninth and final film of the Skywalker

© 1975, 2001 Sony Legacy In February of 1975, RCA Records released An Evening with John Denver, a 2-LP "live and in concert" album recorded during several performances by the now-legendary singer/songwriter from Roswell, New Mexico, Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., known professionally as John Denver. Recorded in the late summer and early fall of 1974 at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, this album was produced by the legendary Milt Okun, and featured backup by various gig musicians and an orchestra led by Lee Holdridge. Originally released on vinyl LP and cassette and in various countries (including Netherlands, Japan, and Spain) as well as in the United States, An Evening with John Denver was a significant recording for Denver, who was not quite 31 years old at the time yet was as popular as Frank Sinatra had been in the 1940s and 1950s. He'd started his studio recording career only a few years before under Okun's tutelage, and this was his first live r

Screenshot from Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 with a page from A Simple Ad. (Photo Credit: Alex Diaz-Granados. ©2019 Alex Diaz-Granados) Hello and welcome once again to another edition of Bloggin' On , the blog-within-a-blog where I post stuff that doesn't fall under the reviews-or-political commentary content categories of A Certain Point of View. I'm glad to see that you're reading and I hope that you are enjoying my blog. Right now it's early evening in my corner of Florida; right now it's 66℉ (19℃) under cloudy skies. A line of thunderstorms and strong rain showers passed through the area earlier, so our outing to rewatch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was canceled and we stayed home instead. My Significant Other has been busy doing household chores while I - at her suggestion - took most of today off to, as she says, "sloth." Rainy days almost always sap the energy out of me, so I didn't argue and sat on the couch in the common room and