Movies and the music that make them powerfulI

I was fortunate to receive my DVD copy of the the latest - and last - Jesse Stone made-for-TV movies starring Tom Selleck and Kohl Sudduth. I now have all nine of them and wish there were more. Unfortunately for those of us who love that series, Mr. Selleck is very busy doing his enormously successful Blue Bloods series so I doubt there will be any others.

I also received my copy of the 2-disc Jeff Beal soundtrack for those movies. You may not recognize his name, but if you have ever watched House of Cards or Monk, you have heard his music; he is one of the busiest and most sought-after soundtrack creators in Hollywood. Mr. Beal finally agreed to release the music from Jesse Stone when he learned (through social media comments and emails) that many of us watch the movies to hear the music; "a new one for me," he said.

The part music plays into a movie has long intrigued me; when done right and well, it almost becomes a character n the production. I know musicians can be trained to do that sort of thing and I have a very general idea of the creative/recording process, but the specifics astound me. How Mr. Beal and others like him make the music to be powerful and omnipresent, yet not in-your-face offensive I do not know. And the music here does not doing anything like the music in House of Cards or Monk or any other production. It is, indeed, done right and well.

The music for Jesse Stone mirrors and enhances the dark, troubled, foreboding history of author Robert B. Parker's cop character. Stone got fired from his job as an LAPD detective for being drunk on the job because of his failed marriage to a woman whose voice we hear often and never see, "Jen." For him, Paradise, Massachusetts, is "the last stop."

Over the course of nine movies, we learned how corrupt one of the City Council members and the chief of police that Jesse is replacing are; the former chief is murdered by a local hit man; the Councilman goes to prison for corruption and murder of the hit man. We learn how much crime happens in the small town when the rich folks from Boston come and buy land...and that Jesse Stone might just be, as a couple of his girlfriends - 'pals' is the term he uses - one of the simplest men alive, and not in a negative sense; he knows what he wants and likes and has a clear sense of right and wrong.

The characters are well done and well acted. Luther "Suitcase" Simpson. Dr. Dix. Julie. Billie. Amanda. And Gino Fish, a Boston "boxing promoter, who, like Jesse Stone, has scruples, but on the other side of the law, and who becomes as much of a friend to a cop as a crook can be.

Throughout the series, the music strengthens the darkness that makes up Jesse Stone, his sensitivity of that of the other characters, and the foreboding nature of the extremely well-written plots; listening to the CD, as I am now, I cannot place where the music fits in the movie - a testament to its noninvasive nature - but I can 'feel' the darkness of the plots. Along with the Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra, Mr. Beal uses his own trumpet and piano and an oboe to create the darkness.

He is very good at what he does.

"Newspapers," modern media, advertising, and expectations

While sitting at a truck stop on a 10-hour break a couple of weeks ago, I read an email received that included a link to an essay written by the CEO of The New York Times Company, the parent company of the famed newspaper. The piece was a well-written explanation of the challenges he faces as the head of a world-famous media outlet that, like every other one, has struggled with rapidly falling revenues due to decreased revenues brought about by declining readership.

Of course, nothing is either simple or singular in any change process; no one factor can "blamed" or shown as the start of it all. That is true in this case, too. Physical newspaper subscriptions have declined as the population ages and younger readers get their "news" more from mobile electronic devices than not. That is where this story goes.

Since the advent of mobile cell phones and tablets, their ability to process data and connect with data sources has expanded wildly over the years. Early on, there was the expectation by the end user that they could connect to everything for free, as long as they paid their provider monthly to do so. This created an enormous supply of eyes on the receiving end and companies were fast to identify the potential market. As Google, for example, ceased being a small startup company of math and programming geniuses and became a large international powerhouse with expensive needs to fill as they grew, their executives and Board of Directors began to focus on "monetizing" - there is a word that did not exist before the Electronic Age we are in - really meaning charging for this new product they created.

Google (and all the others) started selling ads to companies looking to sell their products or services based on their internal proprietary algorithms that somehow were tied directly to the de-identified but accurate mobile device user. Of course, as the ad buyers soon realized, they could get more eyes on their product for less money than by advertising in a paper news media or radio or television, so guess what they did?

The advertising revenue stream shifted from print (and other media) to electronic media.

Over time, this stream has shrunk and CEO's of organizations have had to adapt. Many did not have the resources to do so and failed. Large, established companies like The New York Times did not fail but have been working on survival solutions. End users noticed an increase in ads on the web pages they viewed, other apps they downloaded, and pretty much everywhere else. This caused some angst for them because they never had to deal with them before and now these ads are all over the  place. These ads were on the sides, at the bottom, at the top, and they even popped up almost completely covering the page being viewed. Many users downloaded the ad-blocking apps that were developed at the same time.

This led to a conflict in the industry: If ads were blocked, nobody saw them and the ad company would not pay as much (or at all) to display their products. The revenue stream was reduced again and the site owner would have to figure out a solution to stay in business.

All because we expect what we've always had as end users...access to freedom for a monthly fee.

After having given this a lot of thought, I have come to the decision to pay for things I used to get for free. I bought a subscription to the digital New York Times...on sale, of course; I am not a dummy! I will not use apps that block ads, as irritated as I know I will get at times. Since there is often a link between a click and how much is charged and/or earned, I will even click on products that interest me from time to time, though I know I will hardly ever buy anything based on that; it's just not how I operate.

The times have changed. How we get information has also changed and the producers and deliverers of that information have changed, as has the expense of doing so. I want to help companies  survive this difficult transition, or at least not help kill them, even if I'm just one of millions and I know very few others will choose my course of action. What used to be free when it was starting out now has cost associations. The way to get it must change, too.

William Least Heat-Moon, author, wise man

One of the problem-benefits of having many hours off (so far, 51 and counting) and loving to read the printed word is doing so...especially his.

"After all," he wrote, "I lived in the most unfixed nation the earth has ever seen, a country conceived and populated by wanderers, wayfarers, migrants, immigrants, voyagers, vagabonds, most of them believing in the far side of the rainbow, in the possibilities of elsewhere, optimists for whom the road is an enticement beyond resistance and almost any there is preferable to a here..."

"Is there an American who has never muttered, "What if I just quit? Just said fuggum and took off?"

I could write many of his thoughts and words down but the post would, in fact, be his books.

Is it ever too late to become what you might become?

Civil? What's that?

Personal, civil contact with other humans is being challenged; you hear it in the way people talk to and about others, whether in person, in public, or on a CB radio. We no longer feel the need to treat a differing opinion with respect; instead, that opinion is wrong, stupid, asinine, or just plain whacko.

That does not bode well for out ability to deal with serious challenges in life, does it? Life ai t all roses and if one cannot deal with conflict in ways other than verbal or mental - even physical - violence, well, we are in trouble. 

Stress? Oh, yes.

Oh, man.

I thought I knew stress. I've been a cop, a firefighter-paramedic, a pilot, a manager in a besieged federal safety-related agency, a truck driver, and an all-night radio announcer. Heck, I even survived an almost-foodless, sleep-deprived Hell Week.

But no. Not until now have I experienced real, life energy-sapping stress.

I don't want to be here. I want to be home with a dog.

 

All Things King

I spend a lot of time reading while on my extended breaks from driving, such as I am now. Many drivers watch TV, but not me; I read and listen to music. I am currently rereading a masterpiece, Stephen King's, The Shining, that I first read long ago, before the movie came out - I have never seen the movie, nor will I.

Knowing the effect his words have on me and what they do to my reading - speeds it WAY up - I have changed the way I read his work. Instead of getting engrossed in the Torrance's world at the Overlook Hotel for hours on end, as I used to, I have begun to meter how much I read. I might read one chapter or only part of one chapter. And I force myself to read much slower, an unnatural but necessary change when entering his twisted world. I can spend 15-30 minutes reading then put the book down while the words settle into my mind. This way, I also hope to get a sense of how a terrific writer puts his thoughts together so well.

I also have to admit to a secondary reason for rereading The Shining: I want to read Doctor Sleep next. It's his 500-page thriller that answers the question that King asked himself one day that got him to writing it:

What has happened to Danny Torrance in the 25-plus years since his family wintered over at The Overlook Hotel that tragic year?

To understand it fully, I have to know the whole story. And I will.

A Place for Thoughts and Phrases

It wasn't supposed to end this way.

He sat on the couch, staring blankly out the window onto the cold, wet morning. Life is supposed to be, well, not easy, sure, but easier. Fun.

Not this.

The beginning was so hopeful. It was fun. But that seemed so long ago, so far in the past as to make him wonder if it was ever real or if it was just wishful thinking. The weeks since were a muddled mess of chaotic memories, mind's-eye flashes, and glumly sitting on the couch, just like now.

It was pretty clear. He overstayed his welcome. There was no pleasure in the thought; just reality. It felt like a divorce, but one cannot be divorced from your children. Of course children grow up and older. They have children of their own. The rules change. Their rules, not your rules anymore.

Deal with it, he thought. Yeah, that's easy, isn't it? Just deal with it. Like saying no to drugs. Or putting your seatbelt on every time. Or waiting for the Walk signal at the corner. Easy, right? No.

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My place is just a place. It is not warm, though it is heated. It is just a place. I could leave here tomorrow and it would only have been a place I lived for a very long time. A little history, fewer memories. No anchor.

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How does one detach from the negatives in this life? Lord knows we are tested and given many opportunities, but what about the next step? What does success look like? I do not know.

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