Well, dear readers, here it is, Monday, a brand spanking new week. Yesterday I awoke to yet more AOL problems, but I’m happy to report that AOL is at least admitting that the problems I’ve been experiencing since Friday are, most likely, on their end, and they are now working to fix them. I have one lady there who’s terrific, and I e-mailed her today and told her the whole history of what’s gone on, and she IMd me back immediately (on a Sunday!) to assure me she will be on this personally until it’s fixed. From now on, any problems will go through her, because she’s promised to at least get me to a good tech who knows what they’re doing. If I have problems until it’s fixed, doing a Quick Restore seems to work, so I have that option, thank goodness. Also, the Claritin I tried on Saturday did no good whatsoever to combat my allergies. Yesterday I tried Claritin D, a stronger version, and that seems to have helped, so hoo and ray.
Last night I watched a program entitled Inside the Actor’s Studio with James Lipton. May I just say that Mr. Lipton makes me nauseous and I tend to avoid his program like the plague. But, last night’s guest, in a special two-hour episode, was Miss Barbra Streisand, so I had to watch. Mr. Lipton, aside from being his usual nauseating self, actually scored a couple of laughs last night, so I’ll give him one for that. Miss Streisand looked good and seemed at ease, but the whole thing seemed somehow pre-planned and almost rehearsed. He’d read a rave review or mention an award she’d won and every time she’d look astonished and say, “I don’t remember that. Really? They said that?” and it just didn’t ring true after the eighth time. Her closeup shot was lit very carefully (I’d imagine they’d spent hours doing it and brought in special people to do it – because no other interview subject has had lighting like this). In the long shots, where they couldn’t control the lighting, Miss Streisand looked her age and that’s fine – she looks good for her age. I’ll tell you who does not look good – Marvin Hamlisch, who was in the audience. I found that Mr. Lipton’s approach (Miss Streisand may have wanted it this way) was to just do a laundry list of things and he was never probing and his questions weren’t all that interesting. Again, this may have been what she wanted and may have been her deal to do the show. He also left out many of her key credits, most especially, What’s Up, Doc, and again, this may have had to do with her wishes. Still and all, I enjoyed some of it, although I could have done with less clips. They usually never show that many clips.
I also watched The Sopranos, which was the best of the season so far (it’s only the third show) – I’d felt the first two shows were biding their time, but tonight things started to pay off, and next week’s show looks quite good from the previews. I also watched a DVD entitled Bandolero, starring Mr. James Stewart, Mr. Dean Martin and Miss Raquel Welch. It’s a totally strange movie and it doesn’t work at all. The actors are all fine, but the construction of the script and the characters is so peculiar that you just sit there and watch this thing implode on itself. The score by Jerry Goldsmith is fun, sounds great in the stereo mix, and the DVD looks spectacular. It’s part of the new Raquel Welch box set.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve blabbed for far too long in this section.
For those who were errant and truant this weekend (you know who you are and there were plenty of you) do catch up with the weekend posts because they were fascinating, very smart, and quite lively. Speaking of lively, we had a lively and sparkling Unseemly Live Chat last night with a lovely roomful of people. Many things were discussed and a marvelous time was had by all.
Has anyone noticed how straightforward today’s notes are. No strange detours, just sentence after sentence of straightforward notes. Perhaps tomorrow, instead of straightforward notes we’ll have crookedbackward notes, just because we can. But today we are having straightforward notes and the devil take the hindmost, whatever the hell that means.
There is a new entry of Juliana’s Journal up for your mental delectation, and if for some reason you haven’t checked out the Unseemly Interview with Mr. Larry Blank, do so. Also, if you’ve missed the dear reader reviews of Kritzer Time, check out the Kritzer board on the main discussion page – the thread is called Kritzer Time thoughts. Also, Donald should have a brand spanking new radio show up for your listening pleasure. My goodness, that was straightforward, wasn’t it?
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must write, I must take Claritin D, I must eat various and sundried foodstuffs and I must do plenty of whatnot. Today’s topic of discussion: Since we were in a Hart mode yesterday, what are your favorite Rodgers and Hart songs? I’ll start: My absolute favorite is a strange choice, but I think it is one of the most unusually brilliant pieces of music set to a delightfully strange lyric and I’m totally addicted to it and could listen to it every day and be totally amazed by it – it’s entitled On Your Toes. Listen to it sometime – it’s totally unique and no other team could have written it. I love Where or When, what a beautiful melody and lyric that is. And My Romance and Little Girl Blue are marvelous. There’s also a song from the film Jumbo called Over and Over Again that I’m quite fond of. Of course, there are many many others, but I leave them to you. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we?