Well, dear readers, except for the nagging cough, I seem to be much better. I’m beginning to feel my oats once again. I hate when I haven’t felt my oats in a while. One must feel their oats or their oats will be lonely and sad and seek solace from others. Now, I don’t know about you, dear readers, but I don’t want anyone else feeling my oats. That is just so wrong, don’t you think? I am monogamous with my oats – I don’t want my oats turning into loose oats just because I haven’t been feeling them. You know, if anyone has a clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about, they should keep it to themselves, for to know what the HELL I’m talking about would be much too scary. In any case, I’m feeling my oats (and my oats are happy about being felt), and I’ve got a spring in my step, a fall in my run, a winter in my sit, and I cannot go any further with this bit. What I’m trying to say is that I feel ever so much better and I’m ever so grateful for it. Let’s talk about yesterday, why don’t we? Yesterday was a day. It was a busy day. I got a decent night’s sleep the night before and I awoke, not quite ready to feel my oats, but I did feel noticeably better. I then spent the morning making lots of phone calls, printing out orders, taking store orders and whatnot. Then I had a lovely lunch meeting with Miss Tammy Minoff. I then went to pick up some lovely packages, only there weren’t any lovely packages to pick up. I then came back to the home environment, answered some e-mails, then headed off to Teddy for my new do. He gave me a lovely haircut, and we dished the dirt as we always do. I’ll be going back on Saturday to get “summerized.” I then did a brilliant job of avoiding traffic and got home at rush hour in fifteen mintues flat. I then answered some more e-mails, returned some calls, and then settled down for an evening of DVD watching. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Last night I managed to watch two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Lifeguard, which starred Mr. Sam Elliot, Miss Ann Archer, and Miss Kathleen Quinlan. I’d never seen the film before, but it does have its little cult following. It’s an amiable little film, going from vignette to vignette amiably. It’s a bit of a surprise that Mr. Elliot didn’t achieve real movie stardom from this role. He looks great, he gives a nice performance, and he’s literally in every scene of the film. Miss Kathleen Quinlan gives a lovely performance as an underage teen who fancies Mr. Elliot, and Ann Archer is okay as a former love. I just have never “gotten” Miss Archer, frankly. I don’t find her a great beauty, or a great actress, and I just never respond to her performances. There’s some lovely beach photography and some pretty music. It’s not a great film, and it’s fairly clichéd, but it all moves along at a brisk clip and I enjoyed it. The second motion picture on DVD was entitled Starting Over. I know I must have seen this film back in 1979, but as I watched it I really had no memory of it – so, it was like watching it for the first time. It’s a lovely film, with a sparkling script by Mr. James L. Brooks (who, after this film, would go on to direct all his scripts). This film is directed by Mr. Alan J. Pakula, but it seems more Brooks than Pakula. What’s truly wonderful about the film are the three leading performances. Mr. Burt Reynolds gives the performance of his career – he somehow buries his winking, smarmy persona, and is wonderfully real and affecting and funny here. Candice Bergin is terrific, especially in her “awful” performances of the “songs” she supposedly writes and sings (in reality penned by Marvin Hamlisch and Carol Bayer Sager – they’re very They’re Playing Our Songish). In fact, I would almost say it’s her finest hour, too. And Jill Clayburgh, an actress who seems to be literally forgotten today, is great as Burt’s new romance. She’s quirky, funny, very touching, and it’s just a perfect performance. There are a lot of interesting supporting performances from the likes of Wallace Shawn, Austin Pendelton, a walk-on from Kevin Bacon, Charles Durning, and Frances Sternhagen. The transfer is fine, except for one extremely strange snafu – when the Paramount logo comes up, playing under it is the Paramount Home Video music, which was most certainly not there in its theatrical release and shouldn’t be there now. Otherwise, it was an enchanting film.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Shouldn’t I be feeling my oats right about now? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s just something that’s done.
It looks pretty good that I’ve got the next Kritzerland release lined up – just have to work out some details. I’m hoping to pair its release with something else I’m negotiating to get. You dear readers will, of course, be the first to know if these things should pan out.
Today I have a long meeting with the LACC person who’ll be co-directing the event with me. Then I’m hoping to see the fellow who’ll be helping with the shipping. We’re going to organize everything into notebooks, so nothing gets confusing. Then we’re going out to the garage, where we will organize a work space for him – that way I don’t have to have all the shipping materials in the house. I also have to get paypal on the phone and work out some details with the Kritzerland account.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do all of the above, I must also try to write a bit, I must make lots of telephone calls, and I must, above all, feel my fershluganah oats. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your favorite movie theaters when you were growing up? Describe them in detail and tell us what you loved about going to them. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all feel our collective oats.