Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry, for she of the Evil Eye will be here shortly and I shall have to hie myself out of here for a few hours. I’ll be going to storage to try to find some music charts that I need. I must say yesterday was a most frustrating day in certain ways, and yet it was fun in other ways. The day started off with me finding out that UPS had screwed up and that my books, which were due this morning, weren’t going to be arriving until Monday, thanks to a late train (was anyone aware that UPS used trains – I wasn’t). So, hopefully they will indeed be here on Monday, and before noon. That means that because of the holiday, they won’t be shipped until Tuesday. It’s still earlier than anticipated, but annoying nonetheless. The entire morning went like that. I went to lift up the blinds in the dining room, as I do every morning, only to have the pulley thing break. So, now I cannot lift the blinds until someone comes out and either replaces the pulley or the entire blinds unit (sort of a bamboo type of blinds). I did get my three amazon packages, all of which had been late in coming. I then did quite a few errands, and finally had a rehearsal for Mr. Kevin Spirtas. We spent two hours running most of Act One and some of Act Two – trying to get the blocking back in his body, and get him back to where he was when we did the show. I feel we’ll get back there fairly fast, within a few rehearsals. It was really fun to see the show again, and it really seemed to hold up quite well. We’re adjusting a bit of the patter for this particular one-nighter, but all the numbers will be the same. After the rehearsal, I went off to sup with our very own Miss Barbara Deutsch, whom I haven’t seen in quite some time. We went to Maria’s Kitchen and had a lovelier than lovely repast, which, to my mind, is better than having a represent or a refuture. For dinner, I always like to have a repast. We dished the dirt, ate the food, and then dished the dirt some more. After that, I came back to the home environment and immediately sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled The Interpreter, starring Miss Nicole Kidman and Mr. Sean Penn, directed by Mr. Sidney Pollack. Mr. Pollack has made a couple of fine films, most specifically Three Days of the Condor and Tootsie, so I was looking forward to The Interpreter, which is touted as being “an edge of your seat thriller.” Sadly, I just sat on my couch like so much fish, nowhere near the edge of my seat. Note to filmmakers who think they’re making “thrillers” – pounding drums does not a thriller make. Mr. Pollack, like so many other directors from the late 60s and early 70s has become a completely uninteresting director, who has forgotten how to make interesting movies. He’s seemingly more interested in trying to look hip than he is in telling a good story. And therein lies the problem with The Interpreter. It doesn’t know what it wants to be or what story it’s trying to tell. Is it a thriller? Is it a serious film about injustice in South Africa? Did I care? No, it’s not a thriller – there are no thrills and no suspense, because you don’t give a flying Wallenda for the predicament of anyone. Mr. Penn and Miss Kidman don’t care if it’s a thriller, because they are ACTING, trying to give Oscar-worthy performances. Sorry, I don’t think that will be happening. In short, it’s the usual schizoid Hollywood film that wants to have it all ways – an entertaining thriller (it’s not), an important film (it’s not), an important political treatise on world events (it’s not), just everything thrown into a mixer – the result being a film that is nothing. What else is new?
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Shouldn’t I be hieing myself out of here before she of the Evil Eye casts her gaze in my direction?
I didn’t have time to formulate an Unseemly Trivia Contest question for this week – I have two dear reader-submitted questions, but neither of them had answers, even though I figured one of them out. But there were wording issues that would have had to be discussed, and there was just no time to deal with it. So, give your brains a rest, and next week we will be back with our usual convoluted questions.
I do believe that at some point today we will be achieving our rather astonishing new plateau of 150,000 postings. If so, we will be having a big haineshisway.com celebration on Sunday, and perhaps I’ll even open the chat room.
Monday is Columbus Day, so there will be no mail, and I suppose it’s a holiday at banks and government agencies, too. I don’t think it will be a holiday around these here parts, as I hope to be packaging up books (and sparkling something-or-others) all the livelong day, so I can get them shipped out on Tuesday. I still haven’t figured out how I’m shipping or packing, but I will figure it out by Monday.
Has anyone noticed that these here notes are just cut and dried? They’re just inert, sitting there like so much fish. I, for one, hate cut and dried notes. I like uncut and wet notes, don’t you? Dried notes are like dried fruit – they’re okay, but fresh notes and fresh fruit is ever so much better. However, these here notes are cut and dried and there’s nothing to be done about it, seeing as we’re in the penultimate paragraph.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must find music charts, I must Xerox music charts, I must find some time to write, I must answer e-mails and make telephonic calls, and then I must sup with our very own Mr. Nick Redman. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your current favorite ice cream flavors and types? I’ll start – I happen to be on a Drumstick kick. I’ve been eating one every day for a week. I’ve also been craving my favorite Ben and Jerry’s flavor – coconut almond fudge chip. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and don’t make them cut and dried – make them flowing and plentiful and abundant so that we can achieve our brand spanking new plateau.