Well, dear readers, I am bleary-eyed and bleary-brained from attempting to get the lines down for the play. I’m getting there, but it’s a slog, I must say. There are just some little speeches where my brain is not connecting the dots, and one’s brain must connect the dots otherwise the dots are just all over the place. I started going over them first thing in the morning. Then I had to take a long break because I simply couldn’t think anymore. Then, in the afternoon, my friend Miss Barbara Deutsch came over and she volunteered to run the lines. I got through about seventy percent of it without a problem, and she thought that was a really good thing, as I still have four or five days before having to actually go on. After she left, I took another long break, and then I ran the whole thing again, and I got a more of the lines that time, so that was good. I’ll continue studying them every day, as much as possible, as well as running them with Matt each day. But, I also have tons of other stuff to attend to – class, getting some sheet music out of storage, and doing little errands. We also have to attend to the wardrobe I’ll be wearing, as well as the taping of the two video segments and the taking of a photograph that is used onstage. Well, I’m hoping that the dots will connect soon, so I don’t get all anxious and crazed before Friday. The sooner they connect, the better. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Yesterday, I did manage to watch three count them three motion pictures on DVD, but only because two of them were under seventy minutes long, and the third was just over ninety. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Follow Me Quietly, a middling little RKO noir that’s of interest mostly for the stylish direction of Richard Fleischer. Still, the film only runs a brisk sixty minutes, so it was fun to finally catch up with the film. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Party Girl, a film of Nicholas Ray, starring Miss Cyd Charisse and Mr. Robert Taylor. I’d actually never seen the film, and it’s quite entertaining, and really well directed in Cinemascope. All the actors do well, including the very over the top as always Lee J. Cobb, and John Ireland. It’s quite a violent little film considering the year it was made (1958). The DVD is from France and the transfer is quite good. I then watched the third motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Woman On The Beach, a film of Jean Renoir (from his American period), starring Mr. Robert Ryan, Miss Joan Bennett, and Mr. Charles Bickford (plus a youngish Irene Ryan). Again, I’d never managed to see this film, but I must say that after viewing it I really don’t have much of a clew as to what the HELL was going on. It’s one of the oddest movies I’ve ever seen. The script borders on terrible, but Mr. Renoir’s direction is excellent, as are the performances, so it’s not a complete washout. It’s another DVD from France (all three of these films I’m talking about were French DVDs), but the transfer is not nearly as good as Follow Me Quietly, which looked great.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below so I can get back to the business of connecting the dots.
As I mentioned, today I’ll just be running lines over and over again, with and without Matt. I’m also going to try to get over to storage first thing in the morning, to get that out of the way. Thankfully, I have no other plans for the day or evening.
Now wait just a darned minute. I believe that without further ado we should all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, we should all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, we should all dance the Hora or the Carioca because today is the actual birthday of actual dear reader Rodzinski. So, let’s give actual dear reader Rodzinski a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer, shall we? On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO ACTUAL DEAR READER RODZINSKI!!!
We do have to postpone our diet experiment, because the character I play in the play is supposed to be overweight a bit – I’m certainly over my usual weight a bit so I can’t really lose any pounds now for the next two weeks. After that, I’m telling you those first ten pounds will fly off me like a gazelle in a bi-plane.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, connect the dots, line-wise, I must find sheet music and get it copied, I must run lines with Matt, I must eat some foodstuffs, and I must watch a DVD or three during my break times. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite paintings? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I continue to connect the dots.