Well, dear readers, what a celebration we had yesterday. It was a good time, it was the best time, it was a party just to be near you – what am I, Ryan’s Daughter all of a sudden? What fun we had. We had a lovely and long haineshisway.com live chat and we laughed and laughed and just when we thought we could laugh no more, we laughed again. And now it’s on to 300,000 posts. Other than that, yesterday was sort of difficult and sort of fun, all at the same time. I started off the morning with the musical theater workshop (MTW) and we finished staging the opening number. We have so much to do and so little time to do it in, but I’m hoping it all works out well. I have to just get everything on its feet in one way or another, and then finesse whatever I can. The kids are picking things up fast, which is good. And I can also work on certain scenes outside of class, I think, which will be helpful. After rehearsal, I came back home and did some quick errands, and then began writing. It started off as one of those writing days where every line was like pulling teeth, but eventually I got with it and at some point in the afternoon I finished – it was a few pages shorter than I’d thought it would be, but I’m sure I’ll be adding another page or two as I go through things and smooth out stuff. But eighty-five Final Draft crammed to the gills pages, it’s probably long enough as it is. I was fairly happy with the ending – I had an idea of what it was going to be, but at the last minute a really sweet last line came to me, and that was like the cherry on the sundae. After that, we had our live chat, and then I had to leave to go to the editing room, where we finished doing the dialogue mix. So, we’re finally on the way to finishing up, most likely on Saturday. After that, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish and ate a few pretzels and then some Good and Plenty (after first shaking the box and chanting “Good and Plenty Good and Plenty Good and Plenty Good and Plenty in a train rhythm). All in all, though, a productive and nice day.
Last night, I managed to watch a motion picture on DVD entitled Shopgirl, written by and starring Mr. Steve Martin, based on his novella. If the film is anything to go by, I wouldn’t have liked the novella much. The first third of the film is pretty excruciating, with lots of arch filmmaking, which, as you know, I cannot stomach. Every shot of LA, from the sky or the ground, has been digitally manipulated in some way, and it’s just so irksome and tiresome and every other kind of some, or even sum. I think this is the first time I’ve seen Clare Danes in anything, and I must say I didn’t find her all that great. Mr. Martin was okay, and the Schwartzman kid was way too quirky for my taste. Ultimately, it was very slight, not touching, not funny, and just sort of there. Of course, it wanted to be all of it – it just missed the mark. The transfer looks terrific, though.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have places to go, people to see, and things to do, not necessarily in that order.
Today I shall look at the world through rose-colored glasses. That should be fun. I wonder if one can look at the world through snap-dragon-colored glasses or through carnation-colored glasses? In any case, I shall be looking at the world through rose-colored glasses and if anyone has a problem with that they can kiss my ASS. Last night in chat, we recalled how popular that saying was for quite a time here at haineshisway.com – every other line was kiss my ASS. So, just like Broadway has its endless revivals, we’re having our own haineshisway.com revival of Kiss My Ass. You know, I have no clew as to what the HELL this paragraph has to do with the price of tomatoes or potatoes or even rhubarb.
Today is quite a busy day. In the morning, I’m going to read through the play and probably make minor adjustments as I see fit – after that, I’ll put it on a CD and print out a copy for other additions and corrections. After that, some actors will be coming over to do a read-through of PennyO’s revamp of her four-hander version of Jewish Thighs On Broadway. I’m looking forward to it. After that, I shall probably head over to the editing room to hang out for a couple of hours, and after that I will be having a finishing-the-play celebratory dinner with Miss Tammy Minoff.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a reading of a play, I must do some fixing of my play (I must say, though, that by the time I finish what most people would call a first draft, I’ve already made so many changes as I go that it’s like a fifth or sixth draft by the time I finish), and I must look at the world through rose-colored glasses. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, the cast album of Billy Elliott, which I must say I don’t care for at all. DVD, next up some episodes of The Big Valley. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely rose-colored postings, shall we?