Well, dear readers, I can’t believe it. What can’t I believe? Well, I’ll tell you what I can’t believe because why should I keep such things from the likes of you dear readers? It is the end of August and tomorrow begins a brand spanking new month, namely September. August, we hardly knew ye ye went so damnably fast. Ye sped by like a wee gazelle wearing a garter belt and doing a scene from Last Tango In Paris. What a strange month ye was, August. Some of August was downright difficult, and some of August was even upleft difficult. And yet, some of August was really fun, really productive, and really exhausting. And some of August was terrific. Hopefully, September will bring more of the latter and less of the difficult, and maybe that will carry right on through the end of the year and into next year. Yes, Virginia, this is the final day of August, but before we get to that, let’s talk about the penultimate day of August, namely yesterday. Yesterday, I awoke earlier than I wished, began my re-proofing, and then did an early-morning jog. After that, I showered and shaved and then toddled off to Du-Par’s for a breakfast meeting with Miss Joan Ryan. We’re in the fun discussion stage, which I enjoy. After that, I had to do several errands, and then I came home and continued giving the book the final once-over. And boy am I glad I did. I found even more tiny little things to correct, and I also double-checked some name spellings and found out I was incorrect, so those will get fixed, and also I was wrong about a piece of music that I say someone is listening to – I thought it had been recorded by a certain orchestra and pianist, but I was wrong – so I have to decide whether to change the composer and piece of music (orchestra and artist would stay the same) or change the orchestra and conductor (pianist and music would stay the same). In any case, it will only take about fifteen minutes to enter these final corrections and then the book is going off to the publisher. I learned several books ago that no matter how many times you proof and no matter how many people proof, you always miss something. All you can do is try to get it as perfect as possible and then you have to let it go. Then my music person came over and we finished the lead sheets for the two new Brain songs, so they’ll be on their way to elmore for his loverly orchestrations. After that, I was bleary-eyed and hungry, so I got some Gelson’s deli food and finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I managed to watch two count them two motion pictures on DVD – both of them fairly current, which is unusual for me. They couldn’t have been more different. First up was a motion picture entitled United 93. I’d seen the trailer for it and it had actually made me angry because it looked like they were trying to do some horrible action film. But then, I began hearing very good reports about the film, so I took a chance on the DVD and I’m glad I did. Somehow, subject matter and filmmaker meshed and came together to create a harrowing, compelling, non-manipulative, touching and suspenseful docu-drama. Paul Greengrass, the film’s director/writer comes from the world of documentaries, and he gives the film real verisimilitude. There’s no grandstanding, no jingoism, no patriotic music, no political statements – just a riveting almost real-time account of flight 93 and its passengers. Many of the real-life ground control people and military people are played by themselves. While I did recognize a few of the actors, there are no stars, and most people would not recognize the actors, which again gives the film a ring of truth. The film lasts about 114 minutes, but it seems much shorter. The film is in scope and shot in that verite style shaky camera, but it works here, unlike most films. While it’s not a film for everyone, I must say I was surprised at how excellent I thought it was. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled The Sentinel, starring Mr. Michael Douglas, Mr. Kiefer Sutherland, and Kim Basinger. Here we have yet another textbook example of everything that is wrong with film today. It’s screenwriting 101 – stupid characters behaving stupidly, plot A, subplot B, three neatly divided acts all falling on their proper page and completely inept every step of the way. I hear the book on which the film is based is quite good and that the screenwriters basically changed everything. The “direction” is by a former actor who wasn’t all that good – who then graduated to doing routine television shows in that TV style that we all loathe. His role models are clear and they’re nauseating – this guy obviously worships at the altar of David Fincher, but his real heroes are quite obviously Tony Scott and Michael Bay. So, I think you can imagine just what every shot, every cut, every music cue looks and sounds like. I knew it was going to be bad, but I like Douglas and I thought how bad can it be? Well, it’s worse.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because August, we hardly knew ye and ye are about to be a thing o’ the past.
Have I mentioned that it’s the final day of August? And a busy one it’s going to be, too. For example, I have to get up early and jog early, and then go to a little breakfast meeting with Miss Alice Ripley. After that, I have to come home and get ready for this afternoon’s auditions. They start at 4:30 and I’ll be there until at least ten. I may have a late supper afterwards with our very own Mr. Kevin Spirtas. I have no idea what to expect, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m going in early to meet with my stage manager.
I’m going to use this weekend to map out the entire month of September, because if I don’t I will completely forget everything that’s going on. There is so much happening and I just have to write it all down – I have to finish casting the show, I have to do some celebrity signing thing with Kevin and Matt Ashford (I just found out I’m on the list – I didn’t have a clew), I have to really prepare for my week in New York, and there’s PennyO’s reading, and keeping the three one-person shows on track and making sure the book process is proceeding smoothly and is on track, as well as prepping all the envelopes for the shipping of the Sondheim CD, which should ship prior to the tenth.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, meet, eat, drive about in my motor car, audition, and have a late supper. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could live in any other decade, which would it be, what would be your occupation, where would you live, and who would you like to know? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we bid a fond farewell to a little month we like to call August. August, we hardly knew ye.