Well, dear readers, another Christmas is done and now we are inexorably heading towards the New Year – 2007 to be exact. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, another Christmas is done now we are inexorably heading towards the New Year – 2007 to be exact. Did I just write the same exact sentence twice? I did, didn’t I? It was probably just to be the only site on all the Internet to use the word inexorably twice in the same paragraph. Well, three times now. Three times now is nine soon-to-be’s. My goodness, it’s getting a little surreal around these here parts, but that is only to be expected the day after Christmas and as we inexorably head towards the New Year – 2007 to be exact. I’m hoping everyone had a safe, warm, and cozy Christmas Day, and that it was filled with merriment and mirth and laughter and legs. Speaking of legs, my Christmas Day had great legs. For example, I managed to get a lovely night’s sleep, I managed to jog (barely), and then I had a lovelier than lovely visit with my darling daughter, her darling husband, and her darling friend Skye. They ate spaghetti and tuna pasta salad, we opened presents, and then we had a visit from neighbor and cousin Dee Dee and dog Casey. It was all very warm and cozy, and then said daughter and husband had to drive all the way back down to the ex-wife’s home environment to attend a dinner. Then I headed over to Cissy Wechter’s home environment to attend her lavish and large Christmas party. It was indeed lavish and large – I haven’t been to a Christmas party there in about three or four years, so it was nice to see everyone again, especially my pal David, who is still recuperating from his final two sessions of chemotherapy (they got all the cancer out, but as a precaution do these final two rounds). He was noticeably tired (he’s on drugs for pain), but I think as we inexorably head towards the New Year – 2007 to be exact – he’ll be feeling better and better. I had a nice chat with his wife, Barbara, and the kids, Zach and Daniel. The food was lavish and large and while it felt like I ate huge amounts, I was actually quite restrained. The ham was amazing, as was the turkey, there were fresh cranberries, homemade stuffing, wonderful onion rolls, salad, yummy yams (really sweet potatoes), and all manner of desserts. I was there for about three hours and even met some nice folks I hadn’t met before. And then I inexorably drove home, where I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I did manage to finish the motion picture I’ve been watching on DVD, entitled Pandora’s Box, a silent film from Germany, directed by G.W. Pabst, and starring Miss Louise Brooks. I’ve seen assorted scenes but never the entire film, and I must say it’s quite an excellent, if long, motion picture. I would have to say it must have been very daring for its time, what with its “loose” heroine, an overt Lesbian character, along with all the sordid goings on. The film is a love letter to Miss Brooks and even today she’s something else. No actress working today has a face like Miss Brooks (“We had faces then”), or even a presence like Miss Brooks. You simply cannot take your eyes off her and she exudes a sweet yet animalistic sexuality that leaps off the screen. Mr. Pabst’s direction is wonderful and full of interesting touches. The DVD from Criterion is lovely. It features a choice of four different musical scores, each quite different – a little overkill if you ask me, but I suppose it’s nice to have them all. I watched the film with the orchestral score that was specifically written for the film a few years ago. It was effective at times, and infuriating at other times (a LOT of Mickey Mousing going on). I listened to some of the other orchestral score, which was all based on classical music of the period – I didn’t care for that one too much. I listened to what they call the “cabaret” score – very Germanic and Weillesque, and it had its moments but, for me, it was tiresome after a while. And then, finally, there is a piano score, a fully “improvised” score that also has its moments and may be the least obtrusive. There’s a whole second disc of extras including two lengthy documentaries on Louise Brooks – I’ll get into those today or tomorrow.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Aren’t we supposed to be inexorably moving to the next section? We are, so let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below before I use the word inexorably again.
Today, I shall be shipping a few orders (I finally got the Skinner/Ripley CD up at amazon and they’ve placed their first order – I had to do this myself – up to now, Mr. David Levy has been doing the listings – you know, one every few months, but apparently that became just too too much for the poor boy – he’s really a disappointment to me – he’s refused to answer e-mails or phone messages and he’s really messed me up big time – I’ve had to suddenly learn how to do this stuff by myself without any aid – by the end I was just asking him to talk me through everything once, but he couldn’t be bothered – it’s shocking to me, really, and he should be ashamed of himself for reasons I don’t need to go into here but reasons he knows very well). After I ship, I have no plans at all – just to pick up whatever mail arrives, and to watch some more DVDs and eat lightly.
I am going to try and dive back into the play I’ve been writing, and I’m also going to try and sort through the various ideas I have for a new book – I’m just not certain which direction I want to go in. I have the one idea that I’d started earlier this year – but now I don’t know if that’s the one I’ll do, even though I’ve figured out how to do it and I know I’d have fun writing it. So, I’m pondering a few other ideas and making notes and seeing if one of those will suit my fancy more. I do enjoy taking risks and going new places – I really don’t ever want to just write a book to write a book, I want it to be special and to have some sort of meaning to me, no matter what it is.
I’m also going to start coming up with style ideas for the kids show – you know, the style of the blocking and the presentation. I don’t have a clear picture in my head yet, but I’m starting to formulate some “look” things, which is the way I like to begin.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, ship, and watch DVDs, whilst taking it easy in the foodstuff department. Today’s topic of discussion: As we inexorably head toward the New Year – 2007 to be exact – what New Year’s resolutions have you made in the past that you’ve actually stuck to and made happen? Not current ones, we’ll save those for later – but ones you’ve made that have come to pass. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as I inexorably head towards my beauty sleep.