Well, dear readers, have we all had a perfectly relaxing weekend? Are we all rarin’ to go on this brand spanking new week? What am I, a cheerleader all of a sudden? What am I, a motivational speaker all of a sudden? Am I the Tony Robbins of these here notes? Next I’ll be writing an EST version of these here notes. Next I’ll be trying to get everyone to be a Mormon or a Scientologist. No, I shan’t be doing the latter, but I may as well be a cheerleader. Why not? I was never one in high school and, frankly, I think I’d look awfully cute in a little cheerleader outfit with those cute little underpants and skirt and top. Give me a B. Give me a K. Give me an apostrophe S. Give me a N-O-T-E-S! What does it spell? BK apostrophe S Notes. Wasn’t that fun? I’m not quite certain as to why I’ve gone down this particular road on this particular Monday, but I have and there is nothing to be done about it. Speaking of nothing to be done, yesterday there was plenty to be done and I did it all. I had planned to have a day of relaxation, and it did have its relaxing moments. For example, I got up. That was relaxing. I then took a nice drive in my motor car and then satisfied a little craving I had by getting a bacon cheeseburger at Astro Burger, with some of their deliciously delicious zucchini fries. It was quite yummilicious, even though Astro Burger is the most expensive fast food restaurant in town. I then stopped at Amoeba to see what was what, and then I went home. Once home I decided to write a page, but ended up writing five-and-a-half pages, which is the most I’ve done in one sitting on this book. It was quite unexpected. I may begin writing more pages now that I’m into the swing of things. On my other books, I did anywhere from two pages a day to ten pages a day, depending on the book and the day. In any case, I’m now over eighty pages in and I’m ready to give my muse Margaret her next forty pages to read and comment on. After that, I was quite tired so I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Infamous, the story of Truman Capote’s writing of In Cold Blood. Wait, you say – I’ve seen that movie, you say – only it was called Capote, you say. And you would be correct. Just as this past year we saw back-to-back releases for The Illusionist and The Prestige, two period films about illusionists, the two Capote films were made at exactly the same time. It just boggles the mind, really. The makers of Infamous decided to hold back their release for a year, but it was too late – Capote got the notoriety and the nominations and the acclaim, if not the huge box-office they would have probably enjoyed. I liked Capote but didn’t love Capote. I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman did a fine job. Infamous basically covers the same territory as Capote. The film is written (based on a book by George Plimpton) and directed by Doug McGrath, who I don’t find very interesting as a filmmaker. The first half of Infamous plays like a Woody Allen film – it’s very funny at times, the music is ala Woody, and it’s a little peculiar, frankly. Mr. McGrath worked with Mr. Allen, so it makes sense. Then, the second half of the film is almost completely humorless and quite grim. It makes different suppositions than Capote and some of it plays better, at least for me it did. But McGrath makes too many mistakes and tries to imitate too many films, so we get the talking heads interview, which don’t really fit with the rest of the film. And the supporting players who play Capote’s friends are very strangely cast. I did enjoy Juliet Stevenson’s Diana Vreeland, but Sigourney Weaver was wasted, and in the film’s biggest and most awful casting blunder, Peter Bogdanovich is completely embarrassing as Bennett Cerf, one of the single worst performances I’ve ever seen on film. Why anyone would cast Mr. Bogdanovich in anything is beyond me – he’s a terrible actor and in this film he takes you right out of the movie every time he’s on screen. Daniel Craig plays Perry Smith – he’s very good and his portrayal of Smith is quite different from the actor who plays Smith in Capote. Also on board is Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee – I liked her better than her counterpart in Capote, but not by much. And Gwynyth Paltrow has a cameo as a Peggy Lee-like singer for reasons that aren’t made clear. In fact, it gets the film off to a rocky start because it’s so out there. Which brings us to Toby Jones as Truman Capote. He certainly plays the more flamboyant Capote that we all remember from the Tonight Show and other TV shows of the era. And he’s a lot more fun than Hoffman, and actually has the voice down better. But, it’s a close call between the two of them because Hoffman ultimately has better material to work with some of the time. So, Capote wins, but Infamous does have some interesting things in it so it’s worth catching if you can. The transfer is nice, and the sound is understated, which is pleasing.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’m the cheerleader and I say go, team, go!
Today I have several errands to attend to, and then I shall write, print out the new pages and deliver them to my muse Margaret. I have a potential dinner to attend in the early evening – not sure where yet, but I want something interesting to eat.
Tomorrow, I have a morning meeting with Miss Joan Ryan and Mr. Kirby Tepper, who’ll be writing her a piece of special material. And tomorrow evening I’m seeing some new French film at the American Cinematheque. Wednesday, I meet with Merissa Haddad and our musical director, John Boswell, and Wednesday evening it’s the rescheduled work session with David Wechter. Whew!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, write, do errands, and perhaps have a fine dining adventure. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your all-time favorite animal performers and what were your favorite performances by them? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as I continue to be the cheerleader from both heaven and hell.