Well, dear readers, somehow another week has gone by. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you find such information? Nowhere, that’s where. It’s been an odd week – some annoyances, some exhilarating moments, some annoyances, and some exhilarating moments. In other words, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I’d like to think The Good has outweighed The Bad and The Ugly. The Good, of course, mostly concerns the new book, which my muse Margaret is very fond of thus far. The book hasn’t been a piece of cake, but none of them really have been. Also, I’ve had some nice meals, seen nice folks, had good work sessions with several people, and whatnot. The Bad and The Ugly mostly concern the dead battery and terminal, and the endless problems dealing with a certain overseas CD emporium. Also part of The Good is that I’ve been jogging pretty regularly again, after falling off the wagon for a short time. Speaking of a short time, yesterday was a The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly kind of day. For example, I got up. That was Good, even though in the morning I’m kind of Bad and Ugly. I decided to begin writing right away, but because I was starting a new chapter I had a little trouble getting the first page or two right – I literally kept going back and forth on how to begin it. I wrote the two pages pretty quickly, and then I kept cutting and pasting them back and forth, back and forth, and then forth and back, forth and back. I ended up moving what I’d originally started with, and the reconfiguring all the paragraphs. I then needed some details, so I did a research drive and took some notes. When I got back, I read what I’d written, reconfigured some of it again, and it finally felt good to me and I wrote another three-and-a-half pages during the afternoon. I still have to fix one little part of it, but can’t do that until I find the perfect location, which I think will happen tomorrow when research assistant Miss Adriana Patti will take some photographs of a place that sounds like it could be the spot I’m looking for. After all that writing, I finally took a shower and then toddled off to sup with Leslie Ferreira, the LACC faculty member who oversaw The Brain From Planet X. He hadn’t been able to attend the CD release party, so I gave him his CD and we had a lovely dinner and he told me all about the theater piece he’s doing this semester, which sounds rather interesting. The whole dining adventure was The Good. The amount of food I ate was The Ugly. There was no The Bad. After that, I came home and finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled The Other Side Of Midnight, a soap opera-cum-potboiler from 1976. The film was based on the soap opera-cum-potboiler novel by Sidney Sheldon. I remember seeing it back in the day and thinking it was one of those supremely awful yet somewhat entertaining soap opera-cum-potboiler films. I hadn’t seen it since, but I held little hope, since the film’s director, Mr. Charles Jarrott, is one of my least favorite directors ever. But, despite its ridiculous running time of 166 minutes to unveil what is basically an extremely simple plot, I found myself entertained and not bored by it in the least. Some of it is mind-bogglingly bad and a couple of scenes belong in the pantheon of awful movie moments, none more so than the hilarious “sex” scene between Marie France Pisier as Noelle and Christian Marquand as a film director. When Miss Pisier is straddling Mr. Marquand and suddenly reaches into the nearby ice bucket and takes a handful of the cubes and does something off-camera with them – well, it’s comedy worthy of the Marx Brothers. Miss Pisier isn’t really up to the task of carrying a film or playing this character, and the film’s male lead, John Beck, is not my cup of tea at all. It doesn’t help that his character is sickening throughout. Raf Vallone is always good, and there’s a large number of foreign actors who were living in Hollywood and who you see in all these movies shot in Hollywood pretending to be shot somewhere else. They’ve got several from Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain and Topaz. Clu Gulager has one of the leading roles, but no real character to play – he plays his non-character quite boringly. The film belongs to Susan Sarandon, who is wonderful. It’s pretty to look at and the transfer from Fox is perfect, especially the color. The yokels at Warner Bros. should purchase the DVD so they can see what color is actually supposed to look like. The film has a lush, romantic score by Michel Legrand.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’m quite certain the next section will have more of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Today, I’m supposed to have a morning meeting with Miss Merissa Haddad, so she can hear a couple of songs I think she might like. After that, it’s some errands, and after that, I shall write a few pages. I may or may not go see a film this evening. If I stay home, I’ve got new DVDs of Godzilla vs. Mothra and Godzilla Raids Again to watch.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early, so I’ll have to drive about in my motor car until she’s gone. After that, I may drive to the Monica of Santa to see a film at the Aero Theater.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, meet, write, eat, do errands, and perhaps see a motion picture, either in a motion picture theater or on DVD. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, an assortment of soundtrack CDs that I’m catching up on. DVD, the two Godzilla films and more Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings shall we – the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, baby.