Well, dear readers, I hope all you mothers out there in the dark had a perfectly perfect day. I know I did. I’m happy to report that the new allergy pill I got yesterday seems to be working much better. It’s called Alavert, it lasts for twelve hours, and it’s got the good stuff in it – Pseudoephedrine, the ingredient no longer found in Actifed because of the wonderfully caring peckerwoods known as drug addicts, who were using it for their nefarious purposes. Actifed was suddenly only found behind the counter and then you had to have your ID swiped in a machine. Actifed’s sales plummeted and they removed the Pseudoephedrine and now it doesn’t work at all, at least for me. My question is: Why are they using pseudo-ephedrine? Can’t they find any real ephedrine? Where was I? Oh, yes, Alavert – you do have to get it from behind the counter and have your ID swiped in a machine, but the stuff works and I was finally able to go for a day without any sneezing or runny nose or the dreaded snot. Did I just spend the first half of this paragraph talking about allergy medicine? Oy and vey, not necessarily in that order. Speaking of Oy and Vey (one of my favorite comedy teams), yesterday really was a lovelier than lovely day, for reasons I can no longer remember. Oh, yes, I got a decent night’s sleep thanks to the fake ephedrine – that was lovely. I had some breakfast – that was lovely. I went to storage to pick up a couple of things I hadn’t brought from the week before – that wasn’t lovely, but it wasn’t bad either. I went to Staples and did some Xeroxing, I picked up a fax from elmore, and then I toddled off to a meeting about The Party Animals, phase two. Our next show is booked for June 10th at the Avalon, home of the former El Capitan Theater and Hollywood Palace (and where dear reader Cason currently works). If it sells out and goes well, I believe we’ll have found our permanent LA home, which is what we all wanted. We’ll go back into rehearsal at the beginning of June. After the meeting, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Reflections In A Golden Eye, starring Mr. Marlon Brando, Miss Elizabeth Taylor, Mr. Brian Keith, Miss Julie Harris, Mr. Robert Forster, and a rather strange individual called Zorro David. Based on a novella by Carson McCullers, it is one of the all-time strangest films from a major studio featuring major stars, directed by a major director, John Huston. Miss Taylor puts on her southern accent and chews any scenery that’s nearby. Mr. Keith is his usual excellent self. Miss Harris is always wonderful, Mr. Forster’s entire role contains, if I remember correctly, one line of dialogue, but several nude scenes. His character is what you’d call an enigma wrapped inside of a conundrum – he likes to ride horses nude, he likes to lie nude in fields, he likes to visit the home of Mr. Brando and Miss Taylor (who play marrieds) so he can sit in Miss Taylor’s room and smell her underthings, while also giving a few come hither looks to Mr. Brando. Miss Taylor is having an affair with Mr. Keith who is married to Miss Harris who is off her rocker (as one character notes, she cut off her nipples with garden shears when she lost her baby), Mr. Zorro David keeps Miss Harris company and the two are planning to run off together on adventures, despite him being a flaming Filipino houseboy (I’m making this sound VERY entertaining, I think), and Mr. Brando lifts weights, has little interest in Miss Taylor, has an iffy relationship with horses, and is obsessed with Mr. Forster in that special way. For me, it’s one of Mr. Brando’s very best performances. It’s all very outré, but well directed by Mr. Huston. When the film was released (it played the Egyptian, here in Hollywood, California, USA), it was printed as Mr. Huston wished – with a golden hue for the entire length of the film. After the film was roundly trounced by critics and audiences alike, Warners recalled all the tinted prints (after the first week) and replaced them with normally-colored prints (by Technicolor). The golden tint does give the film a completely dreamlike feel, which the normal color prints don’t (you can see what the normal color looks like in the trailer). And, oh that trailer – boy, did they not know how to sell this film. I can’t say that it’s a great film (I leave that to the idiots on the imdb), but it’s certainly an interesting one, and one that pushed a few envelopes (it’s said that Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf and this film were what caused the ratings board to be born – ironically both starring Miss Taylor). The film doesn’t overstay its welcome (it runs about 109 minutes), and it has a weird but effective score by Japanese composer Toshiro Mayazumi (with whom Mr. Huston worked on The Bible). The transfer is fine, although the standard def DVD has a little trouble keeping the golden hues stable. As I watched it, I realized how interesting the sixties and seventies were, and how films like this could get made by major studios and stars.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because the fake ephedrine is starting to kick in – it’s not supposed to make you drowsy, but it’s making ME feel drowsy.
I thought I had a lot to do today, but I have nothing written down, which means that whatever was planned for today got moved, because I’ve been very good about writing things down. I do have to do a few errands and whatnot, but I’ll spend most of the day learning all this fershluganah music I’ve got to learn for this reading I’m taking part in in two weeks. I had all of it Xeroxed (along with the script) yesterday and I have a demo CD of the score. I’ve listened to it once, and because the music is written by someone who really doesn’t know music, it’s all very simplistic, which, for me, is really hard to learn because every song sounds the same to me. But, I’ll do my darndest and with the help of Pseudoephedrine I shall succeed.
Don’t forget to listen to this week’s radio show with Donald Feltham and special guest Georgia Stitt, with songs from her new album.
Tomorrow I’ll be supping with dear reader Jeanne, who is in LA for a few days. And I have rehearsals with Miss Joan Ryan, meetings with various and sundried people about various and sundried projects and, of course, a few motion pictures on DVD to watch. This week could probably use some excellent vibes and xylophones, too, so send ’em along, send ’em along.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, learn music, drive about in my motor car, eat something amusing, and perhaps do some whatnot. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the first motion picture you saw that actually shocked you – that actually caused your jaw to drop. What was the film, what scene was it, and does it still get that reaction from you today? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst hoping that the Pseudoephedrine keeps on going like the Eveready Bunny.