Well, dear readers, I’ve now talked to someone else who has the same symptoms I do, so I’m quite sure there’s some ridiculous virus going around. Damn them, damn them all to hell. Usually these things only last a couple of days, but this one is hanging on for dear life. I do feel better than I did on Saturday and Sunday, but I now am actively bored of having this and wish to be back on my feet and all perky and plucky. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I would like to feel perky and plucky, wouldn’t that be ducky, and I’d sure be lucky to not feel so sucky and like I’ve been hit by a trucky. Speaking of trucky, yesterday I kept on truckin’. I slept until the doorbell rang at ten. I then had a meeting with Cason Murphy about the fundraiser, and then I did some writing, and then I toddled off to a meeting at LACC. That went very well, and then I came home, and did some more work on the laptop. When all that was done, I then toddled off to the Alex Theatre for some sort of gathering to promote their new season. It was not that well attended, but I saw a couple of people I knew, and I hung around for an hour. I also dropped some flyers off at Mystery and Imagination, my favorite bookstore, and we set the signing for Murder At Hollywood High for December 1st. Unfortunately, when I got back home I had an e-mail from the owner saying that she’d missed a notation on her calendar and that my time was taken, so I could either do it directly after at 4:00, or two weeks before on November 17, or one week later, on my birthday. I’m sort of leaning towards the latter and will make that decision today and let you all know. Interestingly, just those few hours of being out and about really got me tuckered, so I was glad to get home and sit on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Mulholland Drive, the film by David Lynch. I’d gotten a new special edition from Europe months ago and had never watched it. I’ve written about it a couple of times, but let me reiterate that, for me, it’s one of the five best films of the last twenty years, maybe the best. Once you’re on the film’s wavelength (it took me two viewings), then it all makes complete sense and watching it over just brings new things to each viewing. I find it Mr. Lynch’s most emotional film, and that’s due in no small part to the absolutely brilliant performance of Naomi Watts – certainly she deserved not only a nomination as Best Actress that year, but also the prize – she got neither. Once you know the conceit of the film, then her performance’s greatness really becomes apparent. There are so many layers to what she’s doing, and it’s one of the finest acting jobs I’ve ever seen. The supporting cast is quirky and good, but it’s the whole Lynchian atmosphere that takes you in – the camerawork that always seems to be floating, the hypnotic music, the trademark weird Lynchian characters who here, unlike some of his other films, have a real reason for being. The special edition is sort of a joke – there’s some interview footage on a second disc, but Mr. Lynch is just having sport with his viewers – he’s never going to really talk about the film, that’s just not who he is or what he does. The transfer seems fine (I never saw the film projected), and I have to compare it to the region 1 to see if there’s any difference). I wouldn’t recommend the film to impatient viewers, but I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a non-mainstream, non-linear piece of filmmaking, but one that, ultimately, pays off and makes total sense.
I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, the polar opposite, although no less outré – Mon Oncle, un film de Jacques Tati. Whatever one thinks of Mr. Tati, he was completely unique and made films like no one has before or since. They just sort of amble along from one gag to another, but the gags are so complex sometimes, and so out there sometimes, that you just sit and marvel at Mr. Tati’s world. I do feel that Mon Oncle wears out its welcome at 116 minutes, but about eighty-five of those minutes are cherce, visually arresting, and very funny. The early transfer from Criterion, from whatever their laserdisc master was, could really benefit from a new transfer with the latest technology.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly button below, so I can continue on my quest to feel perky and plucky, not necessarily in that order.
Today, I may try to see if it’s possible to get a flu shot somewhere. I meant to do it yesterday, and had a place picked out but for some reason my iCalendar didn’t switch over to the new day and I didn’t realize it and therefore didn’t see the note about it. I also have to write a new eBlast, do what I need to do to get the new Kritzerland release up for preorder by Wednesday, and really organize my cast list, song choices, and appointment times for the cast, all of which will probably take me the entire day.
Wednesday, I’ll be meeting Miss Julie Reiber, the Elphaba cover, at the Pantages, to just go through her rendition of The Wizard and I. The rest of the week is just more of the same, but thankfully I have no evening plans until Friday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, try to get a flu shot, write an eBlast, do a hundred other things, and try to feel perky and plucky. Today’s topic of discussion: Since Mr. Tati’s films have virtually no dialogue of importance, what are your all-time favorite silent films – comedies, dramas, historical dramas – the ones that seem as fresh today as when they were made, or whose influence has been felt throughout the years. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and someone give me a PAP smear – PAP as in Perky and Plucky.