Well, dear readers, it is the day of the Do. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is the day of the Do. I don’t know where December has gone, but it’s flown by, like a gazelle on a boogie board. Why in just one short week’s time it will be our annual rockin’ New Year’s Eve bash, which is, of course, the only place you’ll want to be on New Year’s Eve. Soon I will begin reflecting back on the year that was, but for now, it’s full speed ahead to the end of the year and the beginning of the New Year. Speaking of the New Year, yesterday I couldn’t believe that suddenly it was like summer again. It was a beautifully beautiful day, warm, and perfect for driving about in one’s motor car or doing things around the home environment, which is exactly what I did. I slept in, I got up, and I spent the first few hours of my day cleaning each and every room in the home environment, and putting away the few things I hadn’t gotten to. And each room is now sparklingly sparkling and clean and that part of the preparation for the Do is done. I did a couple of errands, including running an order of CDs out to a dealer in Reseda. A Dealer In Reseda – that’s the title of my next novel, a searing story of an employee of the Commerce Casino holed up in a two-room dive in Reseda, while the mob looks for him, and his girlfriend is strung up on Canada Dry Ginger Ale. I’m quite certain it will be a best seller. Where was I? Oh, yes, Reseda. I then just kept going in a northerly direction, just seeing how much Reseda boulevard has changed since I last drove on that street about three years ago. A nice used bookstore, The Bookie Joint, that had been there for thirty years, seems to have bit the dust, but most of it is as I remembered, and the Reseda Theater amazingly still sits there untouched and boarded up. I then drove to my mail place – I’d been there the day before and asked if they’d given me ALL my packages. They said yes. Well, guess what? I had slips in my mail box for three more, which were ALL there the day before. I gotta tell you. One real package and two envelopes, only they couldn’t find one of the envelopes and tried to tell me that either I got it the day before (I didn’t), or that the person who did the slip made a mistake. Now, why would someone write that there were two envelopes on the slip if there were only one? I told the guy I wasn’t having any of it, and to please look more carefully and that I’d be back today. I know what I’m expecting, and that envelope is probably it and I don’t suddenly want it to have disappeared. I then came home, got some chow and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture I’d TIVOd entitled Lovers And Other Strangers. I remember finding it wildly uneven when it came out, despite the mostly rave reviews and accolades. And, watching it again after all these years, I still find it wildly uneven – and now very dated. The funny stuff is still very, very funny, but there’s just too much that isn’t, and the structure of the film never really overcomes its stage origins. The cast is very good, though, with hilarious work from Bea Arthur and Richard Castellano, less funny work from Bob Dishy, winning work from Bonnie Bedelia, and a nice turn from Diane Keaton. The Harry Guardino/Anne Meara stuff has dated the worst, and it’s really excruciating to sit through. Fred Karlin’s score is very good, and, of course, one of the film’s songs, For All We Know, won the Academy Award. I then watched a couple more episodes of The Mod Squad. They’re really not very good, but they’re really fun to watch. And there really are some cherce LA locations – one, a drive-in restaurant across the street from a high-rise insurance building is so familiar, but I can’t quite place it. I’m thinking it might have been in North Hollywood near Universal, but I have no idea if there was a drive-in on that street. On disc one, there are two little featurettes shot earlier this year, with Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole chatting about the show (Tige Andrews had died just a couple of months before these were shot, and Clarence Williams III is nowhere to be seen). Mr. Cole looks okay, weathered, but still recognizable. Miss Lipton, who has to be my age or a year older, looks amazing, and even still looks like herself. The transfers continue to look great – I doubt they looked this good when originally broadcast. The shows have music by Earle Hagen, Billy May, and Shorty Rogers. Some of the scoring is so wrong for certain scenes, and that does add a certain amusement factor. No real interesting guest stars in these couple of episodes, save for Julie Adams playing an “older” woman of – forty-one.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because, after all, it is The Day Of The Do and if I don’t start doing I will not be ready for the Do and the Do will be a don’t.
I’m so happy I did all the lifting and cleaning yesterday. Today, I shall do a couple of errands in the morning, and then begin the preparations for cooking starting at about one. I have to do a lot of mincing and chopping and slicing and dicing, then there’s some sautéing and simmering and mixing and boiling. Then, of course, I must do my shaving and cleansing of my person so that I look and smell my best. At six, people will presumably begin arriving – if not, I’ll have a LOT of food to eat.
I honestly have no clew how many will be here, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say we’ll definitely have ten, maybe as many as twenty, but I don’t think we’ll achieve quite the crowd we had last year – but, whoever shows up will have a good time, good eats, and get a nice Christmas gift.
Tomorrow, I shall open whatever presents I have, and then, at some point, my darling daughter will come to visit. And that will be BK’s Christmas Day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a few errands, go kick some butt at the mail place, and then cook and make ready for the Do. Of course, my true love couldn’t leave well enough alone and now we’ve got twelve drummers drumming, which, I suppose, is better than twelve drummers playing the piano. But what a racket and a ruckus. I gotta tell you. Today’s topic of discussion: Our end of year ten-best lists continue – what were your ten best TV programs of the year, and your ten best single episodes. This can include network, cable, specials, whatever. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as I get my beauty sleep and then prepare for The Day Of The Do.