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August 14, 2008:

OSMOSIS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I feel that these here notes should have a Thursday sort of vibe, don’t you? I mean, we wouldn’t want a Tuesday sort of vibe on a Thursday, would we? Or even a Sunday sort of vibe on a Thursday, would we? I mean, that would just mess with our collective minds, wouldn’t it? So, I feel that these here notes should have a Thursday sort of vibe. Now, if only I knew what a Thursday sort of vibe WAS then we’d be cookin’. Actually, I do feel these here notes have a Thursday sort of vibe, perhaps by osmosis. But, then again I’ve always been able to do things by osmosis – in fact, I’m so good at osmosis that some have even called me the wizard of osmosis. Most of you know what osmosis is, but would you like to see what the dictionary on my laptop has as the number one definition of osmosis? Here it is: The flow of a solvent by diffusion through a semipermeable membrane from a more concentrated solution to a less concentrated one, until the concentrations are equalized. It is a major factor in regulating the movement of water into and out of tissues in living organisms. I don’t know about you dear readers, but reading that just gave me a migraine. That’s certainly not the definition of osmosis that we all know and love. No, that definition is in the number two position, and it goes something like this: The gradual, often unconscious, absorption of knowledge or ideas through continual exposure rather than deliberate learning. What the HELL am I going on about? What’s all this talk about osmosis all of a sudden? Frankly, I’d much rather talk about sisomso, which is, after all, osmosis spelled backwards. Speaking of backwards, yesterday turned out to be an okay day. Thankfully, I think one of the mine fields that I was most worried about will, thanks to certain positive forces, be averted, and that will be a very good thing. I got up early, had several long telephonic calls, answered some e-mails, and then finally girded Ye Olde Loins and did the long jog on the new route, a route I’m quite enjoying. I then did a few errands and whatnot, and decided to have low-cal, low-fat hot dogs for lunch. These hot dogs have 45 calories each and only three grams of fat. I had them on regular hot dog buns and they were yummilicious and the whole calorie count was well under 700 and yet I felt like I’d eaten a giant meal. I had two count them two peaches, as well. I’m really enjoying my liquid regimen that I’ve been doing – over the course of the day and evening I drink two bottles of water, two Diet Cokes, and a few swigs of sparkling flavored water. If you’d said to me two months ago that I’d be able to cut down on my one and only addiction, Diet Coke, and go from six or seven a day down to two, I would have laughed and laughed and just when I could laugh no more, I’d laugh again. And yet, that is precisely what I have done. And some will remember my almost constant nightly heartburn or acid reflux that had been going on for months and months – well, since the day I started jogging and drinking the water and cutting back on the Diet Coke, I have not had one instance of heartburn or acid reflux, no matter how spicy my food may be. I think that’s a big benefit of this whole thing, that and the weight loss. I’ve got quite a ways to go, but now I’m thinking that I’ll really get there – and once there, I will, as I’ve promised, never ever gain back all that weight. It will not happen. Period. I took the rest of the day off, and relaxed and sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures that I’d TIVOd, both starring the lovely Miss Kim Novak. First up was Mr. Robert Aldrich’s mighty strange film, The Legend Of Lylah Clare. I was and am a big fan of some of Mr. Aldrich’s films, but he had one of the oddest hit and miss careers of any filmmaker in history. I saw Lylah Clare the day it opened and thought it terrible. I think the audience consisted of me and four other people. The film was a huge bomb, and I haven’t seen it since, until yesterday. It’s still terrible, astonishingly terrible, and yet somehow I enjoyed watching it for its weird bitchy dialogue, the excesses, the completely wacky dubbing of a German manly voice for the “possessed” Kim, and the good performances of the supporting cast. Kim seems to be having some sort of fun, but the dubbing of the possessed scenes just doesn’t work. The score by DeVol is really good, and the film is filled with terrific character actors, including Aldrich regular and daddy to my muse Margaret, Dave Willock. The ending of the film is one of the oddest you’ll ever see – a dog food commercial that’s a comment on the dog eat dog world of Hollywood. Wretched, but somehow mesmerizing. I then watched a motion picture I’ve always wanted to see, Five Against The House, a little B-crime meller from Columbia, directed by Phil Karlson, and written by Stirling Silliphant and William Bowers from the book by Jack Finney. I was hoping to love it, but it’s pretty ordinary – I’m sure the book works much better. I did enjoy the scenes shot in Reno, and certainly the cast was fun, what with Brian Keith doing a wonderful crazy Korean War vet, and handsome Guy Madison and Kerwin Matthews, and the lovely Kim, and, for comic relief, the very annoying Alvy Moore (who was in our Monday list of A.M.s). The film has a nice George Duning score. The TCM print was not in the correct ratio and you could have driven several large truck through the huge amount of head room in every shot.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am quite tired and must get my beauty sleep and I’m certainly not going to get it by osmosis.

Today, I do have errands to run and telephonic conversations to have, and I do have to attend to some business, and I, of course, will jog, and I may attend a staged reading of a new musical this evening if the people who told me about it actually let me know the time (I know the place).

Tomorrow, Mr. Druxy and I will be having a post mortem luncheon at my favorite Hollywood jernt, Musso and Frank. I think it’s been a year since I’ve been there, which is very unusual.

I think my weekend is completely open, which I’m thrilled about. I’m going to book the Murder At The Grove signing (probably end of September), and do various and sundried other things, but mostly I hope to catch up on CD listening and DVD watching.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, do errands, have telephonic conversations, eat something fun, and then maybe attend a reading. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Kim Novak films? And since that’s probably not enough, topic two is, when you’re dieting, what do you like to eat – what fills you up but isn’t too bad calorically speaking, and what dishes can be whipped up quickly and be satisfying? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let’s not post via osmosis.

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