Well, dear readers, I was going to rant about this and that and also that and this but today is Thursday and Thursday is never a day one should rant. Therefore, I shall not rant one or even two whits. Oh, I had a few things to rant about, make no mistake about THAT, and if it were Friday I most certainly would have ranted, but Friday is tomorrow and who knows if I’ll still be in the ranting mode by then. Am I ranting? Am I ranting about not ranting? In any case, even though I want to rant and rant large, I shan’t. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I shan’t rant. But not because I can’t rant – I just shan’t rant. But enough about me. Speaking of me, yesterday was a pretty okay day until the very end of the day, at which point it turned into a not okay day. Yes, a dreaded annoyance reared its ugly little head and I dealt with it as best I could, and will continue dealing with it this morning, and hopefully it will be brief and then hopefully there will be no more annoyances of the annoying kind for some weeks to come. Prior to the annoying annoyance, I did the long jog, then had to do some writing and prepping, then I drove over to LACC to go over the setup and see if the piano as in tune enough for Saturday’s event – it was. After that, I came back to the Valley, did a bunch of errands and got a little something to eat from Gelson’s. I then had to go to my booklet designer’s home environment, where we discussed the cover design for the new Kritzerland limited edition CD. We’ll see what he comes up with, but I’ve asked him to come up with something quickly. After that, it was already late afternoon, and I did a few more errands, and then came back home to the annoying annoyance. That lasted for about twenty minutes, and then I put the annoyance away for the evening, and started to watch a motion picture on DVD. But the phone kept ringing and I ended up having two long telephonic conversations. Even with all that, I did watch two complete motion pictures.
Last night, I watched two complete motion pictures, one I TIVOd and one on DVD. The first motion picture, the one I TIVOd, was entitled Devil’s Doorway, a film of Anthony Mann, starring Mr. Robert Taylor. It’s one of the only Mann made movies that I’d never seen, so I was really happy to finally catch up with it. It’s quite a somber little oater about the mistreatment of Indians, and I found it quite compelling and beautifully directed. The photography of the great John Alton was brilliant, as it always is. Mr. Taylor was really good as an Indian, and Louis Calhern was loathsome as the villain. I then watched a motion picture on DVD entitled 21, a film about card counting in the world of blackjack, starring a bunch of young actors I’ve never heard of, and Mr. Kevin Spacey. I know the film is based on a book, a real-life story of an M.I.T student who becomes part of a card-counting group led by a teacher, played by Mr. Spacey. There was probably a good film to be made, but this isn’t that film. This is yet another horridly directed mess, where the director is much more interested in his CGI crap than the story he’s telling. Every two seconds there’s a whoosh on the soundtrack, or there’s a flash cut, or the film slows down for no reason or speeds up for no reason – in other words, a director showing off and not in service of the good story there was to tell. The music is yet another one of those pointless droning scores that does nothing to get under the skin of the characters or the story – like most film scores today, it has nothing to do with anything on the screen. Mr. Spacey is always interesting to watch, and he’s very good here, as always. The young actors at least don’t whisper, but they’re all sort of bland. Laurence Fishburne does his usual thing as a casino security person. Every shot in the film has some sort of computer enhancement or color “help” and it’s just so off-putting that it sucks the reality out of the film. It’s a shame, because the subject is so interesting. The transfer and sound were fine.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below before I start ranting on a non-ranting day. Perhaps I shall sing that fine Fred Astaire song – I shan’t rant, don’t ask me.
Oh, I so want to rant. Instead, perhaps I’ll water a plant or step on an ant. Today, I shall do the long jog, do two errands, which will hopefully not be annoying (send excellent vibes and xylophones for easy and non-annoying morning errands). At some point, I’m supposed to see the LACCTAA newsletter to see if there’s any last minute fixes to it, but despite my asking specifically for a returned phone call last night to set up a specific time, that phone call never arrived, hence I have no idea when I’m seeing anything. I gotta tell you. I have to write some questions for the Q&A with Miss Karen Morrow, as well as a few notes for her introduction.
Tomorrow, I have a long work session with a singer. Tomorrow night, I may or may not have dinner plans, but whatever I do, I’ll be home early so that I can do any last minute prepping for the Saturday LACCTAA event. I’ve been invited to a dinner party Saturday night, so that should be fun and hopefully not too diet-unfriendly.
Sunday, I have no plans at all, and that’s a good thing. Then next week is once again very busy, culminating with my book signing and two back-to-back things I have to attend that evening.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, do two errands that will hopefully not be too annoying, write questions, and hopefully see the final version of the LACCTAA newsletter, so that it can get printed in time for Saturday. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite games of chance? Have you ever been compulsive about your favorite games of chance? What’s the most you’ve ever won? What was the most exciting time you’ve had playing a game of chance? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and remember, since it’s Thursday, we shan’t rant.