Well, dear readers, frankly it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and since we need a little Christmas that’s not such a bad thing. And the Christmas Eve Do is coming up shortly and the Christmas Day, and there will be the famous BK spaghetti and tuna pasta salad, and presents and rosy-cheeks and Santa Claus and it will all be quite festively festive. My true love keeps sending me odd gifts, every day a new gift odder than the last. Frankly, I feel like telling my true love to take a hike. In any case, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. It’s also been raining all the livelong day and night and therefore I have now missed two days of doing the long jog. No matter the weather today, I shall, at some point, do the long jog and that’s all there is to it. The temperatures have been unusually cold for LA – in the 40s. Speaking of the 40s, yesterday was a fun little day. I woke up after a good night’s sleep, realized the long jog was called on account of rain, did some work on the computer, did some more cleaning of the home environment, addressed some Christmas cards, and then did some errands and whatnot. I ended up at Costco, which was the least crowded I’ve ever seen it. I bought three huge platters – two with sandwiches and one with various scoops of salmon salad, chicken salad, and shrimp. And I bought a huge chocolate cake – all for our LACCTAA partay. I was in and out of there in fifteen minutes. I then picked up two packages at the mail place, then came home and showered. I then headed over to LACC. We set up all the food on the stage of the Camino Theater, where once The Brain From Planet X lived. The current students were doing some sort of tea that they do at the end of each semester. About five-thirty they all came in and I must say all that food was gone in about ten minutes. I probably should have bought one more platter, but I think everyone at least got something to eat. As usual, not many alumni showed up – their lack of support is truly appalling, but at some point I know exactly what will happen – the events we do will become so hip and we’ll have so many interesting people that they’ll start showing up. Meanwhile, we will go on without their support. The people who were there had a great time and I met a lot of the new crop and learned that many of them sing and love musical theater – I was delighted to hear that. Most of them had attended our three events and told me they were really looking forward to the next series. I had nice chats with all the faculty members, discussed a few things, and then the partay was over. Since I hadn’t eaten anything, a couple of us went over to a nearby Eyetalian jernt called Palermo, where I had spaghetti with one meatball and one sausage, a small salad, a couple of pieces of their excellent garlic bread, and a couple of small slices of some free appetizer sort of pizza-ish thing that was on the table. I ate the sausage and the meatball but couldn’t eat more than a few bites of the spaghetti because I was so full – so I left more than half the spaghetti. I’m still full. After that, I came home and sat on my couch like so much full fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD, a French film from France entitled Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis, un film de Dany Boon, who also wrote and stars. I’d only seen Mr. Boon in one other film, Patrice Leconte’s My Best Friend, in which he was excellent. I’d heard that this film was very popular in France, and I was most interested in seeing it to hear how the Philippe Rombi score worked in the film, since it was the first Rombi score I hadn’t instantly loved when I heard the CD. I liked it, but it just wasn’t as good a listening experience as his others. I read a little about the film, and not only was it very popular in France, it has become a phenomenon, the highest grossing French film in history, and the highest grossing film from any country to ever play France, except for Titanic, and it may have already displaced that film from its lofty perch. It’s pretty amazing, since the film is an unassuming little comedy with a lot of heart. I’m happy to say that I absolutely adored the film and it’s obvious why it’s a hit – it’s genuinely funny and it’s genuinely warm and likable and the cast is wonderfully wonderful. Most interestingly for me is the fact that Rombi’s score is fantastic in the film – it works perfectly and now that it has some context for me, the CD is now a terrific listen. The transfer is beautiful – the DVD is from France and has English subtitles. Since one of the conceits of the film is the very weird dialect of the people in a small town, the person who subtitled the film found a perfect way of making the subtitles reflect the humor – I gather that they’re not literal translations of what’s being said, but they get the point across and they are occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. Naturally, when a film is this successful you can be sure some US company or person will snap up the rights to do a remake – so, in the Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid department, Will Smith has done just that. One can only fear what he will do to it.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because frankly it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and I must shake my bootay and dance around the home environment.
Today, I shall do some writing, I shall do the long jog no matter what, I shall do a few errands and whatnot, and I shall eat something light, but amusing. And that’s all I have. I’m hoping a package or three arrives, and I do have more cleaning and organizing to do, and a lot of CDs to listen to, and quite a few DVDs to watch.
Tomorrow will be more of the same, and then, other than a meeting or two, I am through with work for the rest of the year, all two weeks of it. I will be making some more notes for the novel I hope to begin on the first, and I do have Nudie fixes and changes to keep entering.
The weekend is completely free at this point. I may go to the DGA to see a movie or two, or I may even go to a theater to see a movie or two.
Quick, let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the Monkey, because today is the birthday of dear reader PennyO. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader PennyO. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER PENNYO!!! Okay, don’t touch those pointy party hats and leave on the colored tights and pantaloons because today is also the birthday of dear reader Dan the Man. So, let’s also give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader Dan the Man. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER DAN THE MAN!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, write, do errands and whatnot, eat, listen to CDs, watch DVDs, and generally be Christmas-like. Today’s topic of discussion: Since I don’t imbibe, I’d like to know what your favorite alcoholic beverages are – from wine to exotic drinks, and let’s hear exactly what it is you like about them. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all take note that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.