Well, dear readers, we are heading towards the end of another year and I, for one, find it hard to believe that this year is coming to an end, so fast has it gone, like a gazelle remembering the good old days of Chippendale’s. I gotta tell you. Yes, in a mere three weeks it will be 2009, but for now it is still 2008. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you get such up to date information? Nowhere, that’s where. Yes, Virginia, like the Iceman, 2009 cometh. Meanwhile, here it is, Friday, the end of yet another workweek. I, for one, am looking forward to a nice restful weekend in which I shall do nice restful things. Speaking of nice restful things, yesterday was a day that just sort of was. I got up, did the long jog, and then worked on the liner notes for the new Kritzerland release. That took about two hours, and then I had to do some errands and whatnot. The day just sort of went by and then it was time to go to Hugo’s for a dinner meeting with Mr. Sean McDermott. Just prior to leaving, I had to make a decision, and I made it – next week, I’ll be donning my lab coat once again to portray Dr. Learly on Penn and Teller’s Bullshit. They’d originally asked me to do a bit that was going to shoot the day after I got back from New York, and I just wasn’t in the mood to do it for a whole slew of reasons, so I said no. They then moved the shoot and asked me again and again I said no. They cancelled that whole bit. Then I was called yesterday and told that they were upping the money a little and that they really wanted me to do it, but understood my reasons for turning it down. I thought about it, and finally said yes. We shoot next Thursday. I’ve asked that they give most of the talking parts to someone who’ll be playing my assistant, so that I only have to deal with the props and talking to the people, not giving them the technical stuff, which I not only hate learning, but hate having to deliver. I then dined with Sean and we had a long chat about a new show he wants to do it, and we solidified our deal and I’ll now be putting together his new show. We’re actually going to dive right into it, as he has to have it ready by mid-February. I think we’re also going to finally start editing his and Kevin’s show that we taped a few months ago. I had Pasta Papa, which is spaghetti noodles with scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, and bacon and a little cheese. It was great, but the portion was quite large – that didn’t stop me from finishing it, however, and it was quite yummilicious. I also had a very small Caesar salad to start. All I’d eaten prior to that was some rye toast with a little butter and jam, and I assume I’d already burned those calories, so I think I’m fine with what I ate. I then finally came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture entitled Partners, starring Mr. Ryan O’Neal and Mr. John Hurt. I saw it back when it was released and while I didn’t remember one thing about it I do remember that I didn’t care for it, and that the audience (what little of it there was) didn’t care for it either. For those who don’t know, Partners is about a straight cop partnered with a gay cop – they have to pretend their lovers, and the hope was that hilarity would ensue. And a few things are indeed funny, especially some of Mr. O’Neal’s facial reactions and takes. John Hurt is just too weird as the gay cop, although he’s affecting at times. The script by Francis Veber (La Cage Aux Folles) feels like it was probably tampered with by others – Mr. Veber is a wonderful writer and knows the rules of farce and comedy. This film veers wildly, tone-wise. One minute it’s making fun of gays, the next minute it’s a serious murder mystery, the next minute it’s filled with swishing stereotypes. It does have some nice LA location shots circa 1982 (although by then the ruination of LA was already on its sorry way), and the actors are all fine. But its more like a 1960s comedy than a 1982 comedy, subject-wise. Part of the problem is the leaden direction of sitcom regular Jim Burrows, who has no filmmaking flair whatsoever – his filming style is strictly by the numbers and he has no visual sense at all. The film has a nice score by Georges Delerue but it too is stylistically all over the place. The transfer is very nice.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get up early and do lots of things I hadn’t planned on doing.
I had planned absolutely nothing for today, and yet that has now changed. I have to get up early and do the long jog, then a friend is coming over and I’m going to Costco and buying stuff I’ll need for the annual Christmas Eve Do, along with doing some other errands and whatnot. And then I have a lunch meeting with the head of the LACC Theater Academy to discuss a lot of things that need discussing. That will probably last an hour or so, and then I’ll have the rest of the day and evening to myself. I am hoping for some nice mail and a few packages.
The weekend is basically mine all mine. I have no plans for tomorrow other than driving about in my motor car, and Sunday is the same, although I may see a reading of a new musical.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, shop at Costco, do errands and whatnot, polish the liner notes, and have a meeting. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, I’ve been going through a 1970s Paul Williams phase, revisiting all his 70s albums, all of which have a few nice things on them. Also, Lalo Schifrin’s The Dead Pool. DVD, more Mod Squad episodes, The Deadly Bees, and a few others. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst 2008 comes to a whirlwind close and as 2009, like the Iceman, cometh.