Well, dear readers, I think I shall write these here notes in a hurry because all I want to do is go to bed and have this fershluganah day be over. Yes, my restful Sunday turned out to be a royal pain in the royal butt cheeks. It started off well, the restful day – I slept until ten and boy did I need it. I addressed a few packages, then did a two-mile jog, which is all I could stand to do in this heat. And then it began. I put in a Blu and Ray disc to watch – a region-free disc from the UK. The player wouldn’t play the disc and gave me an error message that it couldn’t read the disc. This, of course, was utter nonsense, as I’d already watched part of the disc days ago. The same thing had happened a few days ago with the UK disc of Capricorn One – same error message, and then yesterday it played fine until it froze up, at which point I put in the other disc I had and watched the end. So, I took out that disc and put in a US disc. Same error message. I tried five other discs – same error message. And then it finally came to me – all these stupid issues I’ve been having that I’ve been blaming on all sorts of things have all been generating from the player. Weird static and noise, trouble finding signal, freezing up and getting digititis on discs that are perfect. I unplugged the machine, found my receipt, and drove to Fry’s and stood in line for forty-five minutes. They took it back and gave me a new one. I then came home, plugged it in, put in the UK region-free disc and voila – it booted up perfectly and played instantly. One problem solved. After I watched about ninety minutes of said disc (about which more in a moment), I then addressed more packages (still have a few to go), and then did some work on the computer. Whilst doing said work I noticed that the light on my Time Capsule (combination Time Machine and Airport Extreme wireless router) was not green, but blinking yellow, which usually means it can’t find signal or that there’s been interruption of signal from the modem. However, the Internet was working fine, but since Apple is closed on the weekends I couldn’t call to find out what was going on. I also didn’t want to restart the computer or unplug and replug the modem and Time Capsule to see if that fixed the problem because I didn’t want to take the chance that the Internet wouldn’t work. I then went and had a bite to eat at the Studio Café. After I finished my barbecue chicken sandwich it felt like some food or something had lodged into one of my bottom teeth. Since there was a toothpick on my plate I tried to get it out, but it remained. I then realized it was too rough-feeling to be food and when I got home I looked in the mirror and saw it was a tooth with a filling and I now think the filling is falling apart or I may have chipped something (how, I have no idea), but it’s been driving me crazy since, so it’s off to the dentist as soon as I can get an appointment. So, I never did end up relaxing, but after all that I finally sat on my couch like so much fish because I was done being agitated.
Yesterday, I watched ninety minutes of a motion picture on Blu and Ray, a region-free UK import of The Goonies. I’d avoided The Goonies all these years, avoided it like the plague, because it sounded really bad to me. But I also know it has fanatical worshippers and the worship borders on the insane. These fanatical worshippers of The Goonies not only like the film, they think it’s the best film ever made. Don’t believe me – go directly to the imdb and check out the comments. The reason they all think it’s the best film ever made is because each and every one of these fanatical worshippers saw the film when they were five or seven or nine. It spoke to them – which says everything about that generation that you’d need to know. What this film has is several of the most obnoxious young characters who’ve ever populated a film, played by several of the most obnoxious young actors I’ve ever seen. A couple of them were so irritating to me that I felt like hurling my shoe at the TV. The writing is smarmy and unfunny and the plotting is plodding and Richard Donner’s direction is headache inducing. It’s the worst of the 1980s all rolled into one wretched film. Sorry if there are lovers of this film reading these here notes – it’s just one BK’s opinion. I finally had to shut it off. I then had to watch a good motion picture on Blu and Ray and so I put in Three Days Of The Condor, a film I never tire of watching. This was probably my sixth time seeing it and it’s just as good as ever – in fact, it’s better than ever because it’s a movie that filmmakers today simply have no idea how to make. Today it would have a wall-to-wall thumping music score, every word would be underlined, every plot point would be hammered home, and since the ending of the film would not pass muster with test audiences, they’d lard it up with some absurd audience-pleasing big ending. Even the film’s big set piece in the opening ten minutes is fairly understated and that’s why it’s shocking and works perfectly. The movie achieves all its effects quietly. The acting by everyone – Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow, and the large cast is superlative, as is Sidney Pollack’s direction. The screenplay is top-notch, with terrific dialog. The one thing The Goonies and Three Days Of The Condor has in common is the composer, Dave Grusin, and he turns in exemplary work in both films. The Blu-Ray is mostly terrific.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s late and I need to get my beauty sleep and hopefully today will not be filled with stress and unnecessary annoyances.
Today, I’m not sure I’ll do the long jog unless I can get out of the house by nine before it gets too darn hot. I then will call and make a dental appointment (I’m way overdue anyway), and, if I haven’t fixed the blinking yellow light I’ll call Apple first thing in the morning. I’ll finish addressing the packages, grab a bite to eat, and then I’m seeing a staged reading of a musical over at the NoHo Arts Center, where a mere two weeks ago we did our staged reading.
The rest of the week if filled with meetings and, most importantly, shipping out Show Girl. If you haven’t tuned into this week’s Broadway Radio Show, please do so – it’s Donald and I talking about all sorts of fun things and we play songs from both House of Flowers and Show Girl.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog (if it’s not too hot in the morning), I must make a dental appointment, I must address the rest of the packages, and I must see a staged reading. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Robert Redford films – he’s one of my favorite screen actors and several of his films would be high on any list of my favorites. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we hope for a pleasantly pleasant week and end of June, not to mention a wonderful July for everyone and no more fershluganah days.