Well, dear readers, we have had fireworks, oh, yes, we have had fireworks and now Independence Day is over until next year, although I am still feeling quite independent. I got up early and did the two-mile jog, after which I bought two pairs of jeans and two shirts at the Gap – they are having a huge sale – on the sale the jeans were 19.99 and the shirts were around 7.99, but when you bought for of the sale items they took another 30% off, so as you can imagine the whole thing was barely more than a meal out. After that, I paid a visit to my favorite bookstore, Mystery and Imagination. I must say, Glendale was like a ghost town. I hung out there for an hour and they’re very excited about the new book – apparently the series does well there and, in fact, they have a Hofstetter display right in the front of the store. After that, I came back to the City of Studio and decided that I had to satisfy my craving for California Pizza Kitchen, so I went and had their yummilicous penne with sausage and peppers. Now, I’d always assumed the calories in this dish were huge, but here’s what I didn’t know – starting on July 1st, restaurants now have to list the calories in every dish. I had no idea that law had passed, but there on the CPK menu were all the calories. So, imagine my surprise and delight to find that this dish, which is very filling, has just over 1000 calories in it. Since that was going to be my main meal o’ the day, and since I’d jogged, that was great news. Another interesting thing was that most of their pizzas are only 1200 calories for the six small slices – not too bad. The spinach artichoke dip is 800 calories, which, for an appetizer, is pretty bad, but not if you split it with someone. After my spot of lunch, I came home and did some stuff on the computer, then shaved and showered and toddled off to the 4th of July partay at Tony Slide and Bob Gitt’s home environment.
It was the usual delightful array of guests, and Tony and Bob are wonderful hosts. There was a lot of food, but I only had a taste of the Chinese chicken salad and boy was it good. I spent most of my time there conversing with my pal, composer John Scott. He told me he’s finishing up recording his score for Greystoke, which he’s been recording on and off for some time. It’s a great score and I’ll be very much looking forward to its release. Also in attendance were Norman Lloyd, Jack Larson, Marsha Hunt, Kevin Thomas (pontificating to Mr. Lloyd about – wait for it – Madame Spivy, who I went on at some length about on this here site quite some time ago – had I been in closer proximity to their table I would have chimed in with some facts they weren’t quite getting right), and lots of other really nice folks. Cousin Alan and Dee Dee were not there. After that, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on Blu-Ray and during the intermission after motion picture one I took a chair outside and watched the CBS fireworks show, which looked very nice even from my street. The first motion picture was entitled Dark City, starring Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, and Jennifer Connelly. I saw this film only once before, when it came out on DVD. It’s a strange film, but I liked it back then and I still like it. It’s got very interesting ideas, good direction, and the performances are all very good. Not a brilliant film, but, like The Thirteenth Floor, with which it has a few similarities, an enjoyable one. The Blu-Ray looked swell.
The fireworks were colorful, but only lasted about ten minutes. I’m sure they were more exciting up close and personal, but I love fireworks and so I had fun sitting on my chair watching them.
I then watched the second motion picture, which was entitled Kill Bill, Volume Two. Like Dark City, I’d only seen this film once, when it came out on DVD. I didn’t care for it much, and didn’t think it came anywhere near volume one. But seeing it now, it’s just a different sort of film, with none of the kinetics of the first film – once you accept that then it works much better. There’s a lot more talk and some of it is fairly endless in that Tarantino way, but there were some terrific sequences and I enjoyed it a lot more than the first time I saw it. The Blu-Ray was terrific.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because today is a real day of rest and I want to get to the bedroom environment so I can get me a wonderful beauty sleep.
For some reason, I’m very used to celebrating the 4th of July on Sunday, but never on Saturday. So, today feels like it should be Monday, not Sunday, and yet it is Sunday, not Monday. As noted in the notes, I shall be having a restful day – I’ll do the long jog and I’ll eat something amusing and I’ll watch motion pictures and listen to CDs, and that’s about it.
Tomorrow, I have to package up some more orders and get them to the post office, and I have to do some work at the piano, but it shouldn’t be too hard a day. Then on Tuesday, it’s back to work full force, with a book to be designed, a new Kritzerland release to be announced, meetings and meals to be had and stuff like that there. On Friday night, I may venture down to the Aero Theater in Santa Monica to see West Side Story in 70mm. We shall see.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, eat, relax, and do nothing whatsoever except that which pleases me. And what pleases me is that whatever I choose to eat, should it be in a restaurant I will now know the calories and can count accordingly. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I count my calories instead of sheep.