Well, dear readers, this week has flown by, like a gazelle eating three-bean salad. For a while the gazelle was only eating two-bean salad, but the gazelle was feeling adventurous and went for the full three beans. In any case, the workweek is now done and the weekend will be upon us and I, for one, am having FUN this weekend. Oh, I have a few various and sundried things to attend to, but other than that I’m having FUN. And you know what? I had FUN yesterday. Yesterday was a FUN day – there was nothing that was not FUN about yesterday which, by the way (BTW, in Internet lingo) was FUN. I got up early with the intention to jog. However, it was already ninety degrees out and the sun was already beating down mercilessly, even though down had done nothing to the sun. That darn sun. So, I did not jog at that time. Instead, I answered e-mails, printed out a few orders, and then the helper arrived. We did the royalty statement that needed doing, and we did a publishing agreement that needed doing, and got those ready for mailing. Then we did our Costco run. Costco was a little insane, with all those crazy convenience store owners buying their stock. But we took our time and the helper was very good about helping me choose which stupid snacks to buy. I never have any stupid snacks in the house and because of that I always end up going to the convenience store and buying too much candy or ice cream or bad things. So, we bought plenty of stupid snacks and when I say plenty I mean puhlenty. For example, I bought a big thing of those stupid Fruity Snacks that I love. Then we bought a big box o’ Moon Pies in three flavors – chocolate, banana, and something else. Within that big box o’ Moon Pies were four smaller big boxes filled with Moon Pies – these are snack sized Moon Pies and while they are quite stupid they are also quite small and only have 130 calories and 1 gram of fat. That is my kind of stupid snack. Then we bought some sort of stupid granola bar thing that has peanuts and CRANBERRIES and other fruity and nutty bits. Those are about the same calorie and fat gram intake ast the Moon Pies. Then we bought some Rice Krispies treats in assorted flavors. These are also quite small and have only 100 calories per. Then we bought a big vat of Best Foods mayonnaise and a big vat of cucumber salad – the latter has only fifty calories per serving and 0 grams of fat. Also, two huge things of waters and two large packages of Diet Coke. And some beautiful roses (I got the only batch that smelled absolutely great) and that was the Costco Adventure buying stupid snacks. I now have enough stupid snacks to feed a small army or a large pachyderm. The helper then left and I picked up a couple of packages and no mail – I am expecting a piece of mail that I hope will be here tomorrow. I had a sandwich and onion rings for lunch, and then I then did a little work when I got home. Then in the early evening I did a two and a half mile jog. I approved all the packaging for our new release (I hated the way the cover looked, and I finally figured out what to do about it – and my wonderful designer did it perfectly and it’s now quite pleasing to the eyeballs), and then sent it off for approval, which will hopefully come this very day. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a hodge-podge of motion pictures – two on the DVR and one on DVD. The first motion picture ws entitled Hickey and Boggs, starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp. I’d never seen it before and since it was shot in LA circa 1972 I couldn’t wait. Unfortunately, despite a script by Walter Hill, this was one of the most incoherent, awful movies ever. The big problem right off the bat is the director – Robert Culp. His visual sense may be unique, but it’s not good unique – it’s really bad unique, despite the pristine high definition transfer. Yes, it’s shot on wonderful LA locations, but he never actually does a shot that’s wide enough to let you know where the HELL you are. There are a couple of scenes at Pink’s hot dog stand. But he’s in tight and you never even see the sign or the street – I mean, that’s just inept. The action scenes are really poor, staging-wise and action-wise. There are two astonishing shoot-out scenes in which our heroes fire their guns repeatedly, hitting nothing. Ever. And then it’s just over. After that, I watched another motion picture on the DVR, this one entitled The Road to Hong Kong, starring Der Bingle and Der Bob Hope, but not Der Brucer. It was a grand idea to revisit the Road pictures and especially have the brilliant writing/directing team of Panama and Frank at the helm (they did The Court Jester and Li’l Abner). Unfortunately, it’s almost a complete misfire in every way. Most of the gags fall flat as a pancake, and most of the time the boys just look like they’re marking it. There’s a fun little opening number called Teamwork that gives one hope, but then it quickly fizzles because the plot is so unrelentingly stupid. Along the way, though, we get a somewhat amusing scene with a cameo by Peter Sellers, and the brief Dorothy Lamour scene at the end is an example of what the film could have been – because those brief moments really come to life and have some good in-joke laughs. And there’s an amusing cameo at the end with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, who show up and say “we heard you needed an ending.” More of that kind of thing would have helped a lot. The hi-def transfer is great.
I then watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Nathalie. Nathalie is a French motion picture from France, made in 2003 and it was this film that was the basis for Atom Egoyan’s film Chloe, which I raved about here a few days ago. Even though the main plot point remains the same, the two films couldn’t be further apart in tone and everything else. Right from the start, Nathalie makes a fatal error that Atom Egoyan’s version avoids. Where Egoyan’s direction is cool and elegant, the lady who directed Nathalie has no real visual style. The actors are all excellent, but the thing doesn’t really hang together very well – so, this is one case where a recent remake really improves on the original in just about every way. It did have a nice Michael Nyman score that was not dissimilar to the score to Chloe by Mychael Danna.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because the notes should already be up and if I don’t finish them and post them right now I may succumb to another stupid snack.
Today, I shall jog, I shall do a little writing, I shall have a lunch with a photographer I haven’t seen since the early 1980s, I shall hopefully pick up an important envelope and some packages, I shall do some errands and whatnot, and then I shall have a very light supper.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early and also early and bright, so I shall jog and then be on my way to an early lunch with a film composer. After that, I shall have FUN, and then I’m having a light supper with a friend. Sunday, I think, shall be a complete day of rest, other than prepping our Monday new release announcement.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat a lunch, write, hopefully pick up an envelope and packages, do some errands and whatnot and eat a light supper. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, upcoming Kritzerland projects. DVD, the Warners noir set. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I marvel at my houseful of stupid snacks.