Well, dear readers, it was a wonderful first day of a new month and a New Year. In fact, I could not have asked for better. Starting a new book is always daunting. It’s been ten and a half months since finishing Murder at the Masquers and it’s always like you’ve never done it before, like starting for the first time. However, once it begins I get back in the swing of things fairly quickly. It usually takes me a while to let the new book take over my entire being – that’s what happens. The first day is like taking baby steps and I’m always happy if I do between three and seven pages that first day, just seeing what the tone is and where the book is leading me. It’s scary but very exciting. And I was up at nine in the morning and already had the book document open and ready to go. By about nine-twenty I just dove right in. Fortunately, I knew the opening lines already so I got those down and then just plowed forth for the next hour. By the time that hour was up, I’d already done seven pages. And I was having fun already and really getting into the spirit of it.
The helper came by and picked up invoices, and then I did the four-mile jog. The first day of the new month and the New Year was absolutely spectacular, like a beautiful summer day. The jog went well, and I thought of a few things to do differently in what I’d written. When I got back, I finessed those seven pages, smoothing them out, and then made about three pages of additions. I then wrote another four pages – I couldn’t believe it – fourteen pages on the first day. That was some sort of record, but I just was on a roll and having fun and the book was already leading me where it wanted me to go.
I then got ready and was on my way to the New Year’s Day party at Barry Pearl and his ever-lovin’ Cindy’s house. There was already a nice crowd of folks there when I arrived, some of whom I knew and some of whom I didn’t know. I said hi to the ones I did know and I gave Barry and Cindy each a little gift. Then it was to the food table, where I had a small amount of ham, turkey, cole slaw, really great potato salad, and a little bit of poached salmon. All of it was excellent. I forgot Cindy always does an amazing brisket and by the time I remembered I was through eating. I mostly sat and conversed with Kay Cole and her ever-lovin’ Michael Lamont. I don’t see them very often and I like both of them a lot. Many people at the party had been watching the Outside the Box videos, as Barry is very diligent about letting people know about them. The reaction was lovely to hear. I chatted with a few other folks I knew – Ilona Simon-Muller and family, director Sheldon Epps, director Don Petrie, and other nice folks. It was a very festively festive gathering. About two hours in I began to have allergy problems – nothing terrible, but they have a cat and I’d forgotten to take an Alavert, so I left before it got worse.
I then came back home and did some more finessing of what I’d written, then made a few additions, and just continued on. By the time I finished, I’d written twenty-five pages. I think there have only been two other times in all of the books that I’ve written that many pages in a day, but boy did it feel good to do. Of course, until muse Margaret sees them I won’t really know if it’s interesting or fun, but I’m hopeful it is. As I go back and read, it seems to have a flow and a purpose. I have no idea how long this book will be – it could be 250 pages (it won’t be less than that) or it could be 450 pages (I can’t imagine a scenario that would make it longer than that). We shall see. I’d like to write at least ten pages every day, but if I feel up to writing fifteen or even twenty, then by gum and by golly and buy bonds, I shall. I did take a break and sit on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD, one of those homegrown DVD-R things from the Warner Archive. This one was a film I’d never been able to see, although I’d heard over the years that it wasn’t good. The film was entitled Alex in Wonderland. It was the second film of Paul Mazursky, and starred Donald Sutherland and Ellen Burstyn. Filmed in 1969 after the success of Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, it was a time when Hollywood studios and their bosses were flailing like beached whales trying to be hip and with it and cool and tap into the Easy Rider market (Alex didn’t come out until December of 1970). MGM was the worst of the studios in terms of trying to pander to the youth market. They would seemingly hire anyone to do anything, as long as it reeked of hip. Then they’d see what they had, be mortified, and release it perfunctorily, where it would get bad reviews, play a week, and disappear.
Which is exactly what happened to Alex in Wonderland. It’s Mazursky trying to do Fellini’s 8 ½, only Mazursky isn’t Fellini nor does he have Fellini’s vision or screenwriters. So, the film is about a first-time filmmaker who can’t decide what his next film will be. It’s a who cares kind of film. We don’t really care about any of the characters because there’s no real structure or story. There’s a lot of hippie stuff, acid, pot, fantasy sequences, but mostly it’s a lot of talking and not good talking – it all sounds improvised and not improvised well. It’s completely self-indulgent and a trial to watch. The big plus of the film is some wonderful location shots of 1969 Los Angeles. But the interminable and pointless dialogue scenes coupled with the who cares factor just does in the film. The transfer is fine and it’s certainly not an uninteresting artifact of a very different and tempestuous and confused time in Hollywood.
After that, I listened to some music, did a teeny bit more finessing and then got everything ready to upload the new episode of Outside the Box, which will go up directly after these here notes are posted. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am exhausted but exhilarated from my first day of writing and need a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today is still part of the holiday, so I’ll try and be up by nine and writing soon thereafter. Then I’ll do the four-mile jog, then the musical director of the Kritzerland show is picking up the music and we’ll talk about it a little. Then I’ll eat something light but amusing, then write some more. After that I’ll probably watch a motion picture or two.
Tomorrow, it will be more writing, more jogging, hopefully picking up a few packages and an important envelope, more writing, and then our first rehearsal for the Kritzerland show. The rest of the week will be more writing, writing liner notes, writing a contextual commentary, figuring out the order of the Kritzerland show, more writing, our second rehearsal, our stumble-through, and then the show, our first at Vitello’s.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, do the four-mile jog, write, have a visit with a musical director, eat something light but amusing, write, and then perhaps watch a motion picture. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Donald Sutherland films? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland after having posted episode five of Outside the Box.