Well, dear readers, those excellent vibes and xylophones seem to be working so keep ’em coming. At some point yesterday my scratchy throat all but disappeared so I’m hoping that will be that. I still don’t have all my usual energy but hopefully that will come back soon. I was awakened by the ringing of the telephonic device and I had a brief conversation with the caller, after which I fell back asleep for another two hours. By that time, the morning was all but gone. I answered e-mails and then went to have a sandwich and onion rings, not necessarily in that order. Let me pause there to tell you something about The Driver as Idiot. Something is clearly wrong with drivers now – they have simply lost their sanity, whether texting while driving, yakking on their phones without benefit of speaker or earpiece or yakking with those. They are completely unaware of what’s going on around them, and when they realize they are in the wrong lane they don’t stop texting or yakking, they simply swerve over to get in the lane they need to be in. Yesterday a car almost got creamed because of such an idiot and yet the idiot was blithely unaware of what she’d done. And I’ve had people cut in front of me, then go ten miles an hour, I’ve had people cut me off, I’ve had people swerve over the line – and here’s what happens when I honk to alert them – they go berserk. They act like I had no right to honk and that they had every right to drive like a complete idiot. One guy rolled down his window and began screaming at me, asking me what my problem was. I rolled down my window and told him that it wasn’t good to cut people off by swerving in front of them with no warning. He then got threatening (and meanwhile was holding up an entire line of cars waiting to turn right). I suggested he move on, and when he didn’t I pulled out my iPhone and told him I was calling the police – that apparently got through to him and he screeched his wheels and turned right and sped off like the stinking jerk he was. And that’s not the only time that exact same thing has happened. One has to honk or one will get creamed. But these useless pieces of scum think they have the right, that they are entitled to do anything they damn well please in their motor car, other drivers be damned. One such cretin actually opened the door of his car as if he was going to get out. I seriously contemplated stepping on the gas and removing the door of his car, which is what he deserved. Thankfully, another driver saw what was going on and began yelling at the idiot who then got back in his car and drove off. It’s sadly typical of the world in which we live and all I can say to such people is, “People, you can kiss my sixty-four year-old ASS.”
End of rant. Then I picked up no packages and an important envelope, then did some banking. Then the helper had to go to the mail place because two boxes of stuff came in, so she brought them to me. Those boxes contain the little extra something that will come to the first thirty or so people who ordered the book. I then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures on Blu and Ray. The first motion picture on Blu and Ray was entitled My Week With Marilyn. Before the movie began, I was subjected to two disgustingly awful trailers – may I just say how disgustingly awful trailers are today – we finally got past that stentorian voice type of trailer – “In a world…” – but now we have a line of dialogue, then text, then quick scenes, then text, then another line of dialogue, all accompanied by awful, droning music. Every one of these things looks and sounds the same. And these two in particular were really awful – something called W.E. directed by Madonna. Yes, directed by Madonna – and it looks like it’s directed by Madonna. And let me tell you how I never need to see a movie directed by Madonna, nor do I need to see a movie featuring Madonna, nor hear a CD by Madonna. The next trailer was worse: William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, starring Ralph Fiennes. Directed by Ralph Fiennes in the style of – Gladiator. What is wrong with the people who are green-lighting what will surely be complete box-office disasters? It’s appalling.
By comparison, My Week With Marilyn was okay. Not great, but okay. The actors were all fine, although there was only one Marilyn and while Michelle Williams is very good, Marilyn she’s not. I found the direction typical of a today film – the inability to just put the damn camera down and tell the story. Every camera pan is accompanied by a low “whooshing” sound, every camera flashbulb sounds like World War II, every door closing is huge. There are also some rather silly and pointless errors – watching Heat Wave from There’s No Business Like Show Business in the ratio of 1.85 rather than Cinemascope – how hard is it to know that film was in Cinemascope? I thought Kenneth Branagh had Olivier pretty down and the young boy was fine. The whole thing was okay – not bad, not great. Transfer was excellent.
I then watched the second motion picture on Blu and Ray, which was entitled The Adventures of Tintin. I really don’t know how I feel about this whole motion capture thing, but I find it oddly distancing and somewhat pointless. It’s really well done, of course, and looks great, but I just couldn’t get with it and it tired me out with its relentless pace. It’s funny to me that War Horse got knocked for its relentless use of music (I did not agree with that criticism – I thought the music was used just right), but Tintin, which does have wall-to-wall music got by without so much as a tiny criticism. By the end of it I was just glad it was over. Certainly if it had been twenty minutes shorter it would have been better. Here’s the funny part – for the first forty minutes I sat thinking this really doesn’t look good – how could they muck up a transfer of a digital film in 2012. At one point I paused the film to get a drink. I ended up looking at some e-mails and about seven minutes later the TV shut off. Now, the only time it does that is with DVD, not with Blu and Ray – with the latter it just stays on pause as long as you’re gone, whereas with DVD it shuts itself off. Why, I know not. I went back and sure enough, I’d put in the DVD rather than the Blu and Ray. Why? Because the idiots who packaged this combo put the Blu and Ray on the LEFT under a slip of paper for the digital copy. So, when you open the package you ONLY see the disc on the right and unless you have a magnifying glass to see the teeny-tiny DVD logo you’d never know it was not the Blu and Ray. Ridiculous. So, I switched to the Blu and Ray and suddenly the transfer was as it should be – spectacular. Not my cup of tea, but for those who like this sort of thing, it’s certainly a good-looking and sounding movie.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must have another good night’s beauty sleep and hope I awaken feeling all better.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep. Then I shall do some errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up a package or three, and then have a Melody rehearsal for a couple of hours, followed by a meal.
Tomorrow, I’m hoping to get some relaxing done, although I have to prep our new release announcement – I think we’re announcing Monday morning – and I have to figure out the show order, but relaxing is a must because next week has turned into an absolutely insanely busy week, with meetings, meals, seeing shows (Spring Awakening, the Callaway sisters), and then emceeing a memorial for LACC teacher Norman Mennes, which I have to prepare for, too. I shan’t have a moment to rest and then it’s right into rehearsals for the Kritzerland show and then, shockingly, it’s going to be April!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up packages, rehearse, and eat. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Mr. Steven Spielberg? And your least favorite? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping I’ll wake up healthy as can be, so keep those excellent vibes and xylophones coming.