Well, dear readers, apparently it’s summer. I had no idea it was summer, but since the temperature was in the 90s yesterday, it sure felt like summer. It’s been that way all week. This has caused me an occasional allergy problem, but nothing too too bad bad. Ooh (hoo, spelled backwards), it’s the attack of the repeated words. I love love repeating repeating words words, don’t you? And the fun thing is repeating words in Word, where every time you repeat a word Word thoughtfully underlines it in red, just to alert you in case you weren’t aware that you were doing it. Note to Word: I was aware. In any case, the notes must be posted in eight minutes and somehow I don’t think we’re going to meet that schedule tonight. Not if I’m going to repeat words words.
I must tell you that yesterday was a surprisingly nice day. I did a two-mile jog early on, had a waffle and matzo brei, and then came home, where I had a very nice visit with actress/singer Beth Malone, who’s in the next Kritzerland show. I love Beth because she’s a person who speaks her mind, as am I. She’s not afraid that something might get back to someone – she just says it like it is. I find folks who do that are the most fun to chat with. After she left, I decided to go to The Hollywood Show, just to say hello to Cindy Williams and some other folks I knew. And one of the first people I ran into, very surprisingly, was Ray Courts, who used to put the show on. He gave me the very good news that the show has lost half of its producing partnership, the obnoxious twit that everyone loathed. He suggested I e-mail the now-sole owner and see what’s what, which I may well just do. Today’s show is one I should have done because there were a lot of Nudie fans there, too, having Cindy sign stuff. I even met a couple while I was chatting with her. But the twit wouldn’t even e-mail me back in the past – just totally and reprehensibly disrespectful and there were many celebrities who refused to have anything to do with the creep and his show. Now that he’s gone, maybe it will be fun again. I saw and chatted with the very nice Eddie Mekka and said hey to David Lander, who was next to him. It was hard to tell if David remembered me or not – he’s had a debilitating disease for several years, and he seems to be coping with it and getting out there, so that’s good. I also had a nice little reunion with comic actor Dave Ketchum. I hadn’t seen Dave since the late 1980s – we did an episode of Alice together back in the mid-1970s and we used to see each other at the DGA all the time and were quite friendly. I have to say, I thought he’d passed away, so I was delighted he was there and in good shape. I’m sure he’s in his 80s now. We had a really nice talk. I also saw in passing, Miss Barbara Steele, Brett Halsey, Al Hedison, the Sound of Music kids (including Charmian Carr), timelessly beautiful Julie Adams, Penny Marshall, Leslie Eastabrook, Garry Marshall, Gary Lockwood, Keir Dullea, and a few others. It was actually not so crowded and there were only about sixty celebrities, due to some cancellations. The two shockers for me were Michael J. Pollard who looks really weird (well, he always looked really weird, but now he looks like Yoda), and Miss Tanya Roberts – I played opposite her in her first film and there is no relation between the girl I thought was impossibly cute, and what she looks like now, due to some, how shall I say, really strong facial work.
I saw a couple of dealer friends and ended up staying about ninety minutes. I then picked up a couple of packages and then came home, by which time it was already after four, I think. Since one of the packages contained the DVD of the final six movies that comprise the first series of Wallandar Swedish films, that’s what I knew I was going to watch. And so I sat on my couch like so much fish, where I promptly fell asleep for almost an hour before even hitting the play button.
Last night, I watched movies eight and nine (of thirteen) of series one of Wallander. I’m just completely enamored of this show and its cast. And I do truly love that the storylines of each film are self-contained and don’t spread across many episodes, although some of the personal storylines do. The star, Krister Henriksson, is truly superb and I cannot imagine a better Kurt Wallander ever, although I must admit I’m curious about the earlier Swedish Wallander of Rolf Lansgaard (he made a series of eight films, I think, those all based on the Henning Mankell novels), and even Kenneth Branagh, which I’ll give a spin when I’m finished with all the Swedish ones (I have series two on its way to me). The Branagh films are also all based on the books, while the Swedish series one and two are all original stories by Mankell, but not based on the books, save for the very first, which is based on Beyond the Frost. The two movies I watched were both wonderful. And besides Krister Henriksson, the show is also blessed with the wonderful performance of the late Johanna Sallstrom as Linda Wallander. But it’s beautifully cast from all the regulars down to the smallest roles. And the music is terrific, by Adam Norden. If you have a mult-region player, you can find reasonably priced third-party copies at amazon. It’s well worth it. The production values are also top-notch.
After my viewing, I just played on the Internet and answered some e-mails. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because these here notes should have been posted seventeen minutes ago, and yet here I am still typing away when I need to be getting a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall jog, I shall put some gas in the motor car, buy a cake, and then do a book signing. I’ve chosen the selections I’ll be reading (just three) and I’m just really hoping we have a nice crowd. So, send lots of excellent vibes and xylophones for a good turnout – one never knows with these things, although I think I know there’ll be at least ten people there. After the signing, we’ll have a Melody rehearsal, then dinner.
Tomorrow begins a very busy week, with writing commentary, meals, meetings, rehearsals, recording a STAGE benefit, and doing Melody’s show. Many errands and whatnot to do, a haircut to get, jogging, losing weight and eating soft food.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats (or, in the case of our birthday girl, our Swedish Chef hat) and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks (or, in the case of our birthday girl, the floop), let’s all dance the Hora or the hokey pokey because today is the birthday of our very own dear reader Sandra. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own dear reader Sandra. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN DEAR READER SANDRA!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, put some gas in the motor car, buy a cake, do a signing, rehearse, and eat something soft. 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 hit the road to dreamland, but not before I repeat repeat a few few more more words words.