Well, dear readers, the big weather news is that we almost had rain. I think maybe we had twenty-five seconds of drizzle, but we almost had rain. The sky was gray all day but the rain never came. That was actually good since I’d just had the motor car bathed. Otherwise, it was a somewhat relaxing day in which I somewhat relaxed. Of course, I was awakened at nine by the ringing of the doorbell device – she of the Evil Eye had arrived. I had managed to just get eight hours of very needed sleep. I had intended to jog, but I didn’t want to go jog two miles only to have it rain. So, I answered e-mails and then went and had some bacon and eggs. After that, I did some errands and whatnot, picked up an important envelope, did some banking, then came back home. Since I was fairly intent on doing no work, I just sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Hunger Games. I haven’t read the books (I have them all in first edition), but I’d have to imagine to have the immense popularity they have that the first one, at least, is better than the film, although the film is co-written by the lady who wrote the books. It’s fascinating what catches on these days with readers, what with this series and the Twilight series. It seems if you have a young girl in her late teens as the heroine and if it’s about empowerment or that sort of thing, then you have a real shot. Certainly in the film I found not one thing that was unique – not one story point (we’ve seen all of this many times), not one character, not one idea. So, why this and not one of the many others that are similar? Go know. I will say that I found most of the film incredibly irritating in terms of style, with all that ridiculous shaky-cam during many scenes, and way too frequently no shot lasting more than four seconds. You know, if you have a good yarn to tell you don’t really need to tart it up like that, Mr. “Director.” But this is a director with three films to his credit as director. And if you look at his other two films you will clearly see that this “director” simply does whatever is currently popular. Therefore Pleasantville looks like every other movie of its year, as does Seabiscuit of its year, in terms of those kinds of films. Here he’s trying to be hip and failing because hip of today doesn’t really work for stories set in the future. Why not come up with something unique visually? But that would require actual thought and producers, directors, and studios willing to take that chance. Whether one likes or hates Blade Runner, its director came up with a visual language for that film that was unlike any other that year. All great directors do it. They don’t rely on taking the same boring scene from sixteen angles so you can cut from close-up to close-up to closer-up to slightly close-up from slightly behind to close-up from the other side – it’s a joke. Tell the damn story. If two characters are talking, frame them interestingly and let them TALK. Radical, I know. The great directors know how to move actors around in the frame and how that relates to things in the scene. But these guys just look at what’s hip and do it, hence the reprehensible use of the shaky-cam. And what’s funny about its use is that it has no consistency. If you’re going to do that crap the DO it. But this guy does it for twenty minutes, then he doesn’t do it for twenty minutes, then he does it again – in other words, there’s no point. And the film runs two hours and twenty minutes and yet you learn nothing about any character. There is, however, running. Running we get plenty of. The young actors are all fine in that young actor way of today – everyone looks like everyone else, and the director is so bad in the way he shoots action scenes that you never know who is doing what to whom. That’s especially true at the end. Worse, all the young actors sound the same – I mean, do these people all study at the same school? Really, did Cary Grant sound like James Stewart? Did James Stewart sound like Henry Fonda? Did Henry Fonda sound like Humphrey Bogart? Did Bette Davis sound like Joan Crawford? Did Joan Crawford sound like Elizabeth Taylor? Did Elizabeth Taylor sound like Lauren Bacall? I could go on with another two hundred examples, but you get my point. They not only had FACES, they had VOICES. Today everyone looks and sounds the same and I really cannot tell any of these people apart. The transfer is, as you’d expect, excellent, as is the sound. The score by James Newton Howard is exactly what you’d expect from a “today” score – pad, thumping drums, sudden Irish-like violin music (I don’t recall seeing much Irish in the film) – like the direction, there is just no point to the music. It lies on top of everything like so much fish. Great film music can help add depth to films that don’t have it in the writing. But not these days.
After that, I went to Gelson’s and did something I hadn’t done in a ‘coon’s age. I bought a pound of very lean ground round, some pre-made taco shells, a tomato, an onion, and low-fat grated cheddar cheese, and then I came home and made three tacos. I used half the meat, which is only four hundred calories, so it wasn’t too too bad, even though I’d not only eaten bacon and eggs, but I’d been a very bad boy and Googled “best donut – San Fernando Valley” and come up with fifty recommendations for a donut shop called K’s Donuts on Ventura Blvd. and Beverly Glen. Since I was going that way to frame a piece of art, I went there and was amazed and delighted to find that had a donut filled with whipped cream, with a smear of chocolate on top of the donut. I hadn’t seen a donut filled with whipped cream since the late 1970s and I used to love them. So, I got one of those and an apple fritter and both were superlative. But starting today, for the next two weeks I eat under 1200 calories and either jog or walk every day. I must lose twenty pounds by December and by gum and by golly and buy bonds I will.
After my tacos, I started writing my contextual commentary for the next Kritzerland show. That’s always very slow going, since each introduction has to be researched. So, I did half of it and that took almost two-and-a-half hours. Then I took a nice, relaxing shower and just played on the computer. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall jog, I shall finish writing the contextual commentary, I shall eat something under 1200 calories, I shall do a few errands and whatnot, have a meeting, and relax.
Tomorrow, I have Dr. Chew for my teeth cleaning, and I think I have a couple of meetings, but naturally I haven’t written them down – hopefully someone will remind me. Tuesday night I’m seeing The Book of Mormon, and the rest of the week I will finish casting the upcoming episodes of Outside The Box, book the shoot dates, have meetings and meals, and the helper will also be back and will be shipping out a LOT of CDs on Tuesday, including The Rains of Ranchipur and The Geisha Boy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, finish writing the commentary, eat, do errands and whatnot, have a meeting and relax. 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 postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream with visual style.