Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I shall have to beat a hasty retreat. I do enjoy beating a hasty retreat every now and then because the hasty retreat is completely obnoxious and deserves a good beating. Where was I? Oh, yes, quick notes. I must not dally or tarry or even tarry or dally. I must let the words erupt from my cranium with lightning speed and effervescence. So, tally ho!
Yesterday was a day called Friday. It was quite an okay day – not quite the day off I’d hoped for, but I did relax and smell the roses and the coffee and the Cobb Salad. I got up after a great night’s sleep – boy, did I need that. Then I answered e-mails, did my morning ablutions, had some telephonic calls, and wrote the blurb for our next release, which I then got to all interested parties. I then went and had lunch, which consisted of a cup of chicken soup and a Cobb Salad, which I, of course, smelled. I also ate it all up and it was quite yummilicious. I think by the end of this year I will have sampled almost all of Jerry’s Deli’s menu. As I was finishing up, imagine my surprise to see William Shatner come in with a friend. Who knew he liked Jerry’s Deli. If I had some chutzpah, I would have gone up to him and asked him to appear in an Outside The Box episode. After lunch, I picked up no packages and no important envelope – hopefully the latter will be here today, or there will be hell toupee.
I then came home and had to do about two hours of Kritzerland busywork that I’ve been putting off for months. So, it was good to finally get it done, and then I had to pay an obscene number of bills. Then I did a two-mile jog and then I relaxed for a while. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Rosemary’s Baby. I don’t think it’s much of a secret that I think Rosemary’s Baby the novel is a masterpiece and Rosemary’s Baby the film is a masterpiece. In fact, for me it is the best adaptation of a novel ever done for the screen. The film IS the book. Roman Polanski’s direction is brilliant – it’s one of the best directed films I’ve ever seen, right up there with the best of the best. Every shot is perfection, and completely unique and quite unlike anything that had been seen back then (and the style of the film has been oft imitated since). Polanski and cameraman William Fraker always keep everything slightly off-balance. The performances could not be better – it’s a perfectly cast film from top to bottom. Mia Farrow has never been better or more beautiful and endearing, and John Cassavetes, who was a problem for Polanski occasionally, is just great. And speaking of great, Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer are simply sublime as the Castevets. For me, their performances rank with the best character actors ever, and they each should have won an Oscar. Maurice Evans is also wonderful as Hutch. One simply cannot say enough about the production design of Richard Sylbert and the costumes of Anthea Sylbert. And the icing on the cake is the score by Krystof Komeda (here called Christopher Komeda) – one of the most unique scores ever written and a classic. The best news is that the transfer is great – right from the camera negative and looking practically perfect. Mono sound is crisp and clear and I’m thrilled they didn’t do some fancy-shmancy 5.1 thing. There’s also a terrific featurette made this year, featuring a look back by Robert Evans, Mia Farrow, and Polanski. Highly recommended by the likes of me.
After that, I got all the audio samples for our new release to the web guy. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get as much beauty sleep as possible.
Today, I shall be up bright and early, at which point I shall beat a hasty retreat mercilessly. I will jog, and then do some errands and whatnot, but I have to be back by noon because our stumble-through happens earlier than usual, at one-thirty. Directly after that, I go to Book Soup to do the reading and signing. I truly hope we have some people in attendance or it’s going to be VERY depressing. Then some of us will mosey on over to Genghis Cohen for dinner.
Tomorrow is our sound check, video check, and then it’s show time. I’m thrilled to say that Hal Linden and his daughter will be attending, and I got the good news that we’re only fourteen people away from being sold out. I will, of course, have a full report.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, do errands and whatnot, have a stumble-through, do a reading and signing, and sup. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite performances of Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, and Ruth Gordon? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I’m quite certain I shall pray for Rosemary’s Baby.