Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry because I must be up early for my appointment to be coifed by Teddy. Coifed by Teddy – that’s the title of my next novel. There are two things afoot or, at the very least, two things ahand. One thing is that somehow this is the final day of August. How did that happen? Tomorrow will be September and it is my fervent hope and prayer that September will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. The second thing that’s afoot is – now I’ve forgotten what the second thing that’s afoot is. I hate when that happens. There were two things afoot and while I was telling you what the first thing afoot is the second thing afoot disappeared from the windmills of my mind. Oh, well, perhaps it will come back to me at some point.
I had the relaxing day I needed yesterday. I woke up at six-thirty for reasons unknown to me, and the gardener was here at seven to replace two broken sprinklers – or one broken sprinkler and one stolen sprinkler. Why would anyone steal a sprinkler head? They had to come through the front gate to do so and it just baffles me. Are sprinkler heads so rare or so expensive that some idiot has to steal one? Or maybe it was a wild kid. Anyway, I fell back asleep around seven-thirty and slept until 11:45. I did some work on the computer, had some telephonic calls, but mostly just traipsed around the home environment doing a little cleaning and putting things in their place. Oh, I just remembered the other thing that’s afoot: Los Angeles is having a horrid heat wave. It is absolutely unbearably hot and sticky and it’s time to be over. It’s still about eight-five outside. And then there’s Annette’s daughter’s dogs – the most obnoxious little icky dogs ever. They are allowed to sit at the back fence, where they conveniently put in a little place they can see out of at the bottom, and they just sit there and bark all day and all night. They’re barking now, their pathetic little barks and it is quite irritating, but we all know that Annette’s daughter is entitled and doesn’t have to take care of her yapping dogs. Annette’s Daughter and Her Yapping Dogs – that’s the title of my next novel.
At around two I went and had a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich and no fries or onion rings. Then I picked up one little package, after which I came home. I spent the rest of the afternoon listening to our next three releases – very diverse these next three releases are – couldn’t be more diverse and therefore we shall call them Three Diverse Releases. Late in the afternoon I did a three-mile jog – just so difficult when it’s so yucky out. Then I planked and did thirty sit-ups, after which I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching the Blu and Ray of the Baz Luhrmann film of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The only other version I’ve seen was the Robert Redford/Mia Farrow version from the mid-1970s, which I just saw recently. I keep reading how terrible that version is and how it’s not that true to the book, and yet the new version has all the story beats from the old version and frankly I didn’t see that much difference, story-wise. The characters are presented differently so maybe this new one is closer in spirit to the book, but I’ll take the other version frankly because it is not an assault on my senses. It has real production design, real art direction, real photography and actors I like. The new version has CGI, more CGI, and then some CGI. It’s too much – there isn’t a real thing in the movie – why even have a cameraman listed when it’s all CGI and any real camerawork is then completely manipulated in post-production in terms of color and everything else. I don’t think there’s a frame of this film that hasn’t had some color timer doing his thing on each and every inch of it. What results is a completely artificial world – instead of evoking a different time and place as the 1970s version does, it just feels phony. And, of course, Mr. Luhrmann cannot take even one minute to just simply tell the story – it’s all pyrotechnics and the characters just get lost in the shuffle. Even the simplest scenes are overscored and overcut.
The actors are all of today’s breed and just not my cuppa. At least they speak up for the most part, so that was nice. But no one really looked like they lived in their clothing or their surroundings – it just didn’t feel organic. The pace was obviously fine because Mr. Luhrmann keeps it all moving like a freight train. I wanted to like it, but in the end all the phoniness just kept me from being involved – that, and the anachronistic and ridiculous use of today’s pop music. A terrible idea and, for me, it makes the movie a travesty. But that’s what Mr. Luhrmann is all about – showing off, excess, and attention-getting “DIRECTION.” The transfer, as you’d imagine, looks very good. I have no idea how the 3-D works and I just don’t care about 3-D at all.
After that, I did some more clean up and put more things away and that was about it.
Today I shall be up early and then I’ll mosey on over to be coifed by Teddy. I’ll then come home, hopefully pick up some packages, then some of our cast comes at two so I can assemble The Yiddish Sondheim number, and then we begin our stumble-through at three. After, I’m sure I’ll run some stuff again, and then I’ll make the decision about the one song that I may or may not lose. If I don’t lose it, then I have to write an intro for it and rearrange the patter order. If we do lose it, then my original order stands and the patter is fine as is. Then some of us will probably have a meal, and then I’ll jog in the early evening.
Tomorrow, I shall also be up early as that’s the only time I’ll have to jog. Then we have our sound check at 12:30, and then our first show is at three. Then we have an hour break, then they open the doors for the evening show at 5:30. I’m not going to eat before the first show, and I’ll have my beloved artichoke before the second show, then we’ll all go to Little Toni’s after so I can have a real meal.
Monday is, of course, a holiday, so I’m hoping to sleep in, do no work, and then I’m attending a Labor Day bash at neighbor Tony Slide and Bob Gitt’s home environment. The rest of the week is casting the next show, choosing the songs, gathering up the music, and prepping our next release.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be coifed by Teddy, hopefully pick up some packages, have a stumble-through, eat, and jog. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite movie adaptations of novels, the movies that just get it right? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland after which I shall be coifed by Teddy.