Well, dear readers, it was a comedy of errors yesterday, but one with a happy ending. Every year I am invited to sign at the big paperback show in Mission Hills. And every year I do – the why of it is unknown to me since I normally don’t sell books there – all the authors just sign whatever books the fans bring in, and only less than a handful actually bring books for sale. Last year, I totally forgot about the show and only found out I’d missed it when, a week later, I ran into the guy who runs it. I felt very bad. So, yesterday I get up at ten, I answer e-mails, and at about ten-forty the phone rings and it’s Grant Geissman, who says “Why aren’t you here – you’re supposed to be signing in twenty minutes.” I couldn’t believe it – I’d forgotten AGAIN. I got off the phone, took a really quick shower and was out the door ten minutes later. Luckily, I decided to write down the address in Mission Hills because I never remember it or which off-ramp to use. The lucky part was that the show wasn’t being held in Mission Hills for the first time – instead it was in Glendale, a much closer drive, time-wise. So, I noted the address, got in the car, put it into the phone’s GPS and got on my way.
Unfortunately, I entered boulevard instead of road and that took me about five miles out of my way to some house. I got back on the freeway and was at the place about ten minutes later – I should have realized immediately where it was, because they used to have the book fairs at that jernt. So, even with going to the wrong address, I was only twenty minutes late and I got seated. I’d only brought three books with me, knowing I probably wouldn’t sell any of them. The show was quite crowded. I did end up selling one book – Murder at the School Musical, and I also signed several other compilation books for sci-fi films and TV – I guess I’m in them for The Creature Wasn’t Nice/Spaceship/Naked Space. So, I had a very good time. Grant was with me for part of it, and to my left was author James P. Blaylock, who had a lot of people bringing a lot of books for him to sign. I gather he’s in the fantasy genre and quite prolific and that he was one of the pioneers of something called steampunk. A quick amazon search reveals he must have written over twenty-five books. He seemed like a very nice guy. There were quite a few well-known authors in attendance.
After my forty minutes of signing, I then walked around the room, saying hi to some dealer friends and looking at lots of paperback books and even some hardcovers. I did find one thing to purchase, a book called Lollipop from the Olympia Press in France (the same publishers who did the true first edition of Lolita). Lollipop by Maxwell Kenton was rushed to the marketplace within days of the book’s first appearance under its original title – Candy. It was such a sensation and scandal that the French censors confiscated and burned many of the copies – it’s a hugely rare book. Clever Olympia then simply changed the title and got the book out again. Candy, the true first edition, is out of my price range unless I work out a trade with something, but I’ve always wanted Lollipop, and it’s never really expensive, and this was a very nice copy.
I hung out until about 12:45, then I headed over to the Colony Theater to see my pal Lissa Levin’s play, Sex and Educations. This production starred Stephanie Zimbalist. I’d seen a reading of the play and then a production at the Victory Theater that was helmed by Lissa’s husband, Dan Guntzelman. I liked that production very much. This production was directed by someone else and, for me, it wasn’t as good. It’s what I would call a fussy production, more about the director than the play – which includes the blocking, the set design, and the lighting. There is a certain breed of regional theatre director and every time I see a production directed by one of them, they always look the same and have the same vibe. That said, the play is still very enjoyable and has some really nice laughs, and is even a bit touching at the end. Miss Zimbalist, while not a perfect choice for the role, did very well and it moved along quite nicely for its ninety-minute intermissionless act.
After that, I went to have some dinner – I had a chili, cheese and onion hot dog and fries. Then I came home, answered some e-mails, and then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Book Thief. I’d read several really bad reviews and a few middling reviews and had no interest in seeing it whatsoever. Why I never learn the simple lesson that the people “reviewing” these days are utter cretins and idiots who can’t even write a coherent thought and should not be listened to is anyone’s guess. Because guess what? They’re wrong. All of them. As wrong as can be. They are so jaded, these butt cheeks, and all they respond to is the “now” stuff like American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street and anything that suits their tiny little attention spans that need to be filled with rapid-fire cutting and something going on all the time. I can sit through those movies, and even find things to enjoy in them, but I can also sit through a movie that’s evenly-paced and that has a small story to tell that’s not seeped in screenwriting clichés and acting best left to scene work in an acting studio.
The Book Thief is a great motion picture, if you ask me, and I know you do so I’m telling you. You’d have thought by the reviews that it was a bore, a complete misfire, and something to avoid at all costs, made strictly as Oscar bait. The fact that these same cretins didn’t think The Wolf of Wall Street was made as Oscar bait speaks for itself. But The Book Thief probably confused them – because it’s mostly a small film about good people doing good things, and living through a terrible time. Much of what I read criticized the film for not being what these cretins wanted it to be, which I suppose is a serious treatise on the Holocaust like Schindler’s List. Well, cretins, that’s not what the film (or the novel) is about. That’s the backdrop of the story, not THE story. So, once again, we have disappointment that it’s not the story they want. Well, cretins, who gives a crap what you want. Just watch the damn story and take it for what it is, not for what it isn’t. On they went, it had this fault or that fault and it could have been this film or that film. So, here’s the deal – how could this film not be up for Best Picture, and how could Sophie Nelisse, who is thirteen and gives an amazing performance (and yes, a lot more amazing than Sandra Bullock’s in Gravity – I liked her, but Miss Nelisse is in a whole other universe), and how Geoffrey Rush could not have been nominated, well, the dips in the Academy would actually have had to watch the film and it’s clear they did not. It was nominated for exactly ONE Oscar – which it should have but did not win – John Williams’s beautiful score. It should have won because it does what REAL film music is supposed to do – get under the skin of the characters and the drama – to support and help, not be droning pad all the way through. I am ever hopeful that in years to come, long after the cretins are gone and no one even remembers that these people who called themselves critics were reviewing, that The Book Thief will be recognized for the superbly written and directed (by one of the main Downton Abbey directors) and photographed film it is. The performances will stand the test of time. The film does not conform to screenwriting 101 rules, it takes its sweet time but NEVER feels long, and it has goodness at its core and is funny, charming, and ultimately very touching. No, there are no horrific Holocaust scenes – yes, there are horrifying scenes of the Nazi’s doing their business, but it’s not the thrust of the film – those sequences last only moments and take up about three minutes of the film’s 131-minute running time. The film is about relationships and humanity and words, the beauty and importance of words. The transfer is perfect as is the sound. I cannot recommend this Blu-ray and film highly enough. And if you want to see exactly the kind of “review” I’m talking about, Google the film’s title and Stephen Holden. Mr. Holden should not be reviewing film – he is okay as a reviewer of cabaret (predictable in his taste, but okay) but as a film reviewer he is clearly out of his league and frankly out of his mind.
After the movie, I didn’t want to watch anything else, because seeing that wonderful story just left me feeling really happy that movies can still achieve such lovely storytelling.
Today, I shall do a few errands and whatnot, do some writing and prepping, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’m going to a St. Patrick’s Day dinner – I will, of course, wear something green. Yes, it’s St. Patrick’s Day so let’s be all Irish today, shall we? Let’s have a bit of Irish whimsy around these here parts today, shall we?
Tomorrow, I shall NOT wear green. I can’t remember everything that’s going on this week, but I know it’s meetings and meals and work sessions galore, with something going on every day – and I also have some shows to see.
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, be all Irish, and attend an Irish dinner. Today’s topic of discussion: What was your most memorable or unique St. Patrick’s Day celebration? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland happy that the comedy of errors had a happy ending.