Well, dear readers, I think your excellent vibes and xylophones have been working their magic – other than my voice being a little weak, I’m praying that this crud has passed me by. Not quite completely, so keep sending those excellent vibes and xylophones – no time to deal with any kind of illness. I did manage another eleven hours of blessed sleep and doing that two days in a row was really good for me.
Otherwise, I just spent another day doing nothing but relaxing. I did go out and have more chicken soup, a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich and some fries, then came back home, where I continued to relax by sitting on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched yet another documentary, this one entitled False Witness, about the Jeffrey MacDonald case. I must say, I don’t know that I knew anything about it, so I came to this BBC show without prejudice. It’s a fascinating case, and depending on who you listen to, Mr. MacDonald either killed his wife and two children or he didn’t. A jury convicted him of it, but key testimony and evidence was withheld from them. The original military trial ended with MacDonald being found not guilty. It wasn’t until nine years later that he was actually brought to trial in a regular court of law. At some point, MacDonald made a deal with author Joe McGinnis to write a book about his claim of innocence. McGinnis wrote the book, but it was anything but that and MacDonald eventually sued McGinnis – the jury in that suit was deadlocked, but the publisher settled out of court. The book, Fatal Vision, was turned into a highly rated TV movie. But there have been two books since, including a very recent one by filmmaker Errol Morris, that present a very different side of the story and insist that at the very least there were screw-ups in MacDonald’s trial and that newly-found evidence should be allowed to be presented. In 2012, MacDonald went to court and a decision was supposed to come down from that presiding judge, but the decision, almost two years later, has not come down and is still under advisement. The BBC documentary doesn’t really take sides, just presenting both arguments – he did it or he didn’t do it. There are a lot of compelling interviews. It kind of made me want to watch the TV movie, but it’s obviously very skewed to the author’s view. There are many people who feel he did it, but I think there have been way too many instances of juries convicting innocent people who are then incarcerated for decades only to be found innocent (watch Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line for one such example), that perhaps the judge should allow this case to be reexamined.
Then I watched the new episode of Mad Men. It wasn’t quite as good as the previous episode, but it had a few good things. I must say, I HATE the character of Lou, the man whose replaced Don Draper, but it looks like some fireworks are about to happen, given the end of the episode. I think this is the first episode of this season in which we’ve seen January Jones, but those scenes were the weakest in the show, and I find the Meagan scenes a bore.
After that, I just played on the computer. I also tried to turn on my old MacBook Pro, which I do every now and then – but while it seems to turn on the screen stays dark. I know the trick of removing the battery and then putting it back, so I tried that, and that’s when I noticed the battery wasn’t fitting properly – in fact, it looked like it had imploded. So, I ordered a new one (really cheap – I was quite surprised) and we’ll see if that helps. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter, as there’s nothing on there that I don’t have elsewhere.
Today, I need to be up by ten so I can do some banking, eat, and be ready for our first Kritzerland rehearsal. After that’s done, I go directly to the Abner rehearsal. For the hour that I won’t be there, I left instructions with our stage manager to have everyone run the big group numbers, as well as the two or three we haven’t really run since blocking them. That way, when I get there, I can block the remaining seven pages that haven’t been blocked – this I will do quickly, and then we will hopefully have at least two hours to begin our assembly of the show. If not, we’ll begin that tomorrow.
Tomorrow is an Abner rehearsal, as is Wednesday, in which we do a designer run-through, or as much of a run-through as one can do after six days of rehearsal on an immense show like Abner. It will at least give them an idea of the layout of the show. Thursday is our second Kritzerland rehearsal and then an Abner rehearsal, and then Friday is an Abner rehearsal, one of our all day affairs, after which I’m going to some opening night to see a play. Saturday is our stumble-through for the Kritzerland show, and Sunday is sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do some banking, eat, have a Kritzerland rehearsal, have an Abner rehearsal and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Which murder case has been really fascinating to you, where you’ve studied them and have your own opinions about what was what? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall hopefully arise feeling even better and hopefully continue to feel better thanks to your excellent vibes and xylophones and chicken soup.