Well, dear readers, yesterday’s topic of discussion brought out some lovely postings about all you dear readers’ favorite crackers. I, of course, was curiously silent on the matter because I was just waiting for a package to arrive – a big package containing six count them six boxes of my favorite cracker, which, frankly, I didn’t think was made anymore. When I was growing up, I suppose we had Saltines in the house and perhaps occasionally Wheat Thins – I was very fond of the latter. But we never had fancy-shmancy crackers, just those two – I don’t know – maybe we had Ritz Crackers, too. Several people listed Stoned Wheat Crackers, but I never got Stoned and therefore refused to go anywhere near those. But in the early 1970s I discovered what would become my favorite cracker – Nabisco’s Chicken in a Biscuit. The cracker was introduced in 1964 and at some point they changed Biscuit to Biskit. I was quite addicted to them all throughout the 1970s – they were really flavorful and the flavor just tickled my fancy, which was a good thing since my fancy enjoys being tickled. But I don’t believe I’ve had Chicken in a Biskit crackers in thirty years. When I was at Costco the other day the helper and I were perusing the crackers and the name suddenly came to me – of course, Costco didn’t have such a cracker, but when I got home I immediately went on the line and Googled it and there it was – and at Amazon. So, I went to Amazon and they sold this thing with six seven-ounce boxes of the cracker. Of course, I ordered it immediately and it arrived on Friday and I picked it up yesterday.
I put two of the boxes in the cupboard. I looked at them several times but was just not ready to try them, because I thought there would be the distinct possibility that time would have tempered my taste buds and that I wouldn’t like them anymore. Finally, in the early evening hours, I opened the box and took out about eight of the small crackers. They smelled exactly as I knew they would. I sat at the computer like so much fish, looked at the small pile of crackers, took one and finally popped it into my gaping, hungry maw. And there was that wonderfully wonderful flavor, just the same after all these years. I was suddenly in cracker heaven. Cracker fireworks went off in my mouth. I devoured the other seven crackers and later I had an additional twelve. For those who have never tried this cracker, it comes highly recommended by the likes of me. And that is my Chicken in a Biskit story.
Yesterday was another night of only six hours of sleep. She of the Evil Eye arrived and I did a two-mile jog, then went and had sausage and eggs and toast, oh my. That was actually quite good, and after I finished, I went to the mail place and picked up three days’ worth of mail – about six packages, including the aforementioned Chicken in a Biskit. My intention for the day was to relax and not do much of anything, and that is what I did. For example, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Fair Game, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. The trailer for it had been on some other Blu-ray I’d watched a few days ago – the trailer began with the ubiquitous “inspired by true events” but the trailer was strictly a paranoid thriller kind of thing about a covert CIA agent whose real identity is leaked by bad people in the Bush administration after her husband writes a revealing story exposing a government lie. You know, the typical “pulse-pounding” music, with little dialogue snippets and rapid-fire editing, making us think we’re in for a woman fighting and beating the system (“I have no breaking point” she says in the trailer, completely out of context and with thumping music and action galore).
I do occasionally enjoy such fodder and it was cheap. I sat there for the first sixty minutes or so wondering when the screenwriters were going to bother getting to the thriller part, the plot, anything. What I was watching was not that. I got so irritated that I paused it and looked it up on the line. And surprise of surprises it was indeed based on a true story and the film was telling it. So, once again, a movie trailer completely deceived its viewers, which is why the film tanked. I really cannot comprehend the inane minds that make these decisions – are they so frightened of their own projects, are they so stupid that they don’t want to stand behind the film they’ve actually made, that they will do anything to disguise what the film actually is, to try and dupe viewers into giving it a big opening weekend before word gets out that the trailer was something wholly other than the film? This happens all the time and every film that it happens to tanks. Will the studios learn? Of course not, because they are run by sheep with no artistic sensibilities and no honesty – they dictate the way a film will be sold rather than just giving the actual film the best shot they can, being truthful in the trailers, well, you know.
Once I realized what it was, I settled down and kind of enjoyed it because it was an interesting story of the usual lies and deceit that go on every day. I like Miss Watts and can tolerate Mr. Penn occasionally. The film isn’t something I’d really recommend unless you’re intrigued by the real-life story of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson.
Then I took a break for a while, listened to some music, ate a tiny bit of salami and cheese as well as some melon balls, and then I decided to do a second jog, this time a mile-and-a-half – so three-and-a-half miles all told. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish again.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Freshman, a silent motion picture with silence, starring Mr. Harold Lloyd. I’m really not up on most Harold Lloyd films, but I did love Safety Last, so I gave The Freshman a chance. I thought it was just terrific and very funny. Unlike Chaplin and Keaton, Lloyd’s character was just a regular Joe and a very appealing regular Joe. His leading lady was also wonderful. The gags are still funny all these decades later. And there’s a wonderful new orchestral score by Carl Davis that’s a winner. The transfer is amazing – this film was made in 1925 but it just looks stunning. There are some short films included, so I’ll give those a look-see.
After that, I just played on the computer, watching various You Tube things, and listening to music.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, and then I’m meeting folks at noon-thirty, having a spot of lunch, after which I’ll be seeing Bye Bye Birdie.
Tomorrow is our first Kritzerland rehearsal, and then the rest of the week is meetings and meals, our second rehearsal, our stumble-through, our sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, eat, see a show, and then 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 topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, with the lingering flavor of Chicken in a Biskit roaming around the windmills of my mouth.