Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon. So, let’s just talk about the late birthday dinner at Ruth’s Chris in Woodland Hills. In LA, I’ve only been to the Beverly Hills location. I spend little time in the Hills of Woodland and never have, save for the early 1970s at Topanga Plaza. The reason for that was, at one point, in There’s Mel, There’s Woody, and There’s You, but Muse Margaret thought it best to not have it as it was impeding the progress of the story and was not germane. So, I thankfully didn’t run into much traffic and got there about six o’clock, forty-five minutes early. This was the mall that’s south of Topanga Plaza and I believe there was once a couple of movie theaters there that have now become one of those huge AMC things. I parked near the Macy’s, bought a birthday gift for mom Karen Staitman, whose birthday was a couple of days after mine, and then went looking for Ruth’s Chris. This mall was like a ghost town – most of the stores were either shuttered for good or closed after six. There were virtually no people walking around. And the oddest thing of all was a Crown Books – I really didn’t think there were ANY Crown Books left. There was an ill-attended food court near the AMC theater complex. And Macy’s was the only department store and that was split into two completely different parts of the mall, with the furniture part near Ruth’s Chris. Once I found the restaurant I realized I’d parked way too far away, so since I still had some time, I moved the car close to Ruth’s Chris.
Whereas the mall had been empty, Ruth’s Chris was jumpin’, as was the other nearby jernt, Maggiano’s. The Staitmans actually arrived as I was still sitting in my car and they knocked on my window. In we all went and were seated about five minutes later. The Woodland Hills branch is more than double the size of the Beverly Hills location and it was pretty much filled to the brim. The service was excellent and attentive, just like Beverly Hills. We all knew what we wanted and we were all hungry so we ordered right away. Sami and her mom split the New York steak and both had Caesar salads. Sarah had the rib-eye steak and a Caesar and I had the New York and what in essence is their dinner salad with 1000-Island dressing, among the best 1000-Island dressings in the city. Salads arrived and we all dug in, and soon thereafter our sizzling-in-butter steaks arrived with our side dishes of lobster mac-and-cheese and lyonnaise potatoes. Everything was up to their high standards, but I’d give a slight edge to the Beverly Hills location, but only slightly slight. Oh, and the bread – the bread is incredible as is their butter. One could just eat that and be very happy.
After, they brought Karen and I some kind of small cheesecake thing for our birthdays – very good, and Sami and Sarah shared the crème brulee. For Karen’s gift I’d bought my favorite perfume – actually the toilette stuff – Givency Very Irresistible. Sami opened it and tried some on her wrist and she absolutely loved it, as did Sarah. I suspect they’ll all be using it. It’s an interesting perfume and fragrance – it’s amazing on some and not so amazing on others. Happily, it worked its charms on the Staitmans. We all had a grand time and then I headed home. Here I am with the kids.
Prior to that, I’d gotten almost ten hours of blessed sleep. The huge, biggest rainfall in over a decade, turned out to be just another instance of weather hyperbole as always mis-predicted for Los Angeles. The storm from up north yielded not an inch of rain per hour, but a total of about ninety minutes of rain and maybe a half an inch. Yeah. Once I was up, the sun was already out. I spent a relaxing day at home. I did some work on the computer, had a few telephonic conversations, did a bit of writing, and we happily got our first really large donation to the indiegogo campaign, with someone taking advantage of being a listed associate producer. I then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched the screener of Birdman, starring Michael Keaton. The director is a flavor amongst today’s with it crowd, but I have never liked his films, at least the two that I’ve had to sit through. Birdman looked intriguingly pretentious from its trailer but I was interested to see it. It’s one of those movies like Being John Malkovich or that type of thing, that’s so consumed with its own being and cleverness and trying to be arty and different that it eventually just becomes trying on one’s patience, at least it did for me. There are good moments here and there and the actors are all good, including a terrific performance from Mr. Keaton. Knowing the actor’s branch of the Academy, Keaton will definitely be nominated and most likely win, but I think he’ll have some competition from Mr. Cumberbatch and Mr. Redmayne. But it’s the kind of showy performance by an actor who hasn’t really been visible for some time, and they love that stuff. The direction is gimmicky – basically it wants you to believe the film was shot in one long take with no edits – the edits are there and carefully and digitally disguised. It’s bravura, sure, but it also robs a filmmaker of his greatest tool – montage, the ability to reinforce the importance of certain emotions and moments by cutting. So, the bravura just becomes tiresome at some point because you know what you’re getting and there are no surprises. The critics have mostly fallen all over themselves loving it, just as they do for every one of these types of movies. It’s not going to set the box-office on fire, but it’s enjoyable on certain levels and if you like this sort of fare you might like it a lot. The “score” has, amusingly and predictably, been nominated for a Golden Globe award. The original part of the “score” consists only of improvised drumming. That’s it. There is other music and maybe the idiots for the foreign press think the listed “composer” wrote the pieces by Rachmaninov, Faure, and Mahler. I’m sure they did, actually. We’ll see if the Academy falls for it, too.
Today, I shall eat breakfast, do some errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’m doing nothing else but watching the remaining screeners (Wild and Boyhood) and them maybe a Blu-ray or two.
Tomorrow I have a nine-thirty breakfast meeting (I won’t be eating anything other than an English muffin, probably), then I’m seeing a screening of Into the Woods at Disney, and then supping with our very own Kay Cole and Michael Lamont. Next week is busy but then I’m taking the rest of December to myself.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, maybe do a jog, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are the most interesting malls you’ve ever been to? And what were your favorite places to shop before there were malls? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have been to the mall and Ruth’s Chris last evening. I suppose you could say it was A Mall and the Night Visitors. We don’t allow groaning here at haineshisway.com.