Well, dear readers, and still it hangs on. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, this damn nasty stomach bug just likes me, it really likes me, and I don’t like it and I’m about to go into Ralph Kramden mode and tell it it’s goin’ to the moon. I’m still nauseous, but I refuse to get weak from not eating for days, so I put food in me and thus far it’s staying in me – I just want the damn nauseating nausea to go the HELL away. There is, however, and upside to the downside, and that is this kind of thing is an effective way to start losing weight. Surely I’ve lost a few pounds because Ye Olde Blue Jeans are starting to feel a little loose, and that’s a good thing.
Yesterday I just didn’t do much of anything. I didn’t get up until twelve-thirty due to not falling asleep until after four. Then I just stayed in bed until two just because I could. Once up, I took a trip to Gelson’s and bought suggested ingredients for the BRAT diet: Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. However, I left off the toast so it’s really the BRA diet. Once home, I ate a disgusting banana (I really do not like bananas), ate some white rice, and had a spoon of applesauce. Not really enough to eat, but I figured if I was hungry I could eat something later in the evening. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish, still nauseous.
Yesterday, I first watched two more Honeymooners episodes, laughed out loud and marveled at the comedy timing of Mr. Gleason, Mr. Carney and Miss Meadows. Then I finished watching Isadora, starring Miss Vanessa Redgrave in one of her greatest performances. It’s certainly an interesting film and Miss Duncan was an interesting person. This version ran 140 minutes and I cannot imagine what the other twenty-eight minutes would have been when the film had its one-week Oscar qualifying engagement in Los Angeles. Before its actual release it was shorn of many minutes, all the way down to 131 minutes, although if you ask me that doesn’t sound right – I had a print of the short version, which was retitled The Loves of Isadora, and I really don’t remember it being longer than two hours. One really cannot trust the imdb on running times. They list the director’s cut at 153 minutes, but what IS the director’s cut and where was it shown – or was it just for home video? And if that was the running time of the director’s cut, what exactly is this 140-minute version. The imdb has done more to confuse movie ephemera than any other source. It’s kind of pathetic, actually. It’s a handsome film, with assured direction by Karel Reisz. It’s well written and the large supporting cast, including James Fox and Jason Robards, Jr. is excellent, as is the score by Maurice Jarre. In an interview, the screenwriter, Melvyn Bragg, said the idea was that the film would be an epic, a woman’s Lawrence of Arabia. I will say that the Russian sequence goes on forever and I would have personally take a large pair of shears to it. In the trivia section on the imdb, some dolt says that Glenda Jackson was nominated for an Oscar for this performance – as I said, pathetic. Miss REDGRAVE was indeed nominated, but lost to Katherine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand. But the nomination was truly well deserved – she is superb as Duncan and spent six months learning to dance like her. The transfer is mostly excellent – during just a few occasions I’d say it leans a little too brown, but mostly it looks really good, I thought.
After that, I decided to chance more food and I went to Jerry’s Deli, which was jammed. I ordered poached eggs in a rye end. I had no idea what that meant, but I found out soon enough. They take the end of a loaf of rye bread, scoop it out and deposit two poached eggs in it, leaving the scooped out bits on the plate. It’s nothing I ever need to try again, and while it was good to eat it, I am currently completely nauseous and hope I just get through the night. I then watched two more Honeymooners, both fairly hilarious, and that was that.
Today, I will again just relax and pray that this damn thing goes away because tomorrow starts a very busy two weeks and I cannot feel like this, period, the end. So keep sending excellent vibes and xylophones. I’ll probably watch more Honeymooners, I’ll hopefully be able to eat something and preferably a sandwich of some sort, then I’ll pick out a motion picture to watch.
Tomorrow I have a lunch meeting and then we begin rehearsals for the Sami show in the afternoon. I have to leave rehearsal immediately and come home to rehearse a little song my friend David Wechter wrote and wants recorded for his archives. So, John Boswell will be here as will three singers. Thursday we’ll start rehearsal a half-hour earlier so I can be at the studio to record at eight. And I want my damn Astroburger so this damn thing BETTER be on the moon by then. Then it’s just more rehearsals and on Sunday we do the thing. Then we immediately go into Kritzerland rehearsals. We’re also shipping White Witch Doctor on Wednesday morning.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, relax, try to eat something, preferably a sandwich of some sort, watch stuff, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the longest period of time you’ve been sick or under the weather? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that the upside of the downside continues (weight loss) but that the downside is gone with the wind.