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November 10, 2015:

NOMINATIONS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, it was a lovelier than lovely anniversary day yesterday here at haineshisway.com. It began with all your lovely postings, and then I got word that we were nominated for several LA Broadway World awards, including a best director nomination for li’l ol’ me for Inside Out, a best production of a musical (local) for Welcome to My World and Inside Out, one for the Kritzerland shows, a nomination for Sandy Bainum for the club act based on It Might Be Fun, Alby Potts for Best Musical Direction, and four of our Inside Out actresses were nominated for featured actress in a musical. I think that was it. So, yes, after the nominations it becomes strictly about who can get all their friends, families, and colleagues to vote for them – a popularity contest. It’s very hard to win if you’re up against a large-cast show with a large creative team, a theater company with many subscribers contacted, and so on – serves me right for writing a one-girl musical. Anyway, we know we have a lot of dear lurkers here so if you’d like to go vote and give us some traction, here is the link. It’s pretty simple and the categories you want are: Best Female Cabaret Artist, Best Direction of a Musical (Local Production, Best Musical (Local Production), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Local Production), Best Musical Direction (Local Production, and finally Best Special Theatre Event. So, vote, and maybe we can just pull off a miracle.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/vote2015region.cfm

Other than that, yesterday moved along at a steady clip. I got a little under eight hours of sleep, the interim helper came by, and then I had a pastrami sandwich on the rye bread for lunch. I then picked up no packages or mail and came home. I did some futzes on the new song, got all the singers they’re music, and caught up on a bunch of other stuff. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on the Flix of Net, another William Friedkin thing I hadn’t seen, this one entitled The Hunted, starring Tommy Lee Jones. It’s a rather ordinary film but as usual with Friedkin, it’s very well directed in terms of its style. The script is the problem, or the editing because it’s like a Reader’s Digest film – it seems they left out some important linking stuff. Characters appear when they can’t possibly have gotten to where they appears as fast as they did – the best example of which is when Mr. Jones gets tossed in a river, gets washed at least a mile or two away, gets himself out of the river, and there’s the guy who tossed him. Really? The whole film is like that. I enjoyed it for the nice camerawork, but that’s about it.

I then watched another motion picture, this one entitled Elevator. If you take away the end credits and the five-minute main titles, this film runs about seventy-two minutes – seventy-two minutes that seems longer than Lawrence of Arabia. It’s meant to be a suspenseful thriller about nine people trapped in an elevator on their way to a penthouse party on Wall Street. Okay, I’ll buy that premise. But right away we know what we’re in for, when it takes about ten minutes to fill the elevator with the characters. Yes, they hold the elevator until it is conveniently filled up. One of the characters has a bomb, we later find out. One of the characters, a comedian named George Axelrod (I’m not making this up, you know) is claustrophobic. Another is pregnant (and by a person in the elevator who is with his fiancé, a TV news reporter – I’m not making this up you know). We also have the CEO of the company and his horrid little granddaughter. We have the person with the bomb – not hard to figure out since we’re basically introduced to this person in a way that makes it plain, an inept security guard from Iran (the comedian makes plenty of obnoxious terrorist comments), a heavyset man with the worst goatee ever – is that nine? Anyway, on the way to the penthouse, the comic is complaining loudly about his claustrophobia and wishing the elevator would go faster. The spoiled granddaughter taunts him by opening the little thing where the “stop” button is – and she pulls it. I’m not making this up you know. They push it back in, but the elevator won’t move. It’s stuck. Along the way, the claustrophobic comedian seems not to remember he’s claustrophobic anymore, the pregnant woman admits she has to pee all the time and then pees in her purse (I’m not making this up, you know), and it just goes on and on. No help ever arrives, even though they’ve all called 911 and the emergency thing in the elevator. It’s beyond unbelievable – it’s like an Ed Wood movie, but not as good. The only actors of note are Shirley Knight and John Getz, and they do their best not to embarrass themselves by spouting some of the worst dialogue ever written in the history of film. The other actors all give career-ending performances, none more so than the actor who plays the claustrophobic comic, George Axelrod. Is there suspense. Not one or two whits. Is there drama? None. The little girl is right out of Willy Wonka and later, when she’s in shock and mumbling, “It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault,” you just want someone to slap her across the face and say, “Yes, it IS your fault, you little creep.”

Now, when you’re making a film that basically all takes place in an elevator, you want it to feel tight and enclosed, yes? And yet, this “director” has made the film in SCOPE. Yes, you heard that right and I’m not making this up, you know. Worth watching to see just how pathetic a film can be. Someone, some idiot, actually read this script and said, “Yes! Let’s make the movie.” At the end, when it’s finally over, the film fades to a view of the skyline of New York. It holds on that for about forty endless seconds and then – it fades to black and the credits roll. And yes, there are people defending this pile of manure on the imdb.

After that, I listened to music, took a shower, and relaxed.

Today, I shall make a show order and maybe even start writing my commentary, and we also still need a guest star. I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll continue futzing with the new song, I’ll do some writing, and then I’ll relax.

The rest of the week is much the same – I’m having a lunch meeting with Kay Cole on Thursday, I believe I have one or two things to see, although I really can’t remember, and I’m not sure what all is happening on the weekend.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, make a show order, write some commentary, find a guest star, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of William Friedkin. I really like Boys in the Band, The French Connection, The Exorcist (not one I watch very often, but it’s really well made), and I don’t hate Sorcerer. I like some of To Live and Die in LA, and I liked his work on Jade. He’s had a really odd career. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had some nominations. Now, go vote, please.

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