Well, dear readers, Christmas Day is done and it was a fine old day in many ways. I got over eight hours of sleep, so that was one of the many ways. Then the Darling Daughter, her Darling Husband, and their Darling Dog paid a Darling Visit for three hours. It was grand fun. I made them some spaghetti and they had tuna pasta salad, then some cake and pie for dessert. I had nothing because I was determined to be a very good boy. We laughed and laughed and just when we thought we could laugh no more we laughed again. She made me her yummilicious cherry loaf, I gave her what she likes best, some cash, and we all had loads of lovely fun. Once they were on their merry way, there was about an ounce of spaghetti left so I put some sauce on it and ate that. Then I had some tuna pasta salad. Then I had more tuna pasta salad. Then I had some cherry loaf. Then I had more tuna pasta salad. Then I sat on my couch like so much stuffed fish because I could no longer stand.
Yesterday, I first watched a motion picture on the Flix of Net entitled Compulsion. I saw it when it came out, but have only seen it one other time. It’s quite a good movie with terrific performances from Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell and what seems to be a polarizing performance by Orson Welles – some loving it, some hating it. I liked it fine. And I liked Diane Varsi, too.
Then I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Bullet Train, a motion picture about a bullet train. The plot might sound a bit familiar – a bomb is planted aboard a bullet train and it’s triggered once the train hits a certain – um, SPEED – and then if it drops below that – um, SPEED – then the bomb goes off. Only this Japanese film was made in 1975, many years before the movie – um, SPEED – and it’s hard to imagine the writer hadn’t seen it or at least knew the plot. The two films couldn’t be more unalike, however. Speed moves along at a furious pace and is an action/thrill ride kind of film, and the bomb and premise work better on a bus than on a train. Bullet Train is way too long for it’s own good – two-and-a-half hours long to be exact. There are back stories galore to learn about (all of that was cut when the film originally played here – it ran 105 minutes or something like that), and while it has some suspense and some excellent performances, especially Ken Takakura and a few other easily recognizable faces from the Japanese cinema, it just goes on too long. The transfer is quite nice, I thought, and despite its length, I did end up enjoying it.
After that, I had more tuna pasta salad – can we just say oink and be done with it? I ate all of it because I knew it probably wouldn’t be good today but I’m so bloated it’s sickening – so much for being a good boy, food-wise, but I am here to tell you that for the entirety of this week I WILL damn well be a good boy, food-wise, because I’m sure I gained back a few pounds and those are coming off. Then I listened to music – the wonderful soundtracks to E.T. and Close Encounters, then some Korngold I hadn’t listened to after uploading.
Today, I believe I’ll have a visit at some point in the late morning and hopefully that meeting will not last more than an hour. I’ll eat under 1000 calories, hopefully pick up packages, choose songs, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same – mostly relaxing and getting ready to start a new book on the first day of 2017, as well as a dinner or two and a meeting or two.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a visit/meeting, eat, hopefully pick up packages, choose songs, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite thrill ride kinds of movies? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a very nice Christmas Day that was.