Well, dear readers, I’ve just finished watching the second episode of the very long Oscar-winning documentary O.J. Made in America. I didn’t really know much about it, other than the slight controversy over the Academy even allowing it to be nominated, since it was made for television. Well, thus far it’s like taking a time machine into the life of Mr. Simpson, from his college football days to his pro football days, to his retirement, and after that, obviously. And all that happens against the background of racial unrest in Los Angeles. It’s very compelling, and seeing some of the shocking footage again – the Watts riots, the Rodney King riots, and other examples of police brutality, especially under Daryl Gates’ regime – is so unsettling and even nauseating. And that goes on both sides of the coin, whether it’s the insane beating of Mr. King or the insane act of pulling an innocent white truck driver onto the street during those riots, and almost killing him, all captured on video. Part two mostly focuses on the King riots and Simpson’s increasingly violent behavior towards his wife, Nicole. Part two ends just before Ms. Simpson’s death. It’s very well done, with lots of interesting interviews and anecdotes. I’m looking forward to the rest.
Yesterday was an okay day, as okay days go. I got seven hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, then we shipped out Rocket to the Moon. I then went and had some chicken tenders, after which I picked up a couple of packages. I then did some work on the computer, which took up most of the afternoon and was so frustrating I wanted to choke a tomato. I’d had the script for the Sherman Brothers musical typed up – he typed it in Final Draft because that’s what the book writer uses. From that, he extracted a Word document. Unfortunately, all the wacko Final Draft formatting came over and was just impossible to cut and paste or do much of anything. The guy who typed it finally had to come over. We extracted a new Word document from the PDF he’d sent. That worked better, but it was still full of weird spacings that weren’t fixable in any way. I figured out some of it, but what a pain in the butt cheeks it was. I’m just trying to get the opening of the show right – after that, I’m just sending notes and the writer can do this stuff. But I’m doing so much rearranging and shuffling for the opening that I felt if I can just present it to them the way I think it will work best, that will be easiest. I suspect it will take most of today to finish the opening sequence. The ONLY respite I had was uploading a three-CD set of Toots Thielmans into iTunes. That was one of the packages that arrived and what a set it is. Mr. Thielmans has been a favorite of mine since I was a young fourteen-year-old. He is one of the greatest musicians who ever lived – no one can play the harmonica like Mr. Thielmans, and he was also very proficient on guitar and he was a world-class whistler, too. This collection, beautifully mastered, runs the Toots gamut from his early career right up to the present.
At some point I made a couple of over medium eggs for my snack, and of course I had some cherry chip ice cream – and later some cashews. I also used the Jacuzzi for the first time in about six months. Then I watched the first two episodes of the O.J. documentary, and then relaxed and listened to more Toots. We still have had no communication with the singer who agreed to do the Kritzerland show which is making me VERY nervous, so if we haven’t heard anything by the time I get up this morning, I’ll have to look elsewhere. What a pain in the butt cheeks.
Today, I’ll either be in contact with the singer or I’ll recast immediately. I’ll work away on the Sherman Brothers script, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and I’ll watch more of the O.J. documentary.
The rest of the week is more of the same, meetings and meals, breakfast with a friend on Thursday, and an opening night to attend on Friday. And the following week I cast Dial ‘M’ for Murder and cast the students at LACC in the Sherman Brothers musical.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work on the script, hopefully hear from the singer or recast, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: When did you leave home? What was the first place you lived in after doing so? And since you were twenty-one, how many residences have you lived in? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping I won’t be too annoyed with the formatting of the Word document as I really don’t want to choke a tomato.