Well, dear readers, yesterday there were a few less irritants than the day before, so we’re going in the right direction, irritants-wise. In fact, it wasn’t at all an unpleasant day. I got about seven-and-a-half hours of sleep, got up, got ready, answered e-mails, and then made my way over the hill via Beverly Glen. As one heads south from Ventura Blvd., it’s always slow for about a quarter of a mile, but then it’s pretty easy sailing and it was, all the way down to Pico. I actually got to the restaurant twenty minutes early, so I walked a bit, then walked back. Dear reader Jeanne got there right after I did and we were seated in the room we both like. I was intending to have something different this time, and so was Jeanne, and in the end we both had what we did last time – fish and chips – pretty much the best in LA, with excellent tartar sauce and pretty good fries (and thankfully not too many of ‘em), and you get a teeny-tiny salad, too. We also ordered two biscuits and those were wonderful and VERY heavy. Jeanne invited the older woman who started the restaurant and whose sons run it, over to the table. She was delightful and regaled us of many tales whilst we waited for our food. Once our food arrived, she left, but came back and told us more stories. It was fun. Jeanne and I also yakked up a storm. This restaurant, back in the 60s, was a Mexican restaurant and perhaps my favorite Mexican restaurant ever – Rebozo’s. They had the best tacos anywhere – I was quite obsessed with them. I wanted to put on the time machine belt from Thrill Ride and go back to 1963. That way, we could have tacos at Rebozo’s, then Jeanne and I could go to the Fine Arts and see The Miracle Worker, just as we did back in 1963. I could try to find some first editions of To Kill a Mockingbird to bring back with me, I could visit my house (just before we moved), and then we could go see To Kill a Mockingbird at the Wilshire, followed by Lawrence of Arabia at the Stanley Warner Beverly Hills, followed by either Tom Jones or Dr. Strangelove at the Beverly – both those had long runs there in 1963. And then we could top it all off with dinner at the Kiru, my father’s restaurant. And maybe if the timing was right, we could see Stop the World – I Want to Get Off at the Huntington Hartford. Yes, 1963 would be a lovely year to go revisit. Maybe I’ll write a sequel to Thrill Ride.
After that, I came home via Beverly Glen, with no traffic the entire way, and of course I now live about one minute from Beverly Glen. There were no packages to pick up. Once home, I did some work on the computer, the Levi files went to the printer, I got a couple of our kid singers music and assigned a few more songs – should be finished with that today. Then I girded my loins and did the update to the latest operating system for the iMac – I was two behind. It took about forty minutes, was a breeze, and I like the new features, and it seems to have completely fixed the Mac Mail problems, so that’s good. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture entitled Zodiac, a David Fincher movie about the unsolved Zodiac killer. It’s a long film but a compelling with, other than you know you’re not really going to get a satisfying ending. I’d only seen it once before and didn’t remember a lot of it, especially the excellent but sparse score by David Shire. I just read the notes I wrote about it back in 2007 – and I basically haven’t changed my opinion. Not a great film, but certainly interesting and it does hold one’s attention. But even back in 2007, a decade ago, I spent most of my little writing about it talking about how I hate this “new” crop of mumbling actors, and I especially call out Mark Ruffalo. Well, this time around I still couldn’t understand 90% of what he was saying. Anyway, I didn’t mind seeing it again, and it actually plays a bit better now.
Then I began watching another movie, this one a direct to DVD thing made in 2009, I think – a serial killer movie trying to be Seven and failing miserably. I do like the star, Dennis Quaid, but the film itself is incomprehensible, makes no sense, and it sat on the shelf for almost a year until they went back and reshot a lot of, at which time I’m pretty sure they added the stupid “twist” at the end, which made no sense at all. You could instantly tell the reshot scenes because Dennis Quaid’s hair was different and the actor playing his partner (cops) had shaved his head and his mustache by the time the reshoots happened, so in those scenes he’s wearing a horrible, fake mustache and wig. And in the end, why did they bother with the reshoots – it didn’t help, probably made it worse, and it still went direct to DVD. A true waste of time.
After that, I got the really rough mixes (you can’t even call them that – they were just for me to hear) for Levi – I found two mistakes we have to fix tomorrow – just one spoken line from an actor, and a couple of lines for our Chinese character – but I was happy that this wasn’t the performance where our leading man went up on a lyric in his big song – so that’s not something we have to fix now. Even in this rough form I think it’s going to sound pretty swell, especially when we have in-tune and good playing from the flute and violin. Then I did more work on the computer, relaxed, and kept eating snacks.
Today, I will hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll choose the final three or four songs and make sure everyone has their music, and then I’m having a belated birthday dinner with my friend David Wechter at a classic Valley eatery.
Tomorrow I’ll be at LACC at eleven, and our downbeat is eleven-thirty and it should take less than two hours if everyone is on top of everything. Then I’ll probably grab a bite to eat nearby. Sunday is Doug Haverty’s Christmas partay, which is always fun. I haven’t even sent my invites out for my Christmas Eve Do, but I must do that today – I’m thinking twenty people will be fine, and I’m hoping that Richard and Elizabeth Sherman will be with us – they really want to be and I know it would be good for him.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora and the Wah-Watusi, for today is the birthday of our very own dear reader ChasSmith. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own dear reader ChasSmith. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN DEAR READER CHASSMITH!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully pick up packages, choose the final songs, get everyone their music, and then have a dinner. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, various Kritzerland projects. DVD, screeners (supposedly two coming today). Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, wishing I could journey back to 1963 for a day or two.