Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, having just heard a wonderful new track for the new musical – I was sent it earlier but I asked for several additions, something I really haven’t done much of with these tracks – he did them and they were great. So, that’s another one down. I eventually may open the song up in the middle to do a line or two of dialogue, as it’s only a minute-thirty in length. We shall see. I’m listening to the last of the Kubelik-conducted Brahms symphonies, as I type this – not sure what will follow but I’ll be sure to alert the media.
Yesterday was a day in which I did not get enough sleep. Of course, I alerted the media. I went to bed at three, woke up at six-thirty thanks to a nasty allergy attack (this has been or horrible month for people with allergies), I took a pill, played on the computer until I stopped feeling weird, then fell back asleep at about eight and slept until ten-thirty – so about five hours of sleep. Then I did some corrections on the chart that later became the track, then it was time for the noon o’clock meeting, which was productive and lasted two hours. After it I alerted the media.
After that, I was quite hungry so I first went and picked up some mail but no important envelope, then I went to Antonio’s and had spaghetti Siciliano – about four ounces of pasta, marinara, and mushrooms and onions. Very good and filling, but very friendly calorie-wise. In fact, I Googled to see how many calories were in four ounces of cooked spaghetti and it’s only about 170 total, which I found very surprising because from the stuff you buy in stores it kind of leads you to believe it’s more – but they don’t do it by ounces they do it by cup. Anyway, it was pretty good. I was the only one there until finally another solo gent came in. There was a bit of amusing drama – some entitled young jerks were sitting at a table outside the restaurant (they have a few patio tables) and smoking – I could smell it from where I was sitting and it made me sick. She went out there and asked them to move, pointed out the three signs that said NO SMOKING and then said the tables were for people who were ordering or eating there, not random people on the street. They gave her a lot of the usual young person attitude and walked away. About five minutes later, a young gal walked in and demanded to speak to the manager. She proceeded to tell this nice lady at Antonio’s that she’d been planning to have her graduation party there but after this incident she was going to reconsider. That means this entitled little twit was seventeen and graduating high school. What a load of chutzpah. The woman was very nice and pointed out that she’d been very nice to the girl’s friends but that the tables were for customers and there was no smoking. The girl kept going on about it. I almost got up and said something about the smoke that I smelled. But the hilarity is that you know this girl was not going to have her graduation party at Antonio’s – what a load of horse manure. But her entitlement was mighty – she finally left and we all laughed about it.
After lunch, I came home. I answered some e-mails and did a few things around the home environment, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching Harry and Walter Go to New York, starring James Caan and Elliot Gould, along with Diane Keaton, Carol Kane, Charles Durning, Jack Gilford, and Michael Caine. Quite the cast, but the film is one I just don’t care for – I find it very forced and full of itself – the performances of Caan and Gould reek of self-satisfaction looks like they think they’re so very funny – but to be truly funny you have to have funny stuff to do and there is precious little of that. But there are plusses: Diane Keaton, Durning, Kane, Caine, and Gilford all give wonderful performances. The set design is terrific. If I had to lay blame it would be with director Mark Rydell, who is simply the wrong man for the job. Not only that, but Caan and producer Tony Bill both blame him for the badness of the film, as he completely rewrote what those two folks said was a much better script. James Caan, in fact, called the film Harry and Walter Go in the Toilet. David Shire’s score is perky and the best news is that the transfer on this Twilight Time Blu-ray is fantastic. It certainly plays better now than it did back when it came out – it was a huge box-office flop and caused Columbia Pictures a good deal of harm. And yet, I looked at the Amazon listing for the film and everyone there thinks it’s the funniest movie ever made. Go know.
Then I watched another Twilight Time Blu-ray entitled Don’t Bother to Knock, starring Mr. Richard Widmark and newcomer Miss Marilyn Monroe, along with Elisha Cook, Jr. and Anne Bancroft. I’d seen it only once before and had little memory of it. But it’s really quite a good little film and Miss Monroe is really superb in it and her portrayal of a very disturbed young woman is very real. Widmark is always great, and there are a host of excellent character actors. Director Roy Baker (aka Roy Ward Baker) does an excellent job and Daniel Taradash’s script is really top-notch. The transfer is wonderful and I recommend it highly.
Then I began watching another Twilight Time Blu-ray entitled Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, a film of Paul Mazursky. I have steered clear of this movie since it came out and watching the first forty minutes of it I was right to – I understand it’s satire and is of its time just as I understand that while they’re poking fun at those things where people go to “find” themselves and learn what their feelings are – you know, the whole ESTian thing, although this was pre-that, that Mazursky did all that stuff. And since I absolutely abhor everything this film is about I just find it completely unfunny. I know it’s some sort of classic but it’s not for me, as the Gershwins wrote. I’ll finish it, of course, and certainly I like all the actors and certainly you couldn’t ask for a better transfer. The costumes alone make this worth a purchase, only they’re not really costumes – people actually wore this stuff back then – happy to say I never did.
After that, I heard the track, he made the additions I asked for, I heard that and loved it, and then I took a hot shower and here we are, all caught up.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep. Once up I think I can actually have a fully ME day. I’ll have one very brief visit from a visitor, but that’s it. What I’ll do for food is unknown at this time – I may go out or I may drop into Ralph’s or Gelson’s and get something to make at home. I do have pasta here and tuna, but I’m not sure if I’m going to feel like eating those things. And I’ve been having quite a bit of pasta lately. I might try some Japanese jernt around here – there are a lot of ‘em, if I’m feeling like teriyaki and tempura, or I might go to my little local coffee shop where they have a sandwich I rather like. We shall see. Other than that, I’ll jog at some point and then I’m relaxing.
Tomorrow is our first Kritzerland rehearsal, which I’m very much looking forward to. I’ll probably have to jog prior to it, but we’ll see how I’m feeling. The rest of the week is meetings and meals and getting a jump on the July Kritzerland show, more casting for the Sherman concert, we have two people who have to do their second rehearsal on Wednesday, then we have everyone else on Thursday, Saturday is our stumble-through and then we do our sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a fully ME day, have a brief visit, jog, eat something amusing and calorie-friendly, and watch stuff. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland – I shall alert the media.