Well, dear readers, my feet are killing me. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, my feet are killing me. That is attempted murder by feet, feet, so watch your feet ASSES because you do not want to see the headline: OLD JEW KILLED BY OWN FEET. Here is the reason for said foot homicide – I’d eaten a big meal for my meal o’ the day – Marie Callender’s – they have a really good deal – I got a bacon cheeseburger (they’re really good there), a few fries, AND a piece of pie, all for sixteen bucks. The diners there at two-fifteen were all seated in a back room with no booths, just tables. The reason? Because someone decided to have a wake at Marie Callender’s – I kid you not – a WAKE – 100 people. I kid you not. Service was very slow, needless to say. Anyway, I felt some guilt over the pie, so at around seven-twenty I decided to do a brisk walk. As soon as I began it, I also decided to go all the way to Laurel Canyon, my old neighborhood, which is about two-and-a-quarter miles from my house. And I did. And that part was fine and dandy. Coming back was a lot more difficult, especially around mile three. Of interest was the approximately thirty empty stores in the prime five blocks between Laurel Canyon and Whitsett, some of which have been empty for over a year now – and the GAP is gone now, too. This is what happens with greedy landlords, and I guess they’d rather have their property sit empty for a year than actually be reasonable. They disgust me and many others. By the time I got home, I could barely move.
Prior to that, I’d gotten seven hours of sleep, maybe closer to eight, I answered e-mails, and then I drove to the Bank of Bur with the audio fix notes, the thumb drive, and the book. I dropped those off and then stopped at the mail place and picked up no packages. The motor car is mostly behaving, although it is making odd noises every now and then. It hasn’t stalled out, the engine light hasn’t come on, so I’m hoping it will just rid itself of any residual water issues naturally. Then I came home, answered more e-mails, had some telephonic conversations, and then went to Marie Callender’s.
When I got home, I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched a motion picture on DVD entitled The Third Day, starring George Peppard, Elizabeth Ashley, Robert Webber, Sally Kellerman, Mona Washbourne, Herbert Marshall, and Roddy McDowell, directed by Jack Smight. Well, it’s one of those amnesia pictures – in fact, it came out just three months after another amnesia picture, Mirage. The latter is terrific, this one is pretty terrible. The music is by Percy Faith. The actors are fine, but the script is not good. And the transfer from Warner Archive is off a fading internegative and is therefore a lovely shade of brown.
Then I did the walk, and after I got back home I collapsed on the couch like so much fish and watched the first half of another 1960s film, this one from 1964 called Sex and the Single Girl, starring Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis, the charmless Mel Ferrer, Lauren Bacall, and Henry Fonda. There’s also a mini-Li’l Abner reunion going on, with Miss Leslie Parrish, Howard St. John, William Lanteau, and Stubby Kaye all making appearances. The script is by someone named Joseph Heller, who wrote a little book called Catch-22. The first scene is very funny, but then it degenerates into a coy, smarmy sex farce – I would love to screen this film for an audience of today people – full house – where, after scene one – I’m sure it would play to stony silence and Facebook outrage. I saw it at a sneak preview and then a couple of times during its run. I didn’t find it all that funny back then, and it only occasionally elicits a smile now. But Miss Wood is gorgeous, Mr. Curtis has always been a fine comic actor, and it looks great – Charles Lang photography and the transfer has perfect color. Richard Quine had his moments as a director, but this is not his finest hour.
After that, I relaxed, and tried to talk my feet out of killing me, but they weren’t really listening.
Today, I’ll be up early due to the early arrival of she of the Evil Eye. I’ll go have a light breakfast, hopefully pick up some packages, hopefully get together with Marshall Harvey to get the final Creature version. Oh, and I got via We Transfer the fixed audio files – however, when I went to upload them ACX is saying they need to be of a higher bitrate. They of course said nothing other than it had to be an mp3 – no specification about bitrates. So, they have to now convert to that – I tried via iTunes, but apparently the quality doesn’t go up if you’re converting from a lower bitrate. Very annoying. I’ll eat and then relax.
Tomorrow will be a ME day. Then on Monday we have our first Kritzerland rehearsal and I cannot tell you how much I’m looking forward to that. The rest of the week is meetings and meals, our second Kritzerland rehearsal, our stumble-through, and then it’s soundcheck and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up early, eat a light breakfast, hopefully pick up some packages, hopefully get the final version of the Creature, hopefully get new audio files, although I suspect that won’t happen until Monday, I’ll eat, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, and Lauren Bacall? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, and hopefully my feet will stop trying to perpetrate a homicide.