Well, dear readers, it is 11:27. Do you know where your children are? Do you know where anyone is? You do, because your children and everyone are home doing what I’m doing, which is twiddling their thumbs, biding their time, doing projects, eating, watching things, listening to things, playing a musical instrument, dancing about in their pajamas, washing their hands until their hands, sanitizing the furniture and the microwave, trying to stay six feet away when they look in the mirror so they won’t infect themselves, wearing the same clothes every day because why not, reading, doing jigsaw puzzles, doing crossword puzzles, playing bored games – sorry, board games – and sitting on their couches like so much fish.
Yesterday started out fine. I was up at eleven-thirty after eight hours of sleep, I shaved and showered so I would look purty on the Google Groups David Cassidy thing. That happened at 1:12 – quite an arbitrary time, but why not? I joined, and then about fifteen minutes later I was asked to recount my history with The Partridge Family and David Cassidy, which I did and had fun doing. Then I answered questions for quite a while, they showed a video, and then I took my leave. I was on there over ninety minutes, I think, and it was a nice way to start the day.
Then I had to decide whether to eat here or have something delivered, but both places I’d been thinking about were not open on Sunday, so I made two salami sandwiches on bagels and ate that, and it was pretty okay. I had a little pastry leftover from my Gelson’s visit – tiny little thing that I ate up. Then I answered e-mails, posted some links to three Li’l Abner videos from my production of a few years ago – first time any clips have been shown anywhere. And then, I sat on my couch like so much fish, after I’d taken a ten-minute drive in the motor car.
Last night, I watched the first hour of a motion picture entitled Hotel, a Warner Archive DVD thing. I love Hotel and have since the day I saw it when it came out – I was in Cleveland, actually, working, and I went to the noon o’clock show at some lovely movie palace on Euclid Avenue. I liked it so much I came back at four and saw it again. I never tire of it, actually, and love the cast. Watching it again, I really like the Merle Oberon and Michael Rennie subplot. I remember thinking back in 1967 that they were really trotting out an old-timer – she was fifty-six at the time of Hotel. And I really love the score by Johnny Keating – it’s just fantastic. And Richard Quine’s direction is great. It was, in fact, his last great film. After that, he began his downward spiral with Oh Dad, Poor Dad and it continued right through to his death by suicide.
After that, I watched a motion picture on the computer screen, one of those Amazon Prime things, this one called I See You, starring Helen Hunt, although she doesn’t really have much to do in the film. It’s advertised as a psychological thriller, whatever that means. It’s one of those unexplained things keep happening, weird things, but since it’s not advertised as a supernatural thriller, then unexplained things can be explained quite easily because there is basically only one way to explain them. Once that’s revealed at the fifty-minute mark (and yes, it’s exactly the one and only explanation), we then basically watch a precis of the entire film again from a different viewpoint, which, of course, is simply irritating. And then because it’s a psychological thriller, whatever that means, we get a major twist and then another major twist. The first of them is so out of left field and is never explained beyond “When I was fourteen…” at which point that character is done for. So, a completely unbelievable twist and the second one that follows at least makes some kind of sense. In the end, these movies are just bad – by the numbers direction, awful droning music, and actors trying their best with bad dialogue. And to make this masterpiece, there were about fifteen credited producers, five production companies – I gotta tell you.
After that, I listened to music and did a few things that needed doing on the computer.
Today, I thought that for a change of pace I’ll be up when I’m up. Then I’ll decide on what meal from where that I’ll have delivered, unless I feel like making some kind of pasta thing, which I don’t think I’ll feel like at all. I’ll eat, do some work at the piano, perhaps write a bit, do some mental gymnastics, take a drive in the motor car, maybe take a walk if it’s nice out – Saturday was nice, yesterday was not – and then watch and listen, not necessarily in that order.
By tomorrow, I should know about a little project that could happen if we work out all the technical details. IF we can, then I’ll have a lot of preparation for the rest of this week and into next week. Otherwise, it’s more of the same.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, eat, work at the piano, take a drive, hopefully pick up mail should there actually be any, then watch and listen. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Hotel stars’ Rod Taylor, Karl Malden, and Melvyn Douglas? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall ask the age-old question, do you know where your children are?