Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much weary fish due to yet another instance of the dead car battery (battery is fine, barely a year old – it’s the car and something not happening in the electrical system, some short that keeps something running – only sporadically a problem) and having to deal with that was a royal pain in the royal ASS because I found it out ten minutes before I needed to be at a nearby meeting. I went to Uber, which informed me it would cost over twice what it normally would, since it was a mile away. And that, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is how you lose a customer forever. Lyft only from now on, should I need to do something like that, which I hope I won’t. So, that was an annoyance I surely didn’t need. Once I got to Marie Callender’s for the meeting, everything was roses, save for the fact that they only do takeout – still. I just don’t get it. 98% of the restaurants in the Valley are open for dine-in, and yet there are these odd holdouts. I think they’re waiting for June 15, when everything can be at 100%. I had to walk home, obviously, which was fine. What wasn’t fine was the over an hour on hold with AAA. In fact, I walked home, got home, and it still took another fifteen minutes for them to finally connect the call. Happily, the battery place got here in ten minutes, so I finally was able to go to the mail place and pick up two tiny packages and come home. I let the car run for another forty minutes. I was so irritated with the car stuff that I should have ordered food from somewhere. But instead, I tried making this carb-free pasta. I sauteed some onions to put over it with butter and cheese. I tasted one bite to make sure it was done and spit it out quicker than you can say what is it, fish? It was one of the grossest things ever and no amount of onions and butter cheese was going to change THAT. So, I tossed it and finally made the chorizo chili Factor thing. It was decent, I suppose. This Keto thing has become so annoying, but, as I’ve mentioned, I have lost weight so I’m going to keep on keeping on at least until July. After that, all bets are off, Keto-wise, and it’s probably back to counting calories. Otherwise, I’m finally relaxing and listening to music. We just had the Korngold violin concerto, certainly not my favorite performance, but it was fine, and a violin concerto by someone named Conus. And then it was a weird crossover album with Perlman and jazz men Shelly Manne, Jim Hall, and Red Mitchell doing Previn jazz compositions, just the boys and no orchestra. He did three of those kinds of albums and I find them very enjoyable, even though you’d never mistake Mr. Perlman for a jazz guy. And now, it’s Previn doing Gershwin and doing it much better than his first attempt (the first CD in this box) – this time the Porgy and Bess Suite, the Second Rhapsody, and the Cuban Overture – excellent sound on all these.
I also watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Magnolia, a P.T. Anderson film, with a terrific ensemble cast including Tom Cruise, Philip Baker Hall, Julianne Moore, Jason Robards, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, Melinda Dillon, and Melora Walters who, for me, gives the film’s best performance. I began watching at six-thirty. I had no memory of this film running three hours and eight minutes. The director is on record as saying he would cut twenty minutes out of it, but he was a young upstart in those days and couldn’t see it. And he’s right – twenty minutes out of the second half would really help things. Scenes just go on too long. The film’s first hour, however, is paced breathlessly and perfectly, with music and image. Cruise is really great in this, but everyone is, there aren’t any weak links, although I don’t love Philip Baker Hall. It’s shot very well, the Aimee Mann songs work fine and the Jon Brion score is terrific. I will say that it’s my favorite film of the director, and I actually haven’t cared for anything he’s done since, especially his last two films.
Yesterday, as you’ve read, was a good day and a frustrating day, not necessarily in that order. I got nine hours of sleep – that was good. I answered e-mails – that was good. The car wouldn’t start – that was frustrating. Uber was more than double what it should have been – that was frustrating. The meeting was fun – that was good. Being on hold for over an hour – that was frustrating. The battery guy getting here in ten minutes – that was good. The food situation was completely frustrating, and I really should have gone somewhere to eat. After the long movie, I went to Gelson’s and got some ham and five more Sparkling Ice drinks, came home, made two eggs and ham for my evening snack, and the rest you know because, well, you know the rest.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, but mostly I’ll relax until it’s time for the Kritzerland show, the last of our online shows. Please do show up for this one and leave lots of fun comments and then come along to our afterparty, which will be loads of lovely fun. Here are the direct handy-dandy links for both.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Oin1mm0egWE
Zoom party: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84372328953?pwd=YUZsQUtEMC96bVJUL0p3bnl1THY2dz09
I’m not sure I’ll eat anything prior to the show, but you can bet your boots that I’ll have a nice meal after, either out or I’ll pick something up and bring it back. Then I’ll probably watch, listen, and relax.
This coming week is very busy – setting rehearsal schedules, locking down the cast for the July Kritzerland, shipping stuff, getting two new releases ready, and bunches of other stuff, including a couple of meals out.
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, do whatever needs doing, relax until show time, do the Kritzerland show, attend the afterparty, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. 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 postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy for the good bits of the day and quite over the frustrating bits.