Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the second symphony of Kunihiko Hashimoto, a lovely work written in the year of my birth. A fine composer, he also taught and some of his pupils went on to major composing careers, including Yashushi Akutagawa, Ikuma Dan, and Toshiro Mayazumi – all three being both classical and well-known film composers. He passed away just two years after the second symphony was composed, at the much too young age of forty-four. His music is really beautiful and very accessible. You can probably find this symphony on the Tube of You and I recommend it. Prior to that, I watched two count them two motion pictures. The first was entitled Mr. Brooks, which I’d never even heard of. It stars Kevin Costner, William Hurt, and Demi Moore. It’s a very strange film that goes on about ten minutes too long, and which is very strange in that it seems the writer and director couldn’t make up his mind exactly what film he was making. The concept was good – someone who is addicted to killing and trying to stop the addiction, which he does by going to Alcholics Anonymous meetings. That’s one side of him, but his other side wants him to continue killing – that side of his personality is embodied by William Hurt. Then there are all kinds of detours and sub-plots – Demi Moore is a cop who’s also a millionaire and in the middle of a messy divorce where her ex-spouse is trying to get a settlement in the millions. Then there’s a photographer who lives in a neighboring building to the most recent victims of Mr. Costner/Brooks. He gets photos of it, then tries to blackmail Costner, but not for money, but for the thrill of coming with him the next time he offs someone. And then there’s the released convict who Demi Moore sent to prison, who’d like nothing better than to off her. Costner is also a very respected and successful businessman with a pretty wife and teen daughter, who quits college, moves back home and who may just have offed someone at her school. Yes, very strange, all of it, and yet I kind of enjoyed it on some level. It has moments that are very amusing, dark comedy-wise, and save for the final fifteen minutes, it doesn’t wallow in violence. But then, in those final fifteen minutes the director suddenly thinks he’s making the end of Taxi Driver or a slasher movie. And then it ends. If you like weird fare, you might like this on some level, as I did.
The second movie was entitled Sleeping With the Enemy, one of those 90s thrillers that was still rooted in the late 1980s. Based on a novel, but with a standard issue plot – you know the one – wife married a husband who turns out to be a jerk and abuser, an OCD cretin who’ll beat her for the least little infraction. Unbeknownst to him, she’s been plotting her escape and succeeds in doing so during a storm on a sailboat she and hubby and acquaintance are on. It’s been established that she doesn’t like boats because she can’t swim. During the storm, she falls from the boat and dies, or so it appears. Of course, she’s not dead and she moves to Iowa to start a new life. There she meets a man with an awful 80s mullet, and, for me at least, he’s just as creepy as the other guy, even though he’s the romantic lead. She slowly falls for mullet man and just as sure as shootin’ the abusive husband realizes she faked her death and just as sure as shootin’, finds her. I’m sure I saw it at some point but apparently, I never wrote about it. Julia Roberts plays the woman and she’s very good. I can’t say the same about the actors who play the husband and the new guy in town – Patrick Bergin and Kevin Anderson – I found both performances terrible. The director was Joseph Rubin, a decent director who did the excellent thriller, The Stepfather. This one’s not in that league. But it was a huge hit, as so many of these things were back then. Jerry Goldsmith wrote a score that sounds like Jerry’s Greatest Hits.
Yesterday wasn’t terrible. I got ten hours of needed sleep, got up, answered e-mails, had a few orders but am hoping for many more, did some work on the computer, picked up some packages at the mail place, came home and set about making two sweet Eyetalian sausage, peppers, and onions sandwiches. They came out very well – sausages were a little smaller than the last time, which was fine by me. After that, I buckled down, Winsocki and did some writing on the project with David Wechter. I finished the sequences I was supposed to finish, and I think David’s done that, too, so we’ll convene on Monday via Zoom and go over the next batch and who’ll write what. That took up most of the afternoon, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the two motion pictures.
After the movies, I did a quick Gelson’s run for food for today – turkey and a tomato to make turkey sandwiches. I came home and made a turkey sandwich for my snack and it was great. Then I listened to music.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll look at what I wrote yesterday and see if it needs finessing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat turkey sandwiches, I’ll hopefully get more orders, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye comes, so I’ll go have a light breakfast somewhere, then do stuff until I can come back home. I’ll have a Zoom thing with the singer and watch her rehearsal with her new pianist in Palm Desert. Then in the evening, I’m seeing the reading of a new musical of some sort – not too far from the Group Rep, actually. Sunday, I’ll be Zooming with the singer when she does her sound check so I can see her and the new kid who she’s duetting with and make sure the staging is fine and that they don’t get tangled up in the wired mics. Then next week is finalizing everything for the Kritzerland holiday show.
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, look at what I wrote and perhaps finesse, hopefully pick up packages, eat, hopefully get more orders, and watch, listen, and relax. 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, nothing new. Blu-ray, about to start watching all the Miyazaki movies I have, which I’m looking forward to. I’ve only seen most of them once, so it’ll be fun to revisit. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, interested to now find out what symphonies were written in the year of my birth.