Well, dear readers, what can I say about yesterday’s Thanksgiving other than it was quiet and peaceful and involved some of the worst food I’ve ever eaten. Last year, the Paty’s coffee shop turkey dinner was fantastic – this year, they did it differently. You couldn’t order online – you had to just show up and get it and when I asked them if one-thirty would work they said they were quite certain they’d be sold out by eleven-thirty. Obviously, I wasn’t eating at eleven-thirty, so instead I did an online order for the Sherman Oaks Denny’s, which I didn’t even know existed. They didn’t have an official Thanksgiving dinner, so I just ordered their usual turkey dinner, which came with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and garlic bread, plus a side – I chose onion rings. I ordered for a two o’clock arrival, which is pretty much when it arrived. I opened it to find four thinly sliced pieces of prefab turkey, no stuffing, a cup of gravy, soggy onion rings, which I instantly threw away, and red mashed potatoes, which I had no interest in. I put gravy on the turkey and ate it, but it was kind of rank and hardly satisfying. I had a Hawaiian role with butter and that was good. So, I took out the Gelson’s ham and ate that with a couple more Hawaiian roles and sweet honey mustard – the ham was kind of rank, too, which is two ranks in one meal, which, ranking-wise, is a complete fail. So far, the only good thing were the rolls. I had some of the Gelson’s cranberries and they were okay and thankfully not too rank. I should have just made tuna sandwiches or pasta, but alas, I did not. I always hope Denny’s will improve – it is open twenty-four hours – but it never does. It’s a shame the Marie Callender’s closed up – they would have done it right. And now, I am sitting here like so much still-nauseated fish, once again listening to the beautiful score to When Marnie Was There by Takatsugo Muramatsu – it’s quite addictive, just like all the Joe Hisaishi scores.
Yesterday was just plain weird with all that rank food. I think I ultimately got eight hours of sleep. Apparently, right after I got in bed at three, the power went out, because I woke up at nine and had to use the loo and I saw the clocks blinking. The computer had restarted itself but was waiting for my password, and then it had to load everything. While it was doing its thing, I reset the clocks. I checked on e-mails and stuff, then went back to bed and slept until one, which I think made exactly eight hours, since I didn’t actually fall asleep until four.
Once up again, I had several text messages of Thanksgiving wishes, including one from the Darling Daughter. I had a nice telephonic conversation with our very own dear reader Jeanne and as we were wrapping that up, food arrived. Then came the sort of eating of the sort of food, and then I did some stuff on the computer, and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched another new Warner Archive Blu and Ray, this one entitled Some Came Running, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Shirley MacLaine. I first saw it at my beloved Stadium Theater in Cinemascope and color, and I remember enjoying it, although melodramas weren’t really my favorite kind of film. I owned a 16mm print and all its home video releases, none of which has looked very good. The film itself remains the classic melodrama it’s always been. Sinatra does a fine job, Dean Martin has never been better, Martha Hyer must be good because I found myself truly irritated by her pent-up, repressed, and cold self, save for the sequence when Sinatra literally lets her hair down, and Arthur Kennedy, Larry Gates, and Nancy Gates are all good in their supporting roles. But the heart and soul of the film is Shirley MacLaine, who got a well-deserved best actress nomination, even though her role is more of a supporting role, and she’s gone for a good portion of the film. She’s so wonderful as Ginny – funny, crass, heartbreaking – no one ever did this kind of role better than MacLaine. Vincent Minelli’s direction is as good as he ever was – no nomination for this film, probably because he was nominated for his other 1958 film, Gigi. The film’s final set-piece at a carnival, is deliriously Minnellian and justly revered by cinephiles everywhere. The Elmer Bernstein score is terrific, as is the photography of William Daniels. This new transfer looks much better than previous home video releases and is a must-have. They don’t know who to make this kind of film anymore – well, Todd Haynes does.
After that, I let the motor car run for a while but didn’t actually drive anywhere. We’ll see how things are today – hopefully they’ll be fine. Then I watched the first forty minutes of my next Ghibli film, Howl’s Moving Castle, an odd film but one I enjoyed the first time around. I kept dozing off, however, so I’ll probably restart it from the ten-minute mark today. Oh, and then as timing would have it, there were updates to do that required a computer restart, so had to do that all over again, which was annoying. I notice that there is now a new successor to Big Sur called Montery, which I not going anywhere near. And that was my Thanksgiving. I trust everyone else had much happier food experiences.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat, probably the tuna sandwiches, I’ll do some writing, and then I’ll attend an opening night and its after party.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye will be here, so I’ll go have an early and light breakfast somewhere, then I’ll do stuff until she’s gone around noon. Then I’ll do a lot of watching, and I’m going to start reorganizing a few things in the garage so I can get to some of the CD boxes and find things and I need to mark certain boxes, so I actually know what’s in them. Too much crap out there. Sunday will be a completely ME day, and then next week there are meetings and meals, more Zooming with David Wechter, and a work session with the musical director of the 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, hopefully pick up some packages, eat, write, and attend an opening night. 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 at the moment. Blu-ray, Howl’s Moving Castle and more Ghibli films. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy have have had a cozy and peaceful Thanksgiving, albeit one filled with lousy food.