Well, dear readers, welcome to the House of BK, the most stylish place on all the Internet, putting the House of Gucci to shame. I’m proud to say that I have never owned a single Gucci product. I’m also proud to say that I made it through all two-and-a-half hours plus of the motion picture House of Gucci, which is a film about the house of Gucci. I didn’t hate the House of Gucci, but it’s certainly not a great movie. It is fun to watch on a certain level, which I’ll get to in a moment. What’s funny about the reviews for the film, which I’ve just read through, is how many of the reviewers use the exact same terminology in their reviews, which leads me to believe that these words must be contained in the press materials. They include “camp” and “campy” and “opera buffa” and a few other phrases like that. I guess I didn’t see the camp in it, although they probably consider the risible dialogue camp, or perhaps the performances of Al Pacino and Jared Leto, about whom more in a moment. I basically thought that here we have a movie in which every actor seems to be in a different film, which is, I think, a problem for a lot of movies and their directors. These out-of-control actors come in with their ideas, which is fine, but then it’s the director’s job to make sure that all those ideas fit within the framework of the story and the movie’s tone. But these actors don’t care – they’re in their own little bubbles and that’s that and it can be disastrous for the film. And that happens here with Mr. Pacino and Mr. Leto as father and idiot son. Pacino, who, as he gets older, seems determined to out oversize any other actor within a hundred miles. It’s hard to tell if he’s an old Italian or an old Jew. His hair dye is like shoe polish. Mr. Leto, on the other hand, well, it’s hard to know what he’s doing. Prosthetics, fat suit (although he may have just gained the weight – that’s the kind of actor he is) and the weirdest performance you’ll ever see, with a wacky Eyetalian accent and, well, you have to see it to believe it. It’s like Michael V. Gazzo crossed with a vaudeville act. A handful of idiotic reviewers praised this performance, while most saw it for what it was. Adam Driver, who seems to be in a contest with Timothee Chalamet as to who can be in more films the same year, is the other end of the spectrum – understated and with a rather ludicrous attempt at an accent. Then we have Jeremy Irons, who’s fine, but again with an accent that sounds like Henry Higgins trying on an Eyetalian accent and realizing it’s not a good fit. Salma Hayek playing some kind of fortune teller wins the Maria Ouspenskaya award, and then we have Lady Gaga – again, most critics fall all over themselves about this woman, with a handful not buying it at all. I thought she was fine. And then one reads that she was “in character” for the entire shoot, always using the accent, and worrying so much about the dark aspects of the character (well, not character, since it’s based on a real person) that she had a mental health person on the set. That is just such actor BS but that’s today’s actors. I would hate working with these people, but that’s just me. Ridley Scott’s direction, other than the all over the place performances, is fine, the script much less so. Still, I enjoyed seeing it once.
And now, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to Leontyne Price sing with Andre Previn and his orchestra (and his arrangements). While Price is wonderful, she’s not nearly as comfortable going from opera to pop as was Eileen Farrell. But oh, those arrangements and orchestrations are fantastic.
Yesterday was a bit of a day. I did get nine hours of sleep, just not all at once. The visitor showed up at 9:45 and woke me out of a sound sleep. He just handed over what he was dropping off, then I went back to bed. Thirty minutes later I was wakened again by the doorbell – this time it was a package for the fellow in the back house, who’s been out of town for almost a month. I’m beginning to regret agreeing to hold his mail for him because he gets a LOT of mail and he’s not back until the day after Christmas. I picked up a couple of packages – the House of Gucci screener and some Bounty paper towels – and then came home. I then had a one-hour session of hands filming – we got five songs done so those charts can now get done.
Then I went to go to my nearby Subway for a sandwich, but it’s bitten the dust, so I just went to Taco Bell and got food, came home, and ate it. It was fine. Then I watched House of Gucci and the rest you know. After I post these here notes, then I’ll get some writing done and try to finish the sequence I’m on.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and then I have a lunch with Richard Sherman and his daughter Vicki – can’t wait. After that, I have an appointment at the Apple Store to get the latest iPhone, which it’s time to do and is part of whatever that deal is that I have that gets me a new phone every few years. They’ll set it up for me – everything should be in the cloud so it should be easy/breezy to do. But we won’t nuke what’s on the old phone until we know everything’s there. For some reason, I hadn’t turned on the keychain in the phone for the cloud, but all my passwords are in the cloud for the big boy computer so they should all carry over no matter what. Also, I want to get the face recognition stuff done while I’m there, too, plus I want them to show me all the new stuff that it can do. I’ve never put any music on the phone, but I just might if I can figure out how. Then I’ll have a quick Zoom thing with David Wechter. After that, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll do some writing, then I’ll see the new West Side Story and maybe stop by the new Amoeba if I can figure out where to park. They have a Shake Shack there (I think that’s what it’s called) and I’ve never had a burger there, so I might try one. I could also go to Astro Burger, as I haven’t been there in a very long time. Sunday, I have to go to storage and drop some stuff off, after which I can have a ME day. Then, other than writing and planning stuff for the new book, I’m off for the rest of the year and will just enjoy that. Of course, we have the Christmas Eve Do coming up next week.
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, have a lunch with Richard Sherman, get the new iPhone, get it set up, do a Zoom, and then 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 at the moment. DVD screeners – next up will be Belfast. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be in the House of BK rather than the House of Gucci.