Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to some Michael Torke music, this album called Canticles with singer Lydia Brown and the Michael Torke Orchestra, which sounds like about ten pieces, at least in this first selection. But I like the orchestrations and the music is very accessible and tuneful. As they say, so far, so good as well as so good so far. Prior to that, I watched as much as I could stomach of a motion picture entitled The Tender Bar, “based on the best-selling memoir.” It was directed by George Clooney and has that typical yellow look, as if that somehow represents what the past looks like. I used to live in the past and I don’t ever recall it being yellow, save for really smoggy days and that was in Los Angeles, the then smog capitol of the world. And this motion picture doesn’t take place in Los Angeles. It has cloying narration and is just so cliched as to beggar belief. Add to that the fact that I cannot stand its star, Ben Affleck, and, well, I wasn’t expecting to like it, although it’s always nice to see Christopher Lloyd. But as it went along in those first thirty-five minutes, I just began to get so irritated that a piece of junk like this can get made, while the Benjamin Kritzer books, also memoirs of sorts, albeit thinly veiled fiction, sit unfilmed. No, they weren’t best sellers – but then, I don’t understand how any of the bad books that become best sellers are best sellers. The author won a Pulitzer for reporting for the LA Times. He’s co-written some other folks’ autobiographies. And I assume this film is faithful to his book. And I just found it so ordinary that I had to turn it off. Oh well, nothing to be done about such things, other than be grateful that the people who’ve read the Kritzer books have loved them. The singer on this Michael Torke album is kind of annoying. And the music by the fourth cut does become a bit repetitious in that minimalist kind of repetitious way that’s minimalist in its repetition.
Yesterday was a productive day. I only got about four hours of sleep, got up at noon, answered e-mails, and took note that it was raining outside. I got a really good coupon from Door Dash, so ordered a Chinese chicken salad from Stanley’s and it ended up, even with all their stuff added on, to be five bucks less than if I’d gone there and gotten it myself. And this coupon was good for two deliveries, so I’ll probably do one today, depending on what happens. One of the reasons for so little sleep is that I was up until six choosing the last of the songs for the January Kritzerland, so that’s finally done, and everyone has their music. I did a little bit of writing and then food arrived, and I ate that up whilst continuing to write. After that, I moseyed on over to the mail place and picked up a teeny-tiny package, then came right home.
Then I wrote some more, took a break and watched as much as I could stand of The Tender Bar, got a nice e-mail from friend Marshall Harvey, who told me that he’d watched CODA because of my raving about it – and he, too, loved it and found it as magical as I did. What I didn’t know about Emilia Jones was that she’s a Brit and had never sung or signed before this film – and that makes her performance even more amazing.
Then I buckled down, Winsocki and finished the very long sequence I was working on. I think it came out well, but I’ll see how I feel in the morning and in the morning I’ll see how I feel, not necessarily in that order. The rest you know, other than my evening snack was a few potato chips and onion dip – very addictive.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do the things I do, I’ll reread what I wrote yesterday and then David Wechter and I will Zoom to our heart’s content. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something fun with my coupon, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax. I can’t find the e-mail with where The Eyes of Tammy Faye is streaming. I’ll keep looking, but I may have nuked it after I watched whatever it was I watched on that particular streaming thing.
The rest of the week is more of the same and on Thursday I’m having a meal with Robert Yacko. Then on Friday, we’ll have our annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve right here at haineshisway.com and I’m all prepared for that, with the only question being what I’ll have for food. I have the new ubiquitous bottle of Korbel Brut champagne, which I’ll open and have one sip of. I can then throw out the one from last year and this one replaces it until I buy a new one the following year. And then on New Year’s Day I begin my new book.
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 the things I do, reread what I wrote, Zoom with David Wechter, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Which of the breed of minimalist composers do you like best and which works of theirs are your favorites? Let’s have loads of lovely postings shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that someday will finally be the time for the Benjamin Kritzer movie.