Well, dear readers, the day has arrived. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, the day has arrived, and that day would be my birthday, the day I was born lo those many years ago. Yes, today I am the birthday boy. I’ve never been afraid of stating my actual age, which, as of today, is seventy-four. Just moments ago, I was seventy-three and yet now I am seventy-four and I don’t care who knows it. A decade ago, these here notes were entitled When I’m Sixty-Four. But I don’t know any songs that reference seventy-four unless you rewrite Seventy-Six Trombones as Seventy-Four trombones. But then you’d be missing two trombones, and wouldn’t THAT be unseemly? And so, here I sit like so much fish, listening to the stunning music of one Maurice Ravel and being seventy-four. I don’t even know what that means, frankly – I certainly don’t feel seventy-four and when I look in the mirror, I don’t think I look seventy-four. And then someone takes a photograph and there it is, the fact that when one looks in the mirror one sees what one wishes to see. Mirrors are amusing that way. Mirrors Are Amusing That Way – that’s the title of my next novel. No, I feel spry as a sprite, chipper as a chipmunk, I can move with alacrity unless I’m trying to get out of bed in the morning, and I’m feeling fit as a fiddle and ready for love or at least a good meal. Since love doesn’t seem to be around the corner, I’ll settle for a good meal and I believe I’ll be having one later. There’s nothing like a little Ravel to put one in a nice frame of mind. And so, here’s hoping that my seventy-fourth year will be filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Here I am, younger than springtime.
Earlier, I did manage to watch two count them two new motion pictures, one online and one on a DGA screener. The online motion picture was entitled Being the Ricardos, the story of a week in the life of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as they’re about to shoot a new episode of I Love Lucy, starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem and written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. I will say right off the bat, that I am not a Sorkin FANatic, nor even much of a fan, writing-wise. His writing wears me out and it always seems relentless in the same way David Mamet can seem that way. That said, I will admit that I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would, mostly because of the performances and because the subject matter is interesting. Ms. Kidman was the surprise here – while she looks nothing like Lucille Ball, she does have the real Lucy’s voice down pretty perfectly – the TV Lucy, not quite as much. The other surprise was Mr. Bardem, who captures Desi pretty well. The rest of the cast is fine, too. The drama in the film is two-fold – the Herald-Express and Walter Winchell label Lucy a communist, even though she was cleared completely. The film purportedly takes place in 1952 even though the communist thing didn’t happen until 1953. The other drama is her being pregnant. That actually happened in 1951. So, we’re in Sorkin-land here. Still, the story is interesting and compelling, even when the writing isn’t doing anyone any favors. In fact, the writing, or overwriting, is kind of sloppy throughout. Mr. Sorkin also directed, and I must say I find him completely uninteresting in that regard. As he did in his film last year, the big moment in this one is just ruined by the use of a triumphant music cue from hell. We don’t need to be prodded like that. There’s also a whopper of an anachronism in the film and the fact that Sorkin didn’t fix it or that no one on a film with this kind of budget didn’t call it to his attention is kind of a little wacky. At one point, the character of Jess Oppenheimer, I Love Lucy’s producer, calls himself a “showrunner.” That would be fine, of course, if that term had actually existed in 1952, which it did not. In fact, that term did not exist until four decades later. Sloppy. And the kind of thing that takes you right out of the film and the period, or it did me, at least. But in the end I enjoyed it and am happy I saw it.
The movie on a DGA screener was entitled RESPECT, the story of Miss Aretha Franklin. It’s a strictly by-the-numbers bio-pic, which all seem to follow the exact same outline, as if there was a template for this kind of film. Certainly, I knew little about her past so that part was at least interesting and the little girl who played her as a little girl was terrific. Jennifer Hudson acts and sings very well, too – but all the actors are fine. The director, whose first film this is after some stage work, does not fare was well. She has no discernable affinity for film storytelling and the film is kind of ugly to look at. We get a little of everything here in terms of novice directing – slightly out-of-focus-on-the-edges shots which tell us Miss Franklin is on the sauce. We get shaky-cam for no reason whatsoever, we get some black-and-white footage, and on and on. Also, in the 1960s Madison Square Garden concert, we get the kind of stage lighting that wasn’t around back then. There is a LOT of singing and then the kinds of scenes that play out as they’ve played out in every film of this type in the last two decades. And, of course, while the end credits begin, we get the usual endless type about what happens to Miss Franklin after the film ends, followed by the credits on the left and a little square of the real Miss Franklin singing a song. It wasn’t horrible or anything, just typical, and by the time it hit the two-hour mark it was just a bore and there was another twenty minutes to go.
Yesterday was okay, I suppose. I did get eight hours of sleep, I answered a lot of e-mails, I went and picked up some packages, bought a red and green pepper and some cauliflower rosettes, came home and at the veggies and the onion dip I’d made the night before – that was good, but really only about 480 calories. Then I wrote two count them two sets of liner notes and got that out of the way. I watched Being the Ricardos, then got a Chinese chicken salad from Stanley’s delivered and ate that, then watched RESPECT, and the rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll probably do some writing, but mostly I’d like to have a nice, relaxing birthday, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then I’m being taken for a birthday dinner at five. After that, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal, I may have a meal on Friday with a friend, we do our stumble-through on Saturday, and then on Sunday we do our sound check and 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, maybe write a little, hopefully pick up packages, have a birthday dinner, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be the birthday boy and seventy-four years young.