Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the London cast recording of I Do! I Do! having just finished listening to the cast recording of the 1996 revival, which I produced. It’s the first time I’ve heard it since we released it and I have to say it’s really terrific – Karen Ziemba and David Garrison are wonderful and the two-pianos make it sound very intimate and rather like – The Fantasticks. The London cast is not in the same league as the Broadway album with Mary and Bob, but it’s fun. Otherwise, I have spent the last two hours making two big things of tuna pasta salad, and then slicing, dicing, chopping, and mincing. Actually, I was mincing whilst slicing and dicing and chopping, but that’s another story. And prior to that, I watched via streaming another DGA screener, this one entitled Last Night in Soho. I’d seen a bit of the coming attractions and for some reason I thought it was a lark of a comedy taking place in the swinging sixties in London. Well, I could not have been more wrong, but the film takes more than forty-five minutes to reveal what it’s about, sort of, and then the final hour and fifteen minutes it delivers the goods, psychological horror film-wise. I’m afraid I have no idea who this director is – Edgar Wright – well, I just looked at his filmography and I guess I did see Baby Driver, but not his best-known film, Shaun of the Dead. I found Last Night in Soho very stylishly done and the actors are terrific, especially leading ladies Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy and especially Diana Rigg, whose final film this was, and boy is she good. The film takes place now, but with sequences that take place in the sixties – I can’t describe the plot, I’m afraid, without giving things away. Things do get a little slasherish in the final thirty minutes, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. And that goes for the entire film – nothing you haven’t really seen before, but it’s an enjoyable ride. Classic sixties songs abound, so that’s part of the fun. And for authenticity we get Rita Tushingham and Terence Stamp. Apparently, this director is rather like Mr. Tarantino – a movie FANatic, so you get some homages here, especially Repulsion. Not a great movie, but sometimes one can just sit and relax and go with the style, rather like some De Palma film.
Yesterday was okay in an okay way. I got six hours of sleep and then she of the Evil Eye arrived and I moseyed on over to Art’s Deli for some bacon-and-eggs. Yesterday was pretty much rain all day and night, which I liked. After breakfast, I went to the mail place and picked up a few packages, including a screener for Nightmare Alley – wish I’d waited to watch that one, and I’ll probably watch a bit of it again on the big screen. The Pogues sent a lovely floral arrangement for the Do, which was lovely of them. Once home, I spent two hours trying to get this book I helped reformat into the Kindle Direct Publishing form. They make it pretty much impossible, I must say. I adjusted the margins per the way they suggested, uploaded again and it still wasn’t right. I rinsed and repeated that five times before I threw up my hands (no mean feat). I then sent my version to the fellow who formats my books for Kindle and Nook. I figure if anyone can figure this stuff out and provide me with something that will upload correctly, it’s him. He said he’d check it out early next week. Frankly, I’ve wasted about six or seven hours on this, and I can’t spare any more time.
Because of that, I didn’t get around to writing or choosing songs, which I’ll try to at least start today. I watched two episodes of Adam-12 – one of which was surprisingly dramatic and excellent, about an ex-con played wonderfully by Donald Barry who was a cowboy star originally – Donald “Red” Barry. He did tons of television, including three other episodes of Adam-12. If you don’t know the name, you’d certainly recognize the face from many of the hundreds of films and TV shows he did. He passed away in 1980 and worked right up until the end. He was only sixty-eight and it was suicide.
I then watched Last Night in Soho, after which I sliced, diced, chopped, and minced, not necessarily in that order, and made the two big batches of tuna pasta salad.
Today, I’ll be up no later than noon and probably before as I have to do a couple of errands before starting to cook. Once the sauce is sauce then said sauce will simmer for hours. I’ll set up the chairs and get the paper plates and cutlery and napkins out. Then I’ll shave and shower and get ready for the arrival of the guests, which begins at six o’clock and will go to around ten. Then I’ll clean-up and maybe watch something.
Tomorrow, I’ll be up by eleven for the noon o’clock arrival of the Darling Daughter. We’ll exchange our gifts, then we’ll have some of the leftovers, after which we’ll do our driving thing we like to do. Then she’ll be on her way around three-thirty, and then I can do some writing and choosing. Sunday is a ME day, but I will do some writing as I’m a bit behind. And just now the new Matrix movie just showed up for me to stream. I only saw the first one and didn’t really understand the hoopla, but I’ll give it a look-see.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by noon at the latest, do a couple of necessary errands, make spaghetti sauce and keep my eye on it whilst it simmers, get everything set up for the Do, shave and shower, and then guests will arrive, however many there may be. Then I’ll clean up and watch something. 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. DVD, more Adam-12, more screeners, Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland as we make ready for the day of the Do.