Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, just finishing up Porgy and Bess. It really is quite a marvelous opera, but I also understand why cuts were made. But boy do those tunes land and soar, and I really do enjoy the Maazel-conducted version, sound-wise. Maazel doesn’t always do right by the tunes – sometimes too lethargic, sometimes just odd – but for the most part it’s a very pleasurable listening experience. Now that that’s out of the way, where are the nectarines? I have no idea what that means, I just typed it for no reason whatsoever, but now that I look at it, it is a question for the ages – ages three to ten. I just interrupted these here notes for a hot shower, just to get that out of the way. That is now out of the way. Just so you know, I did actually watch an entire motion picture a few hours ago and one I not only hadn’t seen but one I knew nothing about. It’s a movie based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, The Two Faces of January, which is also the title of the film. It stars Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac, and, in a small role, Daisy Bevan. I couldn’t figure out why the latter looked familiar until I looked her up and realized she looks just like her mum, Joely Richardson. The film was directed by Hossein Amini, who wrote the adaptation of Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. The movie begins wonderfully, and it held my interest, certainly, but in the end, it doesn’t add up to much and just kind of fizzles out. Had he actually stayed closer to the book it would have worked better. The biggest problem I had was Mr. Mortensen, and actor I just don’t care for. Everyone else is very good, and there’s a nice score by Alberto Iglesias. The movie was released in 2014 as a direct video on demand.
Yesterday was okay. I got ten hours of sleep, so that was very helpful. I had lots of telephonic conversations during the day, mostly about the same thing, which I can tell you about early next week. I only left the home environment briefly to pick up a little package and then to stop at Gelson’s for food. I got a little rigatoni from the hot food bar along with a chicken Caesar from the chicken Caesar bar. I also get some needed Diet Coke. Once back home, I ate the food from the food bar and saved the salad for later. I wrote the book dedication and acknowledgements and sent the book off to Grant to design. Then it was more telephonic conversations, a long text back-and-forth with the Darling Daughter, which was fun, then I had the chicken Caesar, which I found a bit weird. And now my tummy is having a little turmoil from it, I think. Then I watched the motion picture, then listened to Porgy and Bess and here we are, all caught up and trying to answer the age old question of where are the nectarines?
Today, I’ll be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine or so because she of the Evil Eye will be here and she does need her alone time. Rather than eat a light breakfast, I will instead go and have a little meeting that should take an hour or so. Then I’ll go to the mail place to ship some stuff, after which I’ll come home. There’s a chance we’ll have a production meeting soon thereafter. If not, I’ll just do stuff here and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’m staying put due to the Stupid Bowl, which I, of course, shan’t be watching. I’ll just putter around the home environment and do some organizing and stuff. Then next week will be very busy, gearing up for LA Now and Then rehearsals, doing stuff early in the week, which I’ll tell you about then, meetings and meals, and all manner of other things.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty, have a little meeting, hopefully pick up packages and ship something, maybe have a production meeting, and then I can watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could own one original theater window card, what would it be? And if you could own one classic movie poster, which would it be? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, asking the age old question, where are the nectarines?