Well, dear readers, I believe the past four weeks have caught up with me and I am sitting here like so much fish, feeling like I’ve been hit by a non-literal truck, which, to put a happy spin on it, is better than being hit by a literal truck. A Literal Truck – that’s the title of my next novel. And just the thought of all the stuff that I have to do to catch up on things I’ve let slide is making me even more comatose than the non-literal truck. I have to book a flight – I don’t want to book a flight. And yet I have to book a flight. I have to pick up writing and yet I don’t want to pick up writing and yet I have to pick up writing. I have to forward a whole slew of late orders and yet I don’t want to forward a whole slew of late orders. We did play our first matinee today and it went well, for the most part. We had a nice-size crowd – not the most vocal audience, but many wonderful compliments after the show. Our very own Robert Yacko was there, and he really enjoyed it. I’m sure it was a bit weird for him to see someone else do his role, but I think he was impressed with the actor who did it. There was no one to dine with after, so I just came home and ordered the spicy chicken with cashews over rice thing from the Cheesecake Factory – a HUGE portion and I’m still full from it six hours later and six hours later I’m still full from it. I then sat on my couch like so much fish and finished watching the movie I’d begun over a week ago, Blade Runner 2049 made in 2017 and watched by me in 2022. Let’s just get out of the way that I’m not a fan of the director, Denis Villeneuve. I liked the first Blade Runner okay – saw it opening night at the Bruin Theater in Westwood. It was a flop but then developed a rabid cult. I watch it from time to time and still find it okay. This new thing is, well, I don’t know what it is really, other than two-and-a-half hours long. It’s visually not nearly as interesting as the original film, at least not for me. I did finish it and did enjoy Harrison Ford’s return to his role. Ryan Gosling kind of puts me to sleep. But it’s another winning performance from Ana de Armas. It received very positive reviews but, like the first film, was a box-office flop. Then I watched a eighty-four-minute movie (sans end credits) entitled Cleaner, which was not about she of the Evil Eye, but a retired cop played by Samuel L. Jackson who runs a cleaning business, meaning he cleans crime scenes. It’s really quite awful and poorly directed by Renny Harlin, who did quite a few quite awful films during his career. If you don’t know how it’s going to play out within the first ten minutes then you should retire your film fan card posthaste. I like Mr. Jackson, but he can’t compensate for the bad writing, plotting, and directing. And the eighty-four-minutes seemed longer then Blade Runner 2049. After that, I continued listening to the instrumental Bacharach home-grown CDs.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do the dual bank thing first thing, then I’ll try to book the flight to Las Vegas, after which I’ll forward the slew of older orders so we can get all that stuff shipped, then I’ll go back to the project with David Wechter and try to put myself in that frame of mind again, I’ll eat something, hopefully pick up some packages, catch up on telephonic calls, continue to plug L.A. Now and Then and hopefully we’ll have a few more reviews at some point, and then in the evening hours I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, a couple of meetings and meals, writing, and then we resume performances on Friday. I’ll probably attend that one to make sure everything is still sharp, and then I’ll attend the matinee for the talkback after. Then I’d go directly to the airport and fly to Las Vegas and immediately be taken to some event, where I’d sign photos and stuff. Monday, I’m being taken to a fancy-shmancy dinner somewhere on the strip, then Tuesday is the actual event and I’m speaking at that and then there’s some dinner thing after, but I’ll only be there a little while, and then I’ll fly home.
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 banking, try to book a flight, forward orders, get back to writing, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What prequels/sequels have you enjoyed, and have you ever liked a prequel/sequel more than the original film? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping this feeling of being hit by a non-literal truck passes quickly.