Well, dear readers, this month is almost at an end – how did THAT happen? This month has flown by, like a gazelle eating a combination of Peeps and Circus Peanuts. Well, someone has to eat the damn Peeps and Circus Peanuts. Where does the time go, that’s what I’d like to know? And now, I am sitting here like so much fish, hoping for some little miracles to perhaps show up because we need ‘em right about now. And I’m listening to the cello concerto of Darius Milhaud – it’s quite engaging, I must say. I am engaged, oh, yes, I am engaged. Prior to being engaged to Milhaud’s cello concerto, who I hope will make me a lovely companion, I watched a motion picture on the Flix of Net. I’ve been tempted to watch said motion picture many times, but I never did. The motion picture was and is entitled Secret Window, adapted from a Stephen King story by screenwriter David Koepp, who also directed. The motion picture stars Mr. Johnny Depp, Miss Maria Bello, Mr. Timothy Hutton, Mr. Charles S. Dutton, and Mr. Len Cariou. Mr. Depp somewhat amusingly plays a disheveled writer in the midst of a divorce and living in a remote cabin where he’s trying to write but really only sleeping. Soon after the film begins a mysterious man shows up (John Turturro) and accuses Mr. Depp’s character of stealing his short story. Mr. Depp denies it, even though he did previously have to pay up for plagiarism in another case. But he has proof – the writer says the year he wrote his story and Mr. Depp tells him he wrote his three years earlier and that it was published in a national magazine. The mysterious man gives Mr. Depp three days to produce the magazine. Then Mr. Depp’s dog is murdered, his house with his about to be ex-wife burns down – what IS this mysterious man doing. Now, anyone who doesn’t know exactly where this is going within the first ten minutes needs to turn in their movie card. Yes, the screenwriter commits a Screenwriting 101 cardinal sin – he lets the audience get ahead of him. So, one sits there for the next hour and twenty minutes waiting for the reveal, one gets it, and then the movie is over. It’s not very good on any level, but I must admit I did find Mr. Depp fun to watch. There’s a nice score by Philip Glass. Prior to that I watched a new limited series true crime documentary entitled Sons of Sam, about a journalist who becomes obsessed with the Son of Sam case and is convinced that others were involved and that it’s all based on some devil worship group. It really isn’t about the Son of Sam stuff as it is about the obsessive journalist, so one never is really engaged in it – it’s okay and suffers from what all these things suffer from: the same style, repetition, and being at least an hour too long for its own good. During all this, I ordered an evening snack of Wor Won Ton soup and vegetable egg rolls, not so bad calorie-wise and I needed a little something. Another case of DoorDash giving the driver multiple orders, causing my order, which he got before getting the other orders, to sit in his car. In fact, he didn’t arrive for forty-five minutes, about thirty minutes past the latest estimate. I got a little credit back and thankfully the food was, at least, still warm. The soup was pretty good, and the egg rolls were really good. First time at this jernt, which gets mostly terrible Yelp reviews, but my two items were fine.
Yesterday was fine. I got about six hours of sleep, got up, saw I had an e-mail from the check-in gal that the book had gone to the design team, and an e-mail from the design team’s supervisor (who’s supervised almost all my books), so that’s good and hopefully I’ll have a galley to approve in a few days. So, that was a good way to start off a day. Then I shaved and showered, then Sami’s mom showed up and we went to the California Pizza Kitchen for food. I didn’t think we’d get in, but at twelve-thirty it was like a ghost town. And it’s apparently been that way for some time, which is fascinating since I’ve written about this jernt many times being super crowded with the City of Studio people and their kids, as if it were Bob’s Big Boy. But those days are apparently done, which is exactly what I said would happen back in the day – these people aren’t loyal and simply move on to the next “thing.” In any case, they have a nice lunch thing, where you can get a very small seven-inch pizza and another dish for a very reasonable cost. I got the roasted garlic chicken pizza – four pieces and 800 calories all in – and a tiny Caesar for another 190 calories (all calories are listed right on the menu). So, that was a nice bunch o’ food for slightly under 1000 calories. The pizza was a perfect size, and the salad was fine. Sami’s mom had an idea she wanted to run by me, and so I said I’d think on it and come up with some ideas.
Then I came home, then moseyed on over to the mail place, where I picked up the package from Monday (Pepcid) and a fun green envelope from the Writer’s Guild – a small but appreciated residual from The Faculty. I came right back home, did some work on the computer, then began my viewing followed by my snack followed by my listening.
Today, I’ll be up early as there’s a delivery coming between nine and noon. After that, I’ll write, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, and then we have a little put-in rehearsal at five. I’ll come directly home after that and watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, we resume performances – we’ll get there early so our replacement actress can run her stuff with the band, and then we do our show, the final one for talented Liz Grannis. Saturday, another cast member steps into Liz’s track and our stage manager steps into the other track, while our backstage gal steps into the stage manager seat. Sunday is our matinee and then it’s on to our final weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up early, write, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, have a put-in rehearsal, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite performances of Johnny Depp (he’s giving a fine one right now in the Amber Heard defamation trial) and Timothy Hutton? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that someone is eating the damn Peeps and Circus Peanuts.