Well, dear readers, what is the expression – when in Rome do as the Romans do. I personally have never been in Rome but if I had been in Rome I would definitely NOT do what the Romans do because I have no idea what the Romans do. I might do what the Californians do, or the Armenians. That would confound the populace, wouldn’t it? Is there anything more confounding than someone in Rome doing what the French do rather than what the Romans do? As an example, when in Rome the Romans probably make pizza, whereas when in Rome a French person would make a crepe. Now, at this particular point in these here notes, I believe my next bon mot should be: What the HELL am I talking about and what does Brahms have to say about it? I’m currently listening to Eugene Ormandy’s 1940s recording of the Brahms fourth symphony, that last of his four symphonies. Otherwise, I finished watching a motion picture entitled Tar, about a conductor named Lydia Tar. Point one: Two-and-a-half-hours. Point two: Talk, talk, talk, with some music every now and then. Point three: I’ve watched a lot of conductors conduct and even the most effusive and bombastic of them don’t hold a candle to the crazy conducting shown on the screen. The script feels hobbled together from Wikipedia articles about classical music. Cate Blanchett is rarely off screen, and she’s fine, as are most of the other actors. It wants to be about many things – the art, the artist (Tar anagrams to Art, but spelled backwards, it’s Rats) – separating the art from the artist. The pace is glacial and of course it’s a critics darling and pure Oscar bait. I’m not a fan of the director, who does a movie every ten or so years. But I knew what I was in for the minute he began – in a stroke of something or other, a kind of “LOOK AT ME thing – he begins his film with the complete end credits, which are in the smallest type imaginable. I mean SMALL, as in you cannot read it it’s so small. At the end we mostly just get the major credits again. Fenewon alken t elcina… oops, I believe I just nodded off and my fingers somehow typed the title of my next novel – Fenewon Alken t Eclina – well, that’s the Swedish translation. The American title is For Once I Ask and Decline. I have no idea what it’s about, but I can assure you, it’s a corker. Have you ever nodded off while typing. It was short-lived but it happened. Well, you know what they say – when in Rome, nod off. Somehow, the Brahms fourth finished and now his marvelous piano concerto has also finished and it’s no longer eleven o’clock. That is because once I had that brief nodding off episode, I got up and went and sat in a chair and nodded off again. And now, it’s Robert Schumann’s tuneful piano concerto that is making me feel like I’m nodding off again.
Yesterday was kind of a day. I got about six or seven hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, did stuff on the computer, texted about the broken shower handle to no response, and then moseyed on over to the Coral Café for a nice lunch with a nice chap. I had a quite nice chicken salad sandwich on white toast with bacon and American cheese added, and some fries, too. It was fun and a nice break. Then I picked up two packages (I believe a third was there, but not scanned in, but I didn’t know that until I got home), two screeners, the aforementioned Tar, and something called Bones and All, which doesn’t seem of much interest to me, since it seems to be a road movie about two cannibals. I don’t make this stuff up, you know. And at two hours and ten minutes, well – as one critic put it, the director, who did the remake of Suspiria, doesn’t understand horror but does understand how to put an audience to sleep. I don’t need Bones and All to put me to sleep – apparently, writing these here notes does that job very well indeed. Then I watched about half of Tar, ordered a cup on wonton soup and some vegetable egg rolls, those came and both items were completely mediocre, especially the soup. I wonder if there are actually any good Chinese restaurants in the San Fernando Valley. Then I finished the movie and that was pretty much it.
Today, the handyman, who came by in the late afternoon yesterday, will be back with the replacement part for the shower and hopefully he’ll have that working again in short order. Otherwise, it will be a day of catching up and starting to plan out the final releases for the year so we can get them announced. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow and Friday will be more of the same, not sure what’s happening on the weekend other than maybe attending a concert, but as of Friday and announcing the new titles, I am done working for this year. I need two solid weeks of ME time so that I’m completely ready for the New Year and the New Book and getting Sami finished. I’ll hopefully see episode four this week at some point.
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, which will probably be when the handyman rings the doorbell, I’ll catch up on many things, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you dear readers 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, where I shall dream of Rome and what those pesky Romans do.