Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the strains of Australian composer Arthur Benjamin’s first symphony, symphony number one, which, interestingly, was his one and only symphony. It’s a marvelous work, very film music-like, appropriate since he was a prolific film music composer. In fact, his most famous piece, outside of his popular Jamaican Rhumba, is the Storm Clouds Cantata used in both versions of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. But everything he wrote that I’ve heard is excellent, including his works for piano and orchestra and his violin concerto. He wrote four operas and I would really love to hear them. Ooh, I just found his opera of A Tale of Two Cities, which, by the way, is not the sequel to A Tale of One City. It’s on the Tube of You and I’m grabbing it – there are two versions up – one a TV broadcast in mono not great sound from the 1950s and a 1993 stereo thing of excerpts, which I’ll also grab.
Now wait just a minute here – now just hold the phone here, now just put on the brakes here, now just stop the presses here because this, dear readers, is the final day of May. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, today is the final day of May or the May Day Finale Ultimo. I have to say that this month has flown by, like a gazelle run amok amongst the pansies. And that, of course, means tomorrow will be June, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that June will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. I just found another opera by Arthur Benjamin, a short one-hour thing called Prima Donna. And two other performances of the symphony, which I’m interested to hear. I’ll grab whatever else looks interesting, too. Earlier, I did watch the famous and brilliant episode of The Twilight Zone entitled Eye of the Beholder. It was a real shocker back when it aired, unforgettable, and brilliantly directed by Douglas Heyes, with a great score by Bernard Herrmann. After that, I watched a motion picture on HBO entitled Reality, which just premiered there although you’d never know it since you have to search for it to find it – really rather stupid. It’s based on the actual FBI interview with Reality Leigh Winner, who leaked a classified document to The Intercept – ONE document having to do with Russian interference into the 2016 election – and, sorry, that information should hardly be classified – and who was sentenced to five years in jail, the longest sentence ever given. Gee, I wonder if the former president will get such a sentence for hoarding all those classified documents? Hmmmm. This began life as an off-Broadway play entitled Is This a Room, done at the Vineyard Theater and then had a brief run in repertory with another play on Broadway – only a month. It’s not really a play, of course, since the entirety of it is the verbatim transcript of the interview. The film is also exactly that and basically plays in real time (sans end credits it runs around eighty minutes). It’s directed by the woman who did the play, and who took written by credit on the play and shares screenplay credit with another writer for the movie. I’m not sure why they would take that credit since they didn’t actually write much of anything other than the stuff at the end about what happened to Reality Winner. In fact, the director has her name all over this thing – Tina Satter is her name. It’s a very simple film, which is fine, until she decides to get arty at the end, which is just ridiculous. Obviously, this is a pick-up and not something actually made by HBO.
I found it very interesting and compelling and the FBI’s way of doing things is not so orthodox, especially as they never read this girl her Miranda rights, which should have resulted in the case being thrown out. The young lady who plays the lead does a great job – no mumbling, easy to understand, but she has to play it exactly the way the transcript is written, which she does – Sydney Sweeney is her name – she’s done a lot of things like Game of Thrones and The White Lotus and she’s someone to watch, I think. The biggest fail of the film is, as usual, the score, which is hideous – just one long drone of no actual musicality – just nothing and irritating as HELL.
Yesterday was okay. I got eight hours of sleep, with an interesting dream at the end, got up, answered e-mails, had a telephonic call, then went to Gelson’s and happily for the first time in a week they had my two onion rolls – the last two – so I grabbed those and got tuna and home I came, made the tuna and had two wonderful tuna sandwiches.
After that, I writer of the play we’re going to workshop came by and brought me the latest draft of the script and we discussed a few things, and he showed me the set we have to work on and thankfully the set is all the way upstage, leaving the downstage area completely open. Then I began my viewing and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by ten-thirty at the latest, I have a telephonic call at eleven, another at noon o’clock, then I’ll do whatever needs doing, after which I’ll mosey on over to the mail place and hopefully two important envelopes will be there for me to pick up. I’ll probably pick up something to eat and bring it home, where I’ll eat whatever it is and why shouldn’t I, I’ll do some Sami stuff – an eBlast went out yesterday for our show to every member to the TV Academy – several folks I know got it and mentioned it to me. Now our job is to get them to vote for us in our four categories. Other streaming services and studios are, as always, spending millions trying to buy their nominations and then awards. We have about a dollar to spend so we have to just get people to watch it and vote for it and hope that there’s enough of them to make us the little show that could. Then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be a new month, namely June, and I think there’s a meal or meeting or something going on, then the rest of the week and weekend is getting ready for our sold out Kritzerland show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten-thirty, have two back-to-back telephonic calls, hopefully pick up two important envelopes, eat, do Sami stuff, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you 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, hoping for a pleasantly pleasant May Day Finale Ultimo.