Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much nauseous fish, listening to music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, simply because one must do so every couple of years, simply because he was an amazing composer with a unique musical voice and his music just gets to me in a major way even when it’s in a minor key, as opposed to his music getting to me in a minor way even when it’s in a major key. Otherwise, I did watch two motion pictures earlier – well, I fast-forwarded through one, a perfectly horrid little “comedy” entitled I Wonder Who’s Killing Her Now, featuring a good cast, terrible writing, inept direction, made the same year as The First Nudie Musical. It apparently played in two cities in mid-1976 and its total gross was $82,000. Bob Dishy, Severn Darden, Richard Libertini, Bill Dana, Joanna Barnes, Steve Franken, all wasted and all unfunny, no mean feat. I made it through the other motion picture, which was entitled BlackBerry, a film about the creation and downfall of the BlackBerry phone. It’s a new film that’s streaming on Amazon Prime or somewhere. It’s a Canadian film from Canada. According to Wikipedia, it’s a comedy/drama. Well, I couldn’t discern any comedy. I just looked up its Rotten Tomatoes rating – 98%. That’s a bit of a headscratcher, as it’s truly terrible. Let’s start with the worst of it, the non-direction (full of shaky-cam crap) – thirty-five-years on maybe no one should EVER do that again – it’s just lazy and a terrible way to make a movie. The worst wigs and hair pieces I’ve ever seen – maybe that’s where the “comedy” comes from, and add to that a lot of really over-the-top schmacting from its leading players. The story is interesting but no differently told than a million other rise and fall stories. What’s truly amazing is how fast Apple’s iPhone killed the BlackBerry, rather like how fast Facebook killed MySpace. You know how fast the latter happened? In the first Adriana Hofstetter book, MySpace plays a major role. One year later, in the second book, it was history. It didn’t cost much to stream, but I just didn’t care for it at all. And now, it’s Villa-Lobos’ Bachainas Brasilieras No. 4 wafting its magic from the Audio Engine speakers to the waiting ears of my very own self.
Yesterday was fine. I only got five hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, shaved and showered, and then moseyed on over to Vitello’s for a nice lunch with Kay Cole. After that, I went to the mail place briefly, then came home. I finished up doing the Preview Harvey goody and sent it to everyone who bought a signed copy of the book, along with the admonishment that it would be best to read the book prior to looking at the goody, as there are spoilers in the goody.
After I watched the first movie, I ordered a slice of pizza from Big Mama’s and Papa’s – it was supposed to be a cheese slice with pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms. It arrived about thirty minutes later, the pizza slice the size of a small country and containing no pepperoni, very spicy sausage, no mushrooms, but having red onions, very hot pepperoncini, and heaven knows what else. It was way too spicy for me but I dutifully ate it since it wasn’t free. My tummy is now in nauseous mode because of the spicy stuff and hopefully that will go away before I go to sleep. I did get a partial refund from DoorDash. I had a fun conversation with Muse Margaret, who received her copy of Preview Harvey, and a few other telephonic conversations. Sadly, no major miracles occurred, but still hoping one will arrive somehow.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven or thereabouts, I’ll do whatever needs doing, then I have a lunch meeting at two-thirty. After that, I’ll stop at the mail place to see if anything has arrived, then I’ll come home, catch up on a few things, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I think I have a lunch but I can’t remember who it’s with, so maybe I’m misremembering. Friday, I’ll be getting together with David Wechter, either in person or on Zoom. Not sure what’s happening on the weekend. And, of course, the weekend brings us a new month. This month has flown by, like a gazelle still using a BlackBerry. By the way, I never had such a thing as a BlackBerry, but I did have the first-generation iPhone.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven or thereabouts, do whatever needs doing, have a lunch meeting, check in with the mail place, catch up on a few things, and 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, pondering the age-old question, who here among us had a BlackBerry?