Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much hot fish, cooling down the house from its current eighty-two degrees. I’m listening to John Williams’ terrific score to JFK right now. I have it on CD, of course, but heaven knows where it is, so thankfully it’s all on the Tube of You. Earlier, I finished watching the very long movie and I have to say it’s really the only Oliver Stone film I think is good. The pacing, the script, the performances all work perfectly. The only problem with the film, according to a lot of folks, is that much of it isn’t true. Of course, people have been saying there wasn’t a conspiracy since 1963 and others are convinced that there was and is a conspiracy and have been since that same year. What has never helped is the all the records were kept sealed and were not to be unsealed until 2029. That changed when the JFK Records Act was signed into law and that law – yes, LAW – stated that the unredacted records – all of them – have to be unsealed in 2017. Well, that hasn’t really happened and I’m not sure how they can get away with not obeying the law. Some of the records have been reduced, heavily redacted, and many still haven’t. Last year, a lawsuit was filed and hopefully that will get everything released because until everything IS released, nobody really knows anything other than what was made public. Release everything and if there was no conspiracy then everyone will know, and this can be put to bed. Regardless of whether there is fiction in the movie, it’s still riveting and even the star cameos work really well, which was surprising. I’ve seen the film twice before and it really does grab the viewer by the throat, and it doesn’t let go for all three hours and eight minutes. There’s a director’s cut that’s about twenty minutes longer, but I don’t think I’ve seen that one. Stone did a follow-up look back at the movie, entitled JFK Revisited and I may try watching that. I also watched a motion picture entitled Red – not the big action film, but the small character film starring Brian Cox. It’s kind of a revenge picture, but wants to have it all ways, which ultimately makes it unsatisfying, at least to me. This was my second viewing – we put out the excellent soundtrack and that was my first viewing. I liked it better the first time, but Cox is still great in it, and it certainly has its moments.
Yesterday was a day. I got up at noon after eight hours of non-consecutive sleep, answered e-mails, ordered a Chinese chicken salad from Stanley’s with a 50% off coupon, that arrived, and I ate it all up. Whilst waiting for the arrival, I did write two new pages. After that, I went back almost eighty pages and began futzing and finessing. I’d already done a little of it on the first twenty pages, but I did more, and then it was almost four hours of additions and subtractions, moving things around, clarifying, and smoothing things out. By the end of that, I was completely exhausted. Then I wrote another four pages and I’d also probably added two pages with the additions. The next section shouldn’t be too hard, and I want to keep it succinct, which isn’t always easy. One thing is starting to be clear – I don’t think this is going to be the novella I thought it was, not the way it’s going. But we shall see what we shall see. Then I watched the movies, and I never had any other food.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll futz and finesse what I wrote yesterday, then I’ll send all those pages to Muse Margaret. I’ll go to the mail place and gather up whatever’s there, I’ll eat, perhaps another salad of some sort, I’ll write new pages, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, with another two Zoom sessions, perhaps a meeting and meal, and I’ll do whatever else may need doing.
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 whatever needs doing, I’ll futz and finesse then send Muse Margaret pages, I’ll pick up stuff from the mail place, I’ll eat, I’ll write, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your thoughts on the Kennedy assassination? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have gotten almost eighty pages futzed and finessed.