Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much spicy fish, listening to Lee Actor’s violin concerto and he really must revere Bernard Herrmann because there are many echoes throughout everything, I’ve heard by him, and that’s not a bad thing. He has some other pieces I’ll seek out now. But let me get right to the motion picture I watched earlier. How many movies, I wonder, can you say are just perfect, where nothing could be improved in any way. I have about ten, probably, although I’ve never made a list. Last night, I was in the mood to watch a perfect movie and I chose one I haven’t seen in over a decade. I only ever checked out the transfer on the Blu-ray. I suppose the easiest way to identify this perfect motion picture is to say, “Here’s looking at you, kid,” or “We’ll always have Paris,” or “Round up the usual suspects,” or “Play it, Sam.” Yes, I’m talking about Casablanca. It’s the kind of film it’s easy to take for granted, but I have never taken it for granted. It has a perfect screenplay, perfect and brilliant direction, a great score, beautiful photography, and one of the most perfect casts ever assembled for a movie. Add to that, great art direction, gorgeous costumes, and a wonderful score by Max Steiner, and you end up with Casablanca. It opened in Los Angeles on Friday January 29, 1943, at the Warners Hollywood, the Warners Downtown, and my beloved Wiltern Theater. The script has endlessly quotable dialogue, spoken to a T by Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Paul Henreid, S.Z. Sakall (aka Cuddles), Dooley Wilson, and Sidney Greenstreet. We don’t have any actors today who could do any of these roles. The characters are so well written, the plot so simple and yet so engaging, and there isn’t a false moment throughout its entirety, and the pacing is perfection, all 102 minutes of it. And I must say that Ingrid Bergman was one of the greatest film actresses ever. I loved seeing it again and was just astonished by it, as I always am. Here’s looking at you, kid.
Yesterday began beautifully with a telephonic call from Muse Margaret, who loved the ninety pages she got. She only had one tiny note, to add a bit of detail to why a character doesn’t like something. That took about thirty seconds. I couldn’t have been happier with her reaction, and she’s always very specific about the bits she really responds to.
After that, the computer was behaving poorly all day and I was ready for the ubiquitous every two weeks crash, but it didn’t happen and then in the evening things seemed to get better. Go know. I futzed and finessed the previous day of writing, then wrote a couple of new pages. I ordered food from Popeye’s. I tried something new – their ghost pepper wings along with some mac-and-cheese. It arrived thirty minutes later. When I hear ghost pepper, I think it means a tiny bit (ghost) of spicy something. Well, there’s nothing ghost about this pepper, and it was way too spicy for the likes of me. I ate all six wings, but I shouldn’t have. I’ve been having a little heartburn and nausea ever since. The mac-and-cheese, though, was very good.
After that, I had a disturbing e-mail, so I have to meet with the person who sent it and clear up some things. It’s nothing, really, but we’re on two different pages about the details of something, so I just want to get us on the same page. I then wrote another eight pages, watched the movie, had a bacon cheeseburger that was pretty good, then wrote another couple of pages, for a total of twelve, I think. I need to get out of the section I’m in and move this puppy along. But I always think I’m writing too long and then I go back and read it and it’s only two or three pages and is fine. My tummy is not happy with me right now and I can’t blame it, although I just did.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven at the latest, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll futz and finesse, I’ll have a haircut that I desperately need, then I’ll write some pages, have another Zoom at four, write, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is writing, then we’ll see what’s up on the weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, do whatever needs doing, futz and finesse, get a needed haircut, write new pages, eat, have a Zoom, write, 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, whilst saying, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”