Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, having just typed “Well, dear treaders.” I find there’s something very appealing about that, don’t you. After all, we’re all just treaders in the swimming pool of life, are we not? That was deeply profound, wasn’t it? Or deeply something. In any case, I went back and corrected it but just thought I’d mention it because one simply must mention things. Otherwise, earlier in the evening I watched all but the last fifty minutes of a motion picture entitled Black Sunday. Not the Mario Bava film from 1960, of which I’m a big fan, but the John Frankenheimer film from 1977, based on the novel by Thomas Harris. I saw it on its opening day, April 1, at the Chinese (also played the Village in Westwood) and thought it was pretty great. Islands in the Stream also opened on that day, but I’d seen a sneak preview of that one weeks before, most likely at the Village. There was so much interesting theater at that time, and I missed all of it, save for A Chorus Line at the Shubert. How I didn’t hie myself to the Ahmanson to see Long Day’s Journey into Night with Charlton Heston and Deborah Kerr, directed by Peter Wood, is anyone’s guess. Shame on me. Black Sunday holds up terrifically well, with a crazed performance from Bruce Dern, and exemplary performances from the rest of the cast, especially Robert Shaw. I’ll watch the final fifty minutes as soon as I post these here notes. The John Williams score is brilliant, and I must find the CD and play it again. I actually would have finished it had I not fallen asleep five minutes into it for almost an hour. I had to go back and watch what I missed.
Also, I’m semi-happy to report I’ve somewhat, partially mastered the art of making a Short and Reel and I’ve managed to post them to YouTube and Instagram, and Instgram, once you enable it, shares to Facebook. It’s just an experiment to see how many views they get. Speaking of Shorts and Reels, there is a girl who posts non-stop videos, I mean one after another. She purportedly has Tourettes and people love her and she’s been on Dr. Phil. But I’m not buying it for one minute. Her tics change with each video, she explains that her tics are inspired by videos she’s seen, and that is NOT how Tourettes works. My friend David Wechter’s father had Tourettes, so I saw it all the time and when I directed the big Tourettes benefit after he passed, I was around many, many people who had it and not one of them did anything near what this girl is doing. I believe she’s making a ton of money on them through sponsors and monetization, and I think the people who follow and give her millions of views may be in for a rude awakening one of these days. She’s like the Miranda Sings of Tourettes. And because of her, now it’s a TikTok and Instagram “thing” with at least ten other girls doing equally fake things. This is what the Internet and social media has brought us. This and videos of young women flaunting their bodies, showing their underpants, getting thousands of views and shares and raking in the dough. People bray on about objectification, and these girls set that back fifty years.
Yesterday was a fine day. I only got four hours of sleep because at eight the tree trimmers were next door making so much noise. I really needed to sleep but there was no sleeping to be done with that racket. As long as I was up, I texted Grant Geissman and told him he was a moron for letting him start that early because old Jews need their beauty sleep. I finally got back to sleep when all was quiet on the western front, around ten-thirty and slept till one-thirty, so that was helpful. Then I got news of a modern major miracle that brightened up my day by a few kilowatts. I finished off the tuna pasta salad, had some ice cream, and wrote about eleven pages. I thought that would bring me to the next section, but I think it’s going to take three more pages to get there. I had some telephonic conversations, and then started Black Sunday, fell asleep for an hour, went back and watched again, and there you have it.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do things that must be done, I’ll finish writing the section I’m in, then I’ll go back and futz and finesse all the new pages, I’ll eat something fun, either Wacky Noodles, which I have the ingredients for, or maybe a Subway sandwich, I’ll check with the mail place, which I forgot to do yesterday, and if there’s anything there I’ll go pick it up, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week, of which there isn’t much, is more of the same, and then next week I’m hoping we finally get in the Vernon Duke disc so we can get that shipped out and then I can finally announce a new title or two.
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 things that must be done, finish writing the section I’m in then futz and finesse, eat, check with the mail place, write some new pages, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get 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, happy in the knowledge that were all just treaders in the swimming pool of life.