Well, dear readers, as we approach the end of 2023, I think it is important to remember that we are approaching the end of 2023. Another way to look at it, however, is to say we’re approaching the beginning of 2024 and aren’t beginnings more interesting than endings? We can only hope. Which brings me to last night’s motion picture entitled Hereafter, a film I’d never even heard of prior to it showing up in the Prime recommended list. It’s one of the handful of Clint Eastwood movies I’d never seen so I gave it a go. And to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. Critics were quite divided about it – some loving it, some hating it, but I’m rather a sucker for a good afterlife movie, even though that’s not exactly what this is. It begins with an amazing set piece, a tsunami, but after that, it just settles down to follow three characters’ stories, which, of course, come together at the end. Matt Damon is one of the characters, a man with a gift, a psychic who’s the real deal – but for him, it’s just a curse. Then there’s the French lady who’s involved in the tsunami, briefly dies before being resuscitated and her interesting journey, and finally a set of twin twelve-year-old boys with a drug addict for a mum in England. One of them dies, the other is sent to live with a foster family. The pace is leisurely, which is fine because the acting is really top-notch, and Clint, as per usual, does himself no favors as the “composer” of the score, which is his usual picking out a melody and letting the orchestrators have their way with it, but it’s usually just piano or guitar meanderings. Fortunately, the film also uses the music of a real composer, someone named Sergei Rachmaninoff and his second piano concerto, and those bits are very effective. The most affecting scene is the meeting of the surviving twin boy and Matt Damon. It’s very well written by the guy who wrote The Queen and Frost/Nixon.
Other than that, it was just another day. Felt pretty good upon arising after eight hours of sleep, save for the damn cough. The shortness of breath thing was a bit better, so that’s a good thing. For food, I had a Cobb salad from Stanley’s and that was very good and VERY filling. Much later in the evening hours I had a smash burger and that was fine. No fries or onion rings or anything like that. I had no telephonic conversations, I wrote a couple of pages, and that was fun, and I’ll probably do another three for a total of ten. Otherwise, I relaxed, didn’t get any additional sleep, watched the movie, tried to watch Saltburn but wasn’t really into it – I’ll give it another go at some point – and I watched about fifteen minutes of Panic in Year Zero with Ray Milland and Barbara Hale and their teens, Frankie Avalon and Mary Mitchel. It’s a rather mundane affair, directed by Milland. And here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by nine-thirty and out the door by ten-thirty – meeting the helper at the storage place to hopefully find a couple of titles I’m pretty sure we have plenty of but that she can’t find. Once done with that, I’ll stop at the mail place and see if there’s anything there, then I’ll figure out food. I may go to Gelson’s and get some hot dogs and buns and red cabbage and do that for food – maybe even some chili for a chili dog. I’ve had a bit of a hot dog craving lately. I may try grilling them in the frying pan. I’ll do a little writing, and then I can watch something, perhaps The Holdovers.
Tomorrow, I do the shopping for the raincheck Do – I suspect there won’t be nearly as many people as the real Do, so I won’t overDo the amount of things I buy. Otherwise, it’s just watch, listen, and relax. Sunday is New Year’s Eve and we’ll be right here for our Annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Bash, partying away. At midnight, I’ll have my one sip of champagne and hope for a jolly, positive, and no bad news New Year. Then the following day, January 1, I’ll start the new book and then have the raincheck Do.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by nine-thirty and out the door by ten-thirty, meet the helper and hopefully find the CDs we need to find, go to the mail place and see what’s what, stop at Gelson’s for hot dogs and condiments, eat hot dogs, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray/streaming devices? I’ll start – who knows? Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we’re nearing both an ending and a beginning.