Well, dear readers, Vivaldi is wafting its way into my brain with his concerto for two violins, strings, and bass continuo in D-minor and since it’s Mr. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra strings, I think you can imagine how lovely it all is. Before that, we had the Walton violin concerto and Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole. Not as much listening as usual yesterday because it was a bit of a wacked out day. I only got about three and a half hours of sleep and once up and e-mails had been answered, I finished writing the sequence on the project with David Wechter, so now he continues on with his next sequence. By the time I finished that, food arrived from a new-to-me jernt called Roma Deli, which apparently has been around since the late 1940s. I ordered a cheeseburger, just because it looked really good in its photograph, and a small Roma Special sandwich – roast beef, ham, turkey, salami, provolone, lettuce, sun-dried tomatoes, Eyetlian dressing, on a crusty roll. The cheeseburger was first, and it was indeed as good as it looked, albeit a bit messy to eat. I wouldn’t order it again because it was the Roma Special that was really special, and I’d want a medium or large of that one and maybe a small of another. Everything was of high quality and the sun-dried tomatoes added a really nice tang to it. When you have a sandwich like that you realize just how ordinary Subway and Jersey Mike’s really are. It was a very nice meal. After that, of course, I was very logy. I sat on my couch and watched a movie I’d saved called The Interrogation of Michael Crowe, a true story about a murder in which the twelve-year-old son is the prime suspect and who eventually confesses to the murder along with two friends. The problem is, the confessions are coerced and ultimately the boys are cleared, many years after this TV movie was made. The man who was ultimately arrested and put on trial for the murder was found not guilty because the evidence was so inept. The police who interrogated the boy are reprehensible – they lie to him, the coerce, they badger, they tell him so many untruths and thankfully it was all taped and the jury and judge were having none of it. It was so upsetting to watch that I began fast-forwarding through that section because I wanted to throttle those detectives – neither of whom faced any consequences that I can find. Long after the 2002 movie was aired and the boys, especially Michael Crowe, the dead girl’s brother, were exonerated, the family sued the Escondido Police Department and was awarded 7.2 million dollars, but the fact that those detectives got away with what they did using a technique called the Reid Technique is the true perversion of justice. I believe the film caused major changes in the law and the questioning sessions always needing to be taped. Ally Sheedy was very good as the mom. The rest of the cast I didn’t know – lots of Canadian actors.
Before bed the night before, I watched a highly lauded “horror” film from 2015 entitled The Witch, starring Anya-Joy Taylor in her film debut. It’s a very slowly paced moody art film is what it is, and I really did not care for it at all. Critics were comparing it to The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Omen, since it deals with the devil, but it isn’t anywhere near effective as those classic – not even in the ballpark, perhaps 100 miles south of the ballpark. Acting is fine. It take place in New England in the 1630s and is of that type of historical film, so why anyone would compare it to films which take place in the twentieth century in then-contemporary times is anyone’s guess. The other huge difference is that The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Omen are all entertaining films. None of them are “BOO!” movies and neither is The Witch, but there’s not a single ounce of fun to be found in the verrrrrry long ninety minutes of The Witch.
Otherwise, I loaded CDs and napped for two hours, then finally began listening to music. I really have to retrain my body and start getting normal amounts of sleep on a regular basis. No galley or covers arrived, but the helper got caught up on shipping stuff, so that was a good thing.
Today, I must be up at eight, as she of the Evil Eye will be here soon thereafter and I shall have to go breakfast somewhere – where is the question and the question is where? We shall see. After breakfasting, I’ll go to the mail place and see what’s there, if anything. Then I’ll go to Gelson’s and get something light to eat for early evening. Then I’ll come home, do whatever needs doing, make my eye doctor appointment, and then at some point watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same – I’ll check and see what the progress of the galley and covers is – it used to go much faster and my stuff is always supposed to be on the fast track, but last time it took over a week and that’s ridiculous given that they don’t really have to do anything but assemble the elements of the dust jacket and add ISBN numbers to the copyright page. Hopefully soon. I really want books in mid-April at the latest, which is a month earlier than the official ship date. I would love to do a signing at the Drama Book Shop and I know we could get quite a few folks there for it – I’m hoping elmore knows someone there or that someone does. I’d also love to do a signing here and it would be so easy if all the Samuel French stores hadn’t closed. I may try Book Soup. I think Vroman’s has closed, unfortunately.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up at eight and out the door by eight-thirty, breakfast, see what’s what at the mail place, do a quick Gelson’s visit, then come home, do whatever needs doing, make my eye doctor appointment, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What true-life films really got to you and were hard to watch? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have discovered such a good sandwich.