Well, dear readers, it is very late and these here notes should have been posted eons ago and yet they were not. However, I have an excuse, a Bruce excuse, which is better than an obtuse excuse or moose excuse or a caboose excuse or an excuse you have to deduce or even a chartreuse excuse. My Bruce excuse is that I started watching a motion picture later in the evening and I got caught up in it and wanted to finish it, so I did and now here I am, out of Bruce excuses and writing these here notes. The motion picture in question was entitled Unbreakable, yes, another film by M. Night Shyamalan, this one being the film after he hit the big leagues with The Sixth Sense. I saw it when it hit DVD and I have to say I really liked it. Now, if you read the Wikipedia entry on the film it is filled to the brim with revisionist history. No, it did not get generally great reviews – it got middling reviews, some better than others, and a bunch of pans. The revisionism on the grosses is pretty amusing – they say it did 95 million in the US – doubtful – but the joke gross is overseas, where they try to say it did 153 million. In my humble opinion, that is a load of hooey. I remember vividly when it came out how everyone was disappointed in it because it wasn’t as good as The Sixth Sense, and everyone was disappointed in the ending and its “twist.” But whoever wrote the Wikipedia article would have you believe it was an audience favorite. Why? And this is where the real hilarity kicks in – because Quentin Tarantino, nine years after Unbreakable came out, said it was a favorite of his. So, immediately all the sheep suddenly do a turn around and say they LOVE it. I’d certainly enjoyed The Sixth Sense, although I knew what was going on, but the fact is, I enjoyed Unbreakable almost as much. Terrific performances, very well directed with an interesting premise and script. The only thing wrong with the ending is it so obviously sets up a sequel. Because the film did not gross what they’d like you to think it grossed, it had no sequel. Had it been a huge hit, you can bet your butt cheeks the sequel would have happened instantly. Well, it finally got a sort of sequel in 2017, a mere seventeen years later, in the movie Split. I’d have to watch that again because I have zero memory of it seeming like a sequel. And then, a couple of years later we got Glass, which is for sure a sequel and which I haven’t seen, but we shall rectify that this very day. Anyway, Unbreakable looks great and has a very nice James Newton Howard score.
Prior to that, I watched a French movie from France entitled The Blue Room, from 2015 or thereabouts. I watched it solely because it’s based on a Georges Simenon novella entitled The Blue Room. The story is interesting, the performances are fine, but, as directed by its leading man, it’s a little too arty for its own good, and so it keeps you at arm’s length. Also, it follows the books fractured timeline, but that sort of thing works better in books than it does in movies. The score was symphonic, so that was a plus. Not something I’d ever want to see again, however. Otherwise, I had a very rough night, sleeping very little, until I finally fell asleep in earnest around seven-thirty. I got up at one-thirty, so probably seven hours overall. I ordered food from Kabuki in Burbank – my usual Bento Box containing teriyaki chicken and rice, tempura, a tiny salad, California roll, and miso soup. I don’t like miso soup, so that went into the trash – everything else was excellent. I cleverly saved the California roll for an early evening snack. Clever, these Americans. Then I watched the first movie, had a loverly conversation with dear reader Jeanne, and then watched Unbreakable, and here we are.
Today, I have no plans and that’s the way it will stay. The only work I will do is practice at the piano. I’ll eat something fun, and then all I’ll do is watch, listen, and relax.
This week, I’ll figure out the songs for the holiday show, still try to find a Drat set designer, figure out the sound situation for the holiday show, and then do whatever needs doing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, practice at the piano, eat, and watch, listen, and relax. In other words, a ME day. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, with not a single other Bruce excuse.