Well, dear readers, it is Sunday, a day of rest, only I will not be resting, oh, no, I will not be resting. No, I have work to do today, but more about that later. Is that what they call a tease? Am I being a tease? I’m never a tease but here I am being a tease. The question is, am I a tantalizing tease? It’s not enough to be a tease, you see – one must be a tantalizing tease or one just isn’t a tease but a poseur. Well, I am not a poseur, baby, therefore I must be a tantalizing tease. You know, I have no idea what the HELL I’m talking about. Why am I going on about being a tease? The only thing I really like to tease is my hair, but let me tell you THAT doesn’t work. There is no teasing my hair because my hair just sits there like so much fish, no matter what I do to it. Speaking of so much fish, yesterday, which was supposed to be a day of rest, wasn’t. I had to get up early because she of the Evil Eye was making an appearance. I then had to Xerox the Brain lead sheets in varying numbers – we have a cast of nineteen, so the group numbers had nineteen copies, while solos had one, etc. After that, I had to deliver books to Bookfellows, and after that I had to come home and put all the music together by cast member, which took a long, long time to do. After that, I worked a bit at the piano, trying out a new tune for one eight-line verse in the finale. I’m not sure if I’ll end up using it, but I’m going to finish it and bank it, just in case I end up thinking it’s better than what’s there. After that, I had to go do some other stuff, and grab a bite to eat, and then I finally came home, where I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I managed to watch three count them three motion pictures on DVD (well, I finished the one I was almost through with and then watched two more). The first motion picture on DVD was entitled The Human Factor, starring Mr. George Kennedy, Mr. John Mills, and Mr. Raf Vallone. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk, a director I’m fond of, but this, unfortunately, is one of his worst films. It’s a rather silly, stilted revenge film. It does boast a peculiar score by Ennio Morricone, but it just sort of goes on and on, and one just waits for it to end. I do like Mr. Kennedy (after all, I played his son just five short years later), and the other actors are all fine, too. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD, which was entitled Edmond, which I presumed was a film by David Mamet, since the front of the box has a quote that says, “Mamet’s finest work” and the back of the box says, “Mamet delivers this year’s must see thriller!” And the film features Mamet regulars William H. Macy, Rebecca Pidgeon (Mrs. Mamet), and Joe Mantegna. Well, it’s written by Mamet but directed by Stuart Gordon. Now, before I get into the film itself, let me tell you what I was expecting and why I was expecting it. The front of the box says Edmond – A Heart-Pounding Thriller! The back of the box says (in addition to the quote above), A Masterpiece! A Wickedly Surprising Thriller! And then this: (a list of cast members) star in this wickedly, sexy thriller (I didn’t put the comma there, they did). Edmond (Macy) becomes trapped in a twisted game of sex and murder. It’s a first rate mystery with a shocking ending that will blow you away! And then the quote “Filled With Shocking Surprises.” Now, whoever did this packaging should be fired and run out of town on a rail. Because whatever one thinks about the film Edmond, a thriller it isn’t, sexy it isn’t, a mystery it isn’t, and if there was a shocking ending I must have missed it, hence I was not blown away. I also missed the “shocking surprises” and all those exclamation points were not evident in the film. What happened to a little something we like to call truth? As in truth in advertising. One could, one presumes, file a class action lawsuit, since not one thing on that box is true. So, what exactly is Edmond? Well, it’s standard issue Mamet – lots of his trademark arch dialogue and a plot that defies credulity. It’s one man’s descent into hell – but it’s a hellish New York of the 70s not 2006. There are some very violent scenes (a Stuart Gordon specialty – I don’t think much of him as a director), some of it is amusing on some level, and Mr. Macy, as always, is excellent, as is the rest of the cast, especially Miss Pidgeon, who I know people don’t care for, but I’ve always enjoyed her work. It’s no wonder the film was a bomb – trying to fob it off as a “sexy thriller” is just about the stupidest thing you could do. It’s not a great film and it’s not a terrible film – it’s got some interesting things in it, but I’m just not sure it has much of a point. I then watched the third motion picture on DVD, entitled Peeper, starring Mr. Michael Caine and Miss Natalie Wood, directed by Mr. Peter Hyams. For someone who considers himself a major director, Mr. Hyams filmography is mostly loaded with really bad movies and Peeper, I’m afraid, is the worst of what I’ve seen. In fact, it’s one of the worst movies ever made as far as I’m concerned. The script by W.D. Richter is awful – one terrible line after another, with a completely incoherent plot. Hyam’s work is plodding (even though the film is a scant eighty-four minutes, it seems MUCH longer), the camerawork is too dark and even Mr. Caine overdoes his shtick. The film was a huge box-office bomb, and this is, in fact, the first time it’s ever been available on home video. A pathetic waste of celluloid. Interestingly, the credits are spoken by someone in a trench coat doing a Bogart imitation. While that may seem like a clever idea, it completely gets the movie off on the wrong foot. Awful.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Don’t I have to get my beauty rest because even though Sunday is a day of rest, I shall not be resting because I have work to do? But, I’ll tell you about that after we all click on the Unseemly Button below. Oh dear, am I being a tease?
No, I was not being a tease, I was being a tantalizing tease and don’t you forget it. In any case, today I must toddle over to Mr. Grant Geissman’s home environment, where we’ll be meeting the gentleman who did all the Brain lead sheets and who was supposed to be the show’s musical director. We’re going to record rehearsal tracks, plus I’ll be laying down vocals as a guide. So, we’ll have tracks with vocals and without. I’m not sure how long that will take, but it will be a while.
I have a few other things to attend to, as well, in preparation for our meet and greet and read-through on Monday. Prior to said read-through, I have a meeting with Miss Joan Ryan. It’s going to be a very busy week, that’s all I can tell you.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, record, do vocals, and then sit on my couch like so much fish. I think tomorrow is some sort of holiday, not that it is for me. 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? We shall.