Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the soundtrack for a film entitled A Man Called Ove, a Swedish film from Sweden. I am listening to it because earlier in the evening I watched this Swedish film from Sweden and I must tell you it’s a total winner – funny, moving, without ever being cloying or overdoing the emotional scenes, it’s perfectly cast, very well directed, and features a performance for the ages by Rolf Lassgard. It’s about an old curmudgeon, so I identified instantly. Naturally, it did not surprise me to find there’s an American remake coming out on Christmas Day – classic Oscar-bait release – starring Tom Hanks. I like Mr. Hanks and I’m sure that this Oscar-bait release will result in yet another nomination for him but having watched the trailer it would seem to suffer what all these stupid remakes suffer from, especially remakes of Swedish films – all subtlety gone, obvious jokes, and maybe the film will be better than the trailer but I wouldn’t hold out much hope. Meanwhile, if you have Amazon Prime, it’s free for the watching and it comes highly recommended by the likes of me.
Yesterday was a mostly relaxing day. I think I got eight or nine hours of sleep but boy was it a rough night, one of many rough nights recently. I am just not processing food well these days, I think. It’s extremely irritating and I’d like to have a few nights where I’m not up every hour on the hour. I did a Gelson’s run and got a chicken Caesar salad and ingredients for Wacky Noodles, which will be today’s meal. I came home and ate the salad, which was very good, and aside from two small chocolate chip muffin tops, that was the food for the day. I answered more e-mails that had built up over the last week, then I sat on my couch like so much Swedish fish and watched the Swedish film from Sweden, which, as you may remember, I loved and highly recommended. That was pretty much it and it was that, pretty much.
Today, I’ll try to be up by ten or thereabouts, then I’ll put in motion the thing that will hopefully result in a lovely miracle, part two, so please keep those most excellent vibes and xylophones coming for the next few days, I’ll start choosing the songs for the annual Kritzerland holiday show, we’ll try to set the schedule of Cindy’s song and phone calls, and then there’s this repeat of the Elmer Bernstein concert we did THREE times pre-pandemic. Yes, same concert, but at a private residence in the hills of Hollywood, shorter version, same cast and musicians. I have to pull out the commentary and remove what we’re not doing and then see what I want to spruce up.
At some point, I’ll whip up a batch of Wacky Noodles and consume them, I’ll check to see if there is any mail at the mail place, I’ll answer more e-mails, and then see if the helper can come by and get the rest of the Indiegogo stuff and ship it out. Then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow and the rest of the week will be more of the same, and we’re hoping to do Cindy’s song and phone calls by the end of the week. I’d like to have all that off my plate so that the following week I can do whatever it is I need to do for the Bernstein concert. There’ll be some meetings and meals along the way, including one about where the Kritzerland shows may end up in 2023. I’m also starting to think about next year’s book – I have a couple of ideas floating around in the cranium, so I’ll make a few notes and see which feels better, or perhaps some new idea will join the other floaters. We shall see.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, try to be up by ten or thereabouts, put in motion the thing that will hopefully result in part two of a lovely miracle, start choosing songs for the December Kritzerland show, hopefully set Cindy’s schedule, look at the Bernstein commentary, eat some Wacky Noodles, check to see if there’s mail at the mail place, answer e-mails, see when the helper can come get the rest of the Indiegogo perks and get them shipped, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Swedish movies from Sweden? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I will put things in motion that will hopefully result in a lovely miracle, part two.