Well, dear readers, if you’re reading these here notes it must be Friday. If you’re not reading these here notes, then it could be Sunday or Tuesday or a week from Wednesday. At this point, logic should tell you that I have no clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about, but one must occasionally kick-start these here notes, to get them in gear, to start the motor running, if you get my metaphors. Certainly, my metaphors get you, but let’s just leave my metaphors out of this, shall we? I’m not listening to music, if you must know, but I did manage to watch two count them two motion pictures. The first motion picture I didn’t even know existed, completely off my radar when it came out. Poseidon, some idiot’s idea that remaking the original was necessary or needed. It is a poster child for how studios lie about grosses. They say this hunk of garbage made 181 million bucks worldwide. In the US? 60 million. There’s no way it grossed 120 million overseas, but as we entered the 2000s they realized just how easy it was to report whatever they felt like. The movie cost 160 million and heaven knows what the spent on promotion but it would be at least fifty million back then, maybe more. It’s reported that the studio lost 77-million on it, but it was, in my opinion, much more. First of all, they don’t get 60 million from the US grosses, they get a percentage of it. Same with overseas but much less of a percentage. The rule of thumb is that a film has to make two-and-a-half times its cost. The math doesn’t work for a 77-million loss. Anyway, it’s directed by Wolfgang Peterson, who has certainly made some good movies. This, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them. The world was clearly not clamoring for a remake. Yes, the special effects are fine, but no more fine than the first film and frankly the big effects in that work better. The big issue are the characters, which are completely different than the original film. All the young actresses look the same and I could not tell them apart. Kurt Russell has a firm jaw and Richard Dreyfuss plays a gay man and we know this because he has an earring in one ear. But there is not one iota of character development and therefore whether they survive or not is of no interest. The original at least lets us meet everyone and spend time with them for a bit before the disaster occurs. I can’t find the Blu-ray so I don’t remember how far into the film it is before the big wave, but in Poseidon it happens fifteen minutes in. Without the end credits, the film only runs eighty-nine minutes. The original ran just under two hours. It also had much better actors. I don’t remember what Josh Lucas’s credits were, but he’s just terrible in this. I looked him up – I’ve seen four or five movies he’s in and I remember him not one whit from any of them. In any case, it’s a complete fail even for Mr. Peterson.
The second motion picture was entitled The Perfect Storm, which I’d never seen, and ironically it, too, was directed by Mr. Peterson. It’s a better film than Poseidon, certainly, but while the effects are amazing, it’s a pretty unsatisfying movie. There are side plots of people who need rescuing them – that takes up a lot of time away from the characters who are carrying the story – these side plots involve characters we literally know nothing about, so why waste our time? It’s well made, but I grew tired of it. Good cast, though.
Yesterday was the third day in a row of four hours of sleep, I think, and that must stop or I’ll get sick and I have no time for such things. Luckily, I’d gone to bed at one-thirty and was asleep by two. I woke up at six, tried to go back to sleep, didn’t work, answered e-mails and did some stuff on the computer, then at seven I got dressed and went to Ralph’s because they just started a Diet Coke sale – three twelve-packs for fifteen bucks, so I got six, which should last me for a while now.
I came home, put the drinks in the refrigerator, tried to go back to sleep, didn’t work, ordered the tri-salad from Art’s Deli using the second of the fifty-percent off coupons and that arrived around eleven-thirty and was very good. And that was the only food I ate. I say that, because my tummy tells me I’m hungry, but I am determined to lose some poundage and damn them, damn them all to HELL, I will lose some poundage. I futzed and finessed a bit, then wrote about five pages, then watched the first movie. Then I wrote three more pages, watched the second movie, and then wrote two more pages.
Today, I’ll be up by ten-thirty at the latest, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll futz and finesse and write a couple of new pages, then I have a one o’clock lunch meeting, after which I’ll go to the mail place and see what’s what. Then I’ll come home and write more pages, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be the same plus the much-moved Zoom meeting will happen at two. Sunday will be writing, and I should be able to send Muse Margaret a nice number of pages. Then next week is all writing and doing whatever needs doing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten-thirty at the latest,, futz and finesse and write, have a lunch meeting, visit the mail place, write, 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 thing? I’ll start – nothing. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to know that it must be Friday.