Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the third symphony of Ernst Toch, a fine composer of symphonies, concerti, string quartets, and other orchestral pieces, as well as some fine soundtracks. He is not known for his tunes, but his music can be appealing and frequently is, but can also veer to the atonal. And who here is not guilty of occasionally veering to the atonal? I myself have veered to the atonal, usually when I haven’t had enough sleep, which is what’s been happening lately, hence I have veered to the atonal. I have no idea what the HELL I’m talking about but since when has that held me back? Never, that’s when. Earlier, my curiosity got the better of me, oh, yes, my curiosity got the better of me and I went and streamed the motion picture called M3GAN. As you probably know, it’s been getting great reviews and great word of mouth and I have no doubt that Universal will now make it a brand and produce endless poor sequels. So, is all the brouhaha accurate? Not exactly. There is nothing in M3GAN that was haven’t seen before, but where film is very canny is having its tongue firmly in cheek and in that regard it’s similar to Orphan. They’re completely different films, of course, but both have fun with the genre constructs, and both have laughs. Is it a masterpiece? Of course not. Is it the right film at the right time for a genre that’s been dead for a decade or two? Absolutely. So, while one could nitpick some of it, it’s a lot of fun to watch, the actors are mostly terrific, especially Allison Williams and the various folks who make up M3GAN – actors (on camera movement and voice) and puppeteers for various shots. It takes its time to let us get to know the characters, and that is always necessary to ANY movie that wishes to be successful. The M3GAN design is great, the movie is very well directed without any of the “now” junk, just good non-fussy direction that doesn’t scream LOOK AT ME. The script is fine and fun, and best of all, the music actually functions as a film score should, so that’s fun. Whether the composer was just aping a temp-track from some films that had real scores is unknown, but whatever the deal, the score works really well in the film.
Yesterday was okay. I was up at six-thirty due to not being able to sleep, got out of bed at seven after five hours of sleep, same as the night before. I answered a few e-mails and then she of the Evil Eye arrived and I went to Art’s Deli for some matzoh brei and a bagel. I was there for two hours, proofing quite a few pages. Not as much to find in the second half of the book since I’d figured out most things by then. After that, I went to Gelson’s and got some chili sans beans and some Nathan’s hot dogs and some buns for food.
Once back home, I continued proofing and I’m now on the last ninety pages. Around seven-thirty, I made two Nathan’s dogs and had them with just mustard and they were very good. I broiled them, which some recommend if you don’t like mushy dogs and I, for one, do not like mushy dogs nor do they like me. I also found other ways to do them – microwave being one of them – but that scares me, frankly. In a frying pan is the other way I might try, but broiling worked really well, I thought. That was it for food. Oh, at four-thirty I got into bed, fell asleep, and woke up some three hours later. I began the movie at eight-thirty and it’s less than two hours, so that worked out well. And now, I’m taking a break from TikToch and listening to the M3GAN soundtrack by Anthony Willis, which someone put on the Tube of You in its entirety.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven at the latest, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and then I’ll mosey on over to Marshall Harvey’s abode and see the first cut of episode nine, which I’m really looking forward to. Then we’ll finesse whatever we feel is necessary, after which he’s going to put the first eight episodes on a drive for me, so I can watch them all and make sure I’m ready to sign off and lock those. Then I’ll come home and have a quick rehearsal for the Robby Award show, then I’ll eat chili dogs. After that, I’ll try to finish proofing and begin entering all my little adjustments. Once that’s done, I can then do the proofers’ stuff, some of which I have to run by Muse Margaret.
Tomorrow and this week will mostly be entering fixes and then the manuscript goes to a couple of folks who’ll be writing blurbs for it. I also have meetings and meals, a meeting on Wednesday with the Sami publicist and we’ll show her a couple of episodes so she knows what’s what, and then whatever else needs doing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven at the latest, do whatever needs doing, see the first cut of episode nine, do any finessing we feel necessary, get episodes one through seven on a drive, rehearse, eat, and the finish proofing. 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, glad my curiosity got the better of me and that I watched and enjoyed M3GAN.