Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to more Germaine Taillefaire musique – now playing, a suite from a ballet – delightful. I did manage to watch an entire motion picture last night without falling asleep, which is amazing considering the movie. It was entitled A Most Wanted Man, based on a novel by John le Carre, who has written a whole slew of acclaimed spy novels, starting with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, even though prior to that he’d written two mystery novels, even though they contain a character who recurs in the spy novels, George Smiley. But it was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold that really put him on the map. There have been sixteen movie and TV adaptations of his work. A Most Wanted Man’s claim to fame in 2014 is a sad one – it was Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final film before his death. The film takes place in Germany and involves the goings on about someone who comes into the country from Russia and the usual stuff about who is recruiting who, who is trustable and who isn’t. I’m sure the book is good – le Carre knew what he was writing about, having been in both MI5 and MI6. Just reading the plot of the book it has to work a lot better than the film, which makes the usual unnecessary changes. Of course, it’s advertised as a thriller, but the only thrill scene happens five minutes before the end of the movie. Otherwise, it’s very slowly paced and not that interesting. Rachel McAdams and Willem Dafoe co-star, and all three are fine actors who might have gotten away with the German-flavored accents were they not in scenes with real German actors. It’s all very low key with a lot of mumbling. The direction for the first twenty minutes is all shakycam stuff, but thankfully he gets that out of his system and the rest is more conventional. It never really comes together, in my opinion, but I didn’t turn it off. The score is not helpful, and I just kept thinking how nice it would be to have a John Barry score. It did make me want to seek out The Spy Who Came in from the Cold again, and I don’t think I’ve seen any of the other films based on his books. I did start the remake of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman but I didn’t care for it. I’m sure I’d like the original with Alec Guiness better. I’m interested to see the movies based on the first two books, A Call for the Dead (movie title, The Deadly Affair), and A Murder of Quality.
Prior to that, I got seven hours of sleep, got up, had an e-mail from an Amazon team leader still refusing to reactivate my account. Given the fact that I’ve just sold ten copies of one CD on eBay, I’m going to not only allow the account to be deactivated, I’ve asked for clear, easy to understand instructions on how to remove the seller account totally. I make more money on eBay, eBay has none of the BS of Amazon, who treats their sellers like criminals and always sides with the buyer – none of that happens on eBay. It’s all very straightforward and they don’t treat sellers like they’re three-year-olds, nor do you get responses written by bots. As to ease of finding, they’re both the same – in order to find anything on either platform, you search the title of what you’re looking for. And what I’ve done on our eBay listings is include a thing saying they should check out our other listings, that they’re purchasing FROM Kritzerland, and that over the next week or two we’ll be putting up at least four titles a day. I may even put some memorabilia from film and theater up and if I do, I’ll let you dear readers know right away. I’ll be going to my personal storage locker with the Darling Daughter this week and I’ll be looking for stuff to get rid of. There’s just too much damn stuff there, and there are some very rare film and theater books there, plus a bunch of personal memorabilia that I’ll get rid of, like letters from up-and-coming theater writers submitting for the album Broadway Bound, including some musical called Rent and some musical called Avenue Q. I should think that stuff would be of interest. Heaven knows what else I have in those boxes that contain the files that were in my desk at Varese Sarabande. So, ta ta Amazon seller account – I’d say it’s been fun, but it’s never been fun.
I ordered food from Paty’s using my gift card from the Facebook class action settlement – two biscuits with country gravy for an appetizer, and a chicken and avocado wrap. The former was great, but the latter was horrible. I suffered through half and threw the rest away. The onion rings (just five) were excellent, though. Then I put up four more CDs on eBay, then had my telephonic visit with the neurologist, who seemed pleased with my progress. After that, I did doze off for about ninety minutes. I watched some irritating YouTube videos and then ordered some clam chowder and a slice of coconut cream pie from House of Pies. That arrived – the clam chowder was really bad – just a few bites and into the trash – but the pie was good.
Then I had a nice telephonic conversation with dear reader Jeanne, watched the movie, and have now moved onto Gian Carlo Menotti, a composer I really like.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll see what’s what with the mail place, then I have a two-thirty lunch with a nice lady who picks my brain about photo locations, so it will be fun to put a face with the name. After that, I’ll come right home and watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is a ME day and anyone who says otherwise should be put on a spit and roasted like a wild boar or, at the very least, a wild bore, and don’t we all know some of those. Then this week is busy, routining the songs in act two, seeing the ophthalmologist on Wednesday, which will be followed by bloodwork in the same building, hopefully hiring a lighting designer, finding me an assistant director for the show, setting our first audition dates, and some meetings and meals.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, call the mail place, have a lunch, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite spy movies, TV shows, and books? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be The Amazon Seller Who Came in from the Cold.