7-21 & 7-22

7-21

I grabbed three or four DVDs from the library (I always have more to watch than I have time to watch them, which is better than the opposite, believe you me), and picked 1956's HIGH SOCIETY to watch, and it was everything that CAROUSEL wasn't the last time I was here.*  It starred Grace Kelly as Tracy Lord, who's engaged to one dude, still pursued by her ex-husband (Fred Astaire), and falling for a new guy, played by Frank Sinatra.  It had songs by Cole Porter, several performances by Louie Armstrong, and spoke to me in a way that last week's flick absolutely didn't.  So weird.  

Turns out, it was a remake of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, which had Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart in the Astaire, Kelly, and Sinatra parts, and seems awfully similar (there was a trailer for that flick too on the DVD, and much of the dialogue was exactly the same in both).  But even so, I was absolutely entranced by this version, with no idea how it was going to end.  The poster should've announced, "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll eat an entire bag of raisins before it's done!"

Sadly, it was the last movie Grace Kelly did, before becoming Princess of Monaco, and that's a shame.  I didn't even know she could sing.

I have a dude who does a "Dark Shadows" audio drama who contacted me back in June (or maybe even May) to ask if I could voice a character in it.  He sent me audio of the actual guy who played the character, and wanted me to see if I could sound like him.  So I sent him a sample, and he said it was fine, and sent me the script for two episodes.  And I sat down and recorded the first episode, and it ended up being nearly an hour long, after which (a week or so later) I spent even more time editing it.  I guess it's a major audio drama (and mine's a major part).  But there's still one more episode I'm supposed to record, and darned if I can even remember how the dude sounded, much less muster the energy to sound that way for another hour.  Guess it ain't easy being at the top of your game.

Instead, I sat down and edited Chapter 4 of "But Now I'm Found," which is the chapter I was most excited about (I think I mentioned, though, that it took me one hour and twenty-one minutes to record . . . can you even IMAGINE how long it would take to edit?).  And line after line I would do over or rewrite, trying to make it as good, as fun, as magical as it was in my head when I dreamed it up.  And for some bits, I just couldn't make it happen.  I wish I were a better writer, as good as one of those successful middling talents who either got lucky, knew better what to focus on, or worked harder, to get where they are today.

I also wrote a half a page on my book, trying to put an extra human moment in there with the doctor character.  I hope that little additions, little flourishes with minor characters (like the cowboy at the end of "Newfound Fame" who thinks Ernst Hillerman is gay, and not to be rude, kisses him on the cheek before they part) make the book better, richer, and slightly deeper than the shallow, wispy surface-level stories that they are.

Writing or Exercise: Both

7/22

I continue the big scene at the end, but I didn't finish it.  Once again, I can hear my friend (ex-friend now?) Brandon's words, that it wasn't heartbreaking like it was supposed to be.

I got 1036 words, saved and closed the file, then opened it again. 

Ended up with 1327 words.  Again, not bad.  Think I'll go warm up a piece of pizza (who am I kidding, a whole pizza).

My family is off on a fishing retreat for the weekend (the kids do go fishing nearly every day anyway, but this is different as they're not coming home until Sunday), so I had the house to myself.  I did eat a pizza, and ate half a quart of ice cream, and turned the TV up as loud as I wanted.  I was a thirteen year old with my parents out of town.

There's only four episodes left of "Better Call Saul" (three now), and I gotta say, as much as I love the show . . . they pack about twenty-two minutes of story into each episode.  I complained that "Obi-Wan Kenobi" had a lot of filler in it, but I think a single episode of that show could cover the ground of three "Better Call Sauls."  Of course, the writing is much better on BCS, but it still bugs me.

Writing or Exercise: Writing

*Ironically, Frank Sinatra, who co-starred in HIGH SOCIETY, was supposed to star in CAROUSEL, but dropped out at not the eleventh hour, but about 12:45, even having recorded the songs that had to go unused when he left.