Well, dear readers, oh dear, oh dear, it is late and I’m just beginning to write these here notes and I’ll tell you why I’m just beginning to write these here notes at one in the morning. Because someone was reading reviews of my books on Amazon and asked me about one of the short stories in How to Write a Dirty Book and Other Stories, something about a pizza. I had no memory of any story that had a pizza in it. So, I found the manuscript and searched pizza and of course found it in the story, Maddie. The funny thing is that pizza isn’t mentioned in any of the reviews or blurbs. I hadn’t looked at any of these stories since I wrote them, with the exception of Maddie – because that story plays a part in Kritzer World, the difference being that for the short story there’s an ending I made up to end the story, whereas for Kritzer World I just wrote it the way it really happened. The good news is that the real Maddie is still with us and I found her on Facebook quite by accident. She has no memory of me or any of the events, but I suspect that’s by design and that she’s blocked out certain things. Certainly, there can’t be two people with her name who lived in LA, in the same area, at the same time. So, I read a few of the stories and I have to say that a few of them are so suffused with darkness and indicative of what I was going through when I wrote them and was in the midst of all those inane legal shenanigans I was being put through back then. But that’s why those stories are interesting now. If I were writing them now, I wouldn’t write them the same way. And several of them really are very personal – I’ll See You in My Dreams is very much based on a recurring dream I had back then and was the impetus for writing the book. Maddie, save for the ending, is all based on real stuff, as was the most controversial story, Your Worst Nightmare, which was very much based on real things I witnessed happening on a particular Usenet group and which I found reprehensible. And so, I created a story about someone who takes revenge on one anonymous piece of merde who was threatening everyone, telling an elderly gentleman who was so happy to be part of the group to go kill himself – there were no referees, But some Usenet sleuth had figured out who the piece of merde was and it turned out to be some pathetic loser.
The Book Scout really is a good story, I think, and is also based on a recurring dream I had. Opening Out of Town made me laugh out loud – it’s really original and funny – and yes, was based on a spec script I wrote for Amazing Stories back in the late 1980s or whenever it was on. So, yes, many, MANY years before Schmigadoon used its general idea. The title story is also still really funny and quite racy as well. There’s one glaring error in that story that takes place in 1959 – one sequence takes place in the famous Lucy’s El Adobe Café across from Paramount – but Lucy’s didn’t open until 1964, but I just liked having it, much like Quentin Tarantino has all kinds of period mistakes in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood just because he liked having them – the Pussycat Theater he has on the boulevard wasn’t a Pussycat until five years after when his film takes place, nor was Peaches Records in existence when the film takes place. Sometimes, one just takes a little artistic license. Finally, the story I could not read, Adventures with My Father, which is the most personal in the collection, but which obviously has a fictional ending that actually ties in with the ending of the first story, I’ll See You in My Dreams – obviously because I’m obviously still here. Many of the anecdotes in that story made their way into There’s Mel, There’s Woody, and There’s You. Anyway, it was interesting.
Yesterday was weird, kinda sorta. I first got about two hours of sleep, couldn’t fall back asleep, so I got up and did stuff on the computer and finally went back to bed around eight o’clock and slept until about noon o’clock, so about six hours total. Once up, I answered e-mails, had a long telephonic conversation – two, actually – then got dressed and went to the mail place and picked up a tiny package. I came home and ordered Pad Thai and that arrived about fifteen minutes later and was very good and very filling. After that, David Wechter and I pushed our phone meeting to tomorrow, which is better for me. After that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I did manage to watch a motion picture entitled Rolling Thunder, starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones in an early role. It has a very loyal following, this movie does, and is one of Tarantino’s favorites. The original script was by Paul Schrader, and while I’m sure elements remain, it was rewritten by Heywood Gould. At the time, its violence was deemed very shocking, especially a scene involving a disposal in the sink – but you don’t really see anything, and even though critics were railing about the blood in the scene, there is none. And then they called the ending hyper violent, but to me it wasn’t a patch on the behind of Taxi Driver’s ending. It’s also not a particularly good movie, if you want my real opinion. Too much of it meanders along and the performance of the lead young woman is all over the place – some of that is in the writing, but the actress did several films in the 1970s – Linda Haynes is her name – several that were well thought of but not hits. She retired from acting in 1980. She was born in my birth year and passed away last year. Devane was, for me, not really a leading man and Tommy Lee Jones doesn’t really have a lot to do or say in the film.
After that, I did some reading, as I’ve already mentioned, finished listening to the symphonies of Benjamin Frankel, listened to half of Here We Are – I can’t really talk about the score but can say I just really can’t stand the sound of today’s cast recordings. There’s no AIR – there’s maybe a teeny tiny bit of reverb, although maybe not – so like all of today’s cast albums it sounds dead to me, like it was recorded in a closet, which it most assuredly wasn’t. I’d say that maybe they were going for a more intimate sound, but they ALL sound like that. Voices and instruments need air. Recording studios are purposely dead, acoustic-wise. I’ll try to finish it but will just say it’s Sondheim in his latter-day mode and it’s just not my favorite Sondheim, I’m afraid. Some clever lyrics of course. I’m sure most Sondheim fans will LOVE it large.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, but mostly I’ll relax as the long, long weekend begins. Not sure what I want to do about food, but Don Cuco might be in the cards – a trip to the restaurant rather than bringing it in – but we’ll have to see. I have a bit of reading to do in the project with David Wechter so I’m ready for tomorrow’s phone meeting, but mostly I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll have the phone meeting, but that’s all I have planned and the same goes for Sunday and Monday.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the ham chunks and cheese slices, let’s all dance the Hora or the tango, for today is the birthday of our very own dear reader Jeanne. So, let’s all give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own dear reader Jeanne. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN DEAR READER JEANNE!!!
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, do whatever needs doing, eat, do some reading, but mostly 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 player? I’ll start – CD, moving on to the symphonies of Malcolm Arnold. Blu-ray and streaming – not sure. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, finding a revisit to short stories fascinating.