Tuesday

Work was pretty much cake today; I spent most of the time in flats processing. Listened to more of Wizard.

NPR/PRI
Terry Gross interviewed Barry Sonnenfeld on Fresh Air today. I think that this is the first interview that of him that I have heard (or seen). He’s quite a funny man. He also made a few points that I found interesting, especially for one who has been part of the Hollywood machine for many years:

  • “I think that most studios don’t realize that audiences are smarter than they think they are.”
  • His theory about comedic movies: “You never want two funny guys in your comedy. You always want George Burns and Gracie Allen. You always want Abbott and Costello. And we got incredibly lucky with Will [Smith] and Tommy [Lee Jones].”
  • He talked about having a stress-related attack two weeks into the shooting of MiB2; he felt incredible pressure to live up to the first MiB. He said that on his way to the hospital, he thought that he might be having a heart attack and the thing going through his mind was: ” ‘This is a no-lose situation: I either am not having a heart attack and am totally healthy or I die and I don’t have to continue to direct this movie.‘ And either option was totally fine with me.”

You can hear the interview in its entirety here.

Miscellany
You know what I miss: The Good Humor ice cream truck coming through the neighborhood. Sure, there are ice cream trucks/vans/Jeeps that roll through, but it’s not quite the same as the old G.H. truck that I remember from my youth.

The MLB All-Star Game was tonight. This morning, I noted that it was on; but by the time that I got home, I had forgotten. Fortunately, someone made a comment that reminded me, so I turned it on… at the bottom of the ninth inning. GAH! But, the score was tied (7 – 7), so there would be extra innings. Tenth inning, no runs scored. Eleventh inning: No score in the American League half… the pitching rosters of both teams had been depleted… and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig calls a conference with the managers. He does this as the AL is at bat…in the stands, and in FULL view of the TV cameras!

The decision: If the National League doesn’t score by the end of the inning, the game will end in a tie. What in the Nine Hells?!?! Okay, I understand not wanting to potentially sacrifice pitchers’ arms on a game that “doesn’t count” in the pennant races, but… IF you have to have a conference like that, you don’t do it in the middle of the inning and in front of the cameras! You do it in an office or conference room or a skybox. And, I’m not even going to go into my “bring back some of the players who had rotated out of the lineups” tirade. *sigh*

And that’s all the news from Lake Saline – where the women watch baseball, the men are having not-so-secret meetings in the bleachers and the children are all wondering “What do you mean: ‘The game is just…over!?!?’ ” Good night, everybody! Thanks for tuning in.

Peace.