one thing today

I am watching Feud - about Truman Capote and his socialite swans … who killed him after he tried to kill them.   They do this thing in the series thats becoming more popular, even though I think it tends to be more confusing than not. Time jumping. back and forth and back again … like in Fellow Travelers - but not like in Funny Girl - where she sits in a theater and remembers back - the movie unfolds and it ends a little later that theater night when Omar Sharif shows up and says his final adios. In this new trend … 1985, 1955, 1975 - it gets confusing.   Would Psycho be better if it opened with Norman and the fly in the police precinct? Would Gone with the Wind be better if Gable told Scarlett he didn’t give a damn in the first minute of the movie? The older I get the more I think ... just tell the story straight through - and one more thing ... more is less, more or less, most of the time.  

  There’s a big dog in my neighborhood who insists on sitting a lot. He sits much more than he walks. His lanky companion/owner is extremely patient with him. He never rushes him. He never yanks his leash. Tonight I watched the guy suddenly break his modest stride when pooch, several feet behind him, decided to take another lengthy T hand time out. Gentle   is the wisest way to deal with him and that’s how his very placid, nonchalant seeming sidekick always proceeds whenever they are out and about in the neighborhood. Restraint isn’t always a two way street.  

  CBS Sunday Morning devoted the entire show to Charles Osgood.  He believed all words were wrong except for the right one and every story could be improved by being shorter. He said the biggest challenge regarding excellence in journalism was to throw the newspaper on the porch rather than on the roof.  He loved music and baseball and radio and was big and curious and sharp and human and did it all right for a very long time. I'm not sure they make them like him anymore but I hope, every once in a while, they, whoever they are, would, do. 

There's something singular about the Picasso show.  The majesty is palpable. The army of security peeps is on the job but hungry for human interaction. The work is playful. It challenges you to be bold, to live outside your box and soak up all five senses. You don't want to leave the gallery.  You want to hang out and see new stuff within the frames. Such a fun time with a pal who thinks it's fire fun, too. 

  Television is about characters.  Movies are about stories.  Theater is about ideas.  David Mamet says he can't go to plays because he can't get up and leave. 

  Went to see Harmony tonight at the Ethel Barrymore Theater - where 58 years ago Jessie and I saw Wait Until Dark with a crazy beautiful Lee Remick and Robert Duval aka Boo Radley (who almost died in his cellar from the damp ).  The theater is gorgeous. Its exterior was modeled on the design of public baths in Rome, with a two-story terra-cotta grillwork screen. The interior decor combines Elizabethan, Mediterranean, and Adamsesque styles. The most elaborate interior element is the boxes, which feature a sunburst pattern over a columned portico.  

  As the sky signed off today, I saw an easy going young boy on the street with a Xavier High School sweater on managing clunky metal crutches that looked way too big for him. I looked around to see who was with him and finally realized he was alone.  Behind him, a towering smiling guy talked to a tiny woman.   She was three feet, maybe a little more max. As I passed them Tall Guy said to Itty Bitty Sidekick -   I t was so good to meet you. Have a great night. They bumped fists, he stepped up his pace and moved on.