The penultimate day of the year

That would be today.

But yesterday (the pre-penultimate?) was also a day. Besides tea, it mostly comprised errand-running. Otis went to a family deal, and I was going to hang with Johnbai but that never really worked out, so I stayed home and worked on comics stuff.

Last night, Otis and I finally watched Hollywoodland. I was a bit underwhelmed; I thought the performances were fine, but that the film suffered from the lack of a strong thesis. Without taking a clear stand on the mystery of George Reeves's death, the movie seemed to have no core. I know I was supposed to care as much about the fictional detective as I did the real actor, but I just didn't: the real story was compelling enough, and all the attention paid to the imaginary character seemed more like a distraction.

The movie also played fast and loose with some of the facts. One bit rang a bell for me: toward the end of the movie, we see some footage that George Reeves supposedly shot to show some wrestling promoters that he was still in shape. There were in fact no wrestling promoters and he never really made such a home movie, but that section of the film looks awfully familiar to the after-breakfast section of this:



I remember seeing this short as a kid - clearly not as a first-run commercial, but probably in some other context - and just loving the judo business. I don't know why the filmmakers chose to adapt this into a sad swan-song, except that it made their drama better. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still waiting for them to make The George Reeves Movie.

Today Otis had a family lunch instead of a family dinner, and I did manage to hook up with Johnbai for some afternoon comic shop action. In the evening, we added Otis and Dingo to our band, and made our way to the Moonlight Cafe (in the Atlantic section of the Central District), where we were joined by Neds for a delightful faux-meat meal.

Johnbai and Dingo stayed on Cap Hill, Neds headed back to West Seattle, and Otis and I returned to the RD, all of us making schemes for the ultimate day of the year.

That would be tomorrow.