Gifts

I hate going shopping in general and gifts . in particular, can be a total pin in the ass. I get all confused about what to buy or not buy, the budget for the occasion, the store etc. Usually, I take the coward´s route and buy a gift certificate from an online store. That saves me time, energy and sanity.

Last week I had a friend´s birthday and I was more than happy to know exactly what to buy: "My lunches with Orson".  She is hungarian and Mr Welles, according to his own words " loved them to the point of sex". 

Now, is the book any good? I have no idea! To be fair, there is a brief and not that all in depth introduction, sort of just enough to put the conversations in perspective. I would have expanded it a bit, but hey, that is just my take on it. It looked a bit in a hurry,you know? 

The conversations itself show a very egomaniac, funny and hurt artist. It is like he was, at that point, just pretending to be working, just for the sake of the conversation. Most of the times is Henry Jaglom who brings up an on going project, some idea etc. Orson seems to be aware that his value, back then, was of a raconteur. And he is truly marvelous at it. But oh, very annoying: no good piece of advice is given to his friend,even when he is in personal trouble: just on and off, an old tale mixed with some (very)funny tirade or observation.

I always pitied the genius, the truly artistic minds and temperaments, as they never seem to know when to stop. Everybody needs to retire, folks.It does not mean to stop working, but simply to stop just working. Instead of putting all the energy in creating, maybe it would be more interested to mentor people. Or to give themselves an upgrade, really. Mr Welles despised producers and had a very high regard to acting. I personally think that was his downfall. And that he was no writer, no matter what he said. I am no writer myself, but I can doctor texts and have great ideas. Dialogue? no. I think with Mr Welles was the same, he always needed some guy to write the dialogue, even though he could do all the other stuff, even better a script. 

In any case, the book is worth reading for those who like moviemaking, gossip and food.