I tried to get my taxes done the past two days. I've been using Turbo for several years. This year they want to charge me for zero federal return. I would have gotten $89 from the state/city, which would have covered the fee with a little left over, but for whatever reason they deduct only from the federal. It was the same at H&R. Each company advertises a "free" option. There's no way I shouldn't qualify. My return is about as simple as it gets. I'd gladly pay for the convenience of electronic filing as long as I don't have to use out of pockets funds, in this case a credit card. Looks like I'll be going the paper and pencil route this year.
An aging hitman suffering the early stages of Alzheimer's is convinced to take a final job - that is the premise of The Memory of a Killer (2003), a riveting Belgian thriller crying for an American adaptation. The star, Jan LeCleir, seemed familiar, but I did not find another credit among his more than 100 with which I am familiar. Harrison Ford is the right age for the part, but I can't picture him in it. Bruce Willis is probably too young, although a rare few men and women his age are afflicted with that terrible condition. Jimmy Cagney would have ate it up. Robert DeNiro! He sure can use a last great part after the mediocrity of the past ten years of his career. On a scale of five, I rate Memory... four. It has a rating of 7.4 out of ten at IMDb. I love Netflix!
I caught the first episode of Smash, which NBC reran on Saturday. In its regular time slot it is up against Castle, one of my guilty pleasures. I wouldn't say I was disappointed, as the cast is great and there was a lot of good stuff in the debut. I was surprised at the quality of the songwriting. That will be hard to match week after week. I was disappointed by the cliches. Maybe they can't be avoided in a show about Broadway. Still, it deserves a second look. Katherine McPhee is so darn appealing. I don't watch American Idol, so I'd known nothing about her until I happened on a PBS tribute concert one night. She did a wonderful version of Somewhere, from West Side Story, and I was hooked.
I thank the women who bought books in Russian today, especially the one who pointed out that the 20 or so in the box were by the same author, who is fond of combat. Now I know why the one or two others I brought out each day sold better than those - the 20 don't appeal to most women. One of the books I sold today had a picture of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca garb on the cover. I also thank the young woman who bought the large tome on Women's Health.
Now playing on the 57 Chevy stream: Heartbreak Hotel. How many of us have tried to imitate Elvis' vocal? C'mon, admit it.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature
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