I don’t like the dig at Audrey Geisel, who I found delightful when I met her last year, but I definitely share the basic sentiment of this:

Stop Making Movies About My Books

On the fourteenth of March, in towns nationwide, In every cinema, multiplex, on every barnside, Gleamed another adapting of…

I have read both favorable and unfavorable reviews of “Horton Hears A Who.” Not having seen the movie, I have no idea with which I would tend to agree. But I can agree with Jeffrey Overstreet that this review is, well, something special.

DSC_0004

Originally uploaded by jicarney.

Here is the charming Audrey Geisel, in the 9-degree Gaslight Theatre, with an ice sculpture of one of her late husband’s greatest creations.

Well, long story short, I didn’t spend the night at Opryland Hotel, for reasons that would make me look like an idiot if I explained them here.

But everything else about the evening was wonderful — Audrey Geisel (Dr. Seuss’s widow) was everything I’d hoped she would be, the Grinch-themed Ice exhibit was terrific, the tree lighting was fun and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular was even better than the first time I saw it a few years ago. (And I was on the second row!) Photos will follow tomorrow some time, although I had some problems with my memory card and don’t have as many as I’d like.

Excuses, excuses.

I had to cover a county meeting tonight, and I’ve also been making preparations for a little overnight trip that I will take tomorrow.

I admit it: it’s a press junket. There are many challenges and frustrations to being a reporter, but every now and then you get to do fun stuff. Tomorrow, I will do fun stuff. I will, in this order,

• Cover a press conference with Audrey Geisel, widow of Dr. Seuss, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville;
• Cover the lighting of the hotel’s official Christmas tree, featuring Mrs. Geisel, Grand Ole Opry stars and the Tennessee State University band;
• View the “Ice” exhibit, which this year is designed around Dr. Seuss’ “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” For the out-of-towners, this is an incredible indoor display carved entirely out of ice which Gaylord Opryland has done for several years. They bring in artisans from China each year to create it; the exhibit is kept at very cold temperatures, and each guest is issued a parka as they enter the building. (The exhibit is done in the Gaslight Theater, a holdover from the old Opryland theme park.) Most of it is intended to be looked at, not touched, but there’s usually a slide made out of ice which you can go down;
• Attend a VIP dress rehearsal, at the Grand Ole Opry House, of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, featuring the Rockettes; and
• Spend the night at the hotel, hopefully e-mailing a thoroughly objective and unbiased story and photos about the event back to the newspaper for use in Thursday’s edition.

Anyway, between packing, and getting my laptop ready, and what have you, I didn’t get as much writing done tonight as I should. But I did write, and that’s the important thing.