Good afternoon. I am Gigi the parti poodle and I am upset. Yesterday, without warning my novelist took off and left me home alone. I couldn’t believe it. I was entirely by myself. I detest being left by myself. I heard all sorts of strange noises outside that horrified me. I had to bark at Alexa to play soothing music for dogs.

I was all alone from 9:45AM until 2:20PM. That’s when the Dogsitter arrived. I was taken outside and then returned indoors. The Dogsitter then prepared my lunch. I of course refused to eat. My novelist was not home, and I was not about to dine until she was. This young person, this Dogsitter, was not going to make me dine either. And I went on a proper food strike. The Dogsitter soon grew tired of me and left me to my own devices. I spent most of my time lying on the couch thinking about a nice slice of roasted chicken. I would occasionally wander over to the front door and whine wishing for my novelist to return. I penned my sorrows in my notebook. I could think of nothing creative to say except how heartbroken I was over this unspeakable act of abandonment.

It was not until almost seven thirty in the evening that I saw my beloved novelist again. I ran to the door and jumped up and down and up and down catching magnificent air. Joy had returned to me once again. But not before I reprimanded her for abandoning me. How could she do such a horrific thing? She said, “But I had the Dogsitter come and make sure you were well.” How does that account for you leaving me on my own for over four hours and then not returning home until after seven in the evening? Outrageous! She told me she needed to go visit a relative. After this heated discussion she prepared my dinner, and I ate it voraciously. Next time she had better take me with her. Until next week, don’t let your novelist run amuck.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: A REAL PAIN (2024)-HULU

This week’s pick is an excellent, sometimes humorous, sometimes sobering buddy road picture nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin and Best Original Screenplay for Jesse Eisenberg who in addition to writing the script also stars in and directed the film. The story opens in a New York Airport where laid-back Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) calmly waits for his high-strung cousin David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) to arrive. David calls Benji on his cell phone multiple times asking if Benji is on his way to the airport, tells him about the traffic, all the while suspecting that Benji may be running late. David is surprised to see Benji is already there. The two of them are about to embark on a trip to Poland courtesy of their late grandmother who has given the money for them to travel there as part of her will. Her hope, it seems, is to both reunite the estranged cousins and have them take a Holocaust tour to see the Majdanek concentration camp where she was held captive and miraculously survived.

The two board the plane and fly to Poland where they meet the rest of the members of their tour which include James, the tour guide from England (Will Sharpe), Marcia (Jennifer Grey), Diane (Liza Sadovy), her husband Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Rwanda genocide survivor Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan). As the tour commences Benji charms the members of the group while David, who suffers from OCD, largely remains on the outside. But here and there Benji acts irrationally both with David and around the other members of the tour as the two cousins face some of the darker aspects of their present and past relationship.