Well, dear readers, I am writing these here notes on a full stomach. Have you ever written notes on a full stomach? It’s very interesting trying to fit all these words on a stomach and then even if you manage to do it, how in HELL are you supposed to post them? I suppose I could put my full stomach in the scanner, but I am not that thin yet. In any case, I am writing these here notes on a full stomach – I had a marvelously marvelous meal of Chinese food and I am quite stuffed to the gills. Luckily, it was my only meal o’ the day and I jogged rather briskly, so I’m hoping I don’t gain anything. I’m feeling logey, so if the notes feel logey then you will understand why. Speaking of logey, yesterday I did not feel logey. I got right up, I jogged right away, I did errands right away, and I got to writing right away. I didn’t write all that much, but I did finish chapter three and I’m almost to page thirty. As soon as I finish page thirty then the pages go to my muse Margaret for her thoughts. If she likes them, on I go. I’m having fun with it but, as I’ve mentioned, it’s like all the other books I’ve done – finding its style and tone always takes a couple of weeks. I think I’ve got it down, but in the process of smoothing the style and tone I’ve repeatedly gone back and changed and rewritten things. I didn’t really know what sort of book I was going to write. I just knew who and what the protagonist was going to be. Frankly, as I wrote the first chapter it was with a completely different concept. However, as I wrote I began to realize that I was not completely satisfied with the concept, and something else began to come through and thankfully I was able to seize that idea and run with it. Once I made that change, it required several things to be changed. And, as I continued on I knew I’d absolutely made the right choice – or, better put, I let the book write me. So, what started out one way has ended up another and I hope it all comes out well. All I will say at this point is that the protagonist is a fifteen-year-old girl. After writing, I did some more errands, made some telephonic calls, then Mr. Kevin Spirtas arrived and we toddled over to West Hollywood to tape the Skip E. Lowe show. It was a lot of fun and Kevin and I were, at times, quite mischievous. As I think I mentioned, sometimes one has to bite one’s tongue because Martin Short’s Jiminy Glick is so clearly modeled on Skip and when Skip starts really doing his Skip thing all you can hear is Jiminy. After the taping, Kevin and I went over to Genghis Cohen, where we ate the marvelously marvelous meal I spoke of at the beginning of this endlessly endless paragraph. I then came home, where I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching I, Claudius. I had three episodes left, two of which I watched just prior to Mr. Spirtas’ arrival. The finale did not disappoint and was a fitting end to one of television’s finest hours – maybe THE finest ever. It took me a long time to come to this show – I don’t love historical drama, especially stodgy historical drama, but thanks to the many recommendations on this here site, I took a flyer and got the UK edition of the DVD. I shall be watching it again within the next few weeks. Everything about the show is first class – from the writing and directing, to the acting, the sets and costumes, and the great musical theme that opens and closes each episode. After finishing the final episode, I watched the seventy-minute retrospective documentary on the show, which featured current interviews with a few cast members and the director of the show, Herbert Wise. There were some interesting details about the production and rehearsal period, and some funny anecdotes, especially from the larger than life Brian Blessed. There were a couple of extended scenes in the extras – nothing earth shattering, but fun to see. And then I began watching the late 1960s documentary, The Epic That Never Was, which is the story of the debacle that was the aborted Josef von Sternberg version of I, Claudius from the late 1930s. It’s a fantastic documentary, and includes a good deal of the footage von Sternberg shot. I you were like me and had missed this brilliant mini-series, you really owe it to yourself to watch it. It doesn’t get better than this.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have much to do today and must not shilly-shally or even shally-shilly.
I’m still writing these here notes on a full stomach, but frankly I’m running out of stomach and may have to move on to the legs. I’ll say one thing about Chinese food – it puts me to sleep.
Today, I must do lots of stuff before noon, because I must then toddle off to Paramount Studios to have lunch with an acquaintance who works in the music department. We’re dining in the commissary. I haven’t been in the Paramount commissary in years, so that will be like old home week. I must also write two more pages so that I can take them to my muse Margaret, and I must start getting organized for a new writing project that I must begin over the weekend. And, of course, we have this week’s cabaret show to prepare for.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, write, eat at the Paramount commissary, drive about in my motor car, and arrange two or three upcoming meetings. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we? And let’s be sure we all post on a full stomach.