Well, dear readers, I wonder how someone came up with the name Tootsie Roll for a Tootsie Roll. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you read such a sentence as I wonder how someone came up with the name Tootsie Roll for a Tootsie Roll? Nowhere, that’s where. The reason I ask is that last night I, BK, was eating a Tootsie Roll, and it just occurred to me that that was a totally arbitrary name for the candy I was eating. I mean, someone invented this little taste treat, looked at it, took a bite, and said, “Aha! I shall call this chewy glob of whatever a Tootsie Roll, just because I can.” Is that the way it went down? Perhaps one of our dear readers can enlighten us as to the derivation of the name Tootsie Roll because frankly I don’t feel like doing a google on it right now. I mean, I could have been just as arbitrary and called these here notes Tootsie Roll, just because I can. In fact, I think I WILL call these here notes Tootsie Roll. What the HELL am I going on about? Am I going to spend this entire paragraph talking about the Tootsie Roll and give my critics ammunition that I only write blather? You’re damn right I am, because frankly I revel in my blather and those who don’t like it can KISS MY ASS or suck on a Tootsie Roll, whichever they prefuhs, to put it in the lingo of Li’l Abner. I have lost the point. I know there was a point, but the point has taken wing, like a gazelle whistling Dixie. Speaking of Dixie, yesterday was a strange day, and yet a nice day, and yet an odd day, and yet an okay day, not necessarily in that order. For example, I got up. That was nice. Then I got a call from one of my cast members, one of the three guest artists, telling me they couldn’t do the show because of their work schedule. That was strange, and I gave her my two centimes about it and we got off the phone. I then began thinking about replacements whilst I drove to the Dale of Glen to pick up something. Whilst in the Dale of Glen I also set the signing date for How To Write A Dirty Book and Other Stories – it’s November 11th. As always, I’ll read from the book and there will be cake and even a cheese slice and ham chunk. I thought of a few names as replacements on the way home. I stopped at my mail place and picked up – wait for it – mail. I then came home to await the arrival of PennyO. She arrived and just then the phone rang and it was the cast member who wanted to tell me exactly what her boss had said and find out if there was any way to work things out. When I finally heard what his needs were, I realized that it only created a handful of days that were problematic and rather than replace her, I decided to work around the problem days so she could do the show. I think that was the best decision, and for her, the only decision, since she’ll be seen by a lot of industry folks. So, that worked out. PennyO and I then spent an hour smoothing out her script for the reading, and integrating the songs in a more smooth manner – and she was gracious enough to move the one scene that structurally has bothered me from the beginning. I think the reading tomorrow will be lots of fun and I’m looking forward to it very much. After that, Alet and daughter Lucy came by, and we went through Alet’s big Brain number and the key was perfect for her, so that’s all set. And then, PennyO and I went and had some supper at Hugo’s, after which I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
The other odd parts of the day were dealing with cover issues from the publisher. I do believe, however, that they’ve all been worked out and I should see the dust jacket proof sometime today or tomorrow and then the next step will be for them to get me one copy of the soft and hardcover books to approve. If that’s going to happen whilst I’m in New York, I will have them Fed Ex them to me at my hotel. Once those are approved, I place my order and have books two weeks later. I should have thought the book website would have been up today, but I haven’t heard back from my web designer – hopefully by tomorrow at the latest. The original time-frame was last Friday and I’d received an e-mail from her saying that it would be up any minute.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below – or, why don’t we just rename the Unseemly Button the Tootsie Roll and click on that?
Last night, I did manage to watch two count them two motion pictures on DVD – they were both quite short films. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Night Train To Paris, a “thriller” sans thrills – a low-budget programmer designed to fill out the bottom half of a double bill. Producer Robert Lippert made tons of these no-frills little films, some bad and some passable. This one was barely passable (naturally someone at the imdb raves that this is a sleeper and a wonderful film) – it’s rather ineptly directed, poorly written, badly scored, decently photographed (but framed too high – the ratio is 1:66 but heads are lopped off – they needed to have less room on the bottom and more on the top), and features a very strange cast. The leading man is Leslie Nielsen, who is rather goofy in the part. The rest of the cast is second-tier and below. The good news is that the film runs barely sixty-four minutes – the bad news is that it’s a sleeper in the most literal sense of the word. I then watched its polar opposite, Mr. Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, starring Mr. Toshiro Mifune. It’s quite a good film, but again, these period Kurosawa pictures are not my favorites of his. Thankfully, Rashomon is lots shorter than the three-and-a-half hour Seven Samurai. The film runs a tight eighty-eight minutes – it’s very atmospherically shot, and masterfully directed and acted, but I just prefer his more modern films (my favorites are High and Low and The Bad Sleep Well, along with Stray Dog). Pretty nice transfer from Criterion.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? I have an early-morning breakfast with a potential musical director for The Brain, and then I have a lot of shipping to do – about twenty packages, and then I shall write like the wind.
Today is, of course dear reader elmore’s actual birthday, but we had his haineshisway.com partay yesterday because I misread our handy-dandy calendar.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, meet, eat, write, and drive about in my motor car. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite wacky names of candies, because boy have their been some doozies – let’s hear them all. In addition to Tootsie Roll, I rather like Abba Zabba. And, if you happen to have a little history on where names came from, be sure to share it with the likes of us. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I go suck on a Tootsie Roll.