Well, dear readers, let us put it this way – some of yesterday sucked. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, some of yesterday sucked. But, why dwell on the sucky and the yucky when we should be dwelling on the plucky and the lucky. So, if anyone would like to send some pluck and luck this way, please feel free to do so along with some excellent vibes and xylophones. Damn them, damn them all to hell. Speaking of hell, yesterday was a somewhat sucky day. Well, only one little part of it was sucky, but it made me feel yucky and I don’t like to feel yucky and would rather feel ducky. I’m sure I’ll be having to deal with the little yucky stuff for the next few days but I shall try to not let it annoy me too too much. Other than that yuckiness the day was okay. For example, I got up. That was okay. I then fixed yesterday’s pages, but wasn’t quite ready to begin new pages, so I went to breakfast instead. Upon my return, I began new pages and they weren’t the easiest pages to write, but by the end of the evening I’d done six of them. I knew going in that the last twenty pages of this book would be difficult and it is proving to be so. But, my intention is to slog right through to the end, good or bad, and then redo, revise, and/or rethink anything I don’t like or think works. If I’m still not satisfied, I’ll print out, Xerox, and let muse Margaret read the pages and if there’s something wrong believe me, she’ll know it and if that’s the case it will be a simple conversation to pinpoint the problem. For now, what I’m doing is okay and I’m enjoying it, but it’s a struggle to make it work like I want it, too. We’ll see how I feel about yesterday’s pages when I look at them this morning. Other than that, I did stuff on the computer, I did a couple of LP transfers, and did a few other things that needed doing and tried not to dwell on the yucky, which kept popping into my head like a gazelle having an acid flashback.
Last night, I watched no motion pictures on DVD. I did watch the special features on the new Special Edition DVD of In The Heat Of The Night. If this is a special edition my name is Mortimer Snerd. It’s got three little boring featurettes that are strictly from amateursville. I also checked out the transfer and frankly I don’t think it’s as good as the last DVD, although I got rid of it so I can’t be sure. All I CAN say is that the new transfer is merely okay.
Last night, I did manage to listen to the Israeli cast of Hello, Dolly! as I was transferring it to CD. I love these foreign cast albums and have quite a few of them. Hana Maron as Dolly is very good, and the band sounds very present on the CBS release. It seems to have been done in Israel about two years after the show opened on Broadway. Listening to Dolly in Hebrew cheered me up. Some of these foreign albums contained more dance music than the original Broadway versions, but not Dolly – it’s almost exactly the same as the Broadway and London versions – it does contain the little one-minute overture added to several recordings (the original production had no overture whatsoever).
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it is time to put the sucky yesterday away and hope for a ducky and lucky today. I think we should take the yucky and put it on a trucky and have it driven off a cliff in Kentucky.
Today, I must get up very early and pull some CDs from the garage to give to Miss Purl and Mr. Spirtas. Once that is done, then I shall start writing and do as many pages as I can before I need foodstuffs. Once I have foodstuffs, I shall continue writing until my eyes are too bleary to continue. I have only a couple of errands to do, and plan to be at Ye Olde Laptop for most of the day.
I also have to have telephonic conversations with the dramaturge of the Chance Theater and the costume designer of The Brain. I also have to enter into my iCalendar everything that is happening this month, and it’s a lot. Otherwise, I shan’t remember anything.
Tomorrow, more writing, more errands, more whatnot, and the same goes for the rest of the week, along with a couple of meetings and meals and a workshop of a new play.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, pull CDs, write, eat, write, eat, and then sit on my couch like so much fish. Today’s topic of discussion: Most everyone knows how I feel about these special features on DVDs – I feel in many cases they contribute to taking the magic out of the film you’ve just watched, and I feel they are populated with pedantic pedants rather than people who actually had something to do with the film. Then there’s the “style” of most of them – boring talkfests interrupted by pointless “illustrative” clips. We make fun of these on the Nudie Musical documentary. However, there have been some fine special features on a few DVDs – so, what are your all-time favorite special features on DVDs – what movie, what was good about the special features, which commentary tracks did you really think helped illuminate the film rather than just being boring or taking the magic away from the film? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as we banish the yucky and the sucky into the mucky and the gucky.