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May 6, 2008:

IN THE ZONE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am in the zone. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am in the zone. I don’t know what that means, exactly, but I feel that I am in the zone and therefore I have stated for all to read that I am in the zone. What are the reasons for my being in the zone you might ask, and I might tell you for why should I withhold such information from the likes of you dear readers? I am in the zone because I got a fine night’s sleep. I am in the zone because I didn’t have to do the long and winding drive to the Heim of Ana. I am in the zone because The Brain From Planet X is up and running and I can now relax and smell the roses or the coffee or the cream of mushroom soup. I am in the zone because I spent almost all of yesterday doing fixes for my new novel. Of course, I’d gone over the novel with a fine tooth comb before sending it to proofer number one, but proofer number one still found an amazing number of things I hadn’t caught – wrong letters in words, one huge gaffe that I’ve now fixed, and other little commas and em dashes and semi-colon sorts of things. I was methodical about it and it took a while, and now all but a handful are entered. The handful I have to run by my muse Margaret, and then we’ll either do them or not. I don’t always do everything the two proofers suggest, especially if Margaret or I feel it hurts the style of the book and its writing. I also got a lot of packages shipped, did a few other errands, celebrated Cinco de Mayo by eating some tacos, and picked up an overdue package. Other than that, I felt completely relaxed and, yes, in the zone.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Juno. I’d heard marvelously marvelous things about the film and was very interested to see it. The first ten minutes or so really irritated me, so I wasn’t sure I’d last all the way through. It was a combination of the arch writing (something we know all about here at haineshisway.com) and the annoying and endless songs on the soundtrack. But by the twenty-minute mark, the film had won me over and I enjoyed it very much. Most of that can be attributed to the superb performance of Ellen Page as the titular Juno. She’s a terrific actress and mines just about everything from the role – in lesser hands I think the film would not work nearly as well. The other actors are all excellent, most especially J.K. Simmons (with whom I worked when I recorded Das Barbecue) as Juno’s father. I do wish they’d laid off the excessive use of the cutesy songs, and I wish Miss Diablo Cody hadn’t been quite so “now” with the dialogue, but overall Juno is a nice little film that’s ultimately both touching and funny. The transfer is fine, but should be a little better for a new film – again, I’m of the belief that they are purposely doing lesser transfers so that the Blu-Ray counterpart looks much better.

I also listened to quite a lot of Bossa Nova CDs whilst I was entering the fixes. Verve has just issued here a whole set of CDs that were formerly issued overseas (and much pricier there), at a budget price – compilations of a slew of great Brazilian artists – I think there are about eight in the set, ranging from the typical Jobim collection, to Sylvia Tellas, Os Cariocas, Walter Wanderley and other notables. It makes for terrific listening, and you can find the CDs as cheaply as $6.99. Frankly, they put me in the zone, if you get my meaning. I don’t get my meaning, but I hope someone does.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because this section is now in the zone and it’s time to move on to greener pastures.

Ah, some greener pastures. Perhaps the cows will finally come home now. Where was I? Oh, yes, part two of the notes.

Today, I shall be speaking with my muse Margaret about the fixes we need to discuss, and then I’m going to do some Nudie Musical work, and I’m also going to begin doing the final go-through of the Brain script, to make sure each and every word, stage direction, and character direction matches precisely what we’re doing in this current production. Once that’s done, we’ll finalize our stock and amateur deal. I’ve had many requests for productions, and I’ve been holding them at bay, but it looks like we can wrap everything up in the next four weeks and then they can start licensing the show.

The rest of the week holds similar things – writing, organizing, shipping, and whatnot. I’ve also had to order a new batch of Evening Primrose CDs. I didn’t want to press all 3000 at once, because I just don’t have the room to store all of them, but we’ve gone through what I did press, and now we’re into our second and final batch.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, talk to muse Margaret, give the novel to proofer number two, do some Nudie Musical work, do some Brain work, and then find something amusing to eat. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could do your own revival of any musical or play ever written, what would it be, why is that musical or play your choice, and who would be in your dream cast? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I continue to be in the zone.

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