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January 10, 2009:

WAXING BRAZILIAN

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I’m ready for a day off and yet I shan’t be having a day off, not until sometime late next week. These last few days have been jam-packed and fun-filled, but exhausting. Right now, I’m listening to a bossa nova CD and I’ve been doing the samba (abmas, spelled backwards) and also the Lambada (The Forbidden Dance). I’m quite Brazilian, in fact. In fact, I’d say I’m waxing Brazilian but I don’t go in for that sort of thing. Speaking of that sort of thing, yesterday was another jam-packed and fun-filled day. I couldn’t even keep up with it, frankly. I got up and intended to do the long jog, but my knee was a little achy and I was also rearranging CDs in the CD closet and the next thing I knew it was eleven o’clock, so there was no chance to do the jog even if I’d felt like it, which I really didn’t. I then had to do an errand, then I came back and tried to write, but hadn’t quite figured out what I was going to do, even though I’d started the new chapter the night before. So, I took a long, hot shower and by the time I was done I knew the direction I wanted to go. It required having to add a little something to the previous chapter, which I did (about a third of a page), and then I wrote a page and by that time I had to drive to the Dale of Glen to hear some songs from this musical I’ve been reading (the long one). I actually got six little packages today, all CDs that I’ve been expecting, so that was nice. I then listened to songs from a musical, which was nice, and then I headed back home, stopping at the Subway, where I tried something new – the spicy Eyetalian sandwich (salami and pepperoni). It was a wonderful break from the turkey I normally have. I ate it all up, whilst sitting on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched another episode of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. It wasn’t as good as the first, and in fact after watching some of another episode it feels like these are not being shown the way they aired. The sound mixes are rough, the camerawork isn’t smooth, and there are slates at the top of each show. I just don’t remember the show looking and sounding this odd. Dick and Tommy introduce each episode ponderously, and some of the guests also take a look back – I don’t know exactly when these were taped, but it seems like it would have to be over five years ago, because several people have died since. There was a long performance by The Doors, and a really long song/sketch with some of the writers of the show, including a very young and very roly-poly Rob Reiner (who must have dropped about sixty or seventy pounds for All In The Family), Steve Martin without gray hair, and some other interesting types. They also showed one of those Chuck Braverman capsule films, and you can see the Smothers baiting the censors and the network at every turn. George Carlin did a routine that wasn’t that funny, and Bob Newhart did his traffic controller bit, which was. I then began to watch The Dark Knight, which I’ll finish later tonight. I got thirty minutes in, and I’m finding it difficult, as I do with a lot of today’s films, to understand what the actors are saying. I’ll have more to say after I finish. The Dark Knight is the first film I’ve ever gotten as a screener, courtesy of SAG – the DGA refuses to let the studios send us screeners, an inane decision that irks the majority of the directors, but the union seems not willing to budge, despite every other union sending out hordes of screeners.

I then returned to the keyboard and wrote five more pages and I should be able to finish the chapter I’m in, which is a key chapter, and I’ll then print out the pages (I think I’m about fifty-five pages in) and give them to muse Margaret this very evening.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because the Brazilian boss nova stylings of Marcos Valle are making me soporific and a soporific me is not something the world needs at this time.

Today, I intend to finish the chapter I’m on, which will require me to write about five pages – maybe less, maybe a tiny bit more. I also have some errands and whatnot to do. I’m going to try and relax for an hour or two, too. And then I’ll be having a cozy supper with the Jones’s, which I’m looking forward to very much, after which, I’ll come home and finish watching The Dark Knight on a dark night.

Tomorrow, a day I would normally have to myself, is quite busy. I have to write, I have to absolutely begin entering the latest Nudie changes, I have to have a meeting with the writer of the long musical, and I have to have a dinner meeting with Miss Alet Taylor – not my usual Sunday, I must say.

And I’ve already got four meetings during the week, and I’m also hoping to see how my editor is doing on the Kevin and Sean footage, as well as doing the long jog and writing every day. I have to be very careful to jog at least five to six days a week while I’m writing, because I tend to eat more while I write – I don’t concentrate on what I’m eating as much as I do when I’m not writing, and I will NOT gain weight, other than a pound or two, which I will then lose quickly.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, do errands and whatnot, write, and sup with the Jones’s. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite variety shows – from the old days right up until they went down the toilet. If you have specific memories of specific great episodes, tell us about them, especially the guest stars. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I continue waxing Brazilian in my own way.

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