Well, dear readers, I have decided to talk about gas. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you read such a sentence? Nowhere, that’s where. But before I talk about gas, may I just bid a wonderfully wonderful welcome to the little month I like to call June? Let’s hope that June will be bustin’ out all over and filled with wonderfully wonderful things for one and all and also all and one. And now, I shall talk about gas. Not the kind of gas one gets from eating frijoles or spicy food, but the kind of gas one puts in one’s motor car. More specifically, the cost of the gas one puts in one’s motor car. Regular readers of these here notes know that the price of gas and the way that the major oil companies continue to spit in the face of the American public and the people who run the country is one of BK’s biggest bugaboos (soobagub, spelled backwards). And BK has noticed that in the last two weeks gas prices have risen, oh, yes, gas prices have risen to the tune of about sixty cents. I, for one, do not like the tune of sixty cents – I much prefer the tune of Seveny-Six Trombones, which is catchier and cheaper. Our new President is completely ineffectual about these ridiculous and specious gas price hikes, just as his predecessor was. I was really hoping our new President would lay down the law and slap these cretins silly, but that apparently is not to be and the gas barons have realized it and up prices go. And please do not give these people excuses – these people, despite what they may tell you, are making TRILLIONS of dollars in profits – do you all understand the word PROFITS? Do you all understand the word TRILLIONS and how the two words fit together. The only way to make these cretins back off is for the government to finally step in and stop threatening and actually do something. When these gas barons are called on the carpet, as occasionally happens, when they’re summoned to Washington to explain why these rises are happening, then gas prices mysteriously and suspiciously go down – always and forever, just like Cats. And, just like Cats, the government doesn’t follow through and are pussies. What needs to happen is for our new President and his congress to make it really simple for these gluttonous gas barons – every time you raise the price of gas, you pay an additional 10% in tax. Retroactive to six months ago. Let me tell you how fast gas prices would return to where they were six months ago, which is almost eighty cents cheaper than it is now. And gas prices would stay there and these gas barons would STILL make TRILLIONS of dollars in PROFITS. Until our new President and his congress do something like that, then these gaseous gas barons will continue to spit in the face of the American public and its leaders and laugh whilst they are doing so. It is time to take them to task. It is time to stop the madness. In a time of economic catastrophe (despite the endless Wall Street games going on daily), the one thing we don’t need is for greedy gas barons to keep making life MORE difficult for the American people. Last summer, when the American people had finally HAD it, they simply stopped driving as much. And the gluttonous greedy gaseous gas barons suddenly saw their profits lessen – not much, but something. Prices dropped – a LOT – almost two dollars. The American people, however, were so fed up that they still didn’t drive as much because they were wary, oh, yes, they were wary. And so prices stayed low consistently for six months, for seven months, for eight months, and gradually the American people let down their guard and began driving again, back to their old ways. And the minute the greedy gaseous gluttonous gas barons saw it, up went the prices. And up. And up. And up. And there will be no end in sight until the American public stops driving as much and until our new President fulfills his promises of stopping such behavior and takes these companies to task for taking advantage of the American people. There, I’ve said it and I’m glad. I’m sure we’ll have the usual excuses, except I happen to be completely correct on this issue and only the blind don’t see what’s going on. I haz spoken.
Was that a rant? That sounded like a rant. Well, enough ranting (for now), for it is late and heaven knows I need to post these here notes and get to bed for heaven knows there will be machinery moving and hammers hammering early in the morning. Yesterday was such a weird day, but I got a lot done and ultimately it was okay. I was awakened early by the usual noise. I got up, answered a bunch of e-mails, and was going to do the long jog, but kept getting waylaid. I finally got out of the house at ten-thirty. It was very gray and chilly out, but I did the long jog and it felt good. Then I toddled off to the musical director’s house and we got through all of act one and one song of act two. He’s picking everything up quickly, and we’ve made some further corrections to the charts (which he’ll get to the copyist) and he’s getting a good feel for the way I’d like the songs played. He’s very easy to work with and we had fun. I then came back to the Valley, picked up one tiny package, came home, answered more e-mails, and then toddled off to dinner with cousins Dee Dee and Alan. We went to LaLa’s – I hadn’t been in quite some time and it was really yummilicious and now I’ll need to return there more often. We had a very nice time and caught up on things what were and are happening. After dinner, I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu-Ray entitled The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad, which was one of my all-time favorite motion pictures as a child (I wrote about it in one of the Kritzer books). Sinbad was the first 16mm film I ever bought – a gorgeous IB Tech print (purchased in tandem with an IB Tech print of The Court Jester on the final day of shooting The First Nudie Musical). The prints were delivered to the old Fox Venice theater where we were shooting the final scene of the film. No home video presentation has come close to replicating how great that print looked, but I’m happy to say that the Blu-Ray comes very close, with gorgeous saturated color and a very sharp transfer. Of course, the film is basically one long optical, so many scenes have heavy optical grain, which is how the film has always looked. Sometimes, in fact, it’s opticals on opticals. The film remains wildly entertaining – just a perfect adventure film. Kerwin Matthews is a manly man, Kathryn Grant is a terrible actress but looks pretty as the Princess, and Torin Thatcher makes a splendid villain. Mr. Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion animation still astonishes these many years later. Within three minutes I was sucked back into the film and I felt like I was a little kid again watching it.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because all this talk of gas has given me gas.
Today, I have another work session with the musical director, then a meeting with Cason Murphy, and then I’ll be heading to the Dale of Glen to do a radio show with Donald.
Tomorrow, I’m having luncheon with the lady from MGM, which I’m very much looking forward to. I think we may be going to Genghis Cohen.
Thursday and Friday are meetings and whatnot but fairly light days. And then the madness begins. But fun madness. I did meet our leading lady and she seemed very sweet and very excited to be doing the show. And we have set our rehearsal schedule and I did manage to get LACC as a rehearsal space, so that’s a money saver.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, I must have a work session, I must have a meeting, and I must tape a radio show, and then have something amusing to eat. Today’s topic of discussion: Since yesterday’s topic was met with such apathy, I leave today’s topic to one of you dear readers. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst the price of gas keeps rising and the gaseous greedy gluttonous gas barons get richer while we get taken for a ride.