Well, dear readers, it’s the 4th of July, there’ll be fireworks in the sky, parades will go marching by, march away – I love when I can quote my own lyric. Yes, it’s Independence Day, a day of Independence and I’m feeling quite Independent as I write these here notes. I’m already feeling quite festively festive and am ready for the annual 4th of July do at Tony Slide and Bob Gitt’s home. And then I shall stand outside my home and watch the Studio City fireworks (which emanate at CBS Radford Studios, about a half-mile away. Right now, I must say that I am quite exhausted. What I thought was going to be a very light day turned into an endless day of work. I got up, answered e-mails and was about to do the long jog when there was a knock on my door and many boxes of the Cops and Robbers CDs were delivered. The gal at the plant had neglected to inform me they were coming this morning and it’s a good thing I was here. Originally, I thought they’d be showing up next Tuesday or Wednesday, so I hadn’t even begun addressing packages. I made the decision to get everything shipped out, and began the long two-hour session of addressing packages. After that, I affixed postage to them, then put the discs in, got a bunch of online dealer orders ready and then drove them all to the post office and the big online dealer boxes to the UPS Store. It was a lot of work and some lugging of heavy boxes but I got everything done save for some overseas orders – I got them all boxed and just have to fill out a few customs forms and these I can’t do myself, I have to do them at the post office. All that ended up taking most of the day and around four-thirty I finally had time to get a sandwich and fries at Jerry’s Deli. I then came home and finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a very long motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Big Blue, a film of Luc Besson, starring Rosanna Arquette and Jean Reno. The first hour or so is really captivating – the film is about two young boys who grow up to be world-class deep-sea divers – and the actors are all very engaging. The photography is gorgeous and I enjoyed the musical score by Eric Serra. But then it just goes on and on and gets very repetitious. This is the director’s “long” version, which runs over 160 minutes – the original release in France ran 132 minutes and I have to believe it would play much better at that running time and I’d guess that a lot of the repetitive stuff is missing. The US version ran considerably shorter, had its story changed, and had a different musical score (by Bill Conti) – I’ve never seen any other version but this long one is a real disappointment. The Blu-Ray, on the other hand, is not a real disappointment – it’s spectacular (this is a region free import from France).
After watching that, I just did a little organization around the home environment and printed out some more orders that had arrived.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s the 4th of July, there’ll be fireworks in the sky, parades will go marching by, march away – what am I, The Brain From Planet X all of a sudden?
Today, she of the Evil Eye will be here both bright and early and early and bright, so I’ll do some errands and whatnot until around noon. Then I may drive over to see my pals at Mystery and Imagination, and then I’ll be on my way to the partay down the street, after which I shall watch fireworks.
Tomorrow, I have no plans at all and I intend to keep it that way. Same with Monday. Then Tuesday, it’s back to work and there will be a lot of it. I have several meetings and meals and book design work and demo recording, plus I’m picking up the final edited version of the Stephen Schwartz/Alan Menken benefit we did a couple of years ago at the Alex Theater. I’m very anxious to see it cut together. I’m sure I’ll pick some nits, and then we’ll lock it and I’ll start putting up clips on YouTube.
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, attend a partay down the street, and watch fireworks. Today’s topic of discussion: Tell us about your most memorable 4th of July experiences – both as a child and as an adult. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all have a safe and fun Independence Day.