Well, dear readers, welcome to July, a month filled with lovelier than lovely fireworks and barbecue and high spirits and merriment and mirth and laughter and legs. Right off the bat I’m wishing everyone a wonderful July – healthy, happy, prosperous, and may it bring nothing but good and lovely things. There, now I’ve got that off my chest. That is always on my chest and frankly that could stand to lose a few pounds and is much too heavy to be on my chest all the time. It’s always lovely when a new month starts off with a long weekend and I’m looking forward to the long weekend and will, of course, be attending my neighbor’s annual 4th of July partay. June went out on a high note (Ab) – Show Girl CDs arrived bright and early and also early and bright, and I got them all packaged up and over to the post office by eleven. So, we’re all caught up, shipping-wise, that is until next week when Cops and Robbers arrives. And then I’ll be announcing the new Kritzerland limited edition soundtrack, and it’s going to be really fun and interesting – originally released on LP, we’ve found a lot of music not used on the soundtrack album, so while the LP ran around thirty-three minutes, the CD will run well over an hour. It’s a delightful score from a delightful film and I think it will probably please a few dear readers. I should have a copy to hear by the end of the week and I’m really looking forward to it. In fact, I must write the liner notes this weekend. After shipping everything, I went to my tape transfer guy and heard a little of a potential Kritzerland release. I haven’t committed to it yet, because it depends on how the sound is – right now there are no album masters to be found, save for a digital copy made about twenty years ago, and that has to be “baked” and then I’ll be able to ascertain if it’s good enough. There are two one-inch tapes (with eight tracks) with what looks to be extra material, and the original LP presentation was a bit of a shambles, with everything out of order and not in a good way, and it is a composer and title that will appeal to film score lovers and Broadway people, so I’d like to do it. We shall see. The other tape I heard was in great shape so as soon as I find something appropriate to couple with it I’ll put that into the works. Right now, it looks like I’ve got a healthy release schedule for the next four months, which thrills me no end. While there will be more soundtracks than shows, there will be a couple of fun show titles in the mix. After that, I ate lunch at my beloved Bird’s, a Pogue and BK favorite. It was as great as always and I hadn’t been there in quite some time. After that, I did some errands and whatnot, went to the mail place, where there was no mail, and then finally came home, where I made some telephonic calls and did some work on the computer. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two motion pictures on Blu-Ray. The first motion picture on Blu-Ray was an import from Japan of Pixar’s Monsters, Inc (due for release in the US later this year). I hadn’t seen the film since I saw it back in December of 2001, I believe, at the Orleans in Las Vegas. I really enjoyed it back then, and I enjoyed it even more last night. It’s a mostly terrific film – very funny, endearing, with great characters and wonderful voice artists. Randy Newman’s score is aces and the whole thing moves like a house afire. The Blu-Ray is brilliant-looking and I’m sure the US release will be just as brilliant-looking. I then had an urge to revisit Gran Torino, even thought I’d just seen it about three weeks ago. I liked it even better the second time – it really is one of Clint’s best films, and it’s not only shocking but nauseating that the buffoons of the Motion Picture Academy did not nominate Clint’s fantastic performance – he not only should have been nominated, he should have won. And it’s such a pleasure to watch a film in 2009 that hasn’t been tarted up with “with it” editing and photography and CGI. Clint’s direction is effortless and invisible, but perfection. The Blu-Ray is top-notch and is highly recommended by the likes of me.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s July and I must flit about my house with gay abandon doing The July Dance.
Today, I shall be up early to do the long jog. Then it’s entering more fixes for the new book, which will then be ready for designing, final proofing, and being sent to the publisher. I’m especially excited to see what Grant Geissman does with the cover for this one – we both had the exact same idea and I have the feeling it’s going to come out wonderfully.
Then it’s errands and whatnot, and organizing Kritzerland stuff, which, believe me, needs organizing. We’re also really low on certain catalog titles and I have to decide what to do about that, the problem being that it’s not really cost effective to do less than 1000, and I just don’t want to press that many of any catalog title. For ones where I have print (about three titles) I can probably do three or four hundred. We shall see.
Tomorrow I shall start catching up with all my friends and trying to book some meals and play time in the next couple of weeks. Things have been so crazy and busy that I just haven’t had the energy to have play time and proper meals out, so I’ll be looking forward to that.
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 enter book fixes, I must do errands and whatnot, and I must hopefully pick up some packages and mail. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we say a happy hello to July and do The July Dance.