Well, dear readers, if you want to read about shipping this is the place for you. I shipped, and then I shipped some more. And after that, just for fun, I shipped some more. By the end of the day I’d shipped so much that I felt like a Princess Cruise. Of course, I was awakened early by oafs – the work goes on, but since the house has been finished for over a week, just what work they’re doing is anyone’s guess. However, they’ve rescheduled the canceled open house to this Sunday, so they’ll have to be through by then. Damn them, damn them all to hell. Today, they brought in a refrigerator. If I was brought to see a house and it was completely furnished, I would not buy the house. Of all the idiotic trends, this one is completely baffling, but I suppose maybe no one these days has any imagination. When I bought my various houses I did not want to see furniture in them – I wanted a clean slate, as it were. In any case, hopefully the madness will finally be at an end and the oafs will disappear into the good night and never ever return. I had to have terse words with one of the head oafs yesterday – I was coming home from one of the shipping trips and coming down my street. They had a truck there and instead of the truck, you know, doing the smart thing and actually parking, it was in the street and impossible to get around without bumping into a parked car or the truck. I caught the eye of the truck driver and he just grinned. That was enough for me. I saw one of the head oafs and I called him to my motor car. I said that I didn’t appreciate not being able to drive down my own fershluganah street because the truck driver was too damn lazy to pull his truck over to the curb (there was a convenient space right in front of the damn house). And I told him that I didn’t appreciate the grinning gizmo truck driver’s grinning about it. He apologized and gestured for the gizmo to park his truck. I just turned the motor car around and went around the block. I gotta tell you. Where was I? Oh, yes, CDs arrived about nine-twenty and I had them all in their packages by 10:45 and to the postal office by eleven. I then went to Jerry’s Deli and had a sandwich and onion rings while I filled out endless UPS forms for the biggest of my dealer orders. That took an hour. Then I did some errands and whatnot, and then I picked up a couple of packages, then I came home and boxed up all the overseas orders that needed me to stand in line at the post office (they weighed too much for my postal machine) and I took those and got them sent on their merry way. Then Cason Murphy came over and we lugged a large number of boxes into the car and got them over to the UPS Store around five. Then we went and had a meal at Hugo’s – I was still full from my sandwich, so I just had a salad. Then I finally came home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Black Shield of Falworth. I quite enjoyed it – not a great film, but very entertaining with some very good fight sequences. As noted, the transfer is terrific. I then watched the new Blu and Ray of The Wizard Of Oz. I was very surprised to see that the film just started playing when the player finally loaded the disc (very slow load time) – and, infuriatingly, there was no way to get to the main menu to see what the audio options were. That seemed incredibly stupid to me. But, the film’s the thing, and this new Blu-Ray is pretty spectacular once you get into the color section. It’s very beautiful, sharp as can be, and the detail is incredible. The film, for me, has always been a mixed bag, but I still enjoy watching it from time to time. It’s pretty amazing to think that a whole generation of kids grew up watching it in the 1950s on black-and-white television sets – I had no idea that it was supposed to switch to color until we got our first color TV. The company of players could not be better, and the film simply looks and sounds incredible. In the infuriating department, directly after the film ends you must sit through about seven minutes of copyright disclaimers – that’s right, you cannot get to the menu by hitting the menu button. Maybe there’s a way to get around that, but I certainly didn’t find it – I finally just hit the fast forward button, but how irksome to have to do so. I suppose at some point I’ll check out some of the extras, but not if the film is going to just start up and then I have to chapter forward to the end and then speed through the seven minutes of disclaimers. The collector’s box is lovely.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I have shipped so much that I’m like two ships passing in the night, whatever the HELL that means. I think it means I need my beauty sleep before I become completely incomprehensible.
Today, I have a very early meeting at LACC, and then I may go to the tape transfer place to hear some tapes – not sure about that yet. But I’ll be back here by noon at the latest and then I have no further plans for the rest o’ the day and night. I will, of course, find something amusing to eat – I’ve had several cravings recently and I may just have to satisfy one of them. The one thing I will not be doing is shipping anything. And that is The Shipping News for today.
I do have to buckle down Winsocki and start the liner notes for our next release – in fact, I may try to do two sets of liner notes at one time, so that I can be ahead of the game instead of trying to catch up. Yes, I think that might be a fine idea.
And I hate to be the one to break it to you dear readers, but today is the final day of September. It’s been a fine month and I, for one, am looking forward to an even finer, more prosperous, healthy, and happy October, and I send everyone here excellent vibes and xylophones that it be so.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have an early meeting, maybe listen to tapes, do a jog, eat something amusing, and relax and smell the coffee or the roses or the lugnuts. 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, as I like forward to a day without shipping and bidding September a fond farewell, and welcoming October with a happy heart.