Well, dear readers, I am quite ready for the roller coaster ride that has been the Holy Grail release to cross the finish line, which I’m hoping will be this very day, or tomorrow at the latest. I received the latest go-round of stuff yesterday morning and spent quite a while on the telephonic device talking to the man in charge and going over each and every note and coming to agreement on all. Once that was done, I had to get everything to the designer – thankfully, they did not make me change our master, so it’s all text stuff on the inlay card and in the booklet. We implemented each and every change that was agreed upon and then I sent it to everyone for approval. I will say that the man in charge was really nice and really understanding and basically all companies that are doing titles through this studio are learning as they go. If and when we do our next title with them, I now know the drill and can circumvent all the fixes right up front because I know what they want now. Then I toddled off to lunch with Miss Beth Malone – we’re planning on doing another private Nudie Musical reading here in LA (probably the second week of December) and she’s happy to do it, so that’s one role taken care of. I’ll ask two or three people from the June staged reading to take part, and everyone else will be new. This is just for David Wechter and I to hear the changes we’ve made since the June reading, prior to us coming to New York come February to do a staged reading there. We spoke of many things, had yummilicous foodstuffs, and then I toddled off to the mail place, where there were three count them three packages for me, none of which were the overdue packages, which will hopefully be there today or tomorrow. I then came home to yet another e-mail regarding a couple of other fixes, so I picked up the telephonic device and called the person who’s been asking for all these changes. Talking on the phone is much better than sending volleys of e-mails – she asked for two more little cue title changes so that they’d reflect what was on the recording logs and score pages – it took about twenty minutes to actually figure out what those were, and then I agreed to do them and that was that. I suppose I could have said no, because earlier the boss man and I had agreed on all changes, but it was just easier to do it than not do it. So, we implemented those two changes (only affecting the inlay card track list) and I resent that to everyone. We have now done every single thing they’ve asked for, so I’m hoping that good will and sense will prevail and approval will come in a timely manner. All that ate up the entire day, so I never had time to jog, and I never had time to finish liner notes. I did do my early morning errands and whatnot, however. I then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Labyrinth, a film of Jim Henson, starring David Bowie and the young Jennifer Connelly. It’s a completely weird movie and I cannot imagine what young children must have made of the very odd David Bowie, with his eyeliner and lipstick and big hair. Miss Connelly, even at her young age, was impossibly beautiful and luminous. But it’s the Henson creatures that make up the world of this film, and I just sat there and marveled at his handiwork (he and his cohorts). I don’t use the word genius often or lightly, but Mr. Henson certainly had a touch of genius. Like most, I fell in love with his Sesame Street muppets and then I never missed The Muppet Show and saw most of the muppet movies. His humor was inspired, and he and Frank Oz especially, made magic and brilliance out of their creations. Labyrinth is too kitschy and campy for its own good, and the script isn’t great, but every time the Henson creatures show up, it’s fantastic and very funny. The transfer is great – great color and contrast, and, of course, very sharp. The David Bowie songs range from bad to bad.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must say I’m exhausted from this day. “I’m exhausted from this day.” There, I said it.
Today, I have a three-hour work session (and not one second more), and if, heaven-forbid, another note or two should show up, then I will have to take my leave and deal with it. But, send all your excellent vibes and xylophones for no more notes and a quick crossing of the finish line and approval. After the work session, I will have a lot of errands and whatnot to attend to and I will absolutely finish those liner notes.
Tomorrow is another three-hour work session (and not one second longer) and then more errands and whatnot and wrapping up stuff because then everyone is on the very long Thanksgiving break. I have made no plans for the long weekend and I intend to keep it that way.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a work session, try to jog, do errands and whatnot, and hope that we cross the finish line successfully. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite muppets, when did you first discover the muppets, which is your favorite muppet movie, and what are your favorite muppet moments from The Muppet Show? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as we await an onslaught of muppet posts – yes, it’s the Attack Of The Muppet People.