Well, dear readers, we are in the final few days of 2009 and getting ready for 2010, a year we hope and pray will be filled with happiness, wealth, health, and creativity and good things for one and all and all and one. You will be hearing this mantra many times over the next few days and we all need to believe it and nurture it and say a little prayer to make it so. I shall be ruminating on this past year, oh, yes, I shall be ruminating, but not today – today I shall not be ruminating, but tomorrow or the next day perhaps I shall be ruminating. So do not look for any ruminating in today’s notes for today I shall not be ruminating. Today, in fact, I shall be working, but that’s another story for another section. This section, of course, is always so yesterday, so yesterday I had a rather nice day. I slept late, which was nice, and then got up, which was equally nice. I answered e-mails and then made the plan to have the booklets signed. I went out to the motor car and started it up – it wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, but it started and I drove over to Staples and got some markers for the signing, and also some padded envelopes because, really, one must have some padded envelopes. I did some work on the computer, and then I toddled off to Westlake Blvd. in far away Thousand Oaks, California. It was about a forty-minute drive, which, I suppose was good for the motor car battery. The composer and I met at a jernt called Marmalade. He signed a little over 100 booklets, and we had a really nice chat and got to know each other a little. He’s a terrific sort. I had a bagel and cream cheese. Then I headed home, which was another forty-minute drive, picked up some mail and a package, had a sandwich, made some more notes for the new book, brought hundreds of boxes into the house, and then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Elephant Man. It had been some years since I watched it (I’ve only seen it twice) and I must say it’s really an exquisitely done film in every way. For me, it’s David Lynch’s finest hour, a beautifully directed work of art. John Hurt’s Oscar nomination was well deserved – he’s really wonderful and the fact that he conveys so much feeling and emotion behind a huge amount of makeup is a testament to what a wonderful actor he is. It’s a little shocking, however, that Anthony Hopkins was not nominated as well – he gives a brilliant performance, one of his best. But everyone in the film is superb – it’s so much fun to see Wendy Hiller whack someone over the head with a heavy book, and Freddie Jones gives a performance of real complexity, and he’s so good that you, the viewer, just want to kill him. Anne Bancroft is lovely, and it’s grand to see Kathleen Byron in a small role. John Gielgud is his usual fantastic self. The photography by Freddie Francis (in scope and black and white) is phenomenal, as is the haunting score by John Morris. It really is a perfect film, although some of it is hard to watch and I found myself yelling at the TV for someone to come in and help poor John Merrick from all those hideous people. The Blu-Ray (an import, which I’m sure will be out here at some point, although it’s an all-region import so it will play in any player) looks and sounds great – the image quality is astonishing at times – crystal clear, sharp, luminous contrast, and it handles the purposely occasional grainy flashback or insert perfectly.
After the movie, I put Kritzerland labels on all the boxes I brought in so that we’ll be ready to address when Ye Olde Helper arrives. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I feel like ruminating but today I shall not be ruminating and I must quell the urge, oh, yes, I must quell the urge whilst at the same time I must urge the quell because sometimes the quell just needs some solid urging.
Today, I shall not be ruminating. What I shall be doing is addressing a LOT of packages starting at noon, with the new Kritzerland helper. Since it will be her first time doing this it will probably go a little slower than usual, but we’ll get it all done. I’ll then remind her how to do the postage stuff and we’ll attach postage – in fact, I may do it while she does all the customs forms. Then we have to get the bigger order boxes ready and for the larger overseas orders get those customs forms done. I’m sure it will all take about three hours, maybe a little more, and then she’ll come back when the CDs arrive, which will hopefully be on Wednesday.
Tomorrow at eleven I’m going to the Glendale Infiniti dealer to see about getting a new car. I’m not completely comfortable doing it, but it must be done. The problem is that my biggest online dealer is paying invoices from four CDs ago – he splits those payments in half, so we’re way behind – if I had all that money or even half of what he owes, I’d be totally comfortable doing what I must do – but, the reality is I have to do it no matter what because otherwise I’ll be pouring another several thousand dollars into an eleven year old motor car, and I just can’t justify doing that – it would be like flushing that money down the terlet. So, send lots of excellent new motor car and money vibes. I have asked the dealer to see about paying the invoice this week in total instead of splitting it in half – that would really help – I’m hoping he says yes. I asked very nicely. And to give you an idea what he’s paying on, it’s Inspector Clouseau – that’s how far back we are.
Tuesday, I’ll probably have to have a brief conversation with the co-author of the long musical, but I’ve told him that this week is for me – I am not going to work, other than shipping CDs – he wants to talk about the scenes just completed and then about act two, but I can’t and won’t because I simply need to use this week to clear my head and focus on the New Year, which I’m very much looking forward to. And, of course, you’ll want to be only here for our New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Partay, the best New Year’s partay on all the Internet.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog if I can find the time, I must address and postage packages, I must eat something light and amusing, and then I must relax and watch a motion picture. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, and do remember that today I shall not be ruminating.