Well, dear readers, how can it be Thursday already? Well, that’s simple – yesterday was Wednesday, that’s how it can be Thursday already but really, where has the time gone and gone where has the time? Gone where has the time – that sounds vaguely Scottish, doesn’t it? Vaguely Scottish – that’s the title of my next novel, a story of a maniacal killer who wears kilts – yes, he’s a kilt-wearing killer who sings My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean whilst drinking scotch, quoting from the Scottish play, and doing his murderous deeds. I am suddenly put in mind of Brigadoon which, by the way (BTW, in Internet lingo) was not the sequel to Lorna Doone or Frank Herbert’s Dune. I know I’m supposed to be doing something right now – oh, yes, writing these here notes. Enough with the Scots, let’s have the notes. I must say that I’ve been enjoying my week thus far – it has been mostly free of drama, although I have to say in all honesty that I have been going just a little berserk in the motor car, due to some particularly idiotic driving by others. But mostly the days have been stress-free and the nights have been relaxing and it’s the kind of week I’ve needed for weeks. I slept till about nine, got up, answered e-mails, had a telephonic call with the co-author of the long musical, which, fortunately, was surprisingly brief. I then suddenly got a hankering for Junior’s kishka. I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you read such a sentence as “I then suddenly got a hankering for Junior’s kishka” – nowhere, that’s where. So, I just got in Ye Olde Motor Car and drove to the Wood of West, where I met dear reader Jeanne for an early lunch (or in her case a late breakfast). The kishka was once again divoon and I was a good boy and had a turkey sandwich rather than a pastrami sandwich. It was all quite filling. I then headed directly back to the San Fernando Valley, where I picked up a couple of packages (including 400 boxes for the shipping of CDs), had a nice telephonic call with Mr. Brent Barrett, shipped him some more CDs, prepared some other packages, and then I sat down and finally finished my editing road map on the late-December Kritzerland release. It was very hard work, but after listening to it in the right order, it’s going to be quite a fun CD and our first sci-fi/horror (not sure what the film is, actually) genre title. It certainly will appeal to certain people on this here site, and I’m really looking forward to writing the liner notes, which I’ll probably start in the next day or two. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with the packaging and I certainly had a fine time coming up with cue titles – one of them made me laugh out loud for about ten minutes. I’m laughing now, now that I remember what it was. Then I drove packages over to the post office and put them in the night drop. Then I went to Jerry’s Deli and got some chicken soup to go. Then I came home and sat on my couch like so much fish, and ate my chicken soup all up.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray, a region B disc entitled Mary and Max, an Australian film from Australia, starring the vocal talents of Miss Toni Collette, Mr. Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Mr. Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna. The film is astonishing on many levels – most of all its brilliant stop-motion claymation, which is breathtaking. The story is wonderful and weird, and there are times when you’d think its writer/director had either read the Kritzer books or been reading this here site – just the way he uses wordplay, and his somewhat skewed and arch narration. In any case, you’ve never seen anything quite like this film and I really enjoyed it a lot. It’s not like a Pixar or Disney or Dreamworks movie – it’s totally unique, is not really for kids at all, and most certainly doesn’t play by any formulas, which is really refreshing. It’s not ever going to find a mainstream audience but it’s definitely worth seeking out if it comes to your town or if you can get it on DVD or Blu-Ray. The transfer is immaculate – a great reference Blu-Ray in both image and sound. I’m going to watch some of the extras tonight.
After that, I listened to the soundtrack to Red Cliff about five times. It’s really quite marvelously marvelous. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because these here notes are feeling vaguely Scottish to me when they really need to feel vaguely posted.
Today, I can’t remember what all I’ve got to do, but I don’t think it’s all that much. I may start addressing packages, just to get a jump on things, as we’ve got more orders for this title than we usually have – I’ve not yet heard back from Cason as to when he can come help and I haven’t had an ETA about a delivery date, which I’m hoping will be early next week.
Tomorrow I have a few errands and whatnot to attend to, some liner notes to write, some prepping to do for our Tuesday announcement of our next title, and that sort of thing. This weekend there’s a book fair, and even though it’s my least favorite of all the book fairs I’ll probably go, just to say hey to some dealer friends and check out what things are going for these days. Book dealers are like no breed known to man – in times of economic catastrophe rather than lower their prices, they raise them. This seems rather inane to me, but what do I know?
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog (weather-permitting), maybe address packages (or certainly put labels on the boxes – that takes a really long time, actually), maybe start writing liner notes, and hopefully pick up a package or three. Today’s topic of discussion: What upcoming films are you most looking forward to or most intrigue you. I don’t know anything about anything that’s coming up, so I’ll look forward to hearing your choices. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and, yes, I suppose you can make them vaguely Scottish.