Well, dear readers, I am most happy that yesterday is done and I can now see the pretty countryside, as merrily we roll along. Frankly, I can’t even remember half of yesterday, but here’s the half I do remember. I got up. Then the next thing I remember was going to Jerry’s Deli for another batch of poached eggs, toast, and white rice. The next thing I remember was doing some errands and whatnot and picking up a couple of packages and junk mail. The next thing I remember was sitting and watching a motion picture right on the computer, making adjustments to my editing road map, and then writing track titles as I went along. So, now the track titles are done, several adjustments were made to the road map, and the mastering guy is now putting it together, bit by bit. What am I, Stephen Sondheim all of a sudden? In any case, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, the Film Score Monthly forum to be exact – although not really all that funny and not exactly a Sunday in the park. No, it was pointed out that someone had received their Legend Of The Lost CD. So far, so good. The packaging was lovely, the music was lovely, but the CD label wasn’t for Legend Of The Lost at all, it was for another potential release that may or may not happen. How a screw up like that could happen is unknown at the moment. But you can bet your ASS that my pressing plant got an earful. They are contrite, oh, yes, they are contrite, and are repressing the entire run of 1000 discs. They will personally send replacement copies to everyone who ordered via Kritzerland (we’re simply turning over the invoices to them – they’ll be printing labels and addresses themselves), and then they’ll be sending copies to the four dealers that got sent the CD. The good news was that several of my dealers had asked us to hold shipment so that they could be consolidated with Earth vs. the Spider tomorrow. So, I’m supposed to get 200 CD replacements along with the Spider discs and I’ll be able to include those with their orders. So, it’s not as bad as what happened with The Man Who Would Be King, but it is much more stupid. Where is the quality control? Did no one notice that the CD face said something completely different than the packaging? The owner of the pressing plant was mortified, and he’s doing everything as quickly as he can, but this is the second screw up in two months and I’m afraid this time it’s going to take a little more than just “making it right.” I’m on the verge of pulling my business (and we are a good and steady customer, and always pay on time), so he’s REALLY going to have to make this right. Too many follies over there right now for my taste. After that, I played the sequence for our next release. It had just turned dark so it was a little night music. Then, since I didn’t have company, I sat on my couch like so much exhausted fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Magnificent Seven. I must say, I find it a wildly entertaining film with a perfect cast of players, a cast whose like we will sadly never see again. Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner, Robert Vaughn, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, Horst Buchholtz, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach – each distinctive, each unique, and not a one of them whispers. You can hear every word, why, just like normal people speak, not this crop of inane, dopey whispering “actors” of today. The director, John Sturges, keeps the whole thing moving along, with a terrific script by William Roberts (adapted from Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai), and aided immeasurably by the brilliant and iconic music of Elmer Bernstein. The good news is that the Blu-Ray transfer is aces, with perfect color (this is what color in a western looks like), nice sharpness, and pleasing contrast. A winner.
After the movie, I did some work on our next release, answered some e-mails, and played on the Internet. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’m hoping now that we’ve been into the woods we can be out of the woods with our little CD screw up. My goodness, these really are the Sondheim Notes, aren’t they?
Today, I shall be up early and the pressing plant will let me know exact ETAs for getting the replacements out – it should be done some time today. They’re sending someone to pick up our invoices so they can get started on addressing packages. The thing is, many buyers probably wouldn’t even care, being that the booklet, inlay card, and MUSIC are all Legend of the Lost – it’s only the CD label that’s incorrect – but I feel everyone should get a perfect thing. Helper arrives at ten-thirty and we have a LOT of packages to address and put postage on, but we’ll get that all done so we can ship out CDs first thing tomorrow morning. After all that, I think the rest of the day is mine all mine – I shall finally eat something other than poached eggs, toast, and white rice, and that’s a good thing.
Tomorrow, we have a lot of CDs to ship out. Fortunately, we then won’t be shipping anything for at least two weeks, so that’s good. Friday I may or may not have a ninety-minute meeting, and Friday night I may or may not see a show. But somewhere between now and Friday I have to approve our new master, prep our announcement, and, most importantly, write questions for the Andrea Marcovicci event this Saturday.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the samba, because today is the birthday of dear reader Sam. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to dear reader Sam. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO DEAR READER SAM!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must to the things I do, I must, for example, address and postage packages, eat something fun for a change, and do some errands and whatnot. 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 as I hit the road show to dreamland.