Well, dear readers, this month is flying by, like a gazelle in a dune buggy. And I have begun finally noticing a change in my weight – pants are fitting comfortably now and I can see it in my face and tummy (the latter has been the last to show any weight loss). This makes me happy and will keep me on track to be at the weight I wish in time for the LACC show. And once I lose this weight I will not put it on again. I didn’t live up to that promise last time, but I cannot go through this again, with the endless waiting for the weight to go away. There are rowdy people outside the home environment, laughing and cavorting, whilst I am laughing and cavorting inside the home environment. As a matter of fact, I just laughed and that was followed by a cavort. The cavort was followed by the eating of a mini-carrot. That was followed by the eating of another mini-carrot. And that is how we spend a late Friday evening here in the City of Studio. Of course, if I were feeling adventurous I would get dressed and take a walk down to Ventura Boulevard to check out the nightlife. Of course, at midnight there IS no nightlife on Ventura Boulevard, so that would be a lesson in futility. Have you ever felt adventurous, and, if so, did adventurous slap you across your face? I guess no nightlife for me this evening, even though I love the nightlife and I got to boogie down the disco highway. Did you know that in the song I Love The Nightlife, the words disco highway do not appear, and yet everyone thinks they do. I know this because I just searched for the lyrics and saw no mention of disco highway except under the heading “misheard lyrics.” My favorite misheard lyric from my teen years was my mishearing of “Wish they all could beat California girls,” which I heard as “Lipstick on the seat California girls.” Go know. Say, don’t I have notes to write? I do and I shall, starting here, starting now.
Yesterday was a day in which a few things happened – nothing monumental, but I’ll take that. I got up around ten after a pretty good night’s sleep. I answered e-mails and did some work on the computer, after which I went and had a small turkey sandwich and no fries or onion rings. Then I picked up a few packages but no important envelope – hopefully that will be there today. I then came home and did the four-mile jog – it’s getting slightly easier and I hope that keeps being the case. I did some errands and whatnot, did my initial song list (always too many) for the next Gardenia show, and now I have to whittle that down. I still have some songs to listen to, as well. We’ve got one guy and one gal cast so far and we really have to nail down the other three plus our guest star very soon. I have someone in mind for the guest star and am trying to figure out how to get to her. Then I had a nice chat with the two fellows who are doing the clean-up phase on Nudie Musical. It’s a little unnerving to not be there for it, but I guess that’s the usual way this phase happens. I did tell him what the two most important things to do were – getting rid of the two cue marks at the end of each reel, and doing whatever they can to clean up the emulsion scratches in the end credits. After that, they’ll do as much removal of light lines and dirt as they can, although it’s never really that bad. The assured me that they don’t just turn on some software and leave it on – they do each fix separately and carefully and they both really sounded on top of it. And since this particular lab does transfer and clean-up work on some of the biggest films ever made, most recently West Side Story, I figure I’m in good hands. They think they’ll be finished by Monday, and then I get to go sit in a QC room and watch it from start to finish on a big ol’ plasma TV. If I see any problems during that viewing things can still be adjusted, as all work done, from color correction and transfer, to audio, and clean-up, is still saved in the computer. After all that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Don’t Look Now, a film by Nicolas Roeg, starring Miss Julie Christie and Mr. Donald Sutherland. I’m not much of a Nicolas Roeg fan, but this film is, for me, his best, and I have loved it since the day it came out. Everything about the film works – it’s hypnotic, dream-like visuals, the score by Pino Donaggio, and the wonderful performances by Christie and Sutherland, along with a strong supporting cast. I’ve read quotes (I think there’s even one on the Blu-Ray case) calling it one of the greatest horror films ever made. I just don’t get that – it’s hardly a horror film, even though it does contain a couple of horrifying moments and one of the great scare and shock moments in all of cinema (when I saw this when it came out, that scare scene got a scream equal to Wait Until Dark and Carrie – and that’s saying something). The photography is brilliant, as is the editing. The film follows its own path and while the story is slight, the film is never less than riveting. This is a region B Blu and Ray from the UK. The good news is that Roeg supervised some sort of “restoration” and the color is absolutely fantastic and perfect. The bad news is that it’s just, at times, a very weird-looking transfer, as if during the transfer phase some sort of manipulation happened, because the result is very noisy – not grain as in film grain, but actual video noise that looks nothing like grain. In fact, in bright scenes there is practically no grain at all and that includes the opticals, of which there are several. It’s a shame, but even so, it’s miles better than the DVDs (I had several versions on DVD) and worth it just for the color alone.
After the movie, I actually took a swim – I’d heated the pool to ninety, and it was like taking a bath. Then I did some more work on the computer, approved the covers for our next release (that follows Jason Graae’s Monday release), after which I laughed and cavorted, not necessarily in that order. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get another good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall arise, I shall write, I shall jog, I shall do the blurb and prep for Jason Graae’s CD announcement (we’re trying to have him sign the first 100 CDs ordered – I think it’s going to work out), I shall hopefully pick up an important envelope, I shall do errands and whatnot, and then I shall go out to dinner and have a good meal, which I feel I deserve after two solid weeks of jogging and light meals. I won’t overdo it, of course, but I will eat something tasty and fun. I’ll probably watch a motion picture after that.
Tomorrow is a rehearsal, along with more writing. Next week is a lot of writing, viewing the final Nudie Musical transfer with clean-up and making notes for any last-minute final fixes, seeing a show or two, finishing casting, gathering music, making CDRs, and getting the singers their stuff.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, do a jog, prep Jason’s CD release, hopefully pick up an important envelope, do errands and whatnot and eat something fun. Today’s topic of discussion: Post lyrics that you’ve misheard – how you misheard them and what they really are. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I toddle off to the bedroom environment singing “Lipstick on the seat California girls.”