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September 5, 2011:

HIGH DUDGEON

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, this holiday weekend is flying by, like a gazelle wearing Depends. While this holiday weekend has not exactly been devoid of work, it has had moments of relaxation and that’s a good thing. Yes, Virginia, I have actually managed to have had moments of relaxation – for example, I am relaxed as I write these here notes. The problem with being relaxed as I write these here notes is that then I have no idea what I should write about because I’m so damned relaxed. I’ve had it with relaxation – look what relaxation has done to the notes, ma – they’ve made them relaxed, for heaven’s sake. These notes are so damned relaxed I fell asleep three times already just writing this first paragraph. These notes are just too damned relaxed, if you ask me. They just plod along, rife with relaxation. Rife With Relaxation – that’s the title of my next novel. Perhaps if I told the story of The Randy Vicar and the Nut Cluster that would perk things up. Perhaps not. I’ll tell you what the problem is – the problem is relaxation. Okay, I have now worked myself up into a state of high dudgeon. Not a state of low dudgeon, mind you, no, I, BK, have worked my very own self up into a state of high dudgeon.

Well, that was an opening paragraph, wasn’t it? That just went nowhere fast, didn’t it? That was full of both relaxation and sound and fury and all of it signifying nothing but a state of high dudgeon. And on that note (Ab), let me just recount my Sunday, just because I must. I got up. That was fascinating. I then answered e-mails, looked at fixed packaging that wasn’t quite fixed, gave more fixes (for both Nudie and our next release), and then I did the four-mile jog. When I returned, I was basically through doing any work for the day. I went and had some matzo brei and toast, then came directly home, where I was hoping to finally finalize all outstanding packaging. Only as per usual for the entire last week, my designer was nowhere to be found, from mid-afternoon to now, so everything remains unfinished. This is happening way too much recently, mostly because he has a play of his running at a waiver theater and he feels he must attend all performances, I guess. It’s more than a little frustrating and other things that we need to do keep getting not done because of it, including a couple of Internet things that have been pushed into the background for over a year. Tomorrow we will be having a serious discussion about all of it. I then sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched two count them two motion pictures. The first motion picture was on Blu and Ray and was entitled Raising Arizona. I really liked this Coen Brothers film when it came out back in the late 1980s – it was fresh, weird, stylish, very funny, and had great performances, especially by its two leads, Holly Hunter and Nicholas Cage. I’ve only seen it once since then, and that wasn’t long after it first hit home video. So, it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen it. Seeing it again was interesting – I still found parts of it fresh and funny, but some of its weirdness wore thin for me and became a little irritating, especially with the John Goodman character. For a ninety-three minute film it seemed long, not that it doesn’t have great energy and pace. I just got weary watching parts of it. It’s beautifully shot, has an engagingly weird score by Carter Burwell, but twenty-three years later it’s just not the discovery it was – but then, what is? The transfer is very nice. I then watched the second motion picture, this one on a homegrown DVD, entitled Something Evil, a 1972 TV movie directed by a very young Steven Spielberg, starring Sandy Dennis, Darren McGavin, Ralph Bellamy, and Johnny Whitaker. I love TV movies from that Golden Age – I’d never seen this one, but it’s pretty good, if not quite up to other TV movie classics from back then. Spielberg was finding his way – some of it is really well directed and looks forward to things he would do in Poltergeist, but some of it is really annoying, with cloyingly “clever” shots that aren’t clever at all. It’s all about an “evil” house, the devil, and that kind of thing.

After that, I played on the computer, relaxed, began these here notes, worked myself up into a state of high dudgeon, and that was that. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am now in a state of high dudgeon and need my beauty sleep.

Today, I shall hopefully arise and not be in a state of high dudgeon – I shall hopefully be relaxed once again. I will have to have a conversation with the Kritzerland designer and we will have to put these two projects to bed today. I will, of course, do the four-mile jog, I will eat something light but amusing, and I shall relax and watch a motion picture or two, and go over my commentary for the Gardenia show, just to make sure I’m happy with it.

Tomorrow, we have our stumble-through, and the print for these two projects must go in to the printers. I also have to make sure the authoring place does the final fix I need – I won’t need another check disc as long as they do a final QC on it. Then that will go to the pressing plant. Wednesday we have our sound check and show, and then Thursday I should be seeing rough cuts of the episodes we shot in New York, New York. I have a rehearsal with Alet and John Boswell for the October Gardenia show and I have to start getting a website built for our new web series. I did set up a YouTube channel for it specifically, although I don’t know if that’s better than putting it on my own channel, which already has quite a few subscribers – I’d like opinions. Also, I wasn’t actually able to get the name of the series for the channel – I had to add the word “series” to the end of it, which is a little annoying – had to do the same for the website. So, a busy week ahead.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the four-mile jog, I no longer have to have the conversation with the Kritzerland designer, since I just had it, I must eat, and I must relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite TV movies (yes, I know we’ve done it before, but I like it)? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall lose all vestiges of high dudgeon.

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