Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle with phlegm. How can I already be exhausted when it’s only Tuesday? But I shall mush on with energy and verve and vim and vigor, which is three Vs and an E. I’d better dive right into these here notes because I must be up early as CDs and helper will be arriving to ship out Summer and Smoke, the Nudie CD and the Nudie CD/Blu combo orders. I had no intention of getting up early and yet I got up early because I was having quite the nightmare – it was a nightmare, a frightmare, and I just bolted awake. I stayed in bed and kind of dozed in and out of sleep until the telephonic device rang twice. I know the postman always rings twice but since there was no mail yesterday the postman didn’t even ring once, but the telephonic device rang twice, which was nice for a telephonic device that rang twice. I got up, answered some e-mails, and did the four-mile jog, after which I went and picked up the Nudie CD sleeves for signing. Then I went directly to Mo’s, where I met dear reader MBarnum for lunch. We had a lovelier than lovely time, had good food, and then we both went on our merry way. I went to do some banking but the bank was closed – Columbus Day. So, no mail either.
I came home and talked to several camera rental houses and the rental picture was not a pretty one. I had several other telephonic conversations and then the camera person arrived for our meeting. I must say, whatever transpired in the last day or so was obviously good, because I quite liked him and we had a very nice chat, discussed the look and feel of the show (he’d read the scripts and watched the trailer), and he’d already arranged a much more reasonable rental package. I felt much more comfortable, that’s for sure. I showed him two of the episodes, and played him the three songs for the three episodes we’re doing. He left, and then I sent out some call sheets and was told we finally have a ten-person ensemble. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching the last of Star Wars: Attack of The Clones, after which I began watching Star Wars: The Revenge Of the Sith. I have to say, these are very handsome films – excellent effects, breathtaking visually and with those incredible John Williams scores. I truly do not understand the hatred of these films, other than the fact that no matter what George Lucas would have made he was in a lose/lose situation – no one was ever going to like any prequels that he did, because those for whom the original trilogy was magic were now older and simply not having any of it. What’s amusing is, of course, that the people who saw the prequels as young kids loved them as much as those who’d seen the originals as young kids. That’s the way it is, of course. Yes, a few of the actors are not good, but the dialogue, which is lambasted far and wide, is no worse than the dialogue for the original Star Wars film – it’s on a par with that. I didn’t have any problem with that and I certainly have no problem with these. It’s unfortunate that both the young boy and the young man who play Anakin are just not good in films one and two. The young man improves appreciably in the third film. But Christopher Lee is fun, and Ewan McGregor does some very sly Alec Guinness-style line readings. But Lucas has simply received no credit at all for the splendid visual stylings of the prequels and he should. Interestingly, I’m only twenty minutes into Revenge Of the Sith but I realized instantly that I’d never gotten around to seeing it. I know there’ve been complaints about the transfers (mostly for The Phantom Menace) but I have seen not one problem with any of the prequel transfers – they’re all of a piece, and even though some are saying The Phantom Menace looks soft, it’s simply not so. There is a lot of detail and the only parts that are soft are the optical – that was the last of the Star Wars films to be shot on film. The bottom line is for those who grew up with the original trilogy only those will do – for those who grew up with the prequels, they like the whole kit and caboodle.
I got really hungry, so I went to Jerry’s Deli and had their chopped salad – nothing harmful in it, calorie-wise, and I use oil and vinegar (only less than a teaspoon of oil, so no caloric dressing to worry about) – it hit the spot and then the spot hit it in a bit of tit for tat as well as tat for tit.
I came back home and wrote and additional dialogue exchange for the Gregory Harrison episode, as his daughter Lily will be in the scene. I really like having two people in the set-up scenes even if one is just sitting there. It’s great to have someone to cut to for a reaction shot – really helps the pacing, too.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get as much beauty sleep as possible as it will be a very long and busy day and then I’m supping and seeing a reading of some play in the evening.
Today, I’ll be shipping out CDs and Blu and Rays. I’ll do the four-mile jog, I’ll write as much as I possibly can, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and mail, I’ll do the banking I couldn’t do yesterday, I’ll sup, and I’ll see a reading of a play.
Tomorrow, it will just be writing and hopefully a little bit of relaxation. Thursday we shoot two of the set-up scenes – one at Alet and Andy Taylor’s home environment, and one at my home environment. Then I have to audition some men at LACC at seven. That should only take an hour and then I’ll have a short meeting with the MD of the next Kritzerland at the Gardenia. I’ll give him as much music as I’ve pulled together and hopefully he can do the few charts that need doing. Friday is the long shoot – three musical numbers and one set-up scene. Then all the sound and footage has to be dumped onto our backup hard drive. It’s going to be very tight as to whether I’ll be able to make it to Barry Pearl’s in time to go to the opening night of Annie out at Cabrillo Music Theatre. We’ll see how it all works out.
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 must write, I must hopefully pick up packages and mail, I must ship CDs and Blu and Rays, I must do banking, I must sup and I must see a reading of a play. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite salad dressings and which do you abhor? What was the first salad dressing you remember having? And do any restaurants serve what used to be the most popular dressing of all – Roquefort? At what point did restaurants stop serving it? Because that’s what most had – I don’t know when bleu cheese took over, so maybe someone here does. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland and hopefully neither the postman or the telephone will ring twice until I’m up and at ’em.