Well, dear readers, December is already flying by, like a gazelle singing Glenda’s Place from Whoop-Up. And a rousing rendition it was, too. I spent my Sunday like a lazy loafer, just lounging around the home environment in my smoking jacket, my leopard-spotted dickie and my bunny slippers. I got eight hours of sleep, got up, was happy to read some amazingly complimentary comments on the new Outside The Box episode (www.youtube.com/outsidetheboxseries), and then I answered lots o’ e-mails and caught up on a few things. What up was doing on a few things is anyone’s guess. Then I satisfied a craving for a Tom’s bacon cheeseburger and onion rings. Craving satisfied, I then came back home and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched the remaining two episodes in the volume one Maigret box set. They did not disappoint – good stories, well told, with great casts. This series really was well cast – every player, large and small, is just right. Surprisingly, there’s some occasional nudity in the shows. Discovering this French series was a wonderful late in the year thing, and volume two should be to me by the end of this week.
I then watched a homegrown DVD of a TV movie entitled Murder By Natural Causes. As you may remember, I saw a stage version of the this film last week and I was curious to see how the TV movie played, because I felt the mechanics of the stage version were a little creaky. Well, it’s not the best TV movie I’ve ever seen, and it does have a ridiculous, derivative musical score, but it’s always fun to see Hal Holbrook strut his stuff, and Katherine Ross and Barry Bostwick are fun. The “twists” in the TV film are handled better, although the play saves the last of them much longer than the film. Link and Levinson had this sort of thing down to an art and it’s a fun little movie that never quite achieves greatness like some of their Columbo movies.
Then I finished writing the commentary for the next Gardenia show – I did a little rewriting of last year’s patter, and I had to write new patter for the new songs we’re doing. Since there are two more songs than usual, most of the patter is very brief, which is fine by me. I checked out the photos from Lost and Unsung and have them all in iPhoto now, and I’ll begin posting them on our discussion board today or tomorrow. At some point I had a bagel and I had a couple of the delicious Godiva truffles that FJL and Skip sent me for my upcoming birthday.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because somehow these notes should have been up almost an hour ago, but I was playing on the Internet and time got away from me. I lassoed time and it is currently back with me so click away.
Today, I shall do the four-mile jog (I took a break yesterday), then I must do some banking, then I must write an obscene number of checks to pay Kritzerland bills that have been piling up since I’ve been so busy, then I’ll eat something fun but light, then I’ll begin prepping whatever the remaining Kritzerland releases are for the rest of the year (maybe one, maybe two), hopefully I’ll pick up a package or three, and I have to ship a couple of things, too.
Tomorrow is our stumble-through, and Wednesday is sound check and show. Thursday, of course, is the BK birthday, so I’ll just have a fun, light day and I believe I’m being taken out to dinner (there are a couple of other birthday dinners at later dates), and Friday I’ll have several appointments and meetings.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the four-mile jog, bank, pay bills, ship, hopefully pick up packages, plan some releases, eat, and maybe in the evening watch a motion picture on Blu and Ray. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your favorite Columbo episodes and/or movies? And your other favorite TV detective shows? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland.