Well, dear readers, dreams are peculiar, aren’t they? Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, dreams are peculiar, aren’t they? I know there are some who try to make sense of dreams and sometimes the sense makes sense. But other dreams make no logical sense at all, no matter how you try to impose logic on them. Last night, I had such a dream and it’s a dream I’ve had repeatedly over the last couple of decades (but not before that). In the dream, I’m in a hotel in some city that I’ve been to before. And there’s a shopping mall nearby and I think that my sense memory of where it is will lead me to it – which happens. I remember the directions that were originally given to me and I walk that exact path and somehow I’m absolutely right and there’s the mall. It involves walking down several very specific streets, turning right, going down other streets and then finally crossing some kind of wider avenue and seeing the mall. Once there, I find the two bookstores that I visited and I always find nice books and send them home. In the second part of the dream, I’m back at the hotel and I decide to walk downtown, which is close by. That’s in a different direction, but I get there easily and walk down what is actually a narrow downtown street filled with all kinds of interesting shops on both sides, and yes, a couple of them are bookshops. I walk quite far and then I take a cab back. That’s it. I have no idea what this dream is really about. When I’m having it it is absolutely real and I absolutely believe I’ve been to this hotel and mall before, and when I awaken, as I did yesterday morning, I’m still convinced it’s real, that I really did do this at some point in the later 1980s. So, the real question is, did I? Did I have an experience similar to this, perhaps when I was doing the spokesperson thing for the computer software company and going all over the country? Certainly I remember going places on my own on my time off. And the details in the dream just somehow ring true when I ponder them. But I have no idea what city it might have been or if it really happened. Usually the dream is the same – but last night was a variation, in that the mall had closed down and there were no shops left and it was like a ghost town. And the downtown street was pretty much the same. It’s not a dream I mind having, though – I kind of like it.
After the dream of yesterday morning, I got up (I did just barely get my eight hours of sleep), had a visit from a local CD dealer, did some work on the computer and answered e-mails, then went and had a salad I’ve never had before – a fried chicken salad, which was basically one chicken tender cubes into bits, corn, avocado, lettuce, tomato, egg, all tossed in ranch dressing. It was surprisingly yummilicious so I will definitely have it again. I also had the ubiquitous toasted sesame bagel with it. Then I went to the mail place, where I picked up no packages. Then I came home and finally buckled down, Winsocki and wrote the first set of liner notes in their entirety. I just kept on going until I was finished. Those have gone off to a fellow who proofs this stuff and when he sends his fixes, I’ll implement them and get them right to the designer. So, one down, one to go. I then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Sabrina, said Blu and Ray being from far off France (but playable in all regions). It’s certainly not my favorite Billy Wilder film, but I do enjoy it. I haven’t seen it all that much, so this was only maybe my third time. The dialogue is wonderful (rare is the Wilder and collaborators dialogue that isn’t), and Audrey Hepburn is luminous and wonderful. Unlike today’s actors, who all look and sound the same, Miss Hepburn was a one-off – no one ever like her, before or since. The camera absolutely worships her face. She’s charming, funny, rueful, sweet, mischievous and altogether lovable. John Williams as her father is his usual great self, and all the smaller supporting roles are well cast. So, for me, I guess it all boils down to Humphrey Bogart and William Holden – two actors I absolutely love, but not in this film. I don’t really know why, but it’s just not a film that plays to their strengths. But it’s not a major quibble and there are many things to enjoy, especially Frederick Hollander’s glorious music, much of it adaptations of popular song, but also including a few of his own compositions. The transfer, alas, is lackluster – it looks like an older master that has been “spruced” up, but the sprucing has created a bland, flavorless look for a beautifully photographed black-and-white film. There’s no grain at all, so that probably tells you all you need to know. It’s never really sharp enough and hopefully when and if it ever comes out in the US, we’ll get better.
After that, I relaxed and did stuff on the computer as well as a little prep work for this week’s shoot. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I will begin and hopefully finish the second set of liner notes and get those off to the fellow who proofs. The idea is to have both packages submitted for approval by Friday. After that, I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, then I’ll mosey on over to the editing room and make one shot adjustment and two little sound adjustments, after which episode three will be locked and ready for airing. The editor will make new uncompressed and compressed files and we’ll put them on the hard drive. Then I’ll upload it and send it to Broadway World along with the blurb. In the evening, I’ll attend the rehearsal of the one musical number that’s getting staging.
Tomorrow, we have the first of our shoot days. We do the set-up scene to the first of the two episodes, a completely different kind of set-up than we’ve done before. For this one, it’s an audition sequence of various actors auditioning for the new Outside the Box musical production. That should be a lot of fun, and we have some really fun people coming in to “audition.” We also have casting director Michael Donovan playing himself and choreographer Kay Cole playing herself. You may even see Stephen Findle’s shoulder. We’ll be done with that shoot by one. In the evening, I think I’m being taken to an early birthday dinner by our very own Mr. Jason Graae. Thursday is our long shoot day, from nine to six, doing seven musical numbers (two are VERY short and won’t even take twenty minutes to do, which will give us more time to spend on the two numbers where I want to do a lot of coverage). Then on Friday, we do the second set-up scene, which will either be done at my house or at someone else’s house – we won’t know until tomorrow. Saturday is, of course, my little birthday and I’m being taken to a dinner partay of some sort at Genghis Cohen.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully start and finish the second set of liner notes, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, go to the editing room, and then attend a rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the one dream you’ve had the most during your life? And what is the best dream you can remember, and the worst? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I’m sure I will have an interesting dream.