Well, dear readers, here was the problem: I got up at ten-thirty as I hadn’t actually fallen asleep until three. Of course, three was four and ten-thirty was eleven-thirty because of this fershluganah time change. Time changes are confusing. You think it’s one time then some Time Person decides it’s not that time anymore, it’s an hour later. I do not like that Time Person. Who decreed some Time Person should have control over the time? So, I fell asleep at three even though it was four, and I woke up at ten-thirty even though it was eleven-thirty and I was thoroughly confused. I changed the two clocks that needed changing – the oven and the microwave. The Oven and the Microwave – that’s the title of my next novel, a story of perversity and hair loss and the dumbing down of our society by the use of the microwave instead of a conventional oven. It’s written in a unique style – no punctuation other than semi-colons. I believe this style will be much imitated in future novels. What the HELL am I talking about? Anyway, I’m still feeling at sea about this time change. It’s currently midnight and yet in my mind it’s still eleven o’clock. In my mind I have one hour to write these here notes. In reality, I have thirty seconds.
Other than that, yesterday was a day in which a handful of things occurred. After I got up and changed the two clocks, I answered e-mails, had a couple of telephonic conversations, had a short visit with Juliana Hansen, and then moseyed on over to the Wood of West to lunch with dear reader Jeanne. We went to Lenny’s Deli, which just a couple of months ago had been Junior’s Deli, and had been Junior’s Deli for, oh, thirty years or so, maybe longer. But like the time change, Junior’s Deli was now Lenny’s Deli, although it looked just like Junior’s Deli since it is Junior’s Deli with a different name and slightly different foodstuffs. I decided to order quite a few things, knowing I would only be tasting certain items, but I wanted to be able to give a full report. So, I had my usual pastrami (lean) with cole slaw and Russian dressing. Let’s begin there – the pastrami was better than Jerry’s Deli, but nowhere even approaching Langer’s and Nate ‘n’ Al’s. It was okay, and the Russian dressing was actually quite good – better than Langer’s, not quite as good as Nate ‘n’ Al’s, and as good as Jerry’s, which has great Russian dressing. We ordered kishka – better than Langer’s (Langer’s for all they do right, does very bad kishka), not as good as Nate ‘n’ Al’s, but very good indeed and the gravy was quite good. Then we had two potato pancakes of which I ate one and Jeanne ate half. Langer’s has the best potato pancakes on the planet, but these were good and much better than Jerry’s. I’ve never had the potato pancakes at Nate ‘n’ Al’s. I also ordered a side of the mac and cheese because it looked quite good. The reality was it looked better than it tasted – adequate, but nothing special. We had a very nice time, the conversation was fun, and then we went on our merry ways.
I came back home, did some work on the computer, and was happy to find that the next Kritzerland show is fully cast now – and it’s a wonderful group – Cynthia Ferrer, Damon Kirsche, Lisa Livesay, Madison Claire Parks, and Robert Yacko, along with Jenna Rosen. We’re still waiting to hear about our guest star. I’ve assigned about half the songs so far, and will do the rest today. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the first half of a mini-series of old on DVD entitled The Fortunate Pilgrim, starring Miss Sophia Loren and a rather large cast. It’s based on a semi-autobiographical book by Mario Puzo. The director is, once again, Stuart Cooper, who I’ve become very friendly with and with whom I’m doing some upcoming Kritzerland projects. He’s a very interesting director. It’s a good film so far but I still have two hours to go. The cast is good, the music, by two Italian people I don’t know, is pretty but pretty heavy-handed synth stuff – it would have been great with an orchestra, and it looks good.
I also watched a little of a new German Blu and Ray of Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. This is based on some recent restoration from the camera negative and it’s an astoundingly beautiful transfer – maybe the best black-and-white scope transfer I’ve ever seen. The downside is, no English subtitles, but I know the film well enough to just enjoy it for the visuals and the transfer itself. It’s rather astonishing that this is only available in Germany – no Italian release and certainly no American release – it was announced for release in 2010 by some company no one ever heard of, and also by Paramount, but despite claims by both that they owned the copyright, I believe the courts don’t think either of them do, and that their renewals of copyright after the film fell into the public domain, the renewals based on some weird law that came into being in the last couple of decades, is not real. So, in limbo it sits, which is criminal. It’s amazing what entitlement does for people, that they just think they can get away with this stuff and use these weird loopholes to their advantage when they have no real right to do so. I don’t know what the ultimate outcome was or even whether it’s been decided, but from what I’ve read, both companies may be out of luck, which really does level the La Dolce Vita playing field.
After that, I listened to the first of what will be about eight auditions for the Hofstetter audio books. It was very good and it told me immediately that having a young person do the books will absolutely work if that’s what I want to do. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get some beauty sleep even if I have no idea what time it really is.
Today, I shall finish assigning songs, then load stuff into iTunes so I can send mp3s, then I’ll gather sheet music. Hopefully I’ll pick up some packages, eat, and then I’m attending some sort of music thing in the evening in the Dena of Pasa.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals and seeing shows and meetings and meals and preparing our two new releases for announcing and then announcing and then getting ready for the trip to Washington.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, assign songs, load into iTunes, get people mp3s, eat, hopefully pick up packages and then attend some music event. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite mini-series? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall do a stirring rendition of I Didn’t Know What Time It Was.