Well, dear readers, it is 2014. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is 2014, a New Year, and if that wasn’t exciting enough it is also a new month, namely January, so let me just say right here and right now and also right now and right here that it is my fervent hope and prayer that January and the entirety of 2014 will be a month and year filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.
You know, when I was a wee bairn living in Los Angeles, California, USA, and seeing every sci-fi movie that came out back then, 2014 was science fiction. Of course, some would say that the actual 2014 is still science fiction and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with them, if you get my meaning and I know you do. In any case, it’s January and it’s 2014 and away we go!
Yesterday, the final day of 2013, was fairly uneventful and mostly relaxing. I did arise earlier than planned, at nine, but I stayed in bed and let the home environment heat up before getting out of bed. Once up, I answered e-mails and did stuff on the computer, and then it was time for a thirty-minute work session for the benefit. This involved figuring out how we were going to do one specific number in terms of its arrangement. The song is a duet, and the female half of it not only sings but plays the violin. So, I had Richard Allen, our musical director, play through it with the female half of the duet singing it (the male half wasn’t with us). As I listened, I began to get a feel for how to do it, in terms of interpolating the violin, and within fifteen minutes I’d created the arrangement, which I think will be very cute and fun.
After that, I went and had a patty melt and no fries or onion rings – hadn’t had one in a while and it was really good. I then picked up no packages, after which I came home. Once home, I had a couple of telephonic conversations, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I finished watching The Big Gundown, a spaghetti western starring Lee Van Cleef. It’s quite a good little film. I watched the US version, which is about fifteen minutes shorter than the longer European cut, which I’ve also seen and have on a German Blu and Ray. But this new transfer of the US version blows away the German Blu-ray in every way – color, clarity, contrast, all of it. On the German Blu-ray, the longer version is presented in English, save for a few scenes that suddenly revert to Italian with English subtitles. That version is also included in the new US Blu-ray package, albeit all in Italian with English subtitles. But I have no interest in watching the film in Italian as I don’t want to hear a dubbed voice for the lead actor (two of the other actors also did their own English dubbing). I also think the shorter version works just fine, but I understand why purists prefer the longer version.
I then watched the first twenty minutes of the new Blu and Ray of Terms of Endearment. I’ve seen it so many times that I just couldn’t watch it in its entirety – I’ve seen many films many times – some I can watch over and over without ever tiring of them, and some, like Terms of Endearment, I’ve just overdosed on and the magic is gone. I then watched High Plains Drifter, starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. It’s a weird film, and one I’ve only seen once before – I’m surprised that I missed it in theaters as I used to see all Clint’s films. But I quite enjoyed it again – it has an interesting feel to it, Clint is excellent, and it moves along at a steady clip. The transfer seems okay.
After that, I attended the best New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Bash on all the Internet, right here at haineshisway.com. We had us a lovely partay and we shook our bootays, did the Hora, and posted up a storm. At about eleven o’clock I did what I always do on New Year’s Eve – shut off all the lights, went into my bedroom, closed the door and contemplated – the past year and the coming year – what I was happy with, how I can hopefully be a better person in 2014 and improve what I wasn’t happy with, and just, as they say in Oliver, reviewing the situation. I have done this every year for over twenty years and it’s inconceivable to usher in a New Year without doing it. After that, I turned on the TV so I would know exactly when to shout HAPPY NEW YEAR and shout it I did, followed by my annual ushering in of the New Year with one sip of champagne.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep and once up I shall begin a new novel. I’m looking forward to starting a new novel, as I’ve done for the past thirteen years and this one is so different and I just hope I’m up to the task. It’s always scary and daunting beginning something new, but I love it nonetheless and shall dive right in. Other than that, I’ll eat something at some point, but mostly I’m staying put and relaxing.
Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal and an all day affair again, after which some of us will go eat. Friday is a rehearsal day for the benefit, but just three people, I think, maybe four. Saturday is our stumble-through, Sunday is our sound check and show. And, of course, I’ll be writing at least a few pages every single day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, start a new book, perhaps jog, eat something, relax, and do whatever else strikes my fancy. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, whilst giving a big and bountiful hello to both January and 2014, and let me just say again that it is my fervent hope and prayer that January and the entirety of 2014 will be a month and year filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.