Well, dear readers, some days are just flat-out weird. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, some days are just flat-out weird. Yesterday was such a day – it was flat-out weird. I’ve about had it with flat-out weird days, haven’t you? Pleasant days are pleasant, great days are great, monumental days are monumental, and flat-out weird days are flat-out weird. First, I was up early and the helper came by as did the new helper. So, the helper and I didn’t really have time to hash things out, which we needed to do. But she seemed to like the new helper, explained what would be needed, and then they did the training thing. At that point, the interim helper came by and we did a very needed Costco run. I got a lot of waters and Diet Coke, one of those big boy mayonnaise things, some shrimp cocktail shrimp, a big boy thing of Airborne, and a few other odds and ends and also a few ends and odds. Then I came home and put all that stuff away, then the interim helper went off and I went to Jerry’s Deli for food. I had a cup of their yummilicious chicken corn chowder and a turkey sandwich with no fries or onion rings. Just as I was finishing, writer Lloyd Schwartz came by to say hello and he ended up sitting down. His lunch partner arrived and it was my old pal Jerry Houser, he of the movie Summer of ’42 and lots of other stuff. He’s a great guy and we had a really fun chat, then I left them to their own devices whilst I went and picked up one package. Those who perused the posts of yesterday know what was in that package. Then I came home.
Once home, I did work on the computer, listened to Vaughan Williams chamber music and then some choral music whilst I did the work on the computer, and then the day became flat-out weird, thanks to an e-mail volley and telephonic volley. It was all very weird and I didn’t need any of it, but hopefully by this morning everything will be okay. To insure that please do send your strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones. I have to say that as much wonderful stuff has happened this year, and there has been incredible highs, the weird stuff has been so weird that it’s just been really difficult to keep positive and have high energy. It’s just been crazy and crazy-making. So send them vibes and xylophones in large amounts.
Okay sleuths – I need to identify this song. Please listen and if you know what it is, send me an e-mail or message. The first line sounds like another big band WWII song (Tuxedo Junction) but it’s not that because from line two on it goes completely elsewhere yet sounds very familiar. Here it is
By the time all that was over I was fairly spent. I sat at the computer like so much fish and decided to watch something completely mindless and chose Taken 3. Now, I’d enjoyed the original film, Taken – it was silly and short and a lot of fun in its way. The second Taken wasn’t nearly as good and not nearly as silly and short and fun. The third was not the charm – in fact, it’s horribly horrible and truly terrible. I enjoy Mr. Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace is fetching and appealing, but the plot is so contrived and the surprises so unsurprising, but the director (same director as Taken 2 – they really should have brought back the fellow who did the original Taken) is truly clueless about how to actually direct a thriller. The film takes a whopping thirty minutes for the actual plot to kick in. The director is one of these sorts who can’t let a shot last more than five seconds and also who loves the shakycam BS. Instead of the tight running time of the first movie, here we get almost two hours of Taken, which is surely thirty minutes too much. The car chases and fights are so ineptly shot and edited that you literally don’t know who’s doing what to whom. For fun, I went to Rotten Tomatoes and read a few reviews – 6% on the Tomatometer, which is as bad as it gets – ALL the reviews were bad, but they somehow count two of them as “fresh” – if you actually read those two reviews they are certainly not what you’d call positive. Rotten Tomatoes baffles me, frankly. Then again, I am easily baffled these days. To add insult to injury, I watched the film via streaming on the HBO-GO site where it’s presented in the wrong ratio – should be scope 2.35 and instead it’s 1.85 and shame on any site who feels they have to pander to the “fill my screen” idiots.
After that, I had a long telephonic call that made me feel a bit better, then I just relaxed and played more Vaughan Williams music, all of which is just so beautiful it does my old heart and soul good, especially on days that are flat-out weird.
Today, I really have to send music out to singers (I have been remiss, but we’re still over four weeks from the show and I happen to know no one looks at this stuff until two weeks before the show), then I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, hopefully hope that everything has worked out fine (send them vibes and xylophones), do work on the computer, and then relax.
Tomorrow, Alby Potts and I mosey on over to Tom Griep’s home environment and we’ll work there for about two hours getting all the Welcome to My World sheet music conformed so that should we be lucky enough to get a licensing deal, everything will be at the ready and easy to send. But we also had a few Indiegogo folks who get either single songs or a complete sheet music book – once I have all the conformed charts, then we’ll print up the sheet music books – for any dear readers who are interested, we’ll have the book version for sale at Kritzerland. Saturday I’m seeing the opening night of a new musical directed by my pal Kay Cole, and Sunday I believe I have some kind of lunch meeting.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, send out music, eat, hopefully pick up packages, hopefully hope that everything is fine (send them vibes and xylophones, seriously), do work on the computer and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: An oldie-but-goodie – who are your favorite classical composers and what pieces of theirs do you love most? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that we’ve had the last of the flat-out weird days and that everything will be okay.