Well, dear readers, it was yet another day with no word about the book order shipping and I’m afraid I went to BKland, which is not a land people enjoy visiting. I keep being assured they’ll be overnighted and will be here in time for Saturday’s signing. Well, you know, yesterday was Tuesday and they didn’t ship then. Today’s Wednesday. If they don’t ship today, tomorrow is Thursday and if they don’t ship then then they don’t arrive by Friday. They’ve known about the problem for one solid WEEK so I’m not sure why this is such an ordeal and it’s now hard to get anyone to even communicate with me, and that just sends me off the deep end, I’m afraid. So, we play the waiting game and hopefully I will get some communication today along with a tracking number.
Otherwise, yesterday was a reasonably reasonable day. I managed to get nine hours of needed sleep. Once up I was greeted with an e-mail from our male alumni cast member of the LA show, who told me he was dropping out (less than a week before rehearsals begin) to do a web series that’s paying really well. That’s all fine, although web series and paying well is an oxymoron since web series generally pay nothing because it’s under SAG New Media, which requires no payment of any kind. That ordinarily would have been bad news, but happily I immediately contacted our very own Robert Yacko, and in a miracle of timing, he can do the show. That’s really good news for me and the show and our cast of student actors. After dealing with that and the book stuff, I went and had a sandwich and some fries with chili, cheese, and onions. I decided to challenge my nausea and I won the challenge. The fries were huge and I only ate a third of them and half of the sandwich (I brought the other half home).
Then I came home and worked on the LA show. I asked Doug Haverty to slightly revise something in one of his monologue things, which he did and did very well. I then did some stuff on the piano, then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two motion pictures on Blu and Ray. The first motion picture was entitled Anastasia, starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, and Helen Hayes. It’s kind of a wonderful motion picture – well written by Arthur Laurents, and beautifully directed by Anatole Litvak. The cast could not be better – real movie stars giving real performances. I can’t even imagine who you would cast in this film if you were making it today and that’s especially true in the character actor department because we don’t have real character actors anymore – certainly no one on earth like Akim Tamiroff or Martita Hunt, both of whom are superb, especially Miss Hunt. The transfer is really lovely on this Twilight Time Blu-ray.
Then I watched the second motion picture, which was entitled 10 Rillington Place. I had an overseas DVD of this film, but as I was watching none of it seemed familiar to me, and yet I had watched it back on September 9, 2004 and wrote about it then. I thought it was good, but not great back in 2004, but twelve years later I thought it was pretty great. It was Richard Fleischer’s second serial killer film in a row, the first being the prior year’s The Boston Strangler. What makes the film work are the brilliant performances of Richard Attenborough and John Hurt – the latter is very young in this film and really amazing. Judy Geeson is also wonderful in her smaller role. It’s bleak and creepy but is highly recommended by the likes of me and it has an especially gorgeous transfer, also via Twilight Time.
After that, I had some telephonic calls, then did some work on the computer.
Today, I have to keep my eye on an auction almost the entire day, as I have some items in it and it will be fun to follow the action and there hopefully will be lots of it. At some point I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, hopefully get good news about the book shipment, and ultimately relax.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, casting, assigning songs, then the book signing on Saturday, after which we’re doing another small private reading of the LA show here at six-thirty, and then after that I’m being picked up by the Staitmans and taken to some choir competition in the Bank of Bur.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, keep my eye on an auction beginning at seven in the morning, eat, hopefully get good news about the book shipment, hopefully pick up packages and the now married helper will be back and we can catch up on all sorts of things that have been piling up in the week she’s been gone. 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, hoping I don’t have to go to BKland again.