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September 11, 2016:

ANOTHER PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, it is late and therefore I must write these here notes in a hurry and get them posted so that all will be right with the universe, and that includes you, Mercury in Retrograde in Uranus – we’ve all just about had it with you. So, let me first say that I watched a really interesting and occasionally very outré documentary entitled Women He’s Undressed, the story of legendary costume designer Orry-Kelly. It is very unconventionally directed by Aussie filmmaker Gillian Armstrong. Using narration, actors, a weird set, she recounts the history of this very interesting man and his more than interesting life. It’s filled with wonderful anecdotes, doesn’t shirk from things, especially his early romantic relationship with one Archie Leach, who would later change his name to Cary Grant. At his peak he designed fifty films a year or more, every kind of classic movie, mostly at Warner Bros. for stars like Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman (yes, he did Casablanca), and many others. He designed for Betty Grable, did the amazing costumes for Billy Wilder’s Some Like it Hot and then Irma La Douce. At MGM he worked on An American in Paris and Les Girls. The film is a lot of fun and while some critics didn’t care for the actor parts, I found them kind of interesting and even touching. Highly recommended by the likes of me and currently showing on the Flix of Net.

And while we’re talking about the Flix of Net, I also watched the first episode of the 2015 new TV version of Supergirl, which I have to say I found completely dreadful, from the writing to the directing – actors are exactly what you’d expect – all these TV people look and sound exactly the same – I can’t tell a one of them apart. All the “now” TV clichés you know and love and/or hate are there in abundance. Give me the old TV version of Superman with George Reeves – that show was great. I also watched a documentary about a missing boy called Who Took Johnny about the 1982 disappearance of Johnny Gosch, who has never been found. It’s by the numbers but compelling certainly. The Des Moines police department and the FBI come off especially poorly – in fact, they behaved and continue to behave reprehensibly. Johnny, according to one witness who says he took part in the abduction, was part of a human trafficking ring that involved very rich and well known people – back then there was no such term as human trafficking, but this was pedophilia – underage kids used and sold to the highest bidder. Johnny was not the only kid in his area who went missing, and under very similar circumstances, but the police and FBI simply don’t seem to care. Whether that’s because there’s a cover-up going on due to the rich and known people who were involved, is anyone’s guess. Anyway, not a great documentary but an interesting one.

I didn’t quite get eight hours of sleep, but once up I had e-mails to answer and orders to forward. Then I went and had some bacon, eggs, and toast, knowing I’d eat something later. Then I ascertained there were no packages to pick up, so I did a bunch of other stuff then finally came home. I was happy to see that after two days and a few hours we were at forty-one percent for the Indiegogo campaign. Then I had to do some writing and work on the computer and continue the little crazy roller coaster ride regarding a little event for next week. I thought I had everyone confirmed for it, but one person wrote late last night saying it looked like he could now not do it thanks to a change in his schedule. There’s a slight chance it could still work, and I hope so because he’s an integral part of this thing, so we’ll have to see.

Then I did my viewing, did a short jog, viewed more, then got a last-minute invite to the Coral Café from friends who were seeing the show Doug Haverty is doing, the one I saw last week. So, I moseyed on over there and that was fun – I had their chicken strips, half of a small dinner salad, and about seven french fries, all very good. Oh, I treated myself to some coffee cake, too, just because.

Today, I have to write more liner notes, choose more songs, finalize the final casting for the Kritzerland show and prepare for this little event, which I’ll tell you more about in Tuesday’s notes. I’m sure I’ll eat a little something, I’ll jog, I’ll pick up a package (Amazon now delivers on Sunday at no extra charge), and then at some point I’ll relax.

Tomorrow I have a lot o’ stuff to do and in the evening is a little rehearsal for the event thing. The event thing happens on Wednesday. I also have a couple of work sessions, too. Should be a busy little week, but it looks like the last of the bank fraud stuff should be back in my account by Wednesday at the latest – what an ordeal this one has been.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, choose, cast, jog, eat, hopefully pick up a package, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that it was a pleasant Valley Saturday, and hoping that today is a pleasant Valley Sunday.

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