Well, dear readers, no one can say yesterday wasn’t an interesting day – well, I suppose someone can say it but that someone shan’t be me because yesterday was an interesting day in at least a couple of ways. So let’s get to it, shall we? The most interesting part was a telephonic call from a new streaming channel geared to Broadway and musicals. My friend Alet Taylor is part of it and she’d called me earlier in the week to begin a conversation and it was that conversation that concluded yesterday, wherein I agreed to license the two seasons of Outside the Box to them. While there isn’t a lot of money involved, it’s at least something for all that hard work of some years ago and it will be fun to have them out there on a streaming service like this. I’ve also agreed to give them some really fun outtakes, which we’d pulled at some point for a potential home video release. Of course I now have to find all this stuff – the hi-rez versions of the episodes, the trailers, and the outtakes – they’ll all be on back-up drives I have in the cupboard right above me, so I guess I’ll start looking for them today at some point. We also discussed a couple of other potential licensing things but they’re launching on Monday and those conversations will take place at a later date. So, that part of the day was interesting, at least for me.
I did get almost nine hours of sleep – didn’t fall asleep until four and got up after noon, so that was a good thing and since I was taking it easy it was fine to miss the morning hours. I answered e-mails, and then began writing the commentary. I did the first two numbers so that was a good start. Then I went and had a Chinese chicken salad and a bagel for my main meal o’ the day, then stopped at K’s Donuts and got a treat for later.
Once back home, I had the telephonic conversation, and then ate the donut to celebrate. After that, I continued on the commentary for another two numbers, then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching The Lovely Bones, which I’d begun the other night. I have the Blu-ray but it was on the Flix of Net and I hadn’t seen it since 2010-ish. I read what I wrote about it, which is I knew it hadn’t gotten good reviews and that many people complained that there were too many changes from the book and that it couldn’t hold a candle to the book. At the time I knew nothing of the book so I could only judge the film, which I enjoyed – didn’t love – but enjoyed, especially the performance of the newcomer who played the fourteen-year-old girl – I didn’t name her because I couldn’t remember the name. Well, imagine my surprise that it was Saoirse Ronan, and she really was terrific. Quite the major film debut. Seeing it again made me seek out more about the book – I read the Wikipedia entry, which gives the plot in quite a detailed way. And yes, they completely sort of missed the boat on many things. I also have the book, so I thumbed through it and the tone of it is not cloying like the film. Because it is cloying, especially in the director’s “vision” of the “heaven” stuff. I also blamed the writing of Mark Wahlberg’s character rather than Mr. Wahlberg, but he’s really mediocre in it – trying to be all real and just not coming off strongly at all, some of which I lay at the director’s feet. Everyone else is very good and I still enjoyed it, but it does go on at two hours and fifteen minutes.
Then I watched another motion picture, this one from 2015, entitled Dark Places, starring Charlize Theron. It’s from a novel by the writer of Gone Girl. I think a decade from now people will scratch their heads at the Gone Girl phenomenon, because the bit of it I read isn’t really all that, and certainly the movie wasn’t really all that. I haven’t read Dark Places, but from what I’ve seen online it has the same convoluted, awful plot of the film. The film itself is horrible – terribly written, with inept direction that is so bad that everything is not only confusing at every step of the way, it’s downright incomprehensible, and worse you don’t even care as each new “revelation” comes your way. It’s shockingly amateur. And here is my new, big pet peeve about actors today – they make sure everyone knows all about their “research” and the lengths they go to for verisimilitude – well, when there’s a scene with said actors driving a car and having a conversation with the person next to them – watch that next time you view one of today’s films. We all know that the car is being pulled and that there’s a camera mounted on the front of it, so the actor isn’t driving at all, just pretending they are. But if they’re so damn interested in “real” and “truth” why are they having a conversation in which they actually LOOK at the person next to them, sometimes for five seconds, sometimes longer. Anyone who did that, would be veering all over the road and would probably have crashed the car into another car, a pedestrian, or a pole – I mean, just watch. Some “real”, some “truth”. Uh huh. Anyway, the film was a huge box-office deesaster, as well it should have been.
After that, I listened to music for a bit, then it was time to write these here notes.
Today, I’ll continue with the commentary and also do some liner note writing, I’ll eat, and then I’ve got to get the Indiegogo campaign completely ready to launch tomorrow morning. I may need a guinea pig to preview and let me know everything is working correctly – let me know if you want to be said guinea pig. And then at some point I’ll relax.
Tomorrow morning, we launch this little Indiegogo campaign although not if our video isn’t ready, which it may not be I’m told, and if that’s the case then we’ll delay until next Monday or announce on Tuesday morning. And if I don’t get a miracle or three I may not survive the day, frankly. Tomorrow evening I judge the singing contest in North Hollywood. The rest of the week is meetings and meals, call backs, building excitement for the campaign (it’s imperative that the first two days sees a lot of action), and whatever else needs doing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write commentary, write liner notes, eat, prep Indiegogo stuff and then 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 no one can say yesterday wasn’t an interesting day.