Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the music of Hindemith. I don’t know much about this composer other than I have a couple of things by him, but his disc in the Composers in Person series is really great once you get to the orchestral music, which I’m finding delightful as conducted by the composer in 1956 in glorious stereophonic sound. In fact, the sound is better than most 2019 stereo recordings. I’ve always steered clear of Hindemith because he always had the “modern” tag, but it’s nothing of the sort. It’s wonderfully orchestrated music, very accessible. I’m going to have to seek out more. There are several box sets of his orchestral music on the CPO label, most of the set containing four to six discs, so that’s a LOT of orchestral music. As I sit here, the mail download thing is heading toward the finish line – all 108,000-plus e-mails, saved and otherwise. It’s been going on since five o’clock yesterday afternoon and is only less than 200 from completing but is now moving so slowly it’s really quite maddening. The hope is that when this finishes, that everything will be all right.
That’s how the day began after getting eight hours of sleep. I called Apple, got a senior tech on the phone who really wasn’t all that helpful, but we did what we did and nuked the main AOL account and then added it back, at which point it began that massive download. But I called back and got another senior tech on the phone and he was great – we went through a few things, he told me what the thing was trying to do, but it had completed the downloads but when it does so then the activity window is supposed to clear, which it hadn’t. He suggested we give it two hours. We did. He called back and it hadn’t done anything further, but he suggested two more hours and since I was off to a meeting, that was fine by me.
The meeting was very nice and gave me some needed comfort. Then I picked up a couple of packages, then came home. Whilst waiting for the tech to call I made Wacky Noodles, about six ounces’ worth. I ate that up and it was very good. He finally called just before five o’clock – it still hadn’t cleared, so he made the executive decision to quit mail and relaunch it, which, if it hadn’t worked, would mean we’d go through the whole thing again. So, we quit mail, relaunched and it seemed to at least be working more quickly and wasn’t opening any unnecessary windows. It downloaded about 19,000 e-mails while we were on the phone, but then began the long day’s journey into night of the 108,000-plus e-mails. It was moving fairly quickly for several hours, then slowed down, sped up, slowed down, so here we are all these hours later and we just need to puuuuush and hope it’s worked properly, and that the activity window clears. If that happens then we’ll know it worked and then the hope is that it will then synch to the phone and pad. Just checked and still 120 to go – that should go in about three minutes, but at the rate it’s going it will be another hour or two – I just don’t get why it’s moving so slowly at the very end. Well, puuuuuush. Send excellent vibes and xylophones that it’s successful.
During all that, I had a busy day listening to auditions for GEE and Murder at the Magic Castle. I finally heard one for Magic Castle that at least got the rhythm I write in, so that was nice to hear. It wasn’t perfect or anything, but she’s the first gal I wrote back to. After another day or two, I’ll probably converse with her and see if she can take direction. She’s a possibility. What I’m finding with most is that they read the third-person narration in a very stilted manner with no personality. And that would be fine for most third-person narration, but from the very first book my third-person narration has always been colorful and as if a character were writing it. It’s tricky that way. I haven’t heard any GEE auditions that I’ve loved. But more are coming in, as I put it up on Facebook and got quite a few responses.
I like this Hindemith fellow – who knew? I know I’ve heard and have Mathis de Maler and I know I enjoyed that, but these pieces I’m hearing now are more interesting and enjoyable. Where was I? Oh, yes, I was here. At some point I did sit on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the first forty minutes of a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Yanks. I saw the motion picture back in 1979 and it was something I enjoyed very much, despite not being much of a Richard Gere fan. But he’s kind of charming in it, and the rest of the cast is great. It also has one of my favorite film scores ever – by Richard Rodney Bennett. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful. The transfer, if I’m understanding it, is new, but I’m not sure I buy that. For Universal, it’s pretty decent, though, with accurate color, good contrast, and some really excellent detail. At some point I dozed off and apparently I snored so loudly that I woke myself up – go know.
Today, I am sincerely hoping that the Mac Mail travails will be at an end. The senior tech is calling at eleven-thirty to check on everything. Pray for Rosemary’s Baby, although I’m hoping by the time I go to bed that it will have completed successfully. All songs are chosen, but I still have some music to get, not for the singers, but for our musical director. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something light but fun, and then I think I can relax.
Tomorrow, I’m not sure what’s happening, and there may be an impromptu dinner late in the evening. I’ll know about that in the morning. Saturday, she of the Evil Eye comes, and I have a lunch meeting. Sunday will be a ME day, methinks, but we shall see what we shall see when we see what we shall see. Then next week is crazy busy, with two rehearsals for the Group Rep benefit and a ton of other stuff, including making a show order and writing that commentary. Since I’ve decided to also do a running commentary for the Group Rep show, I have to get all that organized and done.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hope that the Mac Mail travails are over, I’ll gather sheet music, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, I’ll eat, and then I’ll relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Yanks director John Schlesinger? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that I, the senior luddite, will have good news for the senior tech.