Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle feeling twitchy and bitchy and manic – but alive, but alive, but alive. I, myself, am feeling twitchy and bitchy and manic as I listen to a completely weird but fascinating thing called the Turangalila Symphony by one Olivier Messaiaen – it’s wild, noisy, wacky, and yet oddly appealing, but then I find anything with on Ondes Martinot appealing, because that’s the kind of guy I’m. Oh, and let me just leave this here: 176%! We are a mere $1200 from doubling our funding goal, not that we’ll get all that money after the fees and such, but how great would it be to actually achieve 200%. So, to infinity and beyond, say I! Lots of great perks left, so spread the word and see if we can reach the dream percentage – is it an impossible dream – it seemed so a week ago but we’re within spitting distance now and just remember, dreams do come true. Here’s the handy-dandy link:
https://igg.me/at/creaturecampaign
Yesterday was a day in which I did not do any of the writing I was supposed to and I’m not even sure why. I got seven and a half hours of sleep, I think, got up, answered e-mails, uploaded new extras for the Creature DVD and got them on their way, then went and picked up some packages and came right back home. One of the packages contained the new Blu and Ray of Sweet Charity. I watched a bit of it – I have the French Blu-ray, which I thought looked great, but comparing the new Kino, sporting what they tout as a new 4K “restoration” (it isn’t, it’s a 4K transfer – restoration doesn’t enter into it), is illuminating. The French starts off with quite a bit of gate weave in the opening credits, then you can clearly see the grain is clunky and weird, especially in the opticals. None of that was noticeable when I first watched it a couple of years ago, but when compared against the new Kino the Kino wins hugely, image-wise. Better color, much sharper, light grain as there should be, and it actually looks like a movie and is rock-solid in the opening credits. The one thing negative I can say is that the sound is mastered so low on this thing that I had to boost it about ten db to get it where it needed to be – that’s just amateur. I have my sound set to a certain level that works for about 95% of what I watch – the other 5% I might have to adjust a db or two up or down, but nothing like this. I’m looking forward to finishing it tonight.
Then I had a lot of telephonic calls and I’d promised someone I’d finish reading their script and had to type up all the notes I’ve been scribbling, and that took up a lot of time. Then I had to get ready to sup and see a presentation of a one-person show. I moseyed on over to the Smoke House, where I met Doug Haverty. He ordered a seafood kabob, and I had a hard time deciding between the filet or fish and chips – in the end, I opted for the latter and boy were they great. I only hate half the fries and used much less tartar sauce than I usually do. I had a small Caesar to start. We had a long chat about the notes I’d taken, and then we both (separately) moseyed on over to see the presentation of the one-person show, which was entitled Barrymore, by William Luce. There are some funny bits and some good things, but it’s way too repetitious and dramatically inert at times, especially in the final fifteen minutes. I think a great actor doing it would smooth that out and make it less obvious – Christopher Plummer did it on Broadway and by all accounts was magnificent. We didn’t have Christopher Plummer, unfortunately, and who we had was just not strong enough to carry a show like this – this needs an actor with panache, color, and levels. I was ready to leave after act one because I didn’t think act two was going to give us much new, and it didn’t, but I stayed and thankfully act two was pretty short.
I came home right after and had some ice cream and began listening to this wacky symphony, which really is completely mesmerizing – I wouldn’t have thought I’d like it at all, but I’d heard another piece by this composer that I did like – Stokowski conducting, if I’m remembering correctly, and I wanted to hear this. The movement playing now is completely tonal, whereas other movements are completely otherwise. I’m not sold on this particular performance, but I have another really rave-reviewed performance on its way.
Today, I can sleep in a bit, then I’ll definitely finish the Kritzerland show commentary (we switched up a song, which is why I didn’t really continue yesterday, as that’s exactly where I was in the commentary), and I’ll continue on with the liner notes and try to get as much of that done as possible. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, eat, and then at some point I’ll finish Sweet Charity.
The rest of the week is more of the same and meetings and meals and staying on top of the Indiegogo campaign. I’m thinking of putting up one more pricey perk, a perk I’ve never done or offered before – an original song written by the likes of me – can be special material, or for an event, or about the person, or anything. I’ve written special material a couple of times for people and events and I enjoy it – you know, commissioned works, so if someone wants that they can get it and at a much more reasonable price than most commissions of that nature.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, finish writing the commentary, work on the liner notes, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and then relax. 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, happy to be at 176% and hoping we can reach our dream percentage in our final stretch goal.