Well, dear readers, I gotta tell you, yesterday was a pretty prime Indiegogo day, where we jumped a full 10% to 88%, crossed the $6,000 line and got halfway to $7,000. I was taken quite by surprise by it all, but delightedly so, obviously. I had fun cheerleading, too. So, onward and upward we go, and I’m hoping we can get past 90% today and go above and beyond that and inch closer to our goal. I’d love to do that by Wednesday as we start our third week, because if we do then we’ll move into our stretch goal to cover the Indiegogo fees because we really do need to get the full goal amount. Once we cover the fees, then anything beyond that allows us to do more stuff for the Blu-ray, including commentaries, which I’d really love to do for this one. The more we raise, the more we can do. Beyond the commentaries, I’m thinking it would be fun to have a Kritzerland show section, with some of our favorite highlights from our online shows and even some of the live shows. So, I’ll try to put up what will probably be the last of the perks today or tomorrow. Check ‘em out, and let’s take this puppy home. We can DO this! Here’s the handy-dandy link.
Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much fish, having just eaten some scrambled eggs and onions for my evening snack – calorie count a low 140. I’m listening to Gabriel Yared’s excellent score to the film The Lives of Others, having had a marathon listening session of the other Gabriel, Faure. I just love Faure. I listened to about two hours of Faure and it was musically a lovely thing and it was also a lovely thing musically. After I finish Gabriel Yared, I feel I’m in the mood for not love but Henry Mancini and I’ve got a lot of Mancini in the old iTunes. Perhaps I’ll start with one of my favorites, Wait Until Dark. It’s a thriller, you know. And speaking of thrillers, I promised I’d reveal a little something about project 2 which will no longer be aka project two. I cannot say too much about it, actually, but I can show you Doug Haverty’s design for it and I can share the blurb with you. I’m directing it and we have a splendid cast from the Group Rep. Here’s the blurb: See a wonderful cast gather together on Zoom to read a new thriller called Revenge. We could tell you more, but why spoil the fun, and besides, if we told you more, we’d have to kill you. So, join us for the reading of a diabolical thriller you won’t want to miss, especially in the comfort and safety of your own home.
Isn’t that a fun design? I’ve been having fun working with the actors and I do hope you’ll all tune in to watch it on YouTube Live on April 3, which I believe is a Saturday at our usual 5:00/8:00 time.
Yesterday turned out to be a very positive day, once I’d actually gotten sleep. I was in bed by three but could not fall asleep, mostly because my foot kept cramping for reasons known only to my cramping foot. It was so annoying. I finally just got up and did stuff on the computer and watched an interesting hour-long special feature on West Side Story called West Side Stories, which was meant to be a special feature on one of the West Side Story home video releases, until it was nixed by the president of MGM because he’d heard from Jerome Robbins who had seen it and was not happy about it. And so, it’s been unseen for two decades, says the man who did it, Peter Fitzgerald. It’s what you’d expect from this sort of thing – a lot of interviews with the creators and cast – that’s all fun – but the best thing about it is all the behind scenes footage, and there’s a lot of it. It’s on the Tube of You and just search West Side Stories and Peter Fitzgerald and you’ll find it easily. I finally got back in bed about eight and slept until noon, then fell back asleep until one-thirty. So, five-and-a-half hours of sleep, but maybe closer to six, as I probably did sleep at least a bit before I got up in the middle of the night.
Once up again, I answered e-mails, did a little cheerleading and as soon as I did, we got two contributions that took us over 80%. I went and picked up a package and then stopped at Togo’s and got a large pastrami sandwich – about eight bucks cheaper than using a delivery service, I must say and did say. I came right home and ate it all up – it was very good. And that’s all I ate until the scrambled eggs – no sweets or anything and that’s going to be how it is for a while. And then we got the big contribution – someone grabbed the associate producer perk – not sure if he wants it known yet, but yes, it was a dear reader. That bumped us up to 87% and then someone else came in right after that and bumped us to 88%. After all that exhilaration, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching the British film, Robbery, starring Stanley Baker, directed by Peter Yates. In truth, it’s not very good – it has a good car chase at the start, but once we’re past that then it’s just the title robbery and the aftermath. But it just meanders along and then ends. It has a good score by Johnny Keating, who wrote one of my favorite film scores, Hotel. This isn’t as good as that, and it’s really ill-served in the film, but I have it on CD and it’s a nice listen there. I also watched the making of, just a lot of talking heads reminiscing.
Then I began listening to music and the rest you know and you know the rest. And I must say that Mancini’s Wait Until Dark is one of the best thriller scores ever written. I remember vividly going to the Egyptian Theater – pretty sure on its opening day, an afternoon show – to see it and when the big moment came, I have never heard an audience scream and jump out of their seats like that. And the score blew me away then and it was so disappointing there was no album release, just the main theme on some Hugo Montenegro album.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’m hoping we can pass 90% and start moving steadily to reaching our goal, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll do Kritzerland show stuff and project two aka Revenge stuff, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and an important envelope, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of all that, every day in every way, and then we have our Kritzerland show on Sunday. The next morning, I get my second vaccine shot and I’m hoping and praying I don’t have any side effects – no time for such things, because then we’re heading into yet another new month and the premiere of project two aka Revenge.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, hope we pass 90% and start moving steadily to reaching our goal, do whatever needs doing, including Kritzerland stuff and project two aka Revenge stuff, eat, hopefully pick up packages and an important envelope, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite heist films – I do love the genre and have many favorites. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as I hit the road to dreamland, thrilled we jumped all the way to 88% and happy to have revealed a tiny bit about project two aka Revenge.