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April 8, 2021:

162% AND WISHIN’ AND HOPIN’ FOR A GREAT LAST DAY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, the first thing that needs to be said as we approach the midnight hour is 162%!!! So, we went up two percent yesterday, which was fine, but now, this very day, we must do the big boy puuuuush to the finish line, which, I believe, is tomorrow around eleven in the morning. We’re very close to $12,500 and if we get there, we can do more fun stuff on the Blu-ray, so I’ll be cheerleading like crazy today and tomorrow morning. And if we do it or even go higher, I will be dancing a jig in the streets of Sherman Oaks and I will do so with gay abandon, oh, yes, I will do so with gay abandon. I know everyone wants to see THAT so let’s take this puppy home, right to the moon, infinity, and beyond. Here is the usual handy-dandy link.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tonight-s-the-night?fbclid=IwAR1tgHR6KaSLQ-Q7Lw2gguXGrU5Tt4rD-4Af2d7tWakyd05drkh9s34Tn70#/

Otherwise, I’m nauseous from eating ham and eggs, don’t know why really. Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much fish listening to Miss Leontyne Price sing popular songs with Mr. Andre Previn arranging and conducting – absolutely stunning Previn-style arrangements, which I adore. And I adore Miss Price, too. And I love that RCA stereo sound. I don’t, however, love being nauseous. I’m already tired of this diet, which I’ve been on for two days. It’s not the way I like to diet – I like to count calories, but that’s been impossible to stick to during this crazy time. I’ll tough this Keto thing out because I want to drop weight faster than I would the other way, but it’s going to be a slog. I think if I start eating out again it will be easier, because in restaurants I can have a nice cobb salad or salmon or halibut or chicken or meat stuff. And it’s not me making it. So, that will have to start happening if this is going to work. Where was I? I have no idea. Oh, yes, I watched one-and-a-half motion pictures on Blu and Ray. The half, which I finally had to turn off, was Escape to Athena, one of those all-star Lew Grade affairs, this one starring David Niven, Roger Moore (as a German yet), Telly Savalas, Elliot Gould, Stefanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, and Sonny Bono – yes, Sonny Bono.  Directed by George Pan Cosmatos, who did a lot of this kind of thing. It just kind of lurches from scene to scene and Mr. Gould and Ms. Powers seem to have wandered in from a different set.

And I watched for the first time in a decade Mr. Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. I saw it the day it opened and just sat there mesmerized at how bad it was most of the time. Mr. Kubrick had, of courses, died, and it’s my opinion that he never got around to fine cutting the film or doing much post work. The prime example of that in the release prints was a mirror shot early in the film wherein you could see the camera and entire crew in the mirror. Now, idiots on the Internet actually think he meant it to be there as some kind of statement. I could make some kind of statement about the idiots on the Internet, but I’ll refrain, oh, yes, I’ll refrain. He would have had that removed digitally in post for sure, which, of course, is exactly what was done for the home video releases. The film runs slightly over two-and-a-half hours and I believe he would have tightened it by at least ten or fifteen minutes, which it really needs. But mostly, it’s just a slog to sit through, with really poor acting from Mr. Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman. The film does have a certain dream/nightmare-like quality to it, and it has one really terrific sequence in a costume shop, stolen completely by young Leelee Sobieski, who is wonderful. I never understood why she didn’t have a huge career, but she didn’t. And then she retired and is a mom and painter now. She’s the kind of gal that I would have dated back when I was her age, but thankfully she married the right guy and her artist name is now Leelee Kimmel, I kid you not. The big set piece of the film, the strange orgy is just so bad it’s laughable and it actually got laughs at the theater – which I think was the Plitt in Century City if memory serves me correctly. I’ll check shortly to see if that’s right. (It’s right.)

And now, I’m sitting listening to Andre Previn do Rachmaninov’s third symphony, which is a glorious recording and so much better than the one he did later for EMI. In fact, his much-praised award-winning Rachmaninov second for EMI pales, for me, in comparison to his earlier RCA recording, despite that one having cuts.

Yesterday started off just fine and quickly went into the toilet, annoyance-wise. I was up at eleven after seven hours of sleep, and then was happy to see we’d jumped to 162% – however, we stalled there and never progressed. And then, it was nothing in particular but just kind of annoying as the day went on – nothing bad happened or anything like that, but I was suffering from a little mid-week malaise, I think. I laid low, Indiegogo-wise because I’m saving it for today’s big push and tomorrow’s crossing the finish line. I did pick up mail from the last three days – it included a check from SoCal Gas that I should have gotten over three years ago when I moved to the Oaks of Sherman. But apparently it didn’t get forwarded and they wrote me a few weeks ago asking if I was at the same address for the check (the mail place), so I confirmed I was and now I have the check, which will probably buy me about three nice meals out. I deposited it, then went to Gelson’s and bought a lot of lettuce, some shrimp, some Newman’s Own oil and vinegar dressing, and some ham.

I came home and made a big salad with shrimp, parmesan cheese sprinkled on it, and the oil and vinegar dressing. It was very good and filling, too – totally calorie friendly save for the dressing, and totally Keto all the way. Then I did some work on the computer, but the malaise was malaising and I had no oomph, so instead I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the one-and-half motion pictures. Then it was off to Gelson’s again to get a few things for today’s food – bleu cheese crumples, Bob’s Big Boy bleu cheese dressing, red onion, tomato, and bacon, all Keto perfect. Once home, I made eggs and ham or, as it’s more commonly known, ham and eggs, and I enjoyed it and then got nauseous.

Today, I’ll be up by eleven and it will pretty much be a cheerleading day as we’re in the eleventh hour puuush to the finish line. I’ll definitely have to write the next set of liner notes that I keep putting off, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat – a kind of Cobb salad thing – lettuce, tomato, bacon, red onion, bleu cheese crumbles, avocado, and bleu cheese dressing. One thing I discovered at the market – Bob’s Big Boy still sells Roquefort dressing, and I may just have to buy a jar and try it. All those kinds of dressings are Keto okay. I’ll do more cheerleading, and then watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow, I’ll be up early to cheerlead us to the finish line and I’m tellin’ you if we’ve done really well I am treating myself to a nice meal somewhere and no one can stop me. Saturday we’ll be doing project two aka Revenge again so I’m hoping all those here who missed it will take the forty-six minutes and watch it. I’m now waffling about the Q&A, although at this late date it’s probably too late to get it together. Then next week I have so much to do, including a smog check for the motor car, there won’t be moment to rest.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, cheerlead throughout the day, write liner notes, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Mr. Stanley Kubrick and what are your favorite all-star action films in the style of Escape to Athena? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have gotten to 162% and wishin’ and hopin’ we go ever onward and upward, to the moon and infinity and beyond. We can DO this.

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