Well, dear readers, having completed the Christopher Gunning recorded symphonies, I am sitting here like so much fish listening to his lovelier than lovely violin concerto featuring both a violin and a concerto, not necessarily in that order. I did manage to watch an HBO documentary earlier, entitled MoviePass/Movie Crash, the story of MoviePass and its meteoric rise, stock price-wise, and its swift downfall within just a year, thanks to two idiots who fired the two black men whose company it was (sound familiar – it should – the same thing happened to someone around these here parts back in 2001 and is the reason this here site exists), and then they had to sit and watch these two idiot grifters take their eighty MILLION dollars of stock profits down to nothing within that year. Both grifters did many alleged illegal things, both were arrested in 2022 and are STILL awaiting trial two YEARS later, which shows you how broken the justice system is. One of the founders, was able to buy back his company at auction and apparently MoviePass is back. It was a strange business model, in that it cost nine bucks a month, but you could see as many movies as you wanted for those nine bucks, and they got no discounts from the movie theaters. Once the idiots came in, they raised millions upon millions of dollars and spent many more millions with no idea of how they were ever going to make that money back. But they went on TV show after TV show, did interview after interview, saying they’d be in profit within a short period of time – in other words, they lied, which caused the stock to be one of the fastest-rising stocks in history. One of the idiots did not take part in the documentary, but the other did – he does not come off well. The two original founders come off great and had they stayed in charge I think they would have found their way – it was a business model that was very clever in that it got people back into the movie theaters. What they would have eventually done, I believe, is make advertising deals with the studios and gotten discount deals from theaters. The idiots are free as they await trial, making deals, certainly not suffering financial issues, and that aspect of the documentary is infuriating. I found it all very interesting and can certainly recommend it.
Prior to that, I got nine hours of needed sleep, got up, was congested as all get out, and I think we all know how congested all get out is, but I was able to expectorate a good deal of guck out, and having less guck I put on my pants and a shirt and some shoes and moseyed on over to Gelson’s and picked up a few things. They didn’t have their usual fresh shredded chicken – first time I’ve ever not seen it there – so, since I had tuna at home, I got some onion pockets for tuna sandwiches, and then two chicken breasts for some faux chicken stroganoff today, over noodles, since that’s what I have here, and then some Diet Coke. I came home and then we had our three o’clock rehearsal for two singers, with Richard Allen at the piano. First up was Bonnie Gordon and we decided to make a change for one of her songs, which I think will be fun and it’s something she’s done a lot but that most people haven’t heard, and then Linda Hart came and rehearsed – she’s pretty damn amazing and we have a VERY long history – an LACC girl – we did How to Succeed there and she was Smitty to my J. Pierrepont Finch. After that, I made the two tuna sandwiches and ate them all up – very good – perhaps a few too many onions but they kind of make the sandwich. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the documentary. And here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, but this is a ME day – don’t want to use my voice at all and basically just want to relax, have my faux chicken stroganoff over pasta, and then watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal but not until three, so I can relax until then, Saturday is another ME day and I’ll keep my trap shut and just rest up, then Sunday we have our stumble-through, and then after that we have our Annual Tony Awards Bash – I still haven’t figured out how I’m going to watch – I’ll have to do that research and see if there’s a free trial thing I can use. Monday is sound check and then we do our show.
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, do whatever needs doing, have me a ME day, rest my voice, eat my faux chicken stroganoff, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: How many here play the stock market or own stocks and is it something you enjoy. One of my big regrets is knowing that eBay was about to go public and I should have been there on day one and bought 25K worth of stocks – I had the money back then, thanks to my yearly salary from Varese Sarabande but more importantly the money from The Faculty. Had I bought that day and, being an amateur, not sold the next day when the price doubled, but held on for just a few weeks until the stock hit three or four hundred a share (it began below twenty bucks a share), I do believe I would have been a millionaire. Ah well, we mustn’t look back, even though it’s fun to sometimes. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have enjoyed a documentary of how to take a great idea for a company and get involved with exactly the wrong people and then watch those wrong people take it into the toilet in record time – because when you oust the heart and soul of the company the company is pretty much doomed, in my opinion. Sound familiar?