Well, dear readers, for once I have finished the day’s writing before midnight, so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour and get some sleep before being on my way to the eye doctor. But when I get up in the morning, I’ll definitely check to see what the 405 freeway is like, because if it’s terrible at nine-thirty when I’m intending to leave, I may have to reschedule. I know that all the off-ramps from Getty Center to the 10 interchange are closed, so that could either really mess things up, or it could mean people might take alternate routes. Frankly, I’d really rather reschedule, but we’ll see. We now return you to our regularly scheduled notes. Yesterday was Sunday. Today is Monday. I just thought I’d get that out of the way. Yesterday, I only got maybe five hours of sleep because all that awful food on Saturday was playing havoc with the tummy and nausea. Once up and coherent, I futzed and finessed, doing the usual smoothing out, deletions, additions, and some moving paragraphs around. Then I wrote a few new pages. I wanted something cheap and fast, so I got two Filet ‘o’ Fish things from McDonald’s via DoorDash, and they were having a special deal that if you ordered over a certain amount, you got a free Big Mac, so I got a free Big Mac. The fish sandwiches (extra tartar sauce) were pretty good even though there really wasn’t much extra tartar sauce. The Big Mac was surprisingly tasty. I left a little bit of it and the second fish sandwich because I didn’t want to push my luck. After that, I wrote more new pages, plopped into the bed and slept for an hour, got up, wrote a few new pages, then sat on my couch like so much fish. I began watching the completely wacko movie Who Killed Teddy Bear, but dozed off and slept for another forty-five minutes, maybe even an hour. There’s never quite been a movie like Who Killed Teddy Bear and the transfer on Prime is quite good. A really sleazy, low-budget affair with a surprisingly great cast, including Sal Mineo, Juliet Prowse, Elaine Stritch, Jan Murray, Daniel Travanti (billed as Dan Travanti), Bruce Glover, Tom Aldredge, and Rex Everhart. The title song is amazing, and I recorded it with Tami Tappan. There used to be a lot of speculation about the vocalist, but it’s Rita Dyson. Just did some checking and I think the Prime transfer is a new one from Vinegar Syndrome, who just put it out in 4K that comes with a standard Blu-ray, too. It is, for the first time on home video, uncut. Interestingly, the movie opened in LA on my birthday in 1965 in third-rate theaters. I was probably seeing The Loved One at the Fine Arts, and two days later, I know I was at the Crest for the opening day of A Patch of Blue. Here’s the ad. The movie got a surprisingly good review in the LA times.
Then I wrote more new pages, shaved, and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up at eight-thirty and if all is well on the 405 I’ll be on my way to the eye doctor at nine-thirty, which should give me plenty of time to get there by 10:45. I’ll come right home after, futz and finesse, and write new pages. I’ll eat something at some point, but mostly it’s a writing day and then at some point I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll send Muse Margaret the next batch of pages, then I’ll continue writing. Thursday, we have our second casting session, and callbacks will follow. I’m thinking I potentially could finish the new book towards the end of the week or on the weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up at eight-thirty and if things are okay on the freeway, I’ll be out the door at ninety-thirty, I’ll come home right after, futz and finesse, write new pages, eat, write more new pages, and then at some point, watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are the sleaziest movies you’ve ever seen – not X-rated, but just surprisingly sleazy especially for the time in which they were made? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hopefully have pleasantly pleasant dreams and happy to have had a productive Sunday in the house with BK.