Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry, for she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early and I must leave the premises so she can do her thing. But it will be easy to write these here notes because yesterday was a day in which I missed a good deal of the day, namely most of the morning and most of the early afternoon. It was like the day the earth stood still. I got maybe six hours of sleep, getting up at 11:15 or thereabouts. I tried to get coherent as quickly as possible. Then I futzed and finessed quite a bit – mostly smoothing out stuff and adding a few things and deleting some really choice bad writing, which is what one does when futzing and finessing. I got word that the errant and truant UPS package had been delivered, so I knew I had to go get that. I wrote only a couple of new paragraphs, and then plopped back on the bed and immediately fell asleep until almost three. That was not my intention at all. So, I’d missed most of the morning and all of the early afternoon. Good job. I wrote a couple of pages, had a telephonic conversation, realized I’m in need of another modern major miracle, went and picked up the package, got a Subway spicy Eyetalian sandwich, came home and ate it, then wrote another three pages. Then I took a break and finished watching the new transfer of The Searchers. Having been the first one to criticize the restoration of fifteen years ago or whenever it was – done for DVD – and having been jeered and laughed at for doing so until it finally came to light that I was right and then others jumped on the bandwagon – it was all about the color, which was yellow and ugly and looked nothing like the Technicolor prints. It’s a great color film and I felt the transfer was a travesty. Robert Harris eventually agreed with me, and it turned out that Warners had never even looked at the dye transfer answer print they have. Well, I’m happy to report that the color is finally correct and looks pretty glorious even on the Blu-ray that’s included with the 4K. It’s sharp as a tack, too, and if I had to pick a nit, it would be that the day for night scenes are just a bit too dark. But if you love the movie, you will be absolutely blown away by this new transfer. I also watched a bit of the new transfer of Hatari. The previous Blu-ray was a joke – DNRd to death – nothing sharp and looking like Vaseline had been smeared over everything. It surely was one of the worst transfers ever. Well, it has a new 4K transfer now and a Blu-ray is included, and I watched the first ten minutes, and it looks splendid.
Then I went back to writing and wrote more new pages and I think I’ve done almost ten – if not, it will be before I go to bed. If I get further than that, great, but I was thirty pages ahead of where I usually am before I even began, so it’s all fine. Then I shaved and I’ll shower and then try to write a few more pages before bedtime.
Today, I’ll be up by eight and out the door by eight-forty and I’ll be breakfasting with Robert Yacko somewhere. That will be my main meal, actually. Then I’ll do a Gelson’s run, then come back home. I’ll immediately futz and finesse and then send however many pages there are (at least 105) to Muse Margaret. Then I’ll write new pages and try to get at least ten done before I have to leave at seven-thirty for our casting session at eight, which is actually not at the theater. That will go until eleven – maybe earlier than that depending on how many people show up. Then I’ll come right home and write a few more pages. I’m really hoping to hear from Muse Margaret before I go, but if not, it will probably have to wait until tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be a writing day from start to finish and so will the rest of the days. I do have a few other things to attend to, but mostly I’ll be writing and also watching a few movies.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight and out the door by eight-forty, I’ll have breakfast, I’ll do the Gelson’s thing, come home, futz and finesse, send Muse Margaret pages, write new pages, have a casting session, and then come home. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the biggest dinner party you’ve ever thrown? How big was it and what did you serve? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that today I feel the earth move under my feet.