Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to music and – I wrote the “and” forty-five minutes ago and now I must write these notes in a hurry because I had a nice catch-up telephonic call. And now I’ve lost whatever it was I was about to write. But one simply can’t write “and” and leave it at that, can one? That would be unseemly. We’d have to call these here notes, “And.” Well, perhaps that’s what we’ll do because I don’t have a clew as to what the HELL I was going to wax on about. And. There, that wasn’t so bad. And. It has a certain something-or-other, doesn’t it? A certain “And” quality. After eight weeks self-isolating, I am ready for the cracker barrel, dear readers. I am ready for human interaction of the third kind. I am ready to hug, I am ready to hold hands and skip about gaily. I am ready to dine with someone. I am ready to go where I want when I want. But what do we do? We Zoom. That’s what we’ve all turned into – Zoomers. I do not like looking at little pictures of talking heads. But that’s the world and it was already bad before this – with texting and Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and now there’s something called Tik-Tok are something stupid like that. Where is the personal touch? It has gone the way of the dodo bird and hopefully we can survive this and get back to things as they should be and sooner than later.
Yesterday was an “And” kind of day. I got up after nine hours of sleep AND then I approved one track, made fixes to another and then approved that one, answered e-mails AND then it was time for the first of our two Zoom rehearsals. These weren’t really rehearsals, though – the first one involves a trio of three young ladies, so we explained everything that needed to be explained, talked through the song and made sure everyone understood, and then next week I’ll work with each gal separately. You can’t run a group number on Zoom because there’s always a little lag and the sound quality is awful, too. That first meeting lasted twenty minutes. The second Zoom rehearsal was to take place forty minutes later. But right after we finished the first, I got a telephonic call from a gal in the second group number who’d just had a bad car accident. She was pretty hysterical and shaken and upset, so I told her to just take care of herself and not to worry about the show. I then e-mailed one of the young gals from the trio and thankfully she was able to step in and was available for the two o’clock Zoom. I think the accident gal is okay – I sent her a nice e-mail and she responded tonight so I’m thinking she’s home and recuperating.
Then we had the second Zoom rehearsal, which involves Daniel Bellusci and six others. Again, we went over technical things so that everyone was on the same page (page 43), and then I assigned the solo lines in the song, we talked about the song itself, and that was that.
After that, I ordered from Jersey Mike’s – got one sandwich for right away and one for the evening – their normal-size sandwich. One was an Eyetalian and one was a turkey. They arrived twenty minutes later, and I ate the Eyetalian right away and it was really kind of great. There were a couple of packages, but I decided to wait until today to gather them up. Then I did some work on the computer, then got another track to proof, we fixed that one up, and now there are two left, both of which I hope we can get done today. Then, finally, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled It’s Only Money, starring Jerry Lewis. I never saw this one in theaters and had only watched the opening on this Blu-ray when I got it. It’s directed by Frank Tashlin. It’s no classic, and Jerry is kind of out of control, clearly just making it up as he goes along, which makes certain scenes positively surreal. But then you get a classic bit of Jerry and you can’t help but laugh. I couldn’t really recommend it to anyone but a die-hard fan, but I’m glad to have seen it. The black-and-white transfer is decent enough.
Then I watched a motion picture called Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. I bought the Blu-ray when it came out and watched it and remembered liking it very much, as it had interesting things in it, as preposterous as the plot was. So, I thought I’d see it again and it was every bit as entertaining the second time. It holds one’s interest, moves along really fast, and the actors do a fine job. The director, Duncan Jones, is the son of David Bowie – who knew? The device of the film has become something of a cliché – that of someone having to relive the same scenario over and over again to try and get things right. They should come up with a name for this genre. I think it began with Groundhog Day, but after Source Code it became a “thing” to do. The transfer from the dawn of the Blu-ray era holds up pretty well, actually.
After that, I ate my Jersey Mike’s turkey AND went for a drive AND came home. The rest you know.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat, I’ll finesse the commentary, and then I’m sure I’ll do some work at the computer and at the piano, I’m sure I’ll watch a movie or two AND I’m sure I’ll listen to music and relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same, then next week is Kritzerland show stuff – setting up rehearsals and such. I’m going to try and get out of the house every day for an hour or two, whether driving or walking.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, hopefully pick up packages, eat, finesse, work at the computer AND the piano, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of your favorite comic actors and actresses? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to finish these here notes with a perfectly placed “And.”