Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry, for she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I must try and get a good night’s sleep before her early arrival. Yesterday was sort of an interesting day. I got up and had every intention of jogging, and yet I did not jog. I did package up about ten orders and took them to the postal office, then did some errands and whatnot. I then made a decision I had to make – which was not to attend yesterday’s rehearsal, and that was a great decision. I didn’t really need to be there and I didn’t want to drive to the Dale of Glen and then have to come home in bad Friday night traffic. So, instead I went to Hugo’s and had some pasta papa and a small Caesar salad. Both were yummilicious. Then I picked up no packages or mail, and then I came home. I was not going to do anything else, work-wise, but I ended up writing the liner notes for our next release. That took about two hours, I read them over, made some changes, and sent them to the designer, who can now put that package together. In the meantime, the booklets for Inspector Clouseau were ready for me to pick up (the 100 copies that Ken Thorne will be signing), but I decided to go get it on Monday morning, since I won’t be seeing Mr. Thorne until Thursday or Friday. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the Johnny Mercer documentary that our very own edisaurus toiled on before getting shunted aside. They shouldn’t have shunted, that much was clear. I’m sure there was a terrific documentary to be made on Mr. Mercer, but sadly, this wasn’t it. There were very nice clips and some nice snippets of songs, but the Clint Eastwood footage was just painful to watch and listen to. It was a shame he had to get involved, actually, because that footage is so useless and extraneous and has nothing to do with Mercer’s story at all. And that’s the problem – Mercer’s story. The director of this show just didn’t think out his structure and he wrote a middling script which is narrated in middling style by Bill Charlap, who had no business narrating it at all other than being a friend of the director. It just leaps from thing to thing without much point. I wish they’d let edisaurus finish her work, because she, unlike this director, has terrific editorial sense. Sitting and watching Mr. Eastwood babble incoherently and not let John Williams get a word in edgewise, and then hearing Mr. Eastwood’s nice, cute daughter singing a song that she had no business singing (blame daddy, not the poor girl), well, it just went on and on. I don’t want to see Leonard Maltin in one of these things ever again, and frankly I feel the same way about Michael Feinstein. And don’t get me started on Stephen Holden. Edisaurus did sneak in a thank you to haineshisway.com and me and that was very sweet.
After that, I started to watch a motion picture entitled Swing Vote on Blu and Ray, mostly to watch the performance of the young girl. I got through about forty minutes before I could take no more – just one of those movies that just lays there like so much fish. The girl, however, was very good. I suppose the cat’s out of the bag slightly that there is a producer (mostly TV) who is very interested in the Hofstetter mysteries as movies for TV (or cable) or as a series. We haven’t made any deal yet, but she wanted some suggestions about what young actresses who have some sort of name value could play the role, and I, naturally, came right here to haineshisway.com to get suggestions, several of which the producer really liked. I think the producer’s idea is to go in to a pitch with an actress attached. Anyway, who knows if it will lead anywhere, but it’s the first time this has happened with any of my books, so I was rather flattered.
After that, I just played on the computer whilst listening to a new Ennio Morricone/Sergio Leone 2 CD compilation. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I just noticed these here notes should have been posted twenty minutes ago.
I forgot to mention that I love Johnny Mercer. What a lyricist – just wonderful. I also forgot to mention that I finished watching the import Blu and Ray of David Lean’s film of Great Expectations. I’d never seen it before, and it was quite a good film. John Mills was, of course, too old for Pip, but he was excellent, and I loved the lady who played Miss Havisham. And the very young Jean Simmons was something altogether else. I also liked the actor who played Mr. Pocket, and I loved the actor who played Mr. Jaggers. The Blu-Ray transfer was mostly very sharp, but with a quite a bit of occasional print and/or negative damage.
Today, I shall do the long jog, I shall ship a few packages, I shall have a late lunch with dear reader Jeanne, and then I shall come home and just watch motion pictures and relax.
Tomorrow I may or may not attend a rehearsal in the Dale of Glen. This upcoming week is really super busy now, but I’ve got to get in to see Dr. Chew, because the left side of my mouth is quite sore and it’s hard to open it wide. The only thing I can think of is that the crown he applied is doing something – and that was the tooth that when he drilled was so excruciatingly painful. I’m concerned something went amiss somewhere and I don’t want this to get worse. I just noticed it, in fact, about six days ago and thought it was just soreness because I’d been eating bite-sized Big Hunks, which take a lot of chewing work. Send excellent vibes and xylophones that it’s nothing to worry about.
Other than that, we have the table reading of the long musical, I have to do tape transfers, I have several meetings and dinners, and then I’m attending the opening night of Baby, It’s You at the Pasadena Playhouse, which features our very own Mr. Barry Pearl.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, I must visit the postal office, I must have a late lunch with dear reader Jeanne, and I must relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Johnny Mercer lyrics? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland.