Well, dear readers, I’m told that yesterday was a holiday – and the proof was no mail and no banks. So, imagine my surprise to find that I worked from six in the morning until late in the afternoon. No holiday for the likes of me, that’s all I can tell you. I did not relax, I did not lounge around the house in my silk pyjamas, my smoking jacked and leopard-spotted dickie and my bunny slippers – noooooo, I was up at six in the morning announcing the new Kritzerland title, and then printing out orders as they came in. I got back into bed at seven-thirty and slept till eight-thirty. I then had to Xerox some charts, which ended up taking a little longer than I thought. Then I had a meeting with Mr. John Boswell, our musical director for the next Gardenia show. I then wrote two singers that I’d like for our November show – I’m getting a little nervous when it takes this damn long to cast one of these. I still need one male, as well. Working with Boswell is always a treat – he’s so on top of everything and one worries not one whit about anything. After he left, I got a sandwich and fries, then did a few errands and whatnot, although banking and picking up mail were not part of them. Then I came back home and had a discussion about whether we’re doing another release next Monday – I really want to get off this release week we’re currently stuck in – it happened when Varese Sarabande released Spartacus – no one wanted to go up against that set, so everyone pushed their releases a week, right into our week. So, now I fight two other big releases (at least – today we fought four others) on every release date. So, if we can get it together and can release next week, then I’ll be back on the off-weeks. So, I spent a couple of hours doing an editing road map for a potential release for next week. If I can get the art tomorrow, and get a copy of one of the films to watch by Thursday (all possible) then we’ll do it. It would be a double bill – two complete scores on one complete CD – two different composers, but the scores sort of compliment each other. After that, I did a mile and a half jog, after which I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the most recent episode of Mad Men. Like all the penultimate episodes of each season, this sort of marked time setting the stage for what will happen in the season finale next week. There were some good scenes, though. After that, I watched a few episodes of The Twilight Zone on Blu and Ray. These are, I believe, presented in the order in which they aired. I’d always thought I’d seen every episode from show one when I was a kid, but unless my memory is playing tricks on me, the first two episodes I actually remember watching were The Hitchhiker and The Fever. Since those are back-to-back episodes, it sounds right – which means I missed the first fifteen episodes in first run. I must have seen all those in that first season’s reruns during the summer. I watched One For The Angels, Mr. Denton on Doomsday, and The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine – all decent shows, but you can see Serling trying to find a consistent tone for the show, and those three episodes were not that helpful, really. They okay at best – well acted and directed but not all that Twilight Zone-ish. And then came Walking Distance – for me, the show that perfectly captures everything that was brilliant about The Twilight Zone. It’s Serling at his peak, finding the tone, the feel, the very definition of The Twilight Zone. In fact, I think Walking Distance is probably one the most perfect half-hours in television history. Serling’s script is so profoundly moving, so honest, so chilling in its storytelling, and it’s so universal in its themes – you just sit there fifty-something years later and marvel at it. Brilliantly and simply directed by Robert Stevens, with an astonishing performance by Gig Young, as well as an intensely touching one by Frank Overton. A very young Ronny Howard has a really nice scene during the first part of the show. And what ties it all together in a beautiful pink ribbon is the score by Bernard Herrmann – a masterpiece of scoring that elevates what is already brilliant into a whole other universe. If you’ve never seen Walking Distance, run, don’t walk, to your nearest video store or amazon or Netflix and rent it. You won’t see a better half-hour show anywhere. Breathtaking. And the transfers on this set are unbelievable – sharp, great contrast, and looking better than they ever have. Highly recommended by the likes of me.
After that, I printed out some more orders (A Bridge Too Far is selling very well – we only have about 100 left), and then decided to write these here notes, get them posted, and get to bed early. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s only walking distance from here to the bedroom environment, where the BK bed awaits.
Today, I think the helper is coming. There are some packages to ship, and then we’ll go back to storage and sort through the remaining eight or nine boxes – hopefully, I’ll find even more stuff I can toss. And I’m hoping I can find some interesting things, too. After that, I’ll have some lunch. I asked for the interview thing to be postponed another week – I’m just not feeling quite up to doing it. I also have to jog, do errands and whatnot, and hopefully pick up several overdue packages.
Tomorrow day I’ll be taking it easy and relaxing, and then I have the big Book Soup signing at seven. I’m hoping we have a decent crowd, but it’s really hard to tell. So, if you’re a West Coast denizen come on down and bring all your friends. Let’s make it a partay.
The rest of the week is filled with some meetings, some meals, some jogging, some writing, and some prepping, if we decide to do a release next Monday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, ship packages, go through boxes, do a jog, eat, do errands and whatnot, pick up errant and truant packages and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite Twilight Zone episodes? What was the first Twilight Zone episode you ever saw? How old were you and what do you remember about it? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I go do the walking distance to the bedroom environment and hit the road to dreamland.