Well, dear readers, I am currently buckling some swash whilst writing these here notes. That enigmatic comment will become clear on Monday morning, but for now let me just say I’m buckling some swash and saying “ay, matey” a lot. I do enjoy buckling swash every now and then, don’t you? In any case, I must not only buckle some swash, I must also write these here notes and get them posted because I must be up early to do my morning ablutions and get myself all gussied up for a book signing at eleven. So, matey, I had a rather nice day yesterday – nothing very eventful, but nothing very terrible either. I got up very early and the Delivery People arrived soon thereafter with their delivery. That was all well and good save for the fact that one part was missing. So, I had to make a call and I was assured the missing part would be Fed Exed to me and here on Monday. I hope so, but that can only be if he actually managed to ship it yesterday. I sincerely hope so, because the missing part is quite necessary. After that, I paid some bills, picked up one measly little package and one important envelope, after which I did some banking. I also did some errands and whatnot and then came home. I answered e-mails and did some work on the computer and then I made a big ol’ batch o’ tuna pasta salad. While that was chilling, I finished reading my very own novel, Writer’s Block. I hadn’t looked at it since the day it came out. In fact, all I remembered was that it got some really nice reviews on theater sites and that some people really liked it, and some people didn’t. But someone wrote me recently, and so I had occasion to read it again for various and sundried reasons and I have to say reading it all these years later is like reading a book by another author. And I have to say, I thought it was pretty good – clever, good dialogue, funny, and it did exactly what I remember I set out to do, a Chinese box mystery, with boxes within boxes within boxes. I’d forgotten a lot of it, and as I’d read certain sections and twists I’d think, “Well, that’s very clever, but how did I make it all work?” But I did, Blanche, I did. So, that was a very pleasing thing.
I then ate some tuna pasta salad, which was, of course, yummilicious. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched a motion picture that I’d TIVOd entitled The Rosary Murders. I knew absolutely nothing about it, but I liked the cast, Donald Sutherland and Charles Durning, and I’m always up for a good priest mystery. The film was a big ol’ flop and got mostly tepid notices when it came out. So imagine my surprise to find myself enjoying it thoroughly. Perhaps it’s just because I loathe so many of today’s films, and The Rosary Murders is stylishly and simply directed by Fred Walton (When A Stranger Calls), and really has quite an interesting script by the great Elmore Leonard. I always enjoy Donald Sutherland and ditto for Charles Durning. It’s no masterpiece but neither is it the dog you’d think it was from reading the “reviews” on the imdb – this is one film that has almost all detractors – not an “undiscovered gem” in the batch. The score is quite good, too – by someone named Bobby Laurel (credited first) and Don Sebesky. I know who Don is but I have no idea who Bobby Laurel is. In fact, this and one other film (for which he provided a song) are his only credits. One suspects the Mr. Sebesky did most of the writing but while credit was being doled out it might have been nice to at least acknowledge that the main theme is from a Brahm’s Symphony (the same piece used in the film Goodbye Again). Anyway, I enjoyed it.
I then watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Memento. I saw the film when it first hit DVD and while I enjoyed it I thought it was a little too convoluted and clever for its own good. Seeing it again I liked it a bit better and for whatever reasons, its construction was clearer to me. The actors are all good, the music is just one big long drone from start to finish, but it moves right along and keeps you on your toes. The transfer is excellent.
After that, I had a Snicker’s Almond Bar and listened to our new master, which sounds splendidly splendid. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because ay matey I need as much beauty sleep as I can get so I can buckle me swash with great élan when I awaken from my slumber.
Today, I must arise early, do my morning ablutions, and then head on over to the Mission Hills paperback show to do a book signing at eleven. My plan is to get there at ten-thirty, look around, then sign, then look around some more, after which I’ll come back to the home environment and eat some more tuna pasta salad and perhaps another Snicker’s Almond Bar. Then I have to prep everything for our Monday morning Kritzerland announcement.
Tomorrow I’ll be up at six making the announcement, then it’s errands and whatnot, some lunch, and our first Gardenia rehearsal. I’ll also finish the liner notes I began the other day, and I’ll also begin writing the contextual commentary for the Gardenia show. The rest of the week is very busy with all manner of things to do, places to go, and people to see.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a book signing, I must eat, and I must watch motion pictures on various formats. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, matey, with all manner of buckle and swash.