Well, dear readers, we’re up and running again. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, we’re up and running again. That is because the computer did its ubiquitous freeze routine just as I was going to write these here notes after finishing an interesting TV movie, about which more in a minute. Has anyone noticed that May is shortly about to give birth to June? In other words, June will be bustin’ out all over. But let’s not jump the gun on June as it’s still May. I did get almost eight hours of sleep and arose from my gentile slumber at ten. Oh, wait – my gentle slumber or, at the very least, my Jewish slumber. Once up, I answered many e-mails that needed answering, then I followed along on an online book auction – very interesting – little action and some good deals to be had for the first ten items, then the dealers and others showed up and that was pretty much the end of that. I was happy to see that several things I have went for very good money, above their high estimates. Always enjoy when that happens. I think the highest ticket item was around seven grand, so no huge sellers. There were about six Ian Fleming Bond books and those all went for over a grand, some significantly so. Certain authors and titles are always sure sellers and I believe most of those went to dealers. Anyway, I also futzed and finessed what I’d written the day before – adding a few things mostly and fixing lots o’ typos. Then I had my video visit with my PCP doctor. That was really intriguing to me, and we talked about many things, including Ozempic – I have to now find out if my insurance will cover it, which I hope they will. Some companies do, some don’t. And I asked for a dermatologist referral, so hopefully that will come soon. I’ll say more about the other things discussed when it’s not quite so late in the evening. For food, I made some bow tie pasta with red sauce – pretty good, but I tired of it and left a few ounces of it. That was it for food, although I do have some matzo ball soup on its way. I thought that would okay this late and chicken soup is always soothing. And I did watch a motion picture last evening on the Tube of You entitled The Doomsday Flight, a 1966 TV movie written by Rod Serling and directed by William Graham and starring a potpourri of veterans like Edmond O’Brien, Jack Lord, Van Johnson, John Saxon – his first of MANY TV movies – and other folks like Ed Asner, a very young Michael Sarrazin, only his third or fourth appearance on TV and his first co-starring role, Malachi Throne, Greg Morris, Robert Lieb, Bert Remsen, Noam Pitlik and more.
It’s a bomb on an aeroplane race against time movie, and it does drum up some suspense as to where the bomb is, although anyone who knows film will know exactly where it is from almost scene one – it’s literally the one place no one looks, and it does become irritating after a while. It’s a bit melodramatic, especially the later scenes with the planter of the bomb. Back then, I’m not sure there’d been many if any bomb on an aeroplane movie and apparently, there were a couple of copycat calls made describing the exact same bomb as used in this TV movie, which was not your usual stick of dynamite tied to a timer. The FAA asked for it not to be shown again, but you know how that goes and Mr. Serling admitted later in life that he regretted writing it. It had a fine score by Lalo Schifrin, including a conscious or unconscious allusion to The Twilight Zone theme. Mr. Graham was a VERY prolific director with a huge number of episodic TV and many, many well known TV movies, as well as a few features like Waterhole #3 and the Elvis movie, Change of Habit. Anyway, I enjoyed it. I did NOT enjoy the YouTube commercial breaks. Halfway through, they happened every five minutes – not really a fun way to watch a motion picture. I also wrote a few pages and am moving onto a new chapter in a page or so, so plugging along. I plan to get a lot done on the weekend.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I have several telephonic calls to make, then at some point I’ll get the hard drive back to the guy who assembled the Drat! Video so he can fix a few things. I have to watch the rest of it when I get up in the morning. I’ll write, and then I’m having an early supper at five-thirty and a proper meal. After that, I’ll come home and write and then watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow and Sunday will be heavy writing days, then we’re into a new month and things get very busy with all manner of items to take care of.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, make telephonic calls, deliver a hard drive, stop at the mail place, write, have an early supper, write more, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray/streaming player? I’ll start – no idea. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be up and running again.