Well, dear readers, there’s good news and there’s good news. First, the good news: Yesterday was the first day in three weeks when I finally felt pretty good. Yes, some gunk is still there, but minor, and my voice was okay enough to talk for a bit at rehearsals. It got a bit hoarse, as always when I gab, but basically came back by the end of the evening. If I have another couple of days like that, I think we’ll be back to rights. Second, the good news is that I got the corrected galley, went down my list of fixes and checked each of them and all corrections were made correctly and it’s ready to go to the publisher this morning as soon as I awaken. Then hopefully I’ll get the publisher galley sooner than later and we’ll be on the way. In the more good news department, we had our first Kritzerland rehearsal and it was a good deal of fun and very easy. Our pianist, Cassie Nickols, is one of my favorites. First to arrive was Sydney DeMaria and we ran her three songs and she’s just wonderful already. She was followed by the irrepressible Jason Graae and we ran his two numbers and he’s already got them down and they’re great. He was followed by one of our surprises, which I won’t give away until the show, and that was followed by Robert Yacko. Two of his numbers went quickly, but the third required an arrangement and we got that worked out pretty fast. That was it for the first rehearsal. All the rest of the cast will be here Saturday. After we finished, the food I’d preordered arrived. Three slices of pizza and a sausage and peppers sandwich. Well, too much food. I didn’t realize how big the sandwich would be because in the picture it looks like one of those six-inch small Subway things. But it was quite the sandwich. And the three slices, which looked smallish in the photos were HUGE – I think the three would have made a whole 10” pie. I had half the pepperoni slice and was already full. Then I ate about a third of the sandwich and thought I was going to explode. Eventually, I ate half the mushroom slice and one bite of the sausage slice, and I was done. It was all very tasty, though, but I’m still full almost six hours later. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture entitled M3GAN 2.0. As most here know, I thought M3GAN was terrific, and I watched it three times. And the reason it was terrific is the same reason Orphan is terrific. It’s clean – easy to understand plot, well laid out, great characters, and even heart. It was a surprise hit at the box-office so naturally they ordered a sequel. It was all the same folks – same writer/director and many of the cast. Well, I’m sorry to say magic didn’t strike twice and the reasons are so basic that it’s shocking to me that the same people who made the first film went down the road they did. It’s the opposite of clean – convoluted plot, too many bad guys, trying for camp and failing because there wasn’t any camp in the first film – much as some would tell you there was. Here, there’s no heart, and silly and stupid rule the day. It’s a textbook example of how to do everything wrong in a sequel, which is why it bombed at the box-office. So disappointing. Even though the many years later sequel to Orphan wasn’t as good as the first film, it worked because it, too, had its own surprises that were clever.
After that, I saw that the galley had arrived, so I double checked all the fixes, saw they were fine, and got everything ready to send to the publisher.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll rest my voice all day, send the book files to the publisher, mosey on over to the mail place to see what’s what, eat a salad only, and then watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our second rehearsal, starting at two-thirty and ending at five. Sunday and Monday are both ME days and both resting the voice and taking it easy. Tuesday is our stumble-through at three, then Wednesday is sound check and then we do our show.
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, rest my voice, send the book files, go to the mail place, eat, 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 – I have no idea. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had both good news and good news.