Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much allergic fish, listening to Morton Gould’s wonderful performance of Charles Ives’ first symphony, which, for him, is quite a melodic and appealing work. Gould’s performance of it is stellar and in incredible Living Stereo sound. As I listen, I am continuing to upload Sami episodes to the Tube of You because that’s where we send festivals to watch – they’re set to private but if we ever have to put the series on YouTube it will be all ready to go. If you go to Sami the Series you can subscribe to the channel. I did manage to watch two motion pictures last night. The first motion picture was entitled Something Wild starring Carroll Baker and Ralph Meeker, with a score by none other than Aaron Copland. It’s an interesting low-budget film but not one I really care for, I’m afraid. Baker looks stunning as a teen rape victim, but her husband Jack Garfein was a teacher of the Strasberg method acting and this film is full of it, if you get my meaning. It’s twenty minutes too long because Garfein relishes long and completely meaningless pauses. The best thing it has going for it is Eugene Shuftan’s photography. Then I watched the second motion picture, this one entitled Unforgettable, a forgettable and very silly thriller starring Ray Liotta, Linda Fiorantino, Peter Coyote, Christopher McDonald, and others. I like the actors and the director is very good – John Dahl – but the script is hopeless. But it’s very stylishly done and has a nice score by friend Christopher Young. This uploading to YouTube is very time consuming, mostly because YouTube is overcrowded and there are probably 100,000 uploads a day or more and so everything moves verrrry slowly, upload-wise.
Yesterday was certainly a day, a Wednesday to be specific and exact as well as exact and specific. I was up at eleven after six hours of sleep, and after answering e-mails and as soon as I could focus, I finished proofing the book, which took about two hours. I found more tiny things and I do think I’ve caught mostly everything, although it will get one more go-through after I get the completely formatted and designed book back from the company that’s doing it. I sent them my version of the designed book, plus one of Grant’s designed PDFs and then a galley from Author House, plus a bevy of specific notes of things to watch out for. They’ll put it into a proper design program and make sure everything I did is a perfect match for the previous book’s design. So, if I got the size of the type wrong they’ll fix it, and they’ll make sure everything is centered. I told them if they didn’t like the Garamound font I used, they could use what Grant has always used, Rotis Serif. They’re jumping right on it and I should have it back at the beginning of next week and then we’ll proof that one final time and then the whole thing goes to Author House. Doug hasn’t gotten me the finished dust jacket, but hopefully he’ll have that soon. So, that’s done and I’m so glad I’m done with Grant doing these and having to be at the mercy of his schedule. He’s done a great job of it for nineteen books and I wish it could have continued with him, but can’t be stagnant for this long.
Then I made an excellent batch of Wacky Noodles and I ate those all up, then I began uploading to YouTube, had a telephonic conversation, then watched the two motion pictures.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, which will include finishing the uploads, I’ll call the mail place and see if anything is there, including maybe early arrivals of important envelopes, I’ll eat, I’ll do Sami stuff, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same and I have some food being delivered from Langer’s – that will be a treat. Not pastrami or anything – their chicken salad and egg salad, some pickles, and some rye bread. The weekend will be doing whatever needs doing and I’m praying for a major miracle and approval from Amazon so we can get going with publicity. If we haven’t heard, then we’re gonna go to a Plan B because I am NOT pushing this show even a week beyond the date we’ve chosen. We also did submit to Film Hub, and they’ll be getting it up everywhere in terms of it being offered to every streaming platform. I wish someone could find me someone to talk to at Broadway HD. I’ve had no luck in that regard.
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, finish uploading, call the mail place, eat, do Sami stuff, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films featuring Ray Liotta and Carroll Baker? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, looking forward to finally being done having to repeatedly upload the uploads.