Well, dear readers, I’m not certain how this can be, but this is the last of April – not the last of Sheila, mind you, but the last of a little month I like to call April. And do you know what that means? It means that tomorrow will be May, and may I just say that it is my fervent hope and prayer that May will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Yesterday was another day of rest and getting myself back into work mode. I did get eight hours of non-consecutive sleep, got up, answered many e-mails, listened to some videos of young people, had almost the same lunch that I had the day before, only with fettucine instead of pappardelle, and meat balls instead of sausage, from Maria’s Kitchen and the second of three 40% off coupons. Then I got all the books signed and ready to ship – that took a bit of time, I went down the Don Rickles/Johnny Carson rabbit hole – they just don’t make ‘em like that anymore – masterful off-the-cuff comedy. Those are much more fun to watch than irritating YouTube videos. I’m about done with the irritating YouTube videos – I’ve said my piece, I’ve gotten videos taken down by contacting people who were disgustingly harassed by a bunch of losers, but I’ll devote an entire notes to that stuff. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and tried to watch something called Criminal Law, starring Gary Oldman and Kevin Bacon. I dozed off before the credits reached their halfway point and woke up thirty-two minutes later, went back and watched nine minutes, which is all I could stomach. I know Mr. Oldman has his fans, but I’ve never been one of them save for his villain in Leon: The Professional. His later work is, for me, better – he was very good as Churchill in Darkest Hour. Anyway, Criminal Law’s first courtroom scene is so ludicrously acted, written, and directed, that that was enough for me. Special mention should be made that it has a very bad score by – wait for it – Jerry Goldsmith. I remember Varese put it out and I listened to it and couldn’t believe how awful it was. And yet there are the rabid Goldsmith fans who like anything the Master wrote.

So, I chose a movie called Abigail, because its poster kind of reminded me of the horror classic, Orphan, with perhaps a tween who you don’t want to mess with. I went along with it for a while – a kidnapping of the young girl and the bad guys who are doing it for a big payday from daddy. But all is not as it seems – when is it ever – but I thought the kid was good (she played Matilda in the Netflix movie of the musical Matilda – and there was some fun to be had with the kid telling one of the kidnappers who’s nice to her, “I’m sorry about what’s gonna happen to you.” The little girl is a young ballerina but as these things go, she’s also a vampire. The film was supposed to be based on the Universal horror movie, Dracula’s Daughter, but all references to the big D are gone so it’s not really based on it, other than it’s about a vampire’s vampire daughter. I gather everyone who watches television and sees every movie would know the cast, but the only actor I knew was Dan Stevens from Downton Abbey, here playing a former cop from Queens. Go know. It has some amusing moments along the way, but it’s an hour-and-fifty-minutes long, so there’s too much repetition and it would be much better if it were ten or fifteen minutes shorter. But then at the halfway point, it’s all blood and guts right through to the end. And the filmmakers are guilty of repeated “boo” scares, which I hate – you know, where a character is in a medium to close shot, all the sound goes completely dead, followed by a deafening NOISE, music, and someone popping into frame. My least favorite performance was by someone named Angus Cloud, a mumbling actor who, before being discovered working in a restaurant, had never acted before. The film is dedicated to him because he died of a multiple drug overdose at twenty-five – every awful drug – meth, fentanyl, other stuff. Way too young. And now, I’m listening to the fourth and last volume of Franz Waxman film music. Lots of great stuff.

Today, I’ll be up by ten, I believe a visitor will visit briefly at ten-thirty, then the helper comes at eleven to get the books, which she’ll ship over the next few days – they’ll all go out priority mail so should get to folks pretty quickly, at least that’s the hope. After that, I think I’ll do a quick Gelson’s run or I’ll use the last of the 40% things and order something fun but not pasta. Maybe a salad from Stanley’s. That would at least be healthy. I’ll go to the mail place and hopefully pick up two important envelopes. I have a pianist booked for the July show, but I need one for the June show, so I’ll try to get that booked today, so that I don’t have to worry about it. Then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow will be a new month, and we’ll have a celebration of the fifty-year anniversary of when The First Nudie Musical began filming. But I think the official celebration will be next year, as they usually celebrate the fiftieth based on when the movie was released. I may or may not have a nice meal out on the weekend.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, have a visitor, give the helper the books to ship, eat, hopefully pick up two important envelopes, try to book the pianist for the June Kritzerland, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we bid the last of April a fond farewell.