The DVD writer I finally got round to ordering got here today. So, sometime tonight, the fun of trying to install it and making sure it works awaits me. It’s not that hard, but these things always stress me out a bit.
The arrival of a few excellent Orson Welles rarities is what prompted me to make the order. It’s kinda hard to trade things without the hardware. It also means I can dupe the various Bowie DVDs I’ve acquired, if needed. Well, seriously: the pitfall of both CD-R and DVD-R is that no one’s 100% sure how long they’ll last. We do know that bad discs turn to crap pretty quickly, but the tech is too new to even have confidence in top-quality branded gear. This means that making occasional backups of important stuff is probably a good move.
The Orson stuff I’ve received includes the unrestored print of Othello from the ’95 Laser Disc, a copy of Chimes of Midnight that’s better than the Spanish DVD release, the short films for Orson’s Bag (Vienna/London), plus a few other fascinating items.
Stuff I’m looking for on DVD, on the off-chance anyone who surfs in has them: The Orson Welles Show (1979 pilot), OW’s last appearance on the Merv Griffin Show (1985), and the original, European cut of Othello in English language, which was broadcast on BBC2 in 1982. (I guess someone, somewhere must have taped it…)
On the creative front, while I’ve done nothing whatsoever on my own comic of late, I have just drawn the first of six three-panel comic strips written by Ed Berridge, titled Comicana Miscellania. I haven’t worked with other people’s ideas very often and it’s a nice change of pace. I’m cautiously satisfied with the first effort and plan to get started on the second shortly. I might post a preview of some of the art when I’ve done more of it.
In the midst of drawing someone else’s script, I also find myself writing a script for someone else, namely my old pal Dek Baker. I wrote most of it a couple of months ago, and sent him a thumbnail sketch for a cover idea recently, but I needed some reference material to finish it up properly. More details when I feel like talking about it, I guess.