Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves

            On Thursday morning I finished posting my translation of “Poupée Poupée” by Serge Gainsbourg. I memorized the first verse “Chasseur d'ivoire” (Ivory Hunter) which seems to be about someone who dreams for a safe life of hunting lions and other beasts rather than dealing with ferocious women. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday, I spent about half an hour washing more containers from my kitchen shelves. I still have a few more to go before I take all the food down from the middle shelf and start cleaning that.

            While working I was listening to a documentary about Johnny Cash's prison songs and concerts and I learned something interesting. “Folsom Prison Blues” is musically a rip-off of an older song by Gordon Jenkins called Crescent City Blues and except for the references to being in prison for committing murder the lyrics are also very similar: 

“I hear the train a-comin it's rolling 'round the bend

And I ain't been kissed lord since I don't know when 

The boys in Crescent City don't seem to know I'm here

That lonesome whistle seems to tell me Sue, disappear 

When I was just a baby my mama told me, Sue

When you're grown up I want that you should go and see and do

But I'm stuck in Crescent City just watching life mosey by

When I hear that whistle blowin' I hang my head and cry 

I see the rich folks eatin' in that fancy dining car

They're probably having pheasant breast and eastern caviar

Now I ain't crying envy and I ain't crying me

It's just that they get to see things that I've never seen

If I owned that lonesome whistle, if that railroad train was mine

I bet I'd find a man a little farther down the line

Far from Crescent City is where I'd like to stay

And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.” 

            Jenkins sued Cash in the 70s but only got a $75,000 settlement on a song that's made millions. 

            I weighed 86.6 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon my internet connection went down. Shankar's network was there but I couldn't access it. I knocked on his door and he said he'd look into it. A few minutes later it was back on. 

            In the evening I took a bike ride. My knee was bothering me a bit and so I only rode as far as Ossington. On the way home I stopped at Freshco where I bought two bags of grapefruits, a half-pint of raspberries, two bags of kettle chips, a boneless pork loin half, two cans of fruit cocktail, a box of spoon size shredded wheat, baking soda toothpaste, shaving gel, and a box of baking soda. I weighed 87 kilos when I got home. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:15. 

            In my Movie Maker project of making a video for my song “Instructions For Electroshock Therapy” I inserted a clip from the 360 Club concert video of Brian Haddon singing the phrase “shock therapy” and synchronized it with the studio audio. I only have two closeups of Brian singing that line and so to avoid having them look the same every time, I tried different special effects on this one and settled for “edge detection.” That made Brian look almost like a cartoon and it was also very washed out, which I felt like it fit with the line just before it referring to fluorescent lights making the flesh look cold. I'll have fun using a different effect each time I put one of those two clips of Brian into the video. 

            I worked on my poem series “My Blood In A Bug.” 

            I worked on altering the unreadable graffiti in my photo “Anti Gravity's Rainbow” so that it spells something that makes more sense. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a piece of chicken while watching episode three of the fourth season of Star Trek Discovery. 

            The story begins on the USS Credence as the crew is about to ship a supply of dilithium. What looks like ninjas suddenly appear to steal it, but they are warriors of the Qowat Milat Sisterhood. One of the warriors says, “Choose to live” but the Starfleet officers choose to fight and one of them is killed. The Federation learns from Ni'var that the leader of this group of renegade warrior nuns is J'vini and this is the fourth shipment she's stolen. There was a tracker in the last stolen shipment so they know where J'vini has gone. Michael is given the mission on the Starfleet side and her mother Gabrielle, who is also a warrior nun is sent to represent the Qowat Milat. Saru recommends that Tilly come along to expand her horizons as she's been saying she wants to do. Gabrielle insists that Michael and Tilly carry swords instead of phasers. As they approach the source of the signal they are attacked by warrior nuns and one of the nuns is killed. The source of the signal is a moon but the signal is detected in a cave below the surface. They discover that the moon is actually a ship and that there is a population of a species of sentient beings in stasis. J'vini has chosen these people to be her lost cause as is the tradition of the nuns. J'vini appears and fights with Gabrielle but overwhelms her and holds a sword to her throat. Michael tells her that they can fix the ship and if the people are awakened from stasis her cause will be fulfilled. They are successful and J'vini surrenders to custody. Michael doesn't like the end result that J'vini is given over entirely to Ni'varian custody and is not being held accountable for the killing of a Starfleet officer. 

            Meanwhile Stametz and Book go to Ni'var to brainstorm with Ni'varian scientists. They reject his theory that the anomaly is a primordial wormhole because there is no evidence of tachyons. President T'rina offers a way to be sure since Book was a witness to the approach of the anomaly on Kweijan and if she sees it through his eyes she can recognize the presence of tachyons. He agrees to a mind meld and it is a good experience for him because he remembers a certain look that shows him his nephew loved him. But T'rina says there is no indication of tachyons. 

            Meanwhile Gray is about to be transferred to his new android body. The Trill guardian arrives and makes the transfer but nothing happens. Adira can no longer feel Gray's presence. They wait beside the body as a guide for his life to find its way there. At the end of the story their efforts pay off and Gray wakes up in his new body. J'vini was played by Canadian actor Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves, who went to Earl Haig Secondary, an art-focused high school in Toronto where she studied dance. I know the place because I used to model for art classes there. She studied at the Alvin Ailey Academy and later got a degree in film production in New York. After ten years in New York, she returned home to Toronto to work as an actor.

December 31, 1991: I was late to meet Nancy at Queen's Quay but didn't feel bad because she'd kept me waiting longer lots of times

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday I discovered that there was a streetcar now that went from Union Station right by Queen's Quay. I was late to meet Nancy there but I didn't feel bad because she'd kept me waiting longer lots of times. We shopped around while I carried my baby girl. From Harbourfront we went up to Hazelton Lanes where I took pictures of the skaters. Nancy bought animal slippers for her sister Susan. I got my daughter a comb and Nancy bought her some rubber ducks. We went to a gadget shop where they had some nice avant garde playing cards. We walked to Holts where Nancy looked at boots. Then we travelled to Eaton's Centre where she saw Susan. We had dinner at Red Lobster and ordered the Florida Combo. I drank a couple of beers and it cleaned me out. Nancy had to pay for some of my bill. Nancy got tired in the mall and laid down on a bench for a while. I got home at midnight.

David Ajala

            On Wednesday morning I published my English adaptation of “Poupée Poupée” (Dolly Dolly) by Serge Gainsbourg on Christian's Translations. Tomorrow I'll post it on Facebook and then start learning his “Chasseur d'ivoire” (Ivory Hunter). 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos before breakfast.

            Around midday I spent another hour washing containers from my kitchen shelves above the sink. I have about fifteen more to clean and then I'll start washing the middle shelf.

            I weighed 87.3 kilos before lunch. I had Breton crackers with five year old cheddar and raspberry lemonade. 

            I took a bike ride in the evening and on my way up Brock Avenue I found a very rusted cast iron crockpot that someone had thrown out. It's almost twice as big as the one my daughter gave me but I don't really need another one. However, it seemed a shame to just leave it there since I know it can be restored from my experience of fixing and seasoning the very rusted cast iron frying pan that I found several years ago and still use. I rode to Bloor and Queen's Park, went south to College, west to Brock and then south to Queen. I weighed 87.5 kilos when I got home. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:30. 

            In the Movie Maker project of the video I'm making for my song “Instructions For Electroshock Therapy” I synchronized the concert video of me singing “shock therapy” with the studio audio after I sing “under fluorescent glow”. Then I added another clip of fluorescent lights to match when I'm singing “you know their flesh looks so cold under ...” At the point where I sing “that canopy” Brian Haddon sings “shock therapy” and so I dragged the concert video from the 360 Club to the end of the timeline and made another clip of Brian singing the phrase. I'll insert it into the video tomorrow and then experiment with visual effects to alter the clip. Since there are only two close up clips of Brian singing that line I want to change it visually each time so it doesn't look the same. I might try fading in from white to see if that looks like he's affected by the fluorescent lights. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

            I worked on my poem series “My Blood In A Bug.” 

            I made three strips of bacon, an egg sunny side up and a slice of toasted Bavarian sandwich bread. I had them with a beer while watching episode two of season four of Star Trek Discovery. 

            In this story, Book is grief-stricken over the loss of his planet and family. Saru returns to Discovery and offers to be Burnham's Number One, which she gratefully accepts. Discovery goes to the edge of the anomaly to try to study it and find out its nature so they can better stop it from causing any more devastation or learn how to evade it. It seems in some ways to be half a binary black hole. They can't send a probe because the distortion would prevent communication with it. Book offers to take his ship in and then insists on it. Burnham is reluctant because he is too emotional right now. She has Stamitz accompany him through a hologram. It's a dangerous mission and Book almost loses it because he keeps seeing his young nephew that the anomaly killed. Burnham talks with him and guides him through riding the waves of the anomaly back out. But afterward the anomaly suddenly changes direction contrary to logic and so the data they've gathered may be useless. 

            Meanwhile, an android body has been constructed for Gray based on 800-year-old technology developed by Sung, who made Picard's new body centuries before. 

            Book is played by David Ajala, who performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, England. He played Manchester Black in “Supergirl” and Captain Roy Eris in “Nightflyers.” His first film role was in “Kidulthood” and he reprised his part in the sequels “Adulthood” and “Brotherhood.” He co-starred in “Black Box,” “Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands,” and “Falling Water.” 

            I have no problem with Mary Wiseman's body type but since her character Tilly's weight changed drastically in the seconds that are supposed to have passed between the end of season 2 and season 3 there should have been some kind of explanation written into the story. Ignoring it makes no sense at all. Even if they were to say that traveling through time caused it and offered a pseudo-scientific reason I'd be okay with that.

December 30, 1991: I bought a duck for New year's dinner

Thirty years ago today

            On Monday I went up to Yamaha to get my cheque from the piano movers but I had to wait more than half an hour for Dave and Gary to bring it. 

            On the way home I bought a duck for New year's dinner. 

            After I got home I just stayed there for the rest of the day. I watched TV, cleaned up, worked on projects and a collage. 

            I tried to call my lawyer but his office seemed to be closed for the holidays. 

            My dad called to see if we'd gotten home from New Brunswick all right. I mentioned forgetting my gloves at his place and he said he'd thought my brother Allison had left them there. He told me he'd mail them up to me.

            I invited Nancy to come to my place for New Year's dinner but she said she wanted to go to Red Lobster. She was planning to buy her sister Susan a belated Christmas present but didn't know what to get her and so she wanted me to come shopping with her on Tuesday, starting at Harbourfront.

Chelah Horsdal

            On Tuesday morning I finished working out the chords for “Poupée Poupée” (Dolly Dolly) by Serge Gainsbourg. I ran through the song in English and French and then uploaded it to Christian's Translations. I'll probably have it published on the blog tomorrow. 

            I weighed 87.8 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I spent about an hour washing glassware, jars and other containers that I'd taken down from the top shelf above the kitchen sink. I think that from now on I will use that top shelf only for containers and glassware and I'll keep most of the food on the second shelf and some on the first. 

            I weighed 86.8 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Bloor and St George. I weighed 87 kilos when I got home.

            I didn't get caught up on my journal until a little after 19:00.

            I edited some more footage of the fluorescent lights. I inserted the first clip into the video I'm making for my song “Instructions For Electroshock Therapy” at the point where I sing “Under fluorescent glow.” Then I cut out some of the concert video to try to synchronize it with the studio audio when I sing “shock therapy” again. I had to undo several cuts because I saw that I'd accidentally split the studio audio when I split the video. I'll try to get them lined up tomorrow and then I might add more fluorescent lights after I sing “shock therapy” and then maybe add another clip of Brian Haddon singing “shock therapy” in response.

            I tried to work on my poem series “My Blood In A Bug” but my brain was exhausted. 

            I searched to see if a scratched non-stick pan needs to be thrown out. The internet seems to be divided. Some say it's safe if it's a non stick pan made since 2015, which mine is. The greatest danger would come from using very high temperatures which I don't think I do. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken breast while watching the first episode of the fourth season of Star Trek Discovery. 

            The story begins with Burnham and Book on a goodwill mission, offering dilithium to a species of people on a planet long distanced from and not trusting the Federation. The people misunderstand when they detect a carnivore on Book's ship, which is his cat Grudge. When Burnham says Grudge is a queen the people decide a monarch is being held prisoner and they want to rescue her. They have glowing butterfly wings and begin flying, chasing and shooting at Burnham and Book. While escaping, Burnham gets the Discovery to repair the people's satellites which have been down for centuries. After that the butterfly people stop attacking and are grateful. 

            Later the Federation celebrates its official restart as the Archer space station is launched, named after Captain Archer from Star Trek Enterprise. There is a distress call from Nalas on Deep Space Six which has been hit by something. They have lost life support except on the bridge. Discovery goes to the rescue but the Federation president Laira Rillak insists on coming along. Tilly and Ensign Adira go to help repair the station with programmable matter but they are hit with a frozen methane shower and are in danger. They can't beam out because of interference. The station escape ship can't separate. Burnham goes in a shuttle and frees the ship but the ship crashes in the Discovery shuttle bay and Nalas dies. Burnham gets a lecture from the president about how her obsession with bringing everybody back puts everyone in danger. Back on Kweijan. Book's ship is hit by birds . Everything around the planet becomes warped and he escapes to Discovery. But when Discovery checks on Kweijan the planet is no longer there. They find it much further away and it's been gutted of life. 

            President Rillak is played by Chelah Horsdal, who started acting in her late 20s. She played Helen Smith in the series The Man In The High Castle. She co-stars in the series Hell On Wheels, She has her own film production company called Phoebe Films and is working on a documentary about her father, the Canadian folk singer Valdy. She is also a painter and photographer.

December 29, 1991: Without beer since way before Christmas, this had been a dry holiday

Thirty years ago today

            Sunday was just a broke day. I was out of money and running low on food. I got in touch with Wayne and arranged to pick up my cheque on Monday from the piano movers up at Yamaha. 

            I watched TV. 

            This had been a dry holiday. I hadn't drunk a beer since way before Christmas. 

            Nancy and I made a date to meet on New Year's Eve.

Daniela Melchior

            On Monday morning I almost finished working out the chords to “Poupée Poupée” (Dolly Dolly) by Serge Gainsbourg. I should have that done tomorrow. 

            I weighed 88.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            It took me until after 10:00 to finish writing about the movie Shang Chi, which I'd watched last night. 

            It was already afternoon by the time I got around to doing any cleaning in the kitchen. I only had time to wash a few of the jars that go on the top shelf. 

            I weighed 87.1 kilos before lunch. 

            It had been snowing quite a bit all day and so in the afternoon it was too messy for a bike ride. I did some exercises at home while listening to episode five, season five of the Goon Show from October 26, 1954: The Affair of the Lone Banana.”

Seagoon: Mr. Greenslade! 

Greenslade: Yes, Master? 

Seagoon: Tell the masses what's the play. 

Greenslade: Ladies and gentlemen... 

Seagoon: Thank you. Yes, it's ladies and gentlemen in... 'The Affair of the Lone Banana'! 

Sellers: Not a pretty story, I fear; still, the BBC will buy this cheap trash. The central character in this story is young Fred Nurke. His father, Lord Marks, made a fortune from the great Marks Laundry business. 

Greenslade: The scene is the country home of the Marks country home, Matzos Lodge. A mystery has been committed, young Fred Nurke has vanished. Interrogating the residents is a man, tall, dark, handsome, swashbuckling, intelligent... No - it's Inspector Neddie Seagoon, late of the eighteenth century and part inventor of the steam-driven explodable hairless toupée. 

Seagoon: Now then my man, your name is - er? 

Headstone: Headstone, Gravely Headstone. My maiden name, you understand. 

Seagoon: Headstone, you say Fred Nurke disappeared whilst having a boot of tea with his mother, Lady Marks. 

Headstone: True - you might say he disappeared from under her very nose. 

Seagoon: What was he doing there? 

Headstone: It was raining. 

Seagoon: Lady Marks. Where is her ladyship at the moment? 

Headstone: M' lady hasn't got a ship at the moment, sir. 

Seagoon: Send in Lady Marks. 

FX: [Great heavy approaching footsteps] 

Seagoon: Ah, Lady Marks, sit down. 

Seagoon: Lady Marks, your late husband owned a banana plantation, yes? 

Lady Marks: In South America. 

Seagoon: That's abroad, isn't it? 

Lady Marks: Well, it all depends on where you're standing. 

Seagoon: Is it on the tube? 

Lady Marks: Of course it's not on the tube. 

Seagoon: Now you're talking. 

Lady Marks: So are you, isn't it fun? 

Barton: At the British Passport office in Whitechapel, Seagoon discovered that Fred Nurke had left for Guatemala on a banana boat - disguised as a banana. Seagoon: That's true - I waited for the ship to return but he wasn't on board - he must have got off - at the other side! My next task was to book a ticket to South America. This I did at a shipping office in Leadenhall Street. 

Seagoon: Good morning. 

Henry: Thank you. Seagoon: I want to book for South America. 

Henry: Your name? 

Seagoon: Neddie Pugh Seagoon. 

Henry: N E D D I E... Neddie - what was next? 

Seagoon: Neddie Pugh Seagoon. 

Henry: Pugh, P H E W. 

Seagoon: No no no, it's pronounced Phew but it's spelt PUGH. 

Henry: Sea-dune wasn't it? 

Seagoon: Yes... Seagoon S E A G O O N. 

Henry: Could you spell it? 

Seagoon: Certainly - S E A G O O N. 

Henry: Now er - address? 

Seagoon: No fixed abode. 

Henry: No... F I X E D fixed... A B... 

Seagoon: A B O D E. 

Henry: What number? 

Seagoon: 29A! 

Henry: District? 

Seagoon: London, SW 2. 

Henry: No good, I'd better get a pencil and paper and write all this down. Minnie..! Minieeeeee! Minnie: What is it, Henry? 

Henry: A pencil, please. 

Minnie: There you are buddy. 

Henry: This gentleman is going to South America. 

Minnie: Ohh - goodbye. 

Henry: That's where young Fred Nurke went to. 

Seagoon: Fred Nurke? That's Fred Nurke's name! 

Henry: Oh! Yes, he went in such a rush he left this behind. 

Seagoon: Let me see - a banana - a lone banana! So, now my task was easier - I knew that the man I was looking for was one banana short! 

Greenslade: As a tribute to Seagoon's brilliant deductive powers, Max Geldray will now play a loaded sackbut from the kneeling position. 

Max Geldray & Orchestra: [Musical interlude] 

Greenslade: With the banana secreted on his person, Neddie Seagoon arrived at the Port of Guatemala where he was accorded the typical Latin welcome to an Englishman. 

Moriarty: Hands up, you pig swine. [Spits] 

Seagoon: Have a care, Latin devil - I am an Englishman. Remember, this rolled umbrella has more uses than one. Now, what's all this about? 

Moriarty: It is the revolution señor - everywhere there is an armed rising. Seagoon: Are you in it? Moriarty: Right in it - you see señor, the united anti-socialist neo-democratic pro-fascist communist party is fighting to overthrow the unilateral democratic united partisan bellicose pacifist cobelligerant tory labour liberal party! 

Seagoon: Whose side are you on? 

Moriarty: There are no sides - we are all in this together. Now señor, if you don't mind - we must search you. 

Seagoon: What for? 

Moriarty: Bananas. You see señor, we guatemalians are trying to overthrow the foreign-dominated banana plantations in this country. Any foreigner found with a banana on him will be shot by a firing squad and asked to leave the country. 

Seagoon (aside): Curses - I must think quick. Little does he know I suspect him of foul play. 

Moriarty (aside): Little does he know I've never played with a fowl in my life. 

Seagoon (aside): Little does he know that he has misconstrued the meaning of the word foul. The word foul in my sentence was spelt F O U L not F O W L as he thought I had spelt it. 

Moriarty (aside): Little does he know that I overheard his correction of my grammatical error and I am now about to rectify it - aloud. [Ahem] So, you suspect me of foul play. 

Seagoon: Yes - and you might as well know I'm here to find young Fred Nurke. 

Moriarty: Sapristi nackos - that capitalistic pig! He's here, but you'll never - 

Seagoon: Don't move, Signor Gonzales Mess, née Moriarty - hands up. 

Moriarty: Seagoon, put that banana down! 

Seagoon: And leave myself defenceless? One step nearer and I fire! 

Moriarty: Ha ha, you fool - you can't fire bananas! It's - 

FX: [Two shots] 

Moriarty: You swine - it was loaded! 

Seagoon: Now come on, tell me - where is Fred Nurke? 

Sellers: When the Englishman awoke he found himself in a tall dark room with sideboards - it was a prison cell. 

Seagoon: The only other occupant was another occupant - apart from that, he was the only other person. He was chained to the wall by a chain which was attached to the wall. He appeared to he a man of breeding and intellect. 

Eccles: Ooo - who am I? 

Seagoon: What's your name? 

Eccles: Eccles. 

Seagoon: That's who you are! 

Eccles: Oooooooo. 

Seagoon: Now, how can I get out of this place? 

Eccles: Ah, well, there's dat door over dere. 

Seagoon: Right, I'm away! By dawn I'll be safe! Now's the time for action! Nothing will stop me now - Farewell! 

FX: [Door opens and closes. Terrific fusillade of shots, bombs, etc. Door opens and closes.] 

Seagoon (panting): It's raining! - Tell me, is there any other way out of here? Now, if we could get up to that window... 

FX: [Chairs being stacked one on top of the other; this keeps going on in the background] 

Greenslade: This operation might last some time as they will need to stack at least fifty to a hundred chairs if they are to reach up to the high window. No doubt, after about five minutes this sound will become very boring - BBC policy therefore decrees that in the interim we entertain you with songs from that well known tenor and market gardener - Mr. Cyril Cringinknutt. 

Cringinknutt: Thank'yew Ricky Fulton. My first number tonight is that lovely melody from my latest record which I have just recorded. It is called 'Three Goons in a Fountain'- my melody please, Cyril - Three Goons in a fountain - which one will the fountain drown - I have got a shop full of Schmutters - FX: [All the chairs collapse in a terrific crash. Start stacking them up again.] 

FX: [Door bursts open.] 

Milligan: Stop, Stop. Silence - everyone silence - everyone back to their own beds. Now then, prisoner Seagoon, there is an English diplomat to see you here. This way, sir. 

Bloodnok: I'm the British chargé d'Affaires - Major Bloodnok, late of Zsa Zsa Gabor's Third Regular Husbands. I've managed to secure your release. I completely overcame the prison guards. Now, everybody onto this ten-seater horse. 

FX: [Galloping hooves start and stop at once] 

Bloodnok: Woah! Here we are. The Embassy. 

Ellington: Oh, it's you, sir - am I glad you came back! Them rebels have been trying to chop down the banana trees in the garden. 

Bloodnok (shouts): Dogs! Stand back. You latin devils you, begone, or by the great artificial paste earrings of Lady Barnett I'll come out there and cut you down - now get out, you latin devils! Ellington: They all went about three hours ago. 

Bloodnok: Never mind. That didn't stop me. 

Seagoon: Gad, Bloodnok, I admire your guts. 

Bloodnok: Why, are they showing? 

Seagoon: Bloodnok, I seek Fred Nurke. Bloodnok: Just one moment now - He's here to save the British banana industry. In fact, he went out alone, by himself, to dynamite the rebel H.Q. 

Seagoon: Then all we can do is wait. 

Bloodnok: Yes - Ellington? Play that naughty mad banjo man. 

Ellington: Here goes - Ray Ellington and Quartet: [Musical interlude: "Rainbow Tie"] 

Sellers: In the grounds of the British Embassy, our heroes are dug in around the lone banana tree - the last symbol of waning British prestige in South America. They all anxiously await the return of Fred Nurke. Around them, the jungle night is alive with revels - and nocturnal sounds - rain in places, fog patches on the coast. Arsenal 2 - Chinese Wanderers 500. 

Seagoon: It's this darkness! You can't see a thing! 

Bloodnok: I know - for three hours now I've been straining my eyes, and I've only managed one page of the Awful Disclosures of Mariah Monk. Four rupees, in plain wrapper. 

FX: [Lone cricket chirping] Bloodnok: Listen - what's making that noise? Seagoon: A cricket. Bloodnok: How can they see to bat in this light? 

Eccles: Major, a man's just climbed over the garden wall. 

Bloodnok: A boundary! [Aloud] Well played, sir! 

Seagoon: Bloodnok, you fool - that's no cricketer - he's possibly a rebel assassin. 

Bloodnok: One of us must volunteer. Well, who is it going to be, eh? Seagoon? 

Seagoon: I'm terribly sorry - but I have a wife and sixty-three children. 

Bloodnok: I too have a wife and children. That only leaves dear old - 

FX: [Panicky rattling of telephone] 

Eccles: Hello, hello, operator? Get me the marriage bureau. Hello? 

Bloodnok: Let's face it - we've all turned yellow. 

Ellington: You speak for yourselves. 

Bloodnok: Ohh, I'm so sorry, Ellington, no offence. I know you Irishmen are very brave, I... 

FX: [Phone rings] 

Bloodnok: Don't answer that phone unless it's for me. It was the rebel leader - Gonzales Mess, née Moriarty, he says unless we cut down our banana tree and hand it over to them - we shall all die tonight. Eccles: Tonight? Why, dat's tonight! 

Bloodnok: Yes, so it is. Fancy him thinking that I'd chop down the banana to save my lousy skin - ha! ha! 

FX: [Hurried sawing of tree] 

Seagoon: Bloodnok! Throw that saw away! 

FX: [Hurried sawing of tree] 

Seagoon: Eccles! Stop that! Where did you get that saw? 

Eccles: From the sea - it's a sea-saw. Ha ha! 

Seagoon: Silence! We've got to pull ourselves together - this banana tree is the last one in South America under British control! 

Seagoon: Now, throw that saw over the wall. 

FX: [Clang and thud as saw clouts nut] 

Bluebottle: Ohhh - my nut - I have been hitted on my bonce - oh, I've been hitted I've been nutted - Seagoon: Come out from behind that wall or I'll throw this at you. 

Eccles: Put me down! 

Bluebottle: Enter Bluebottle wearing crash helmet - pauses for audience applause - not a sausinge! Seagoon: Who is this gallant little knight with unlaced LCC plimsolls? 

Bluebottle: Who am I? I'm the one wot copped that dirty big saw on the nut. [Aside] Points to lump area. 

Seagoon: Tell me, little jam-stained hero; do you know this jungle well? 

Bluebottle: Yes - I do know the jungule - Tarzan Bluebottle, they call me. Lifts up sports shirt, shows well developed ribs and bones. Fills chest with air [breathes in] - feels giddy so puts on cardboard loin cloth for support. 

Seagoon: Could you lead me to the rebel H.Q.? 

Bluebottle: [Intimate] I can show you the very spot. 

Seagoon: [Intimate] Where? 

Bluebottle: Where that dirty big saw hitted my nut! You rotten nut-hitting swine you! [Aside] Does body racked with sobs pose - as done by Robert Newton after seeing income tax returns. 

Seagoon: Right. Eccles, you come with us. Bloodnok - you stay here. Bluebottle - lead on! Bluebottle: Forward! Pulls hat well down over eyes, but pulls it up as cannot see where I'm going. Come, follow me 

Seagoon: So - you're the leader of the rebels? 

Grytpype: Yes - now, who are you? 

Seagoon: I won't talk! Never! 

Grytpype: [Calls] The branding irons!

Seagoon: I'm Neddie Seagoon. 

Grytpype: Oh? Where's Fred Nurke? 

Seagoon: I don't know. Grytpype: So that's where he is. Right, Moriarty? Well go at once to the Embassy - and bring back their banana tree. 

Seagoon: You won't succeed - it's guarded by Major Dennis Bloodnok. [Laughs] The poor fools - the moment they step out - Fred Nurke will get them - Heh, heh, heh - they go to their doom! 

FX: [Phone rings - receiver off hook] 

Seagoon: Hello? 

Fred Nurke (distorted): Is that the rebel H.Q.? 

Seagoon: Yes, but I'm in the middle of - 

Fred Nurke: Right, you swines - this is Fred Nurke, and this is my banana night - in three seconds a time-bomb explodes in your room, ha ha! 

Seagoon: Three seconds - I've got to get out of here at once! Greenslade: Will Seagoon get out in time? FX: [Explosion] 

Greenslade: Oh, hard luck - still, he tried. But was his sacrifice worthwhile? Did Bloodnok save the banana tree? 

FX: [Tree cracking] 

Bloodnok: Timber!!! 

FX: [Tree crashing] 

Greenslade: That was The Goon Show, a recorded programme featuring Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan with the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray. Script by Spike Milligan. Announcer: Wallace Greenslade. 

            Writing down these Goon scripts is very time-consuming. I hope the roads clear up tomorrow so I can take a bike ride instead. 

            I posted my blog and was caught up on my journal at 18:00. 

            I weighed 86.7 kilos in the early evening. 

            I edited the four videos of fluorescent lights down to about 28 seconds altogether. I only need about a tenth of that for my video of Instructions For Electroshock Therapy. 

            I checked my grades online but so far only the Shakespeare results have been posted. I got an A on my test and I got 100% for the participation mark. The official mark for the whole course has yet to be posted. Hopefully, those marks will work against the horrible essay grade and bring me up to an A -.

            I worked on my poem series My Blood In A Bug. 

            I spent about half an hour editing the graffiti in my photo “Anti Gravity's Rainbow.” 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching The Suicide Squad. 

            Even James Gunn and Margot Robbie can't keep a DC film from being lame. Throw in characters with ridiculous powers, a lot of exploding guts, and gratuitous death meant to be funny, make a bad story seem deliberately stupid so as to give the illusion of self-awareness, but it still won't achieve a tenth of the class of the lamest Marvel picture. 

            Amanda Waller the head of ARGUS sends two Suicide Squad teams to a fake South American country to stop Project Starfish that was started many years before by the Nazis. The US ignored it before but now the country of Corto Maltese is hostile to the US and so they want the project destroyed. The super-powered prisoners all have bombs in their heads that will be remotely triggered if anyone goes off mission. Colonel Flag's team includes Harley Quinn. When they dropped the team into the water no one had thought to ask if they could all swim and the ridiculous Weasel drowns. The only apparent survivors of the first battle are Flag and Harley. That team was meant as a sacrifice anyway to let the other team led by Bloodsport in. His team consists of the psychotically patriotic Peacemaker, the extremely dumb and innocent King Shark, Ratcatcher, and Polka Dot Man. Harley gets captured but it turns out it's by the handsome ruler of the country and he wants to marry her to make himself more popular because the people of his country love Harley Quinn. They make love and she agrees to marry him but then when he says he is willing to kill children for his aims she shoots him because that's a red flag in a boyfriend. The team finds Flag and he joins their mission but when he hears that Harley is being held captive he arranges for a rescue. Harley is being tortured while hung by her wrists and singing “Just A Gigolo.” She falls unconscious but not really. While the guard's guard is down she wraps her legs around his neck and kills him. Then she gets the keys with her toes and unlocks her cuffs. The next few minutes are really the only great part of the film as she escapes. She gets out just as the team is about to storm the building and rescue her. 

            Project Starfish involves experiments on a giant starfish from outer space called Starro. When Flag learns that the US has been funding these experiments he takes the hard drive containing the information with plans on exposing the US. But Peacemaker kills him. Ratcatcher takes the hard drive and Peacemaker is going to kill her too when Bloodsport intervenes. They fight and Bloodsport kills Peacemaker. The ridiculous-looking monster Starro breaks loose and the team decides to stay and try to stop it. Waller is about to explode the bombs in their brains when her own employees at headquarters knock her out. Polka Dot Man can only kill if he envisions his victim as his mother and so Bloodsport tells him Starro is his mom. He shoots polka dots that cut through the legs of Starro but the monster falls on Polka Dot Man and kills him. Ratcatcher orders millions of rats to attack Starro and they climb up its body. Harley dives into Starro's eye and the rats follow her to eat the monster from inside, thus destroying it. 

            In the end, The Weasel and Peacemaker turn up alive. Peacemaker is brought back to life because a TV series is planned to feature the character. 

            King Shark's voice was that of Sylvester Stallone. 

            Ratcatcher was played by Portuguese actor and model Daniela Melchior in her first English role. She won a Sophia award for her role in Parque Mayer and will be starring in the upcoming movie Assassin Club. 

            I stayed up for an extra half hour to write about the movie so it wouldn't cut into my time tomorrow morning.

December 28, 1991: Nancy's lawyer argued I shouldn't have joint custody because Nancy was more concerned with the baby's needs

Thirty years ago today 

            On Saturday morning I had a good sleep after my trip back from New Brunswick. 

            I had about $3 in change and so I went out later and spent it on a lottery ticket and some cream. 

            I worked on getting my place back in order. I fed my plant, I got back into projects and collage. I watched TV. 

            There was a letter from Unemployment Insurance claiming that I'd filled out my cards wrong. They said I'd neglected to write down what I'd made but I did that because I hadn't been paid yet. That would cause a big delay. 

            I got another letter from my lawyer containing a copy of a letter from Nancy's lawyer arguing why I couldn't have joint custody of my daughter. She said that Nancy's concerns were with the baby's needs and not adult desires. What bullshit!

Awkwafina

            On Sunday morning I worked out the chords for the first four verses of “Poupée Poupée” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I weighed 88.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            I had to spend more time than usual on my journal because of all the movies and shows I watched yesterday. I was running late going to the supermarket.

            I went to No Frills where for the first time several weeks they had firm grapes. I bought five bags of grapes, two half-pints of blueberries, a bag of potatoes, two strawberry-rhubarb pies because they were on sale at $5 each for two, Comet, I looked for Murphy's Wood Soap but they are either out or no longer sell it, I got a pack of toilet paper, a container of skyr, two containers of Greek yogourt, maple syrup, scotch bonnet sauce, and a can of coffee. 

            I had a toasted Montreal-style bagel with five-year-old cheddar for lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Bloor and Spadina. I weighed 87.6 kilos when I got home. 

            I imported the four videos of fluorescent lights that I'd downloaded and edited them all down to about a minute of footage. I only need a few seconds and I might take pieces from each one to insert in the video I'm making for my song “Instructions For Electroshock Therapy.” 

            I worked on my poem series “My Blood In A Bug.” 

            I had three strips of bacon, an egg sunny side up, a toasted Montreal style bagel, and a beer while watching “Shang Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings.”

            There was immediately a problem because the first several minutes of the movie were entirely in Chinese with no subtitles. When I downloaded the torrent I'd unchecked the box for the subtitles because I hadn't expected them to be important. After the movie was over I went back to the torrent and prioritized the subtitles, then they were automatically in the movie. I watched the beginning again. 

            The story begins with a flashback as Shang Chi's mother is telling him the story of how the Ten Rings gave Shang Chi's father Xu Wenwu immortality and godlike powers 1000 years ago. He rules an army called The Ten Rings and working from the shadows they have influence over every government in the world. This character is somewhat similar to the original father of Shang Chi in the comic books. That character was Fu Manchu and he was based on the character created by Sax Rohmer in the extremely popular Fu Manchu novels of the early 20th Century. But Marvel comics lost the rights to Fu Manchu and had to reboot the character of Shang Chi with a different though similar father. He's also somewhat based on another Marvel character called The Mandarin who also seems to have been based on Fu Manchu. The Mandarin also had ten rings but his rings were on his fingers and they were not magic but scientific in their powers. The Mandarin started out as an enemy of Iron Man. 

            Xu Wenwu has everything but he still wants more and he's heard of a legendary magical village that exists in another dimension the portal to which only appears at certain times. Xu Wenwu travels to Ta Lo where he is stopped by its beautiful guardian Ying Li. They fight and their battle becomes like a mating dance as they fall in love. She defeats him but he wins her heart and since her village rejects him because he is a bad guy, she forsakes the village and leaves with him. But in doing so she loses her powers which are drawn from the heart of the great dragon that protects Ta Lo. She has two children, Shang Chi and Xialing. Xu Wenwu gives up on his criminal activities but he still has many enemies. A group of them kill Ying Li. After taking revenge Wenwu returns to his criminal activities and trains Shang Chi to be an assassin. After killing the man who killed his mother Shang Chi leaves his father and seeks a life in San Francisco, making friends with the fun loving, somewhat irresponsible, but faithful Katy. They've been friends for ten years and they both have jobs at the same place as parking valets.

            One day on their way to work they are riding the bus when some thugs gang up on Shang because they want the emerald pendant he is wearing. Suddenly Shang Chi shows himself to be a master of Kung Fu and his best friend Katy is shocked because she thought he couldn't fight. The biggest thug has only half a right arm but then it suddenly extends into a sword with energy powers. On one of the lunges aimed at Shang Chi but dodged by him the sword goes through the floor of the bus and severs the brake line. The bus is now out of control on the steep hills of San Francisco. The driver gets injured and falls unconscious and so Katy has to take over driving while Shang Chi fights. He beats them but they get away with his pendant. 

            Shang then tells his story to Katy and also reveals that he has a sister in China who also has a pendant like his. The men that attacked him work for his father and so he has to go to Macau to warn her that she is in danger. Katy insists on coming along. Shang's sister runs a cage fighting club in Macau. 

            They see a fight between Dr Strange's colleague Wong and a monster from another dimension similar in size to the Hulk. The monster hits Wong and then Wong tells him he wants to show him how that punch feels. Wong puts up a dimensional portal to receive the next punch and another one from which the monster's punch thrusts out and hits the monster, thus causing him to knock himself out. We see later in the dressing room that Wong and the monster are friends and that their fight was a scam put on for money. 

            Someone had filmed Shang Chi's fight on the bus and now it has gone viral so everyone in the club has seen him fight. He is told by the announcer that if he fights in the cage he will help him find his sister. But it turns out Xialing is his opponent. She beats him and then the Army of the Ten Rings attacks. Wenwu arrives and takes Shang, Xialing, and Katy to his compound. Wenwu reveals he's been hearing the voice of Ying Li telling him she is imprisoned in Ta Lo. He says he wants to go there and rescue her if he has to destroy the village. Shang saw his mother die and so he refuses to help his father. Wenwu imprisons them. They meet the actor Trevor Slattery who Wenwu imprisoned as punishment for having pretended to be him as the Mandarin in the events of Iron Man 3. Slattery has made friends with a creature called a hundun that is from Ta Lo. He calls the creature Morris and it basically looks like a pig with no head but rather a butt at each end of its body and it also has nearly useless wings. Slattery understands Morris's squeaky speech and he tells Shang that Morris can guide them to Ta Lo. And so they go there ahead of Wenwu where they meet Ying Li's sister Ying Nan who welcomes them with open arms. She is the leader and protector of the people of Ta Lo. She assures Shang that his mother is dead and that the voice that speaks to Wenwu is the Dweller in Darkness who lives behind a dimensional wall and is trying to use Wenwu to break out. 

            Wenwu arrives with his army. Shang, Xialing and Katy help the people fight them. Shang fights Wenwu but is defeated and submerged in the lake where he meets the Protector. Wenwu breaks through to the dimensional wall and hears what he thinks is the voice of Ying Li calling to him. He breaks open the wall and the Dweller in Darkness emerges. Shang Chi emerges from the lake riding the Protector who is more of a serpentine dragon with several sets of small wings along its body. The Dweller in Darkness is a flying dragon with one set of bat wings. It kills Wenwu and Wenwu gives the ten rings to Shang Chi. There is a battle between the two dragons with Shang and Xialing helping. But there are also hundreds of smaller flying creatures that everyone else must fight. Katy discovers to her surprise that she is an expert archer. Shang Chi defeats the Dweller in Darkness. 

            Back in San Francisco Shang and Katy are in a bar when Wong appears through a dimensional portal and asks them to step through. On the other side is the Mystic Arts headquarters in Tibet. There are also holograms of Bruce Banner and Captain Marvel. They examine the ten rings and determine that they are acting as a beacon. This scene seems to be a welcoming of Shang as a super hero. Wong tells Shang and Katy that their lives are about to change forever and so they'd better go home and get some rest. They say, “We could do that ... Ooor ...” In the next scene Shang, Katy and Wong are all singing Hotel California in a karaoke bar. 

            Xialing takes over her father's Ten Rings Army. This fits with the original story in which the daughter of Fu Manchu was also evil like her father. 

            It was nice to see Michelle Yeoh as Ying Nan. I haven't seen her since her great character Philippa Georgiou left Star Trek Discovery. 

            Katy was played by Awkwafina, who is a comedian, actor and rapper. In 2012 her rap song “My Vag” became a hit on YouTube. She starred in The Farewell for which she became the first Asian woman to win a Golden Globe. She is the star of the sitcom Awkwafina is Nora From Queens.

December 27, 1991: I caught a loud East Coast woman on the bus trying to give my baby a cookie

Thirty years ago today 

            When we got to Montreal on Friday morning Nancy and I had planned on spending the day there, but we got into some kind of a fight over how to dress the baby and so Nancy decided to leave for Toronto on the 10:30 bus. 

            After we'd stopped outside of Kingston for lunch there were some loud East Coast women in the seat behind us. One of them wanted to hold the baby and so we let her. But after a while I caught her feeding my daughter a cookie without asking permission. I gently explained to her why that was a problem. 

            We got to Toronto at around 14:30 and Nancy wanted to check out the Boxing Week sales. I had never seen so many people at the Eaton's Centre. We walked up Yonge Street and then back down to have dinner at Lime Rickey's.

Jemma Redgrave

            On Christmas morning after yoga I finally finished memorizing “Arthur, où t'as mis le corps?” (Arthur, Where'd You Put The Corpse?” by Boris Vian. I did a search and found two sets of chords, one in C minor and the other in D minor. I'll start trying them out tomorrow. 

            I did a shortened song practice and just worked on parts of a few songs I wanted to play. 

            I weighed 86.6 kilos before breakfast. I had three strips of bacon, an egg sunny side up and a toasted Montreal style bagel while watching the fifth episode of the most recent season of Doctor Who.

            At the end of the previous story the Doctor had been turned into one of the statue-like quantum beings known as the Weeping Angels. In that form she is transported to a Division ship where she meets Awsok the head of Division. She had briefly met her before, not knowing who she was. Awsok reveals herself to be Tecteun, the Gallifreyan who found the infant Doctor by the entrance to a wormhole between universes and raised her as her own child. She explains that the Flux was created by Division to kill the Doctor because the Doctor betrayed and fought against Division to protect the universe. All of the Doctor's memories of having been an agent of Division have been erased but Tecteun shows the Doctor a fob watch that has preserved all of them. 

            Meanwhile, Yasmin, Dan and Professor Jericho have been trapped in the early 20th Century for three years. They have spent their time searching for the date of the end of the world while assassins keep trying to kill them. They travel to the mountains of Nepal to seek the wisdom of a hermit who lives there. The hermit has three words for them with no explanation, “Fetch your dog.” Yasmin realizes this relates to Karvanista the Lupari warrior they met earlier in the series. Near the Great Wall of China they write a message for Karvanista to observe from space, “Fetch Your Human.” He sees it but can't travel back in time. They journey to Liverpool where they meet Joseph Williamson, who is a real historical figure who built labyrinths of tunnels kilometres long under his property in Liverpool for no explicable reason. But in this story each of the tunnels is behind a door that leads to a different time and place in the universe. The places and times behind the door have recently changed because of the Flux.

            In 1958, the Grand Serpent, who appeared earlier in the season as the corrupt government figure that Vinder's job was to guard on his home planet, is now on Earth. When the Serpent began having people killed Vinder reported him and that's how Vinder ended up on the remote observation ship at the beginning of the season when the Flux began. Now the Serpent is calling himself Prentis. He makes friends with a general who has been made the head of a new organization for studying extraterrestrial life called UNIT. He presents himself as an expert on extraterrestrials and so the general hires him to help run UNIT. Prentis gathers more and more power within UNIT until 2018 when Kate Stewart, the daughter of General Lethbridge Stewart is the leader of UNIT. She realizes he's an alien and threatens to expose him. But when he tries to assassinate her she goes into hiding. When Prentis lowers Earth's defences to allow a Sontaran invasion Kate becomes the leader of the resistance. 

            Meanwhile Bel, while following a Passenger signal has stolen a Lupari ship. Karvanista beams aboard to get the vessel back. Vinder is following the same signal and finds the Passenger. The Passenger absorbs him and inside of it Vinder finds Dan's girlfriend Diane. 

            Swarm and Azure arrive at Division and kill Tecteun. They are about to do the same to the Doctor at the end of the episode.

            I weighed 86.5 kilos before lunch. I ate an entire bag of barbecued chips with a beer and then a can of root beer while watching the final episode of the most recent season of Doctor Who. 

            This story begins with Swarm trying to disintegrate the Doctor by touching her. She has been wearing a conversion plate to survive having been transformed into a Weeping Angel form. She removes the plate just before he touches her and she is split into three Doctors in different places and times. One of them stays where she is but another appears before Karvanista and Bel and the other comes to the tunnels under Liverpool where she reunites with Yasmin, Dan, and Professor Jericho. Azure and Swarm plan to destroy the universe with the Flux but they want to put it into a loop so that the destruction happens over and over again forever. 

            Vinder and Diane escape from inside the Passenger. 

            One of the Doctor copies, Yasmin, Dan and Jericho make it to 2021 through a tunnel where they meet Kate Stewart. Kate has the Tardis and so the Doctor takes it. The Doctor on the Lupari ship crashes it into Sontaran headquarters but is captured. Karvanista reveals he is a forgotten companion of the Doctor. The Doctor with the Tardis rescues the captured Doctor while she is being tortured by Prentis. 

            The Flux kills the Sontarans, the Daleks, the Cybermen, and Jericho. The Doctor uses a passenger to absorb all of the Flux and save the universe. Swarm and Azure take the Doctor to Atropos to sacrifice her to Time. But since the Flux was destroyed, Time is still bound to Space and so it destroys Swarm and Azure. Time spares the Doctor. The three Doctors become one again. The Doctor drops the fob watch containing her lost memories deep in the Tardis. Dan officially becomes a companion. 

            Kate Stewart was played by Jemma Redgrave, who starred in the movie “I'll Be There” and the mini series “The Grid” and “Bramwell.” She's the the granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave and the niece of Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave. 

            This was a complicated and confusing season of Doctor Who. Apparently Russell T Davies, who started the reboot of Doctor Who in 2005 will be returning as the show runner in the next season. That might be interesting since he created many of the classic characters that are used in the series. 

            I took a bike ride in the afternoon to Bathurst and Bloor. During the whole ride I only saw two other cyclists on the road. I weighed 87.1 kilos when I got home. 

            I made stuffing from sautéed onions, a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread and the usual poultry seasonings. It's the smallest amount of stuffing I'd ever made because instead of a a turkey I stuffed a small chicken. I find turkey is just too large for someone who lives alone and I always end up throwing some away, Besides that I think chicken tastes better than turkey. In the last half hour I put french fries in the bottom of the pan under the chicken. I had a leg, some stuffing, french fries and gravy with a couple of beers while watching “Black Widow.” 

           This was a much less complicated story than Doctor Who. It begins when Natasha Romanov is a child in Ohio with her younger sister Yelena and her parents. It looks like a happy and normal life but Yelena seems to believe in it more than Natasha. The father Alexei comes home from work and suddenly tells his wife Melena and the kids that they all have to leave in a hurry. They drive to a shed where they have a plane stored but as they are boarding it the feds arrive with guns blazing. The plane starts to move with Alexei still on the ground and firing at the US agents. Then he runs and we see that he clearly has super strength. He catches the plane and hangs onto the wing while still firing at the feds. Melena gets severely wounded and Natasha has to pilot the plane while Melena tells her what to do. They get away and fly to Cuba where suddenly they all have Russian accents. Alexei is greeted by his boss Dreikov as The Red Guardian.

            I remember the Red Guardian from the comics in the 60s. He was an enemy of Captain America and a Russian super soldier. He was basically the Soviet Union's version of Captain America. 

            The girls are injected with something to knock them out and then carried away. 

            The main story takes place after the “Captain America: Civil War” movie. Natasha is hiding out from the feds. She has a trailer in a remote area of Norway and she's received mail from the Budapest safe house that she keeps but doesn't bother to look at. Natasha is attacked by The Taskmaster who has the ability to mimic the fighting abilities of anyone she sees. At first Natasha thinks the Taskmaster is after her but she's after the mail from Budapest. Natasha escapes with the case of vials the package contained and she goes to Budapest. 

            We are taken back two weeks when a grown up Yelena is working as a Black Widow assassin. She goes after a rogue Black Widow and kills her but just before she dies she sprays Yelena with a gas that releases her of the mind control that made her follow the orders of Dreikov. 

            Natasha arrives at the Budapest safe house and fights Yelena but that's just until they know they can trust each other. It is Yelena that sent the vials of anti mind control gas to Natasha. 

            It is made clear at this point that they are not really sisters and that Alexei and Melena are not really their parents. They were Russian spies embedded in US society. 

            They are attacked by Black Widows and after they escape they decide they need to find the Red Room and shut down the Black Widow operation. They decide to break Alexei out of prison in Siberia. There is a dramatic escape and we see that the Red Guardian still has his powers even though he's gotten a bit fat. But after all that Alexei reveals he has no idea where the Red Room is. They find Melena in a remote area where she does mind control experiments on pigs. She welcomes them and there is a family reunion. Yelena has an emotional breakdown because she really believed they were her family all those years ago. Melena seems to betray them all because Dreikov's agents capture them. They are taken to the Red Room which is on an enormous ship in the clouds something like the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Once they are there Melena shows herself to be on their side. Natasha gets to Dreikov by disguising herself as Melena. Dreikov introduces Natasha to Taskmaster who turns out under her mask to be his own horribly disfigured daughter but now perhaps the most powerful of the mind controlled Black Widows. After Taskmaster leaves the room Natasha tries to attack Dreikov but she can't because he has pheromones that prevent Widows from harming him. He reveals how he recruits Widows as children from all over the world. Sometimes they are taken or sometimes they are simply disadvantaged girls with no options. Once Natasha has the information she needs from Dreikov she smashes her own face down on his desk, severs her olfactory nerve so she can't be affected by Dreikov's pheromone lock and begins to attack him. He escapes and Natasha copies the information on the Widows and their locations from his computer. She has a fight with several Widows until they begin to overpower her. At this point Yelena drops a gas bomb containing the antidote and the Widows are freed of mind control. Melena destroys one of the engines that holds the Red Room in the sky and it begins to fall. She and Alexei escape in a plane. Yelena falls from the ship but Natasha grabs a parachute and dives through the sky after her. She saves Yelena and then fights Taskmaster in the sky on the falling debris of the Red Room. On the ground she frees Taskmaster from mind control with a vial of gas. Natasha gives Yelena the locations of the remaining Widows and the last vial of gas. Natasha goes back to reunite with the Avengers. 

            The after credits scene takes place after the last Avengers movie when Black Widow is dead. Anyone who saw that movie knows that Natasha and Hawkeye fought over which one of them was going to sacrifice themselves to acquire the Soul Stone. Natasha sucker punched Hawkeye, jumped over the cliff, and died so that her soul would take the place of the stone. In the final scene of the Black Widow movie Yelena is visiting Natasha's grave when she is accosted by her new boss Valentina who gives her her next assassin target. It's a picture of Hawkeye. She tells Yelena that he's the one responsible for Natasha's death. 

            Yelena was played by Florence Pugh, who is a British actor. She starred in the movie Lady Macbeth, King Lear, The Outlaw King, Fighting With My Family, Midsommar, and Little Women. She starred in the miniseries The Little Drummer Girl. It looks like she will be the new Black Widow in any Marvel movies or shows. She's already appeared as Black Widow in the TV series Hawkeye, trying to kill him. I find it a little sad that they killed off Natasha. She looks a lot more like the Black Widow from the comics than Yelena does.

December 26, 1881: We gave the baby a bath in my dad's kitchen sink

Thirty years ago today

            On Thursday I made pancakes for breakfast and we gave the baby a bath in my father's kitchen sink. We were taking pictures of her and I said something to Nancy about working the camera which caused her to start crying and go to the bedroom. 

            A little later my sister Sibyl and her family arrived. Her kids Nicholas and Aaron played with my daughter and they enjoyed each other. After half an hour Nancy finally emerged from the bedroom and we all exchanged presents. Sibyl gave me a pair of gloves. The boys seemed to like what we gave them. Sibyl had turned her Christmas dinner leftovers into a delicious casserole which she heated up for us all. 

            At around 20:30 Sibyl and Ken drove us to catch our bus in Grand Falls. We had to wait an hour in Edmundston for another bus then we made a quick transfer in Riviere du Loup.

Jemma Churchill

            On Friday morning I worked out the chords for the intro and most of the first verse of “Poupée Poupée” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I weighed 86.8 kilos before breakfast. 

            My upstairs neighbour David knocked on my door and gave me a six-pack of small cans of Creemore. 

            Around midday, I finished cleaning the top of the kitchen shelves above the sink. Then I removed everything from the top shelf and washed that as well. The top right side of the whole set of shelves is tilting out from the wall. I was cleaning behind it with a toothbrush and I found a cigarette. I've lived here for almost 25 years so it's possible that cigarette had been there long before I moved in. A lot of the stuff on that shelf is glassware and jars, so I'll have to wash all those things before putting them back. 

            I weighed 86.1 kilos before lunch.

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Bloor and Palmerston and then rode south to College. I didn't see as many Christmas lights on Palmerston as I'd expected. I took College to Brock and then rode south to home. I weighed 85.9 kilos when I got back at 16:50. 

            I downloaded four videos of fluorescent lights and imported one of them into my Movie Maker project for my song Instructions For Electroshock Therapy. I just stuck it on the end of the timeline to edit. I'll probably work on it on Sunday. 

            I mixed the ground beef I bought yesterday with an egg, bread crumbs, chopped onion, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. I made four patties and grilled them in the oven. 

            I worked on my poem series My Blood In A Bug. 

            I edited my photo "Anti Gravity's Rainbow."   

            I put fries in the bottom of the pan underneath the burgers, I heated gravy, I melted five-year-old cheddar on top of one of the burgers, and I toasted a Montreal style bagel, I had a burger on a bagel with fries and gravy and two of the small beers while watching the fourth episode of the thirteenth season of Doctor Who. It's weird that the beer that David bought me is supposed to be the same brew that I buy in the larger cans but they tasted entirely different. A little more pungent and oily tasting. 

            In the previous story, a Weeping Angel has taken over the Tardis. The Doctor manages to reboot the Tardis and expel the Angel but not before the Angel has set the course. They land in Medderton, England in 1967. An elderly couple is looking for their niece Peggy and so Yasmin and Dan help them look. The Doctor investigates a house and finds Professor Jericho doing psychic experiments on Claire. The Angels surround the house and manage to get in. 

            Meanwhile, Yasmin and Dan also encounter the Angels but are not able to evade them. The Angels transport whomever they touch back through time and feed off the quantum energies that are released in the process. Yasmin and Dan are transported to 1901 where they meet Peggy. The Angels are in Medderton in 1901 as well but in running from them they come to the edge of reality. The Flux is taking a little more of the town by the minute. 

           The Angels can get in even through an image of an Angel like a drawing. But the Doctor learns that there is an Angel inside Claire that got there through an image she formed in her mind. The Doctor does something with Claire that is very similar to a Vulcan mind-meld on Star Trek. Inside Claire's mind, she learns that the Angel that is occupying Claire is actually a fugitive from the other Angels.

            Yasmin, Dan, and Peggy find a barrier between 1901 and 1967 but they can't safely cross. However, they can see the elderly Mrs. Hayward on the other side who reveals that she is Peggy.

            Meanwhile, Bel lands on the planet Puzano. Since it is one of the few planets not yet disintegrated by the Flux it is full of refugees. She meets Namaca who leads her to a gathering of people awaiting transport. He tells her of a saviour who will appear. The “saviour” is Azure with a Passenger. Bel has heard of the Passengers and knows they are not vehicles but rather living prisons. Bel saves Namaka from being one of the victims and then she goes after Azure in her ship. Vinder arrives and hears of this from Namaka and then prepares to go after Bel. 

            The Doctor learns from Claire's Angel that the Angels work for Division. The rogue Angel says it can give the Doctor knowledge of her lost past through Division. But to protect itself it gives the Doctor to Division. In the end, we see the Doctor turn into a weeping Angel. 

            Mrs. Hayward is played by Penelope McGhie. 

            Peggy is played by Poppy Polivnick. 

            Peggy's Aunt Jean is played by Jemma Churchill, who played Barnaby's nanny on Nativity Rocks. She is best known for playing Matron Ramsay on Call The Midwife and Nanny Lyons on Upstairs Downstairs. She produced and starred in the movie Beached and co-created Two Tree Productions. She played Ms. Fellows on Waterloo Road.

December 25, 1991: My daughter crawled a third of a metre on Christmas Day

Thirty years ago today

            On Christmas Day we didn't go down to my sister Sibyl's place for dinner because my dad's health issues wouldn't let him drive. She would be coming up to New Denmark on Boxing Day with leftovers. Instead we went up to Aunt Pearl's for Christmas dinner. Aunt Helen and Uncle Peter were there as well and it was an okay event and better than nothing but Pearl was not as good a cook as Sibyl. I found out later that Helen and Peter's son, my cousin Dale had been beaten to death a few years ago in a bar fight out west. We left shortly after my father did. The baby crawled about a third of a metre. My brother Allison called to ask Dad if I'd mentioned giving him my kidney. We watch TV to pass the time. My father complained about the water being wasted but he also enjoyed playing with his granddaughter.