Saturday 30 July 2022

Daffy Duck


            Friday was the beginning of the tenth year of this journal. In the morning I finished memorizing "Moi j'te connais comme si j' t'avais défaite" (My translated title: I Know You as if I'm the Sky That Snowed You) by Serge Gainsbourg. I looked for the chords online but no one had posted them. I worked out the first chord and I'll continue tomorrow. 
            I weighed 85.8 kilos before breakfast. Heavier than yesterday but still light for the morning when compared to the last twelve days. 
            The first of the three bags of milk that I bought last weekend has gone sour. The others might be too as I see that the best before date was July 4. I thought I could trust No Frills to check those dates but now I remember that once I almost bought some skyr that was past its date and would have if the cashier hadn't pointed it out to me. 
            Around midday I pulled my fridge out from the wall again, removed my aloe vera plant from the top and cleaned that area. I washed the pan the plant sits on and added more soil to the pot. I also cleaned the right side of the fridge. I need to pull the fridge out one more time to clean the back of its left side. Then I'll wash the front and move on to the southeast corner of the kitchen. 
            I weighed 85.4 kilos before lunch. 
            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. The clouds were the ragged tent roof of a circus. The woman who usually preaches in front of old city hall was on Yonge Street this time. She said that the atheists say that everything came from nothing. I don't think any atheist ever said that. 
            I weighed 85.6 kilos at 17:00. 
            I was caught up on my journal at 18:10. 
            I finished the third round of reviewing the videos of me playing my song "Megaphor". July 12 was a little twangy at first and a little dull on the B near the end, but I'll let it through to the next round. On July 13 the first one is better than the second. Beginning the fourth round, June 11 after a fourth listen sounds even more off than before and so it's out. June 23 sounds dull near the end but I'll let it through to the fifth round. June 28 doesn't really sound cleaner than June 23 but I'll listen a fifth time to try to hear why I thought so before. So today I only eliminated one video from the competition and there are six left. It feels now like I'm looking more for the least bad than for the best. When I find that one I'll see how it sounds when I add the audio from the microphone recording. I might put an imperfect one up on YouTube and practice the song for another year, then record it again to hear if I've gotten any better. 
            I did another search for videos to fit with the slow instrumental of my song "Instructions for Electroshock Therapy". I looked for lightning striking kites, balloons, parachutists and planes but found nothing I could use. I'll try again tomorrow. 
            I finished sorting through the fourth folder of my writing and started the fifth. I'm going to separate the pages containing parts of the Gumby Bible from the poems that are responses to the Gumby Bible. 
            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken drumstick while watching four Bugs Bunny cartoons.
            The first story is set in Spain in 1492. Columbus is arguing with the king of Spain about whether the Earth is round or not. For some reason, the king has a Mexican accent. Queen Isabella talks like Mae West and says she'll give Chris her jewels if he can prove the world is round. Bugs Bunny pops out of the ground and starts to help Columbus out. He proves the Earth is round by throwing a baseball around it. Next Bugs sets sail with Columbus and his crew but some crewmembers argue that rabbits are bad luck. As the journey drags on, the crew is getting more and more disgruntled. Chris tells Bugs he's sure they'll find land tomorrow and so Bugs relates that news to the crew. But weeks later there is still no land and the crew wants to kill Bugs. Bugs puts a picture of a tropical island on the bow and the men jump through it and start swimming. Bugs and Columbus are alone with one bean to eat. Chris starts chasing Bugs when they hit land. 
            The second story is a flashback episode. Bugs is showing a photo album to his nephew and relating the stories of some of his adventures. We see parts of the baseball game episode; we see a clip of the story of when Elmer Fudd chased Bugs onto a circus and Bugs tricked Elmer into doing a high dive; we see some of the boxing match between Bugs and the Crusher; and we see a segment of Bugs's trip to the Moon. In the end, Bugs's nephew is skeptical and so Bugs says, "If everything I've told you isn't true, I hope I'm run over by a streetcar." Suddenly a streetcar crashes through the living room. 
            The third story begins with Bugs rotisserie-roasting carrots over a fire and singing, "Carrots are a dime, you get a dozen for a dime, you know it's magic. They fry, a song begins, they roast and I hear violins, it's magic. Why do I kid myself? Other loves that I have are all really few. When in my heart I know the magic is my love for you." Meanwhile, Yosemite Sam smells carrots and knows it leads to rabbits. But then Sam sees the silhouette of someone leaving their seat in the audience and making their way to the aisle. Sam says, "Oh no you don't!" and points his gun, telling him to get back to his seat. Sam points his gun down Bugs's hole and Bugs pokes his head out through the loading end. Sam ejects the cartridge with Bugs in it and aims to shoot. Bugs quickly chews bubble gum and sticks it over the mouth of the barrel. Sam fires and is covered by a backfiring bubble. Bugs blows the bubble with Sam inside off a cliff. Sam digs up Bugs's hole and sifts Bugs out of the dirt. He takes Bugs back to his cabin and hangs him by his feet while he gets the stove ready. Sam tells Bugs to get in the oven and so he does. Seconds later Bugs comes out to get some lemonade and a fan and goes back in. Then Bugs asks Sam for a bottle opener. Then Bugs comes out to get cracked ice and a few more chairs. Then Bugs pokes his head out again and he has lipstick kiss marks all over his face. He asks Sam, "Aren't you coming in? The girls have been asking for you." Sam changes into his party clothes and goes into the oven. Bugs closes the door behind him, but then feels bad about tricking the little Nimrud. He opens the door to let Sam out but sees that there is a big live action New Years Eve party going on. Bugs says, "I don't ask questions, I just have fun!" and gets in the oven too. 
            In the fourth story, Daffy Duck puts on fake rabbit feet to make rabbit tracks leading to Bugs's hole. Elmer Fudd follows them. Elmer points his gun at Bugs but Bugs tells him it's not rabbit hunting season but rather duck season. Daffy comes out of hiding and says it's rabbit season. Bugs and Daffy argue back and forth until Bugs tricks Daffy into saying it's duck season and Elmer shoots him. This goes back and forth a couple more times and each time Bugs tricks Daffy into saying it's duck season and causing Elmer to shoot him. Bugs puts up a Duck Season sign and so Daffy disguises himself as Bugs. But Bugs disguises himself as Daffy and changes the sign to Rabbit Season and so Daffy gets shot again. Daffy tells Bugs, "You're despicable!" Then Bugs starts reading duck recipes out loud and so Daffy begins reading rabbit recipes. But Elmer says he is a vegetarian and only hunts for sport. Elmer begins shooting at both of them. Bugs tells Elmer he's using an elephant gun and so he should be shooting elephants. But suddenly an elephant says in a stereotypical gay voice, "You do and I'll give you such a pinch!" Then Bugs does drag and tries to flirt with Elmer and it works for a few seconds until Elmer realizes it's Bugs. Bugs and Daffy go to the tree where the rabbit season sign is and Bugs tears it off to show duck season. They keep taking turns tearing off the signs until one reading "Elmer Season" is revealed. They both put on hunting gear and have guns as they say, "Be very very quiet, we're hunting Elmers." 
            Daffy Duck was one of the first nutty lead characters meant to counter the fairly ordinary manner of Disney protagonists. After Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, he is the third most frequently appearing Loony Toons character. He debuted in "Porky's Duck Hunt" about a year before the first Bugs Bunny feature. Daffy was a new type of character because he was unrestrained and argumentative. In the first cartoons he looked more like a duck, but later became anthropomorphic. At first, he did not lisp and that speech characteristic developed gradually over time. 


            Before bed I did a search for bedbugs and found none.

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