Alan Mowbray

            On Sunday morning I worked out the chords for the second verse of "De velours et de soie" (The Silk and the Velvet) by Boris Vian. 

            I continued my search for the chords to "Lemon incest" by Serge Gainsbourg but didn't find any more than the ones I'd found yesterday. I started working them out and I agree with the chords for the first line but I think it goes somewhere else in the second and third. The melody is actually Chopin's Étude Opus 10, Number 3. 

            I weighed 86.3 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I've been in the morning this year. That's because of the big lunch I had yesterday and then my usual Saturday night meal tends to be heavier than most of the week on top of that. It's seven tenths of a kilo heavier than this time last year.

            In the late morning I started doing my taxes. I was done at around 13:00 and would have been able to have lunch on time but it wouldn't let me submit it. There was a window that asked me to confirm that I didn't receive Old Age Security last year but I did. I checked back into the return and I'd clearly submitted a T4A of my OAS from 2022. I called up the H&R Block office down the street but the guy didn't know anything about submitting online. I tried the chatbot but it asked me to register for that service which I would have to pay for. Finally I found a chat service they offer for technical support. There was a warning that they couldn't help me with my taxes but this seemed like a technical problem to me. I had to wait a while for the support person to show up in the text window but it didn't take long for her to get to the root of the problem I had submitted my OAS info in T4A slot but I was supposed to submit it in a T4A(OAS) slot. I changed it and everything was fine after that but it really ate into my day. I was an hour late for lunch. 

            I weighed 86.1 kilos before lunch at 14:00 and that's my highest weight at that time this year. It's three tenths of a kilo heavier than this time last year. I had saltines with seven-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            I took a siesta from 15:00 to 16:45. 

            I left for my bike ride an hour later than usual but it was a pleasant afternoon for a ride. There was a long protest march of Tibetans in support of the Dalai Lama. I'm sure it's no big deal for an adult to touch tongues with a child. People do it with their dogs all the time. But his big mistake was probably apologizing for it. 

            I weighed 85.1 at 18:00. That's the heaviest I've been at that time in a week. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:15. 

            I compared the video of me singing my translation of Joanna on June 18 to the one I recorded on July 6 and I think June 18 wins. I compared June 18 to July 12 and had to listen to both a few times. There's a lot of traffic noise on July 12 so June 18 wins. I compared June 18 to July 14 and although July 14 is sometimes technically better I feel more compelled to like the guy who is singing on June 18, so June 18 will be the one that I upload to YouTube. Next I'll compare the six best French versions and decide which of those stands out. 

            I continued to search for electrocution scenes in old movies but so far I haven't found anything that works for my line, "if unconsciousness follows the charge a delayed attack will come". 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, bacon, and seven-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching the 26th season finale of South Park and the 7th season premier of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            In the South Park story it's the beginning of spring break. There are two parallel stories. Sharon and Shelley Marsh are driving to Fort Lauderdale and with the girls gone Randy wants to party with Stan. He tells him that now that the women are away they can do anything they want. Stan says he wants to play War Hammer with Tolkien. War Hammer sounds like a man's game to Randy but it turns out to be a very complicated board game. Randy doesn't understand and thinks that society has emasculated his son. He hires two strippers dressed as cops to come but when Randy wants a wet t-shirt contest and throws his drink on the chest of one of the strippers, the Romanian pimp pulls a gun and threatens Randy's life. Randy explains he just wants to party and so the pimp organizes a wild party for all of his friends at Randy's marijuana farm. Randy parties so hard he breaks two limbs and he's black and blue all over. Meanwhile Stan and Tolkien continue to calmly play War Hammer. A female cop shows up at the door because neighbours have complained about a loud party. Randy thinks she's a stripper and he grabs her ass. The cop throws Randy to the ground and handcuffs him. Another cop walks in and sees the pimp, who is a wanted man. There is a gunfight and the female cop dies on top of Randy. 

            Mr. Garrison tells his boyfriend Rick that he's booked a vacation for them at Myrtle Beach. Rick is cautious about Myrtle Beach because he says there are a lot of "those kinds of places". I assumed he meant the wilder kind of gay clubs. Garrison assures him they won't be going to those places and besides there are probably none left. When they get there it turns out that those kind of places are MAGA stores. They still have Garrison's picture all over the place and they still sell MAGA merchandize. They want him to rally but Garrison resists. That night however Garrison can't sleep and sneaks away. He goes to a MAGA place and they beg him to rally so he does. Garrison slips off the wagon. He begins to neglect Rick until Rick walks into a rally and sees him there. Rick leaves. But while Rick is waiting at the airport the television is showing Garrison at a rally. Garrison declares his love for Rick on national TV and when he gets home they are reunited. 

            Randy begs Sharon to come home from her vacation early to save him from himself. Stan and Tolkien are still playing War Hammer when she gets there. 

            In the Beverly Hillbillies story Drysdale comes to the Clampetts with a big announcement. He tells them that Jed is now worth $80 million. Jed wonders what the big news is. Then they realize that Drysdale wants them to feel happy about the money so they politely show some mild enthusiasm. Drysdale gives Jed a present of an oriental magic music maker. Drysdale thinks they'll be impressed if he pretends that Jed's money has been a burden. But it back fires on him as Jed decides to take his money out so Drysdale doesn't have to suffer any more. Jethro hears on the radio that England is so bad off that they are selling the queen. Jed calls Clampett Castle in Kent, England, and Faversham explains they aren't selling the queen but rather her ships. Jed thinks that he means they are selling her navy. He decides to give his $80 million to the queen. Drysdale tries to trick him by hiring an actor pretending to be the queen's minister of finance. Montrose arrives in a mock-up of a royal coach. When he finds that Jed is worth $80 million he decides to forget the acting job and to pretend his way to a fortune. He tells Jed he can save the queen by buying some of the queen's property. He decides to sell Canada for whatever money Jed has in his pocket, which is quite a lot. 

            Montrose was played by Alan Mowbray, who began as a stage actor in Britain. After acting in London's West End he moved to the United States. His Broadway debut was "Sport of Kings" in 1926. When talkies came in theatre actors were in great demand in Hollywood. His first movie was as a butler in God's Gift to Women. He was frequently typecast as butlers from then on. he starred in Night Life of the Gods. He co-starred in Terror By Night. he played a con-man for six years on the 1950s TV series "Colonel Humphrey Flack". He played Stewart Styles in the TV series "Dante". He was one of the founding members of The Screen Actors Guild. His last movie was A Majority of One in 1961. 

            I've made it to 44 days without finding a bedbug.