Jack Stokes

            On Friday morning I revised my translation of the third and fourth verses of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. 

            I posted “Love Me Like Ophelia”, my translation of “Ophélie” by Serge Gainsbourg on Facebook. There are only nine Gainsbourg songs left in my project to translate all of his songs from 1958 until his death in 1991. I memorized the first verse of his song “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delirium) and revised my translation of that verse. 

            I weighed 86.85 kilos before breakfast. Around midday I finished sanding the middle of the inside of the door frame. On Sunday I’ll sand the kitchen side edge of the middle. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. I had put a fresh flasher on the mantle near where my bike hangs but forgot to put it on before my ride. Since the time change it’s dark for most of my ride and so I made sure I put the fresh flasher on when I got home. 

            I weighed 87.05 kilos at 18:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:51. 

            I compared the song practice videos of my performances of “Comme un boomerang” on September 5 and September 15. September 5 looks better and sounds a little better. I compared September 21 to September 5 and September 5 looks and sounds better, plus I slightly fumbled a word on the 21st. I compared October 13 to September 5. September 5 is the best acoustic version of “Comme un boomerang” but I don’t think it’s good enough for YouTube. I’m going to try it for a few months with a different E flat chord and hear if it comes out better in next year’s recording project.

            I reviewed my September 1 performance of “Vomit of the Star Eater”. I played it with the Gibson Les Paul Studio electric and at this point I was just trying to work the song out and didn’t attempt a smooth take from start to finish. Also on that day the camera was tilted too high and so only the top of the guitar could be seen. 

            I spent about an hour re-learning “Paranoiac Utopia” on the guitar. I still can’t play it entirely without looking at my chord sheet but I’m almost there. 

            I had a potato with gravy and my last slice of roast beef while watching videos 13 and 14 of The Beatles cartoon series. 

            In story 1 of video 13 The Beatles are visiting Hollywood and Ringo thinks he’s going to be a star. He’s riding an automatic horse when the other Beatles turn it up, causing the horse to throw Ringo into the air. He lands in the arms of a producer who is desperately seeking a new stuntman because all the other ones are in the hospital. Ringo thinks he’s been hired as the star but he’s the stuntman in various dangerous situations. He gets tackled in football; beaten in boxing, falls from a tower, eaten by crocodiles; pushed from an airplane with an umbrella for a parachute, shot full of holes by a gangster, gouged by a bull, and shot from a cannon. He ends up in traction in the hospital. His producer comes to give him a cheque for $12. The producer gives $1 million to the star who Ringo says wasn’t even in the movie.

            The first singalong song is to “No Reply”, which was written mostly by John for Tommy Quickly but Tommy decided not to use it. Ringo really was in the hospital during the recording and so Paul played drums while George played bass. John sang the lead vocal while Paul sang harmony. The second singalong is to “I’m Happy Just to Dance With You”, which was written by John and Paul for George to sing. 

            In story 2 of video 13, the Beatles are in Rome and want to bring back a souvenir for the British Museum. Meanwhile $ millions in gold coins have been stolen and the two thieves have melted the coins down to disguise it as a statue of the goddess Musica, then painted it white. They are transporting it in a wheelbarrow when they see the cops and so they leave it among the other sculptures in a statuary. But the Beatles decide to buy it and are carting it when the thieves grab it and carry it away on top of the spare tire on their vespa. When they hit a bump the statue, still on the spare tire bounces free. Then to the tune of “I Want to Be Your Man” The Beatles and the thieves chase the bouncing statue all over Rome. The statue lands in a fountain and the paint washes off. As a reward the Beatles are given a miniature sculpture of the four Beatles that sings at high speed. 

            In story 1 of video 14 two thieves try to steal a top secret book of new Beatles songs. One of the villains is modeled after Oddjob from the James Bond film Goldfinger, complete with the razor edged bowler hat which he throws as a weapon. They sneak into the Beatles’ hotel room where there are four beds. The thieves are about to steal the book when Ringo wakes the others to tell them they goofed. They were supposed to perform in Barcelona that night and so they rush to charter a plane. The crooks follow them to the airport. Even though they are shooting at the Beatles, only Ringo seems to notice as they sing “Don’t Bother Me”, which was George’s first attempt to write a song. The crooks drive ahead and put thumbtacks on the road but they drive over them while the Beatles go around them. They try to drop a hook from a helicopter but Ringo attaches it to a passing biker who is very angry when the crooks hoist him up. When the Beatles reach the airport the crooks disguise themselves as screaming girls. John kisses one of them. The Beatles are running for their plane when Oddjob throws his hat but Ringo drops the book and bends to pick it up and so the bowler misses him and boomerangs back to cut the pants off the two crooks. 

            The first singalong is to “It Won’t Be Long”, which was written mostly by John. The second singalong is to “I Should Have Known Better”. 

            In story 2 of video 14, The Beatles are on a tropical vacation when some girls start chasing them. They all grab hold of the tail of a dragon kite and arrive up on a cliff where the kite flyer is a Charlie Chan type policeman who warns them about a jewel thief named Anyface who is a master of disguise. Suddenly there are two Pauls. While The Beatles sing “No Reply” Chan brings his number one niece who he says is such a Beatles fan she will be able to tell the difference but she can’t. Chan takes them to the Cave of Truth where the hermit says both Pauls have to climb a tree and jump into a pool. The one who doesn’t die will be Paul. But they both have magnets that pull them down and somehow bend the tree so they have a soft landing. Then screaming girls start chasing Anyface and he loses his disguise and calls for help. 

            These animations were co-directed by Jack Stokes, whose first work in a feature film were some special effects in the movie Wonderwall but he worked on several short films before that. He directed Yellow Submarine and the Den segment in the movie Heavy Metal. He directed animated segments for the made for TV movie Magical Mystery Tour. For television he directed The Family Ness and The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends.