The Ballad of the Sad Cafe

            On Monday morning I memorized the third verse of “Mangos” by Serge Gainsbourg. There's really just one left so I should have the song nailed down tomorrow. I found a rhyme for “tropical” that fit in the chorus: “Savour the flavour carnival.”

            I posted my weekly email assignment submission for Intro to Shakespeare: 

            Othella has a crucial role in my favourite film, “Les Enfants du Paradis.” Four real famous figures from 19th Century French history are brought together in a fictional rivalry over one woman named Garance. The great actor Frédérick Lemaître is one of the suitors but when he learns that the one Garance loved all along is the mime Baptiste Deburau he simply thanks her and says that now he has the sting of jealousy he needs to play Othello. He does so but we only see the final scene just before and up to the death of Desdemona. Is jealousy enough to play Othello or does one also need to be slowly eaten by self-doubt? 

            At 8:45 I logged onto Zoom for my Shakespeare lecture. 

            I'm not going to edit to make sense of the shorthand with which I type any of my lecture notes for Shakespeare or US Lit this week because it takes too much time and I have an essay to write that's due in four days. I don't really need them this week anyway. I can get caught up after Friday. 

            Basically the first half of the lecture explored the multiple meanings of the word “Moor” that are presented in the play. It is often used as an honorific but since it is first used in a racist way that use colours the other uses throughout the rest of the acts. The second half looked at the way the word “honest” is used. Sometimes it means what it usually means for us but it often indicates “reliability” but there are also different types of reliability. One can be relied upon to do the right thing and be honest or be known as honest for following orders like a good subordinate. This can also be an insult like telling someone they are a good boy. 

            When I took some garbage out on the deck there were a few tiny snowflakes blowing around.

            I weighed 88 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride. I started off wearing my fall gloves but just north of College and Brock I stopped and put my winter gloves on and also put my hood up. I was comfortable then. I rode to Yonge and Bloor. The sky was just bright enough that I didn't need to put my flashers on at all. I weighed 88 kilos when I got home. 

            I finished re-reading “The Ballad of the Sad Café” by Carson McCullers and it seemed so much like a Flannery O'Connor story that I thought there might have been an influence. Apparently, they were contemporaries, hated each other's work, and never met. If there was an influence it would have been on O'Connor from McCuller. But O'Connor improved upon that style and her stories are more finely crafted timepieces. 

            I started re-reading “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a pork chop while watching the final episode of “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.” Unlike many TV series of that era, which just ended without any kind of acknowledgement that it was the finish, this story seemed clearly written as a finale. It begins with Gomer painting Sergeant Carter's office as a fifth anniversary present celebrating the first time he and Carter met. But Carter doesn't like the smell and before Gomer can warn him Carter sits down on a freshly shellacked chair and ruins his pants. Carter yells that Gomer has never been anything but trouble since he first laid eyes on him. He's tells him he's a thorn in his side but the killer is when Carter shouts for Gomer to get out of his life. Shortly after this Carter learns that Gomer is being transferred and after looking further he finds out Gomer requested the transfer. Most of the show consists of flashbacks from two episodes as Carter tries to relate to Corporal Duke Slater how much trouble Gomer has been. But Duke counters by reminding Carter how in each of those situations Gomer came through in the end. The first was when they were on the Navy ship and Gomer kept sinking the life raft. But then Gomer captured an enemy submarine in the war manoeuvres and Carter received a commendation. Next was when Gomer was taking care of Carter's car and it got stolen and then wrecked. But Gomer ended up being the cause of Carter being given a brand new convertible. The story ends with Carter secretly rescinding Gomer's transfer. 

            This was an entertaining series in general, although in the final season the stories tended to be lamer and depended more on tired TV tropes. Next, I'll finish watching The Addams Family, which I started on my birthday.