Myron Waldman

            On Tuesday morning I finished posting on my Boris Vian Facebook page and my own Facebook page “Be All You Can Be”, my translation of “Allons z’enfants” by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll start learning the next Vian song on my list that has the audio available online. 

            I worked out the chords to the intro and about half the first verse of “Au charme non plus” (The Charm is Gone) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar during song practice. I started practicing “Paranoiac Utopia” as part of song practice but I still can’t get all the way through without stopping to figure out the chords for certain parts. 

            I weighed 87.6 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since November 17. 

            I spent a little over half an hour practicing “Paranoiac Utopia” and ran through it about eight times though still not seamlessly. But comparing it to getting through it twice in half an hour the day before, there’s obviously been progress. 

            I weighed 88.05 kilos before lunch, and that’s the most I’ve tipped the scale in the early afternoon since November 11. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos at 18:00. I was caught up on my journal at 18:45. 

            I compared the song practice video of my electric performance of “Vomit of the Star Eater” on October 5 to that of September 29 and found that although the Kramer sounds better than the Gibson when the Gibson has low action, September 29 has better lighting and more expression. I compared October 6 to September 29 and although I still find September 29 to look better and have more charm, the Kramer sounds better, I play it better and the tremolo bar sounds good at the end. I compared October 9 to October 6 and October 9 doesn’t look as good, plus the Kramer was out of tune. I compared October 10 to October 6 and October 10 seems better but unfortunately it freezes at 11:30. I compared October 15 to October 6 and had to listen to both a few times. I think October 6 is the best for look and expression and so that’s the electric take I’ll upload to YouTube. But I’m putting this project on hold until after my book launch so I have more time to rehearse. 

            I had time to rehearse “Paranoiac Utopia” for about an hour before dinner but still wasn’t able to get through the song without fumbling. I almost made it through on the last try but then I got too excited and lost my grip on the chord sequence. 

            I had a small potato with gravy and my last slice of sirloin tip roast while watching episodes 21 to 25 of Batfink. 

            In episode 21, Hugo Agogo has developed a pair of remote control floating gloves that steal for him and on top of that they are identical to Batfink’s gloves and so there is a warrant for Batfink’s arrest. Batfink has to solve the case before the police come for him. Batfink always uses his super sonar to locate Hugo but Hugo is never anywhere else than the same observatory hideout on a mountain. Hugo’s gloves are wearing boxing gloves and they attack Karate while Batfink goes inside. While fighting the gloves, Karate says that they are pretty fast on their feet. They knock him out. Batfink calls Hugo’s gloves “evil” and so one of them slaps him and challenges him to a duel. Batfink says a gentleman must always accept the challenge and so they meet the next day at dawn. Batfink swordfights with the glove and is disarmed. But then the gloves drop to the ground because their batteries run out as Batfink knew they would. 

            In episode 22, Sporty Morty is fishing in the street and hooks a woman’s expensive necklace. Then when a cop confronts him Morty knocks him out with a golf ball hit by a club. Morty bats a baseball bomb into a bank and after the explosion catches the flying money. Batfink uses his super sonar to find Morty’s hideout. Morty traps Batfink’s foot in a bear trap and hangs him upside down. He plans on mounting Batfink’s head with his other trophies after shooting him with an elephant gun. But Batfink swings free and cuts the rope with his wing then punches Morty into the wall so his ass is hanging where he’d planned to mount Batfink’s head. 

            In episode 23, Hugo has developed an antenna headgear that channels lighting in such concentration that it turns it into a disintegrator ray. He uses it to make holes in maximum security walls and vaults to steal the most valuable statue in the world: The Goddess of Gizmo. Batfink finds Hugo at his usual hideout even though he has to use his sonar to find him. Hugo uses his bolt on Batfink but his wings of steel act as a lightning rod as long as one wing is grounded. Hugo uses his bolt to knock out Karate. Then he knocks out Batfink by opening a trap door that he is grounding himself on. Hugo tries to finish Batfink but his antenna needs a charge. He decides to fly Batfink like a kite in a lightning storm. But the rain rouses Batfink to consciousness just in time to dodge the lightning bolt that hits Hugo’s headset and knocks him out. 

            This episode was animated by Myron Waldman, who studied at the Pratt Institute in New York. He started at Fleischer Studio in 1930 and worked on Betty Boop, Raggedy Ann, Gulliver’s Travels, The Animated Adventures of Superman, and Popeye. He was the head animator on two Oscar winning short films: Educated Fish and Hunky and Spunky. After Fleischer became Famous Studios he worked mostly on Casper the Friendly Ghost. In 1943 he created the wordless novel Eve: a Pictorial Love Story. In 1957 he moved to Hal Seeger Productions and worked on Out of the Inkwell and Milton the Monster. He directed The Heart that Changed Colour and The Adventures of a Man in Search of a Heart. 

            

            In episode 24, those circus skilled criminals the Ringading Brothers come to town to steal valuable rings. Their carnival train stops in front of a house, a roof door opens and a ladder extends upward with the acrobatic brother on top. He swings on a trapeze to a tree branch and into a window, then emerges with a valuable ring. Batfink and Karate try to use the Batillac to cut off the Ringading wagon but the brothers speed forward and so the Batillac gets out of the way. They find them at their circus camp but the acrobat grabs Karate, swings him high and drops him. Batfink tries to catch him but is caught by the whip of the other brother. Then he is pinned down as an elephant is standing on his wings with his back legs. The trainer brother is about to command the elephant to sit on Batfink but Batfink sends out a sonar Beep that turns into an arrow and jabs the elephant forward. The brothers are captured.

            In episode 25, Sir Sol Eloquee is rehearsing to play MacBeth with MacBeth’s original dagger. Hugo shines a spotlight that produces real spots, blinding the actor and allowing Hugo to grab the dagger. Batfink locates Hugo with his sonar even though he always has the same hideout. Hugo shines his spot spotlight on them as they drive the Batillac and causes it to crash. It’s not damaged and they arrive at Hugo’s lair. Karate is confronted by a leopard. Meanwhile Batfink is caught in a crossfire of spot spotlights while being surrounded by bombs suspended from balloons. Hugo tries to escape but is intercepted by Karate and his new pet leopard. Batfink escapes the spotlights by using spot remover. Karate uses it on the leopard and removes his spots as well, which seems to make the leopard happy.