I memorized the first two verses of “Amour jamais” (“Never Romance” and or “Always Romance”) by Serge Gainsbourg.
I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of four sessions. It continued to go out of tune only slightly less than yesterday. There was a space of three songs mid-session when it stayed in tune and later it behaved through two songs. I had a little more of my voice back, moving from yesterday’s Tom Waits rasp to a Rod Stewart sandpaper.
I weighed 86 kilos before breakfast.
I was going to start looking into how to ship by FedEx the candy I bought yesterday to my daughter, but then I read in the news that the post offices will be operating tomorrow. I went over to Vina Pharmacy to renew a prescription and saw that the post office was open. The clerk said they were open all through the strike but just couldn’t mail anything. I was trying to figure out how big of a shipping carton I should buy for Astrid’s candy. The extra large looked like it would be too big so I settled on the large, although it might be tight. I seem to be able to judge the size I need accurately every year but I never feel sure leading up to it.
I weighed 86.05 kilos before lunch.
In the afternoon I took a bike ride, intending to go downtown but it was raining lightly. It felt like if I went past Ossington there was a good chance I would get wet and so I headed south. After I did so the rain increased a bit and so I made the right decision.
I weighed 85.85 kilos at 17:45.
I was caught up on my journal at 18:45.
I finished frames 2 to 4 of my second rainbow wave animation and started on frame 5. I’ll do another 22 frames and then see if those are enough to accompany the instrumental intro of my song “Seven Shades of Blues”.
In the Movie Maker project for the acoustic version of my song “Vomit of the Star Eater” I’ve already synchronized the audio and the video. I spent about 45 minutes deleting the bad takes of the song but still didn’t get to the final take. I did a lot of takes in that October 1 session.
I had a potato with gravy, two chicken wings and some other chicken parts while watching season 1, episodes 9 and 10 of Batman. This was another two part story.
In part 1, a mystery robber always strikes on April 1 and always steals no more nor less than $100,000. It has just happened again for the third year in a row. Commissioner Gordon decides to call Batman and to also project the Bat Signal on the night sky. Meanwhile on the roof of Wayne Manor Bruce and Dick are looking at the rings of Saturn through a telescope. Aunt Harriet comes to tell them dinner is ready when she notices the Bat Signal. Bruce makes excuses for himself and Dick to leave and they head for the Bat Phone and then to police headquarters. The only clue is a bullet that bounced from the robber’s protective clothing. Batman asks the editor of the Gotham City Times to print a false headline and article saying that the $100,000 the thief stole was counterfeit. In the Bat Cave Batman analyzes the bullet and finds it passed through thirteen layers of brightly covered silk. There are also traces of ambergris and so they conclude that the thief is female. Anybody can wear anything and so that doesn’t prove the robber’s gender, but whatever. When Batman tells police Commissioner Gordon that the crook is a woman he’s surprised and asks, “What is the world coming to?” Meanwhile in the back of the Gnome Bookstore the genius inventor Eivol Ekdal shows the newspaper to escape artist Zelda the Great. She pays him $100,000 a year for the great escape devices she uses in her act and now he is angry because he thinks he has been paid in counterfeit money. Zelda doesn’t want to be a criminal but is forced to in order to pay for Eivol’s devices. He tells her he was about to present to her his greatest invention, the escape proof chamber for her to escape from in her act. It’s encased in bulletproof plastic, the floor grill emits a deadly gas and the grill itself is electrified. He will only tell her how to escape it when he gets his money. He says he will accept the Star of Samarkind emerald, which will be on display one day only at Stonewin’s Jewellery. But Zelda smells a Bat-trap and indeed that’s what it is because Batman has replaced the emerald with a fake one containing a transmitter. Miss Stonewin agrees to the replacement and allows Batman and Robin to conceal themselves in her store in wait for the thief. Two cops in disguise as power workers are outside the store and the Batmobile is concealed under a power workers’ tent. But meanwhile Zelda is watching and knows it’s a trap. But while Batman and Robin are in the store, Zelda calls Wayne Manor and tells Aunt Harriet that Dick Grayson has been injured and she’s sending a special taxi to take her to him. After Batman and Robin have been watching over the store for two hours a woman in black in a wide brimmed hat with a black veil enters the store and walks with the aid of a cane. She looks at the emerald and says, “It looks almost real”, then smoke streams from her cane. When it clears Zelda is there in her orange attire and the emerald is gone. Batman and Robin jump to grab Zelda but she disappears because she was only a projection. Batman says the tiny mirrors in her hat projected a false image. I can’t see how that would work. Batman and Robin head for the Batmobile and in the gutter they find that Zelda has thrown away the emerald. Batman gets a call from Commissioner Gordon telling him that Dick Grayson’s Aunt Harriet has been kidnapped and the abductor demands $100,000 in one hour for her return. In the cliffhanger scene we see Zelda knitting in a rocking chair while nearby Harriet is blindfolded, in a straight jacket and suspended over a pool of fire.
In part 2, Bruce Wayne meets with Robin and Commissioner Gordon at a TV station according to the kidnapper’s demands. Regular programming is interrupted so Wayne, Robin and Gordon can appeal to the abductor. They give a phone number for the kidnapper to call. Zelda is watching and calls it. Robin tells her that the $100,000 she stole from the bank was not really counterfeit and they prove it with a signed and sealed statement from the newspaper publisher. Wayne additionally confirms that as a director of the bank he can affirm that the money she stole was real. Robin tells her that since she already has her money and does not need a ransom for Harriet. Zelda agrees to release Harriet. Back at Wayne Manor, Alfred reveals that he found a book of matches from the Gnome Bookstore that the kidnapper left behind. Batman has already deduced that the kidnapper is Zelda the Great because she told them that Harriet was suspended in a straight jacket over a pool of burning oil. That is Zelda’s trademark escape act. The heroes head for the Gnome while Zelda and Eivol are in the back of the store. She asks him to tell her how to escape from the chamber but he says he doesn’t know. That is why they need to lure Batman there because he is the world’s greatest escape artist. They need to have him be trapped in the chamber so they can learn from him how to escape. Zelda asks how she can use the chamber after that if Batman knows. Eivol says Batman will need to be killed. He has made a deal with the crime syndicate as they are paying him $100,000 to set Batman up as a target. As soon as he escapes two hidden hit men will gun him down. Zelda is appalled but has already lured Batman there by deliberately leaving behind the book of matches. Batman and Robin arrive in the book store. A secret door opens to the back where they find the escape proof chamber. They step inside to look for clues and they are trapped inside. The deadly gas rises from the grill. They conclude that a gas lighter than air must contain hydrogen. They use the grid to electrify the gas with the buckles from their belts. But if the gas is coming through the grid and the grid is electrified that would have already happened. Anyway somehow that blows the door off the chamber and they escape. The hitmen are about to catch the heroes in a crossfire when Zelda shouts to warn them. They duck and the gangsters end up shooting each other. Eivol tries to escape but gets banged with a Baterang. Zelda gives herself up. Zelda goes to prison but Wayne offers her a second chance because she saved Batman. She can have a job at his children’s hospital entertaining the children as the resident magician.
Eivol was played by Canadian actor Jack Kruschen, who spent years as a stage and radio actor before his film debut. He started working in an LA radio station at the age of 16. In 1939 he appeared in TV dramas on the Don Lee experimental television station in Los Angeles. The shows were beamed out to only 200 television receivers with tiny screens. His film debut was in Red Hot and Blue in 1949. He played Maurice Pulvermacher in the original Broadway production of I Can Get It For You Wholesale. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in The Apartment. He co-starred in McLintock and Satan’s Cheerleaders. He played Giorgio Rossi on Bonanza. He co-starred in the Canadian sitcom Material World from 1990 to 1993.
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