Shelby Grant

            On Sunday morning I finished working out the chords for the first verse of “A Cannes cet été” (To Cannes This Summer) by Boris Vian. 

            I published on my Christian’s Translations blog “Variations on the Same Je t’aime”, my translation of “Variations sur le même t'aime” by Serge Gainsbourg and posted the lyrics on Facebook. There are now only six Gainsbourg songs left in my project to translate all of his songs from when he began in 1958 to when he died in 1991. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice and it went out of tune constantly. There was a brief period near the middle when it stayed in tune a couple of times. What’s weird is that when I first picked it up this morning it was perfectly in tune after sitting for a whole day. It was okay after Gian adjusted it a couple of days ago. If it continues I’ll take it back to him next week. 

           The laryngitis was gone but my singing voice was still hoarse. 

            I weighed 86.15 kilos before breakfast. 

            At around 13:00 I headed downtown to look for candy to send to my daughter. I stopped at Long and McQuade to pee and continued east. At Bloor and Bathurst someone called my name and it was Nick Cushing. He was standing on the southeast corner in front of The Fancy Burger waiting for some friends. We chatted for a while and then he gave me permission to leave. I rode to Yonge and south to The Bulk Mine. I went to McDonald’s to pee first and then went in to the Bulk Mine to shop for candy. My daughter likes sour stuff and so I bought a lot of that, including a can of sour soda. I got sour jelly bellies, sour candy canes, extreme sour Warheads hard candy, sour candy playdough, and a bag of Harry Potter Magical Sweets. Astrid also loves Dr. Pepper and they had different flavours from the usual brand like strawberries and cream Dr. Pepper, cream soda Dr. Pepper and cherry Dr. Pepper. Then I rode down to 220 Yonge but didn’t find the address until I looked it up and found that it was inside the Eaton centre mall. By that time I was already at Queen but once inside the mall I discovered that Ricardo’s Candy Corner is closer to Dundas. So I used the washroom at the south end and walked through the mall to the north end. At Ricardo’s I got a few bulk items but also bought a mango chili chocolate bar and a peppermint hot chocolate bomb. On the way home I stopped at Bagels on Fire and bought a dozen sesame seed Montreal style bagels. It was raining for the rest of my ride but not enough to soak me. 

            I had a bagel with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of orange juice for a very late lunch.

            I took a siesta from 17:15 until 18:50. 

            I weighed 85.55 kilos at 19:00. 

            I made pizza on two halves of a bagel, each with a slice of salami covering the hole, then I added Italian sausage pasta sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 1, episodes 7 and 8 of Batman. As usual this was a two part story. 

            In part 1, someone melts the Gotham indoor ice rink with a flame thrower, then escapes in an ice cream truck. When a motorcycle cop pursues them the leader shoots a gun that causes the pavement to ice in July. Commissioner Gordon concludes it could only be the work of Mr. Freeze and so Batman is called. Batman feels sorry for Freeze who is forced to live in a special cryo-suit that keeps his body temperature at minus 45 degrees. He also feels guilty for having accidentally caused his condition when he knocked the beaker of instant freeze on him during the fight in his laboratory. The ice cold villain originally appeared in Batman comics in 1959 as Mr. Zero, but the TV series called him Mr. Freeze and since he was a popular character the print version followed suit. In the comics Freeze’s condition was not the result of an accident involving Batman but rather from an error by Freeze. The TV series had the more clever origin to give Batman some responsibility. Freeze needs lots of money to maintain the environments in which he survives and so Batman expects a crime wave. Freeze’s hideout is on a snow capped mountain and Freeze uses a remote control device to make his own spaces cold but also to create narrow red warm corridors for his gang to move through. Freeze has placed five Batman decoys and also five of himself around the city to create confusion. Batman and Robin study the pattern of the appearances and find they are moving towards the diamond exchange. Meanwhile Freeze is robbing the diamond exchange but is only taking the very best. He freezes the safe to break it open so he can take the Star of Cashmere. All of the decoys arrive just before Batman and Robin. Freeze ices the floor just as the big fight begins. Batman and Robin have to fight not only Freeze’s men, but also the fake Freezes and fake Batmen, creating a confusing battle. Freeze and his men escape and Freeze freezes the Batmobile on his way out, rendering it unable to follow. Batman determines that Freeze only wants the most valuable diamonds in the world and the most precious of all is Giaculo’s Curculio, owned by the Princess Sandra of Molino. Sandra is coming to Gotham for the charity baseball game tomorrow, but arriving tonight. The heroes head for her hotel. Meanwhile a crate is delivered to Sandra but it opens and Freeze emerges. He takes her diamond. Batman and Robin arrive but Freeze sets fire to the curtain and the duo have to put out the flames while he escapes. They pursue him and Freeze freezes them. That’s the cliffhanger. 

            In Part 2, the frozen heroes are taken to a hospital with a special room in which they are kept at low temperature. The doctor in charge is a parody of Ben Casey and is even named Vince which is the real name of the actor (Vince Edwards) who plays Casey. He gradually raises the temperature until they are thawed out. Later Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson escort Princess Sandra to the baseball game where she throws out the first pitch. It is announced that Paul Diamante the star pitcher is missing. Dick reminds Bruce that Diamante is Spanish for diamond. They make excuses to Sandra and leave. They surmise that Diamante is one of the valuable diamonds that Freeze is collecting and that Diamante has been kidnapped. Batman goes to the commissioner’s office where Freeze calls and demands Batman in exchange for Diamante. Batman agrees and promises to go alone. But Robin secretly plants a tracking device on Batman and follows him. The exchange is made and Batman is knocked out and taken by Freeze’s thugs to their boss’s mountain hideout. Batman wakes up in a cell-sized red zone. Batman tries to attack Freeze but he is overwhelmed by the cold and Freeze has to save him by expanding his cell. Freeze tells Batman to follow the red path to the dining room and there he finds the embarrassed Robin who has been captured. Freeze serves liqueur but Batman doesn’t drink. Freeze decides it is time for one of them to die and so he narrows their temperature cage until there is only room for one of them. Batman forces Robin to stay in the red zone, then he charges and hits Freeze to knock him down. Then he grabs Freeze’s remote control and tosses it to Robin who uses it to expand the red zone throughout the room. Batman explains that he was wearing his special thermal long underwear. Robin contains Freeze in a cell-sized cold area. The police arrive because Robin called them just before he was captured. 

            Princess Sandra was played by Shelby Grant in her TV acting debut. She started her entertainment career doing commercials for local television in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career and while doing so she taught at a school for the deaf. Her film debut was a small part in Come Blow Your Horn. She was married to Chad Everett. She was very traditional about gender roles and didn’t think her husband should have to change diapers. She left acting to involve herself in charity work.