James Brolin

            On Saturday morning I worked out the chords for a little over half of the chorus of “White and Black Blues” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of four sessions. Changing my G string last night didn’t do a damn thing to help keep the B string in tune. In fact it was worse than before. Tonight I’ll change the B string. If that doesn’t help I need to get the guitar set up. 

            I weighed 85.85 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since January 9. 

            Around midday I went to No Frills where I bought five bags of cherries, a pack of raspberries, a pack of five-year-old cheddar, a whole chicken, lemon dish detergent, Thai sweet chili dipping sauce, a jug of low sugar iced tea, a jug of orange juice, a container of skyr, and a bag of Miss Vickie’s sweet chili chips. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride and the roads were clear enough to go all the way downtown. But the temperature was dropping and some of the water from the melted snow and the rain had frozen into patches of ice in a few places and no salting had been done. I felt my back wheel slip sideways a couple of times and so I decided to only go as far as Bloor and Ossington. 

            I weighed 85.95 kilos at 17:45. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:40. 

            I made about five more frames for my second rainbow wave animation. I need several more for my "Seven Shades of Blues" Movie Maker project. 

            I reviewed the videos of my song practice performances of “Les Sucettes” and “Annie C’s Aniseed Suckers” from September 11 to 14. On September 11 I played “Les sucettes” on my Martin Road Series acoustic guitar. The take at 21:45 was okay though I think a couple of chords were off. On September 13 I played it on my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar but the Gibson sounded horrible and I fumbled. On September 12 I played “Annie C’s Aniseed Suckers” on the Martin but the video file for that session seems to have become corrupted because now it freezes when I open it, even though I could play it a few months ago. I played it on my Gibson on September 14 and the take at 24:30 wasn’t horrible. 

            I grilled two burgers that I made from one of the packs of lean ground New Zealand grass fed beef. I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with Italian sausage sauce, one of the burgers crumbled, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episode 34 of Batman. 

            This story continues from the episode 33. Catwoman has teamed up with Sandman to gain the fortune of billionaire J. Pauline Spaghetti. Pauline suffers from chronic insomnia but is lured by Catwoman to seek treatment from Dr. Somnambula who is Sandman in disguise. The treatment with his sleeping drug gives Pauline her first sleep in years and now she wants Somnambula forever by her side. In trying to stop Sandman, Batman is knocked out and Robin is put into hypnotic sleep. At the end of the last episode Batman is strapped to a mattress under a giant stitching device that will eventually sew his body to the mattress. Robin is taken to Catwoman who puts him in her impossible electrified maze in the middle of which he finds policewoman Moonie who has been there for days ever since Catwoman caught her working under cover as one of her kittens. Batman is lucky because the needle pierces the straps that bind him and he is able to free himself. But Sandman has stolen the Batmobile and so Batman has to take the subway to Wayne Station and then he Batwalks along the road to the Batcave. There he tracks the Batmobile and finds it has been driven to a run down factory area that actually has a sign reading Run Down Factory. Alfred gives Batman a lift there on the back of his Alf Cycle. He arrives just as a rookie cop named Reggie is about to give the Batmobile a ticket. Reggie’s senior partner lets Batman go. Meanwhile Sandman has gotten through police guards to meet Pauline because she demanded that her saviour be allowed. Then Sandman put the guards to sleep. Sandman and Pauline go to Gotham Security Trust to withdraw $200,000,000 because Dr. Somnambula and Pauline are eloping. Sandman gives Catwoman’s address to the police to betray her so he doesn’t have to share Pauline’s fortune. Commissioner Gordon tells Batman where to find Catwoman. She says she’ll help him catch Sandman to get even with him, but she is coy when Batman asks for Robin. He grabs her and demands to know where Robin is. Catwoman likes his strong and forceful approach. She has her Kitten take Batman to the maze. Then Catwoman tries to escape but Commissioner Gordon arrives to arrest her. It doesn’t show Batman rescuing Robin but the next scene has the Dynamic Duo together again and in the Batmobile. The maze was no problem for Batman but it was a bit of a rip-off to not show him easily navigating it. Batman and Robin head for the Batboat to speed to J. Pauline Spaghetti Island where Dr. Somnambula and Pauline are having their honeymoon at the site of her first spaghetti factory. It turns out that she is somewhat of a man eater as she shows Sandman the memorials to her previous four husbands who all died in the factory. Batman and Robin arrive and the final fight takes place with Sandman and his henchmen. Watching the fight causes Pauline to fall asleep. 

            Reggie the rookie cop was played by James Brolin, whose film debut was in Take Her She’s Mine. His TV debut was in Bus Stop. He played Stephen Kiley on Marcus Welby M.D (for which he was nominated for four Emmys and won one); Peter McDermott on Hotel; and John Short in Life in Pieces. He was nominated for a fifth Emmy for his portrayal of Ronald Reagan in The Reagans. He co-starred in The Cape Town Affair, Gable and Lombard, Capricorn One, Catch Me If You Can, and The Goods. He starred in The Car, Skyjacked, The Amityville Horror, Night of the Juggler, and High Risk. In the late 70s he had a brief but successful career as a racecar driver. He’s been married to Barbara Streisand since 1998. His first wife Jane was the mother of his son Josh Brolin.