Bill Lignante

            On Sunday morning I finished working out the chords to “Le petit Lauriston” by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll run through singing and playing it in French, then I have to rework my translation. 

            I worked out the chords for the third verse, the third dance instrumental and the third scat bridge of “Sacha Distel et Jean-Pierre Cassel’s Song and Dance” by Serge Gainsbourg. There’s just one verse and two scats left. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of four sessions, and the machine for the B string is getting more and more stiff. For the last tuning I had to use both hands to sharpen it. 

            I weighed 86.1 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since March 9. 

            Around midday I wanted to fill some holes in the bathroom wall but I was behind on my journal because I fell asleep at the computer again last night and so had to get caught up. 

            I weighed 87 kilos before lunch. I had the usual tomato, avocado and lemon juice salad with a glass of Garden Cocktail. 

            In the afternoon I headed out for a bike ride but first went over to Metro Cycle to get my saddle lowered half a centimeter. Gordon had raised it yesterday about a centimeter and it was a little too high. This time I think the guy lowered it back to were it was before and now it’s a bit low. I’ll try again tomorrow. I’d do it myself but they seem to be able to do it tighter because they have a torque wrench and all I have is the Allen key. 

            I rode downtown and back. It was my first ride with the Brooks leather saddle and it definitely was a lot more comfortable than the one that came with the Surly. It’s supposed to get a lot more comfortable as it reshapes to my behind. 

            I weighed 86.3 kilos at 18:07. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:15. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Seven Shades of Blues” I continued editing my copy of Wings of Desire. I kept all the parts featuring the trapeze artist wearing her angel wing costume up until she puts the wings on a concertina player and walks away. After that I deleted about half an hour of the movie. Movie Maker freezes a lot since I imported that movie. There’s about an hour and a half left to go through. 

            I reviewed the song practice video of my Kramer electric performance of “Sixteen Tons of Dogma” on October 10 and the take at 25:30 didn’t sound bad. 

            I had a tomato, avocado, cucumber and scallion salad with lemon juice and a glass of Garden Cocktail while watching episodes 9 and 10 of The Adventures of Batman animated series. 

            In the first story Bruce Wayne is at the museum supervising the placement of the Maharaja Ruby when a guard finds a box that’s not part of the exhibit. Inside is a miniature replica of the Penguin that gasses Bruce and the guards with its cigarette. Penguin descends from the skylight, steals the ruby and kidnaps Bruce. They leave through the skylight and ascend to a helicopter. But Catwoman has been watching and enters the museum the way Penguin came out. She attaches a map to the Penguin model so Batman can find him. At Wayne Manor, Dick Grayson sees the Bat signal, leaves a message with Alfred for Batman, changes to Robin and takes the Batmobile to Commissioner Gordon’s office. There he learns that Bruce has been kidnapped and says he’ll be handling this case alone. But Barbara Gordon happens to be there and secretly decides that Robin needs the help of Batgirl. Catwoman follows Penguin to his headquarters at the Resthaven Cemetery. Robin sees the map of Resthaven left by Catwoman and heads there followed by Batgirl on her Batgirl Cycle. When Robin gets there he finds a stairway leading beneath the graves to Penguin’s lair but Penguin detects him and turns the stairway to a slide that sends Robin into the same dungeon where Bruce is trapped. The walls begin closing in on them and they will be crushed if they can’t escape. As Batgirl arrives she sees Penguin’s copter leaving. She finds the controls and stops the walls from moving. Then she slides open a door to rescue the heroes. Bruce remembers Penguin saying something about meeting a yacht in the harbour. Robin asks Batgirl to meet him and Batman on Pier 6. Meanwhile he’s taking Bruce home. Penguin arrives at the yacht to sail for South America, but Catwoman is already aboard and uses her whip to snatch the ruby from Penguin’s hand. He starts shooting at her but she pulls a lever that traps Penguin and his men in a net. She escapes in her catamaran. Bruce changes to Batman and he and Robin take the Bat Boat to pick up Batgirl. The catamaran almost runs right into the Bat Boat but the heroes don’t realize Catwoman is at the helm. They reach the yacht and find the captured Penguin from whom they learn the ruby is in Catwoman’s hands. Batman realizes that was her in the catamaran and they go after her. When her vessel is in sight Batman and Robin don scuba gear and swim to board the boat. Her tabbies attack but Batman and Robin beat them easily. Catwoman dives in the ocean to escape but Batgirl sees her from the Bat Boat and catches her in a fisherman’s net. 

            In the second story Bruce Wayne is in Gordon’s office while downstairs at reception Bruce Wayne appears to be there as well. He leaves the officer a package with a question mark on it. Inside is a riddle that reads, “Where is the hottest spot in town today?” Meanwhile Riddler has his men disguise as cops while he wears a Gordon mask. Batman heads for the police charity drive which is measuring donations with a mock thermometer. But on the way Batman sees Gordon in an armoured car driving in the opposite direction. Because it’s half an hour too early for Gordon to have picked up the money, Batman knows it’s an imposter. They turn around and go after the armoured car. Robin throws a smoke bomb into the back of the vehicle causing Riddler and his men to abandon the truck. Later Riddler sends another riddle to Gordon: “Where is the biggest vault in town?” Batman deduces that the answer is a pole vaulter at the Gotham track meet where a jewelled championship belt is the prize. It is about to be given to the best all round athlete when Riddler in disguise grabs the belt from the podium. Batman sees a shotput thrower near the exit and by his stance knows he’s not an athlete. He throws a baterang at the ball and breaks it open to reveal the belt. Riddler hits a hammer to the wall and there is an explosion. When the smoke clears Riddler is gone and there is only another riddle: “Who is the top wrecker in town?” They head for the wrecking crew at the old Gotham Towers. They see Riddler standing on a dilapidated wall and eject their seats to fly and tackle him. But it’s a dummy they tackle that is also a bomb and they are knocked unconscious. They are tied up near the wall on a lower floor as the wrecking ball makes its way toward them. When the ball goes through the wall they duck. A jagged piece of pipe is revealed, which they use to cut their bonds. They climb onto the wrecking ball and slide down towards the machine. They beat Riddler’s men and capture him. 

            The backgrounds for this cartoon were much more realistic than the animation and so it made for an odd juxtaposition. It made the animation look even cheaper than it would have been otherwise.

            Some of the layouts and backgrounds were done by Bill Lignante, who studied art at the Pratt Institute. He became the third person to draw The Phantom comic strip after Wildon McCoy died. He drew the Phantom comic book for Gold Key Comics, King Comics, and for Charleton Comics. He then had a 26 year career as a courtroom sketch artist for ABC News. He illustrated 60 trials, including those of Sirhan Sirhan, Charles Manson and Patty Hearst. He travelled for three decades delivering his “Trials of a Courtroom Artist” lecture. There was a little snow storm blowing when I went to bed.