Sirena Irwin

            On Tuesday morning it didn’t look like the video conversion of Wings of Desire from MKV to WMV worked in VLC media player, even though it said it was converting it. 

            I worked out the chords for the chorus of “Le petit Lauriston” by Boris Vian. I also worked out the chords for the first verse and the first dance instrumental of “Sacha Distel et Jean-Pierre Cassel’s Song and Dance” by Serge Gainsbourg. Next is the first scat part and it may be more difficult. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first of two sessions. Soon I can turn the humidifiers off and I’ll be free to take the Martin somewhere to be fixed so it will stay in tune. 

            I weighed 87.8 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I cleaned the newer warm mist humidifier. I assume in another week or so I’ll be able to shut down the humidifiers until fall. 

            I tried downloading a few video conversion apps from Pirate Bay but couldn’t get the cracks to work. I kept uninstalling them until I downloaded WinX and the serial number provided worked fine. It took a couple of hours but it converted Wings of Desire from MKV to WMV. 

            I weighed 88.25 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. The bicycle seat that came with the Surly feels like I’m sitting on a brick. When I got home I took my Raleigh downstairs to Metro Cycle to compare the comfortable seat with the saddles they have for sale. Gordon was back from a four month holiday. I was interested in the black leather seat by Brooks that he said would adapt itself to my ass. The seat on my Raleigh is a Selle Royal and it turns out that Selle Royal owns Brooks. Another coincidence is that Raleigh used to own Brooks. Tomorrow I think I’ll go there and take it for a test drive. 

            I weighed 87.55 kilos at 18:51.

            I was behind on my journal because I fell asleep at the computer again last night. I worked before dinner on getting caught up. 

            I had guacamole with salsa and plantain chips while watching the rest of Batman vs Two Face.

            Two Face seems to be back in action but Batman is not convinced that Bruce Wayne’s friend Harvey Dent is behind it. Robin confronts Batman and says he’s being blind. Batman sends Robin to his room. Batman has a date to visit Catwoman at the prison but he’s too focused on Dent and Two Face to keep it. When Batman doesn’t show up, Catwoman decides to escape. She signals her cat Hecate. It enters the prison undetected until Catwoman’s lawyer Lucille Diamond picks her up. She carries her to Catwoman’s cell and tells Catwoman that her parole has been denied. Catwoman signals Hecate to scratch Diamond, which knocks her out. Catwoman switches clothes with Diamond and leaves her in her cell while she escapes. When Diamond wakes up in Catwoman’s costume she looks in the mirror and says, “Purrrfect!” The inside joke is that Diamond is voiced by Lee Meriweather who played Catwoman in the 1966 Batman movie, and she said “Purrrfect” the same way she did in the film. Meanwhile Alfred discovers that Robin has also escaped. The Boy Wonder is out to prove that Dent is Two Face and so he is spying on and following him. He tails him to a warehouse where he finds Strange’s Evil Extractor is being stored. Dent sees him and tells him to leave before it’s too late. Robin is knocked out from behind and wakes up tied to a chair. Two Face shows that Strange is working for him and that Robin is his latest guinea pig. Strange sprays him with the evil gas. Alfred contacts Batman to let him know that Robin is missing. He’s activated the homing device in his utility belt and sends Batman the coordinates. Batman finds Robin smashing shop windows and discovers that his face is now half scarred like that of Two Face. Robin attacks Batman while at the same time telling him to look out. Meanwhile Two Face and Strange are watching from a car in the shadows. Batman eventually knocks Robin out and takes him back to the Bat Cave where he develops and administers an antidote. Batman finds on Robin’s cape traces of blue chalk that can only be found at the Winning Pair Casino. They go there and climb onto a giant pool table. Two Face pulls a lever that causes a giant cue stick to send a massive cue ball rolling towards them. They dodge it but then it breaks the triangle of balls giving them several to dodge. They dive down a corner pocket followed by the 8 ball. Batman uses a bomb to stop it and they are blown free of the table but rendered unconscious. Two Face captures Batman and Robin and then sends invitations to Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Egghead, Shame, Mr. Freeze, The Mad Hatter, and Catwoman to the unmasking of Batman and Robin. Batman and Robin are tied to a giant coin on a catapult aimed at a spiked floor. Dent comes to talk with Batman. He says he took a Faustian deal but then reveals that he is Two Face. The plastic surgery only covered the scars. He says he already knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne because he hasn’t shown up for his own charity auction. He pulls off Batman’s cowl to prove he’s right. Two Face puts the mask back on and then opens a curtain to reveal the invited villains seated like a celebrity panel on a game show. Two Face starts the bidding at $1 million. Joker bids a million. Penguin bids a million and 5. Riddler says 2 million. Catwoman arrives and calls out 3 million. Penguin says 4. Meanwhile the villains are unaware that the new improved evil extractor is drawing the evil from them as they sit there and pumping it into the stolen biplane. Catwoman bids $5 million. But the other villains pool their money and bid $10 million as a collective, thus winning the right to unmask Batman. The stupid thing here is that every one of these crooks has captured Batman and Robin countless times and had them in a position where they could just walk over and pull off their masks, but they never did. Now they spend $10 million on what they could have done for free lots of times. Two Face takes the money and leaves Batman to his enemies. As he walks away his Dent half tells Batman he’s sorry. As the villains approach the heroes for the unmasking Batman and Robin trigger the catapult. The coin flies towards the spikes but Batman tells Robin to shift his weight ten degrees to the left which causes the coin to land on its edge and roll between the spikes. Catwoman uses her whip to cut their bonds. The villains attack and Catwoman fights on the side of the heroes, using catraté. After the bad guys are defeated Batman realizes that Two Face plans to use the plane and the collected evil to gas all of Gotham, turning the entire population into Two Faces. Catwoman says she’s not going to help because green isn’t her colour. Batman says she’s done enough and asks her to promise to turn herself in. She promises with her fingers crossed behind her back. Batman and Robin chase the plane on the Bat Cycle while Two Face starts turning the town bad. They try to disable the plane with the batzooka but Two face is an expert pilot and evades the projectiles. Batman and Robin activate their ejector seats followed by their rocket boots to just make it to grab hold of the back of the plane. Batman uses a laser to cut off the evil gas spraying mechanisms. Two Face is firing his guns but some of the bullets damage the engine, crashing the plane. Two Face runs into a factory set aflame by the plane. Batman insists on going after him alone but the vial with the antidote has broken. Batman tries to appeal to his friendship with Dent. Two Face ambushes Batman. Dent resists and so Two Face takes full control until he is one scarred green face. They fight and then a tank explodes, stunning Batman. Two Face is about to impale Batman when Batman reminds him that the coin has to decide. Two Face flips it and it comes out blank. He keeps trying but it’s always landing blank. In the confusion Batman encourages Dent to fight. In the internal struggled the fully scarred face becomes half again. Dent begins punching it until both sides are Dent. Batman and Dent escape the factory just as it explodes. Batman won by replacing Two Face’s coin with a blank one. Over the next little while Batman drops antidote bombs all over Gotham. Later Harvey is released from prison and doesn’t seem to remember that his friend Bruce is Batman. Dent holds a celebrity auction with batman as the bachelor being auctioned off. Catwoman makes the first bid and Batman blushes. During the closing credits many of the characters in the movie are dancing to the Batman theme. There’s an end credits scene that I had to find online that shows Harley Quinn busting Joker out of prison. 

            Dr. Quinzel, alias Harley Quinn was played by Sirena Irwin, who graduated from San Francisco State University with degrees in Theatre and International Relations. She worked with a local sketch comedy troupe and then moved to LA where she found success as a voice actor. Her TV debut was on an episode of Alright Already. Her film debut was in The Sky is Falling. She originated the role of Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy Live on Stage and starred in the show for its run of 550 performances over four years. She directed the short films Argentoesque and Il Controllore. She hosted the History Channel’s Toolbox. She created and wrote the pilot for Do It Herself. In 2018 she directed a production of Mae West’s play Sex. She directed the animated features Baby Shark’s Big Show and Apple and Onion.