Anthony Mackie

            On Wednesday morning I uploaded both “À la manière de Brassens” (In the Style of Georges Brassens) by Boris Vian and “Ballade Des Oiseaux de Croix” (Song of the Birds of the Cross) by Serge Gainsbourg to my Christian’s Translations blog. I published my translation of the Gainsbourg song. Tomorrow I’ll post the lyrics on Facebook and then look for the next Gainsbourg song that I missed in my project. 

            I weighed 86.6 kilos before breakfast, which is the same as on the morning of March 25. Around midday I started looking for local guitar shops and called the closest one other than Li’l Demon. The place is called Wood Instruments and it’s only ten minutes away from me by bike. I spoke to Alex Wood and he said I could bring my Martin in for an assessment and then if he has a solution and a price we can agree on he’d let me know when he would have space to work on my guitar. He’s on Marion, which is just three blocks north of Queen and less than the block east of Roncesvalles. I locked my bike to a flimsy wooden fence and called him. He rents his house from his father who inherited it from his father and so Alex will probably inherit it as well. He led me to his basement workshop which has a nice woody smell. Other than the machine for the B string being sticky he couldn’t find much that was wrong with my guitar until I remembered to tell him about the problem of the B string registering as in tune when it is out of tune. He suddenly said, “I think I know the problem!” He moved my B string sideways to show how it has dug grooves in my frets. The G string has also done it a little bit and the E string a little less. He says he thinks the B string is shifting around the grooves and that’s why it can be in tune but not in tune. It’s probably because I’m a hard strummer. He says he’ll have to either replace the frets or smooth them down if there’s enough height. He thinks he’ll have to replace the first five frets and smooth the others. Since the B machine needs to be replaced, all of the machines need to be replaced and so he says Goto machines are the go to machines short of the really high end brand that he thinks is too expensive. He’ll also replace the plastic nut and saddle with a bone nut and saddle. Meanwhile as a courtesy he replaced my B string. He’ll send me a quote and he thinks he’ll be free to work on my guitar in about three weeks. After two luthiers telling me they couldn’t see a problem, Alex’s insights were music to my ears. Of course we won’t know for sure if his solution will fix the problem but I have a strong feeling that he’s hit the nail on the head. It’s going to cost me $370 but I feel really good about possibly finding a solution and the prospect of my Martin sounding sweet again. Even in the extremely unlikely scenario that everything he’ll do will have no effect on my tuning issue, it will be nonetheless upgrading my guitar. 

            I weighed 86.7 kilos before lunch, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the early afternoon since April 2. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar iced tea. 

            I took a siesta at 15:45 and woke up at around 17:30 so I didn’t take a bike ride. 

            I weighed 86.55 kilos at 17:45. That’s the most I’ve tipped the scales in the evening since April 2. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:06. 

            I watched about another hour of Fritz Lang’s 1924 adaptation of Siegfried. There’s another hour left. I think there is something in there I can use for my "Seven Shades of Blues" Movie Maker project. While watching I also formed some ideas on how to finish my video. 

            I made pizza on a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with marinara sauce, two slices of ham and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching the rest of Captain America: Brave New World. 

            Sam, Joaquin and Ruth have just escaped from the FBI agents who are being controlled by The Leader. Meanwhile the Japanese navy is advancing on Celestial Island to secure the adamantium. President Ross gets angry and slams his fist down on a marble coffee table, which he cracks. He decides that if one country is going to control adamantium it’s going to be the US. Sam goes to see Sidewinder where he’s being held and learns that it was his unit that found Sterns. He’d been infected with the Hulk’s blood which gave him as much brain power as the Hulk has strength. Rather than purge Sterns of the gamma infection Ross used it for his own advantage and even added more gamma radiation. Ross promised Sterns would get a full pardon once he became president but he didn’t keep his word. Ross and the US fleet are on their way to Celestial Island. Sam, Joaquin and Ruth go there and Sam threatens to make public what he knows unless Ross talks to him in private. Ross admits he went to Sterns for treatment for his terminal heart condition. The pills Sterns created have been keeping Ross alive. Meanwhile The Leader has mind controlled two US fighter pilots and caused them to fire on the Japanese fleet. Sam and Joaquin in their Falcon suits fly to stop the rogue pilots and to try to talk down the Japanese fighters. They have to outfly missiles from both the rogue and the Japanese pilots and try to explode them harmlessly. Joaquin takes a hit and has to be fished out of the Indian ocean and taken to a hospital. The Leader calls Ross to coax him to lose control but he holds on. Sam disables the two rogue fighters and convinces the Japanese fighters to stand down. The air battle was a little too video gamey to be interesting and I really don’t like a flying Captain America. It makes his abilities too busy. They might as well give him heat vision and spider legs coming out of his back if they’re going to mess with the character that much. Later Joaquin is in surgery and Sam is watching from a private room. Someone enters and Sam tells them to go away until he sees it’s Bucky Barnes. Bucky is running for Congress. He gives Sam some words of encouragement. The commander who Sam asked to analyze Ross’s pills finds out they are loaded with gamma radiation. He’s about to call Sam when the Leader uses a device that causes him to have a fatal heart attack. Ross gives a press conference and suddenly a recording of the Leader’s voice is hacked into the intercom system. Ross loses control and turns into the Red Hulk. It’s kind of fun seeing a Hulk with Harrison Ford’s face. Sam flies in as both Falcon and Captain America. How about Falpton America? The White House and Sam’s vibranium suit get pretty much wrecked in the battle. Sam lures Ross to the cherry blossom orchard where he used to take walks with his daughter Betty. Ross rips off one of Sam’s wings. Sam can’t beat the Hulk in a fight and so his only option is to try to talk Ross down and he eventually changes back to himself from the Red Hulk. Ross resigns from the presidency and allows himself to be placed in a highly secure facility in case he turns back to the Red Hulk. Joaquin recovers and Isaiah is released from prison. In the end credit scene Sam goes to visit the Leader in prison. The Leader tells him that he’s seen in the probabilities that it’s coming. He says there are other worlds he’ll have to protect this world from. 

            Falpton America was played by Anthony Mackie, who graduated from Juilliard. He won an OBIE Ward (Off Broadway Awrad) for his role in the play Talk. He co-starred in 8 Mile (his film debut), Half Nelson, We Are Marshall, Notorious, The Hurt Locker, All the Way, and IO. He starred in Brother to Brother, She Hate Me, Crossover, Outside the Wire (which he also produced), and Shark Beach. He co-starred in the series Altered Carbon, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.