Ed Love

            On Friday morning I memorized the fifth verse of “A tous les enfants” (To All the Children) by Boris Vian. I decided that what I’d previously thought was the fifth verse should be verses five and six and so there are two verses left to learn. 

            I transcribed the correct lyrics for “Qui lira ces mots” (Whoever Reads These Words) by Serge Gainsbourg. I memorized the first verse and translated the first and second verses. 

            I weighed 86.7 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since April 24. 

            Around midday I called the Forest Hill Family Health Clinic to make an appointment with my doctor. I got the voicemail of his receptionist and left a message. 

            I called up the Type bookstore and reminded them that they said they’d look into seeing if they can order my book Paranoiac Utopia. The manager remembered me and said her colleague Kyle really wants to get my Parkdale book on their shelves. She said to call back in a couple of weeks. 

            I weighed 86.75 kilos before lunch. 

            I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 86.65 kilos at 18:00. I called Malcolm at Biseagal and he says that except for a little sanding he still has to do, my Raleigh is fixed. I asked if he could hold onto it until next Friday and he said he could so I’ll put the wheels on the trailer and head there. I’ll be smart next time and stop to pee early. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:30. 

            I finished adding seven shades of blue to the sepia copy of frame 14 of my rainbow wave animation. I started on frame 15 and with each one the amount of blue is increased and so it takes a little more time for each one. There are 13 frames left to make. 

            I grilled four chicken legs in the oven and had one with a potato and gravy while watching episode 9 of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. 

            In the first Birdman story, Reducto has developed a reducing gun. he demonstrates that he can reduce the Pentagon to the size of a matchbox, then he brings it back to normal. He threatens to make it permanent and to shrink many other things and people if he is not given the power of a king and if Birdman is not delivered to him. Birdman hears of this and goes to him. He shrinks Birdman to the size of an insect and so he must fight off ants, flies and spiders while his solar power wanes. He calls by radio to his pet eagle Avenger for help. He gets Avenger to hold a magnifying glass in its claws and to focus the sunlight on him so that restores his strength. While Avenger attacks and distracts Reducto, Birdman flicks the reverse switch on Reducto’s shrinking gun. Then he pushes the trigger to fire and flies in front of the beam, bringing himself back to normal. Reductor grabs the gun but Birdman hits him with a solar blast just as he pulls the trigger. Reducto falls back, the gun spins in the air and the ray hits him, reducing him out of sight. 

            In the Galaxy Trio story, on Orbus 4 the lifeless body of Computron, the former robot ruler of the planet stands as a statue to remind the people that they were once his slaves. But now two crooks have stolen a robot power pack from the archives and their plan is to bring Computron back to life so that in commanding him they will be rulers of Orbus 4. But as soon as Computron regains consciousness and movement he destroys them. His first intent is to take revenge upon the Galaxy Trio. He steals a spaceship and takes off. His escape is reported to the Trio. Computron lands on the abandoned factory planet Z-10 and has reactivated the machines. As the Trio are on their way he takes control of Condor 1 and forces them to land. They are attacked by various types of heavy equipment such as steam shovels, bulldozers, and steam rollers but the machines are no match for their powers. A vacuum hose extends from a building and sucks vapour man inside. Then Computron shoots him with a raygun that turns him into an obedient robot. When Meteor Man and Gravity Girl arrive, Vapour Man shoots Meteor Man from behind with a vapour blast and knocks him out. He tries to do the same to Gravity Girl but she avoids the blast, finds the robot-making gun, somehow recognizes it and is able to switch it to “reverse”, changing Vapor Man back to human. Then when Computron tries to stop her she shoots him as well. Once Computron is human he suddenly no longer wants to rule the galaxy and he becomes a good guy. He thanks them for changing him and wants to return to Orbus 4 to make up for any harm he might have done. Gee, humans are so much nicer than robots. 

            In the second Birdman story, Number 1 of F.E.A.R. (who we last saw crash into a mountain) comes to Vulturo to offer him $1,000,000 to kill Birdman but first they want a demonstration of his powers to prove he is up to the task. Vulturo has mechanical wings with jet power; he has a defence shield that sends any blast back to its source; his backpack has a cobalt ray that is as strong as Birdman’s solar blasts; and to match Avenger, Birdman’s pet Eagle, Vulturo has Dirth, his robot vulture, which shoots cobalt rays from its eyes. Later Birdman is at an observatory to witness the passing of Comet 90 (There is a comet called 90P/ Gehrels or Gehrels 1, which was discovered in 1972. I think it can only be seen through a telescope). That night as Birdman is speaking to the audience, Vulturo takes over the intercom and threatens to blow up the observatory if Birdman doesn’t meet him in the valley below. Birdman goes there. The battle begins and Birdman already feels his powers diminishing. Dirth goes after Avenger but Birdman destroys the robot with a solar blast but it weakens him. Vulturo says his hydro bomb will blow up the observatory in minutes. But them suddenly the Comet 90 passes overhead and it’s powers recharge Birdman. he destroys Vulturo’s power pack and he tells him where the hydro bomb is located. Birdman grabs and harmlessly explodes the bomb while Vulturo escapes.

            Some of the animation was done by Ed Love, who at the age of 21 during the Great Depression answered a newspaper ad from Disney asking for cartoonists. He found an animator to teach him and he spent four months learning the craft before walking into Disney to answer the ad. His first job was Mickey’s Amateurs. He did animation on Mickey’s Trailer, and Fantasia. In the 1940s he worked for Tex Avery at MGM, then he moved to work for Walter Lantz. In the late 50s he started working for Hanna-Barbera. He was an animation director for the pilot of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.