Lester Shorr

            On Tuesday morning I think my left arm was a little more improved. The most difficult exercise is when I loop a bicycle tire tube to each foot and then pull up with each hand while trying to straighten my arms. I was able to go a little further this morning before it hurt. 

            I finished editing “L'année à lenvers” (The Year in Reverse) by Boris Vian in my Christian’s Translations blog and only need to post a video next. 

            Also in my Christian’s Translations blog I worked on preparing “Notre Dernière Chance” (Our Final Chance) by Serge Gainsbourg for publication. I probably would have finished it if the power hadn’t gone off while I was working on “L'année à lenvers”. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the first of two sessions and it stayed in tune the whole time. 

            I weighed 87 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I brought the stepladder in and worked on finishing painting the first coat of primer on the ceiling and upper walls in my bathroom. I got 3 / 4 done and then put more paint in the tray. By the time I was done with the areas that I needed the stepladder to reach it was cleanup time but I still had lots of paint in the tray and so I kept on painting. I did most of the rest of the bathroom but didn’t remove the mirror or the stuff from my lower shelf so I left that for later. I painted the tops of the upper shelves and most of the undersides. I painted the door and some of the frame before the paint in the tray ran out. I had lunch an hour later than I planned. I think tomorrow I’ll finish the areas that I left unpainted today before I take a shower. I won’t need the roller or the tray to finish the shelves and the door frame. 

            While painting I was listening to Blur and my neighbour Benji was banging on his wall. I turned it down a bit but if he would communicate like a human being we could establish the exact volume that’s comfortable for him. 

            I weighed 86.7 kilos at 14:30. 

            I took a siesta at 15:30 and got up at 16:45 when it was too late to take a bike ride. 

            I weighed 87 kilos at 17:15. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:30. 

            I worked on the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Paranoiac Utopia”. I established where on the audio timeline the first of the “doo”s in the finale is sung and then worked out how much later it appears on the video timeline. I calculated the difference and deleted that much from the video timeline when I’m not in view. But the finale runs a bit longer in the concert video and so I established when the final “doo” is in the audio timeline and the video timeline, worked out the difference and cut that much out as well. I got the whole song synchronized and then saved the project as Christian Solo. Then I went back to edit the Paranoiac Utopia project but found I’d somehow deleted an important part of the video. That part however was still there in “Christian Solo” and so I resaved it as Paranoiac Utopia and it was fine. I deleted the other songs that come after Paranoiac Utopia in that project. Now I’m ready to go out tomorrow evening and shoot some video of Parkdale to add to the Paranoiac Utopia project. 

            I compared the song practice video of my September 14 performance of “Coiffure by Eliza” to that of September 2. Even though September 2 is a lower quality video it does look and feel better. I compared September 18 to September 2 and on September 18 I have a very visible strand of hair on my shirt, plus September 2 looks better anyway. I compared September 20 to September 2 and although September 2 looks better I do play the song better on September 20. I compared September 24 to September 20 and I think September 20 looks better. I compared September 30 to September 20 and though September 20 looks better I think I have more presence and play a bit better on September 30. I compared October 4 to September 30 and I think I look better on September 30 and usually when I look good I sound good. I compared October 6 to September 30. I think I’m going to upload September 30 because it’s the best one with the Gibson but I’ll see if October 6 is the best with the Kramer. I compared October 10 to October 6 and I think October 10 is a bit better. So I’ll upload both September 30 and October 10. 

            I had a potato with the last of my gravy and a chicken leg while watching episode 14 of The Brady Bunch. 

            Mike delays an important meeting to help Marcia understand her Math homework. After he leaves she sees in the paper there is an essay contest to nominate the Father of the Year. She decides to write an essay about Mike. She gets up in the middle of the night and in looking for a quiet and private place to write she goes into Mike’s study, which is off limits. When he comes home and catches her there she tells him it’s a secret what she was writing. He lets her off easy and only gives her an extra day of chores. The next day she focuses on writing the essay and puts off her chores. When he asks for an explanation she says she can’t explain and so he grounds her for one week. After he leaves she crumbles up her essay in anger but gets up in the middle of the night and continues writing it. She finishes it but then realizes that the next day is the deadline for entries. So she sneaks out to mail the letter. When Mike and Carol check on the kids later they see Marcia coming in through the window. Once again she refuses to explain and so Mike tells her that the family is going skiing on the weekend, all except for her, and she loves skiing more than anyone else. She is very upset and cries. In a few days a TV crew comes to the house and the director tells Carol that Mike has won an award but they want it to be a surprise. They set up in the home and Mike is surprised when he arrives to find he is Father of the Year and that was Marcia’s big secret for which he’d punished her. 

            The cinematographer for this episode was Lester Shorr, who won an Emmy for his work on the Medic TV series. He was also the cinematographer for the sitcom When Things Were Rotten. He was the director of photography for Take the Money and Run. He was president of the American Society of Cinematographers from 1975 to 1976.