May 28, 2010

    Went to see Dr. Ang about my throat. (She was really busy:  I had to wait over an hour!) She gave my tongue a swab but didn't seem worried.

    Got an Ebay package which included the last Menomonee Falls Gazette comic strip reprint issue, giving me a full collection--except for issued 229 to 232, which have few of the regular strips.  I also got some more strip reprints, including the first episodes of Captain Easy (before Easy entered the strip, when the hero was Wash Tubbs) and On Stage!

    Dinner was shrimp in chili sauce, which actually suited my sore throat pretty well.

May 27, 2010

"Why did you hit my butler?"

Popeye: "I told ya I don't like his looks, that's why."

"Is that a good reason for hitting a man?"

"I don't need no reason....  I socks 'em where I sees 'em and I leaves 'em where I socks 'em--and that's that!"

--Thimble Theatre

"That's not solving anything!"

"Maybe some things just don't solve"

--Peyton Place

    My throat's so sore that I decided to cancel next week's singing lesson.

    Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan.  He was interested in my Popeye reprint book.

    Dinner was curry.

    Ended up napping after dinner.

May 26, 2010

    Dreamed of visiting Holland and staying too long; seeing a new non-existent movie version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; buying new identity papers from a Turk who was intolerant of the Kurds.

    Father and John are almost finished with the new roof.  They had to clear the wall in my room next to it, which meant moving the bulk of my comic strip collection out to the hall. (Oh well, I was going to go through it to find the Tarzan comics anyway.)

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was the rest of the fettucine and lasagna.

    Got through choir practice despite a sore throat.  We did a piece from Verdi's I Lombardi that was last done before I joined the choir!

May 25, 2010

Sea Hag (after being thrown into the sea): "Curses!  I can't swim!"

Popeye: "I'll give ya a lesson, Missus Sea Hag.  First duck yer head, then open yer mouth an' take a deep breath.  Try it!"--Thimble Theatre

Introducing Jack the Ripper: "Spring Heel Jack, the most interesting character of all time!"--Waxworks

    Dreamed of getting up so early that I didn't know what I was doing; the wonderful Alice Munro story "Day of the Butterfly" (which I read in high school).

    At today's singing lesson I tried the recitativo from the Macbeth aria. (I'd borrowed the score from the Reference Library again--too bad the ink on my copy was faint.)

    I'm now reading more of the Popeye reprint.  The Sea Hag is really creepy!

    Dinner was lasagna.

    My uncle Alfie died in Cape Breton. (He was about 90.  I hadn't expected he'd outlive Aunt Alma, who died a few years ago.)

    Saw the DVD of Paul Leni's German silent Waxworks.  Lots of great expressionist tableaux.

May 24, 2010

"It's a game called 'slow murder,' or 'I just want to be honest with you, darling'..."--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of a trailer for a Robert Mitchum movie; getting onto a London Routemaster bus.

    John arrived in the morning. (I got up earlier than usual as a result.) They're going to remove the parapet and make a sloped roof over the sun room.

    Went to a Games Meetup at Queen's Park, organized by Jackie.  I played Bohnanza and Puerto Rico, and won a game of Alhambra!

    I didn't get home till past 18:00, and feared I'd keep the others waiting, but it turned out that Father and John had kept up with their work and only just finished, so we only ate past 19:00 anyway! (Dinner was KFC.)

May 23, 2010

"Wouldn't it be more simple just to let them run him out of town?"--Peyton Place

Popeye the Sailor (in a fight): "A good big man can't lick an exter good little man."

    Went to a Walkers Meetup at Edwards Gardens.  There were 20 of us but we got rather scattered. (The horticultural building had a bonsai show.)

    John came over and he and Father are working on fixing the leaky ceiling in the sun room.

    Dinner was the rest of the fettucine and Indian food.

    I've been trying to write a new score for Wagner's Prize Song in the key of G instead of C, and I may have to admit defeat (unless I find ways to simplify it). [I did quit.]

May 22, 2010

(threateningly) "Dr. Rossi, you'll get everything that's coming to you!"--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of calculating the value of e (it's an infinite sum of inverse factorials); travelling from Ontario to New Brunswick and experiencing freezing cold at night.

    Father's been assembling new bookcases to accommodate all the used books he's been buying.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    Saw the DVD of The Queen and I, an engaging documentary about an exiled Iranian communist getting to know the Shah's widow.

    Father temporarily cleared the furniture from one side of the sun room.  It's improved the acoustics when I practice singing there!

May 21, 2010

"He'll never forgive you."

"If something goes wrong?"

"No, he'll just never forgive you."

--Peyton Place

 Saw an episode of Peyton Place where Mrs. Harrington went through the same ulcer surgery that I underwent 28 years ago. (But she died.)

    John, Kathrine and Donald came over for dinner (which was takeout Indian food).

May 20, 2010

Old lady: "And as for marriage, in the old days we didn't talk about it!"--The Pallisers

President Harding: "I'm not worried about my enemies--it's my friends who keep me up nights!"--Backstairs at the White House

    Dreamed of the prison-set Warner Brothers cartoon Big House Bunny; the non-existent MGM cartoon Mary Picasso Had a Little Lamb; a magazine contest involving figuring out the connection between obscure words.

    Baked raisin bread.

    The hot weather has arrived!

    Went to the Reference Library and borrowed the score for Wagner's Die Meistersinger so I can make a score of the Prize Song.

    Dinner was fettucine alfredo (which I cooked, adding some cream for a change).

May 19, 2010

    Dreamed of trying to start a computer by rapping on the table; a Warner Brothers cartoon with an appearance by Peter Falk as Columbo(!).

    Got seven DVDs from zip.ca!

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was roast pork.

    Started reading a reprint of the comic strip Peanuts from 1957 and 1958.

    At the Games Meetup I played Settlers of Cata, Smallworld (my races were alchemist tritons and merchant halflings), and a short game of Carcassone without scoring (the scoring rules are too complicated for me anyway).

May 18, 2010

Young protester: "Mister, to my generation not wanting to grow up is a sign of maturity"--Jules Feiffer

"Can we trust an administration to make serious foreign policy decisions when it doesn't have access to information everybody else has?"--ibid.

    Dreamed of a South Park-type vulgar animated comedy where a little McGuffin clue revealed a huge deception scheme.

    Finished the Jules Feiffer collection.  Brilliant.

    Dinner was roast chicken.

    Saw a VHS video (haven't seen one of them in a while) which Moira got from the library, with Bill Moyers interviewing various people shortly after 9/11.  A mixed bag.

    Cleaned my windows for the spring.

    Jackie appreciated the Meetup post where I thanked her for the Timbits she brought Sunday.

May 17, 2010

Schoolgirls:

"Did you see John Wayne's son?...  I saw him in a special called Stagecoach.  He's beautiful!  Not at all like his father."

"What about this Carole Lombard?  All my friends say she steals from Lucille Ball."

--Jules Feiffer

    Dreamed of the saying about poker "If you can't figure out which player is the patsy, it's you!"; wondering whether that applies to romance too.

    My Metropass turned up. (I'd borrowed Moira's yesterday.)

    Mowed the lawn for the first time this year.

    Dinner was lasagna.

    At choir practice we spent most of this week on the Iris chorus again.

May 16, 2010

    Dreamed of casting the characters in a Muppet version of A Clockwork Orange! (Bert as the man who makes Alex lick his shoes?  Sam the Eagle as the social worker?)

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Ryerson Hub.  I played Metro, Ticket to Ride and Stone Age. (My Ticket to Ride game was disastrous!  Maybe I'd have done better if I had been sitting in a position where the board was upside-down to me.)

    Dinner was KFC.

May 15, 2010

Empress Elizabeth: "You can't live with seventeen imaginary lovers--what you need is one real one!"--The Rise of Catherine the Great

"When my peasants revolt, I should hang my governors"--ibid.

    Dreamed of seeing a billboard in London promoting the construction of a nearby shopping centre on "the Isle of Callay."

    I was going to go to the Bowling Meetup but I couldn't find my Metropass.

    Finally planted the head crops.

    When I came in, a saw my reflection in the glass in an inside door, and I thought it was Father!

    Dinner was scallops.

    Saw the DVD of the Korda production The Rise of Catherine the Great.  Pretty good, though Marlene Dietrich's The Scarlet Empress is crazier.  Flora Robson has a juicy role as her mother-in-law Empress Elizabeth.

May 14, 2010

"There is no truth."

"That's true."

--Jules Feiffer

    Dreamed of Steve Canyon cartoonist Milton Caniff's wife; noticing a resemblance between her and Steve's wife Summer Olson.

    Dinner was fish and chips.

    Went to Mary's games night, where I played Carcassone and Settlers of Catan.  The Settlers game was long and exciting:  I was well behind in the first part, but when it was over I was just one point behind the winner!

May 13, 2010

"I can't beg properly.  I can't paint properly.  But I can live my life properly"--Rembrandt

    Dreamed of a singer called Big Eyes who sang while laying railroad track; a computer screen that you opened just by rubbing a magic marker on a sheet of paper; taking vitamin pills (which resembled some of the counters in the board game Agricola).

    Baked whole wheat bread. (First I went out and bought a big club pack of flour.)

    Dinner was steak.

    Saw the DVD of Alexander Korda's Rembrandt (for the second time). Another Charles Laughton tour de force.

May 12, 2010

"Civil rights used to be so much more tolerable before Negroes got into it"--Jules Feiffer

"I'm going to invent a new birth control pill.  You swallow one and for a whole day it's as if you were never born"--ibid.

    Dreamed of an early biplane flying between my hometown Sackville, N.B. and nearby Aulac during a night of heavy rain; making a movie about Idi Amin.

    Went shopping.

    Dinner was McDonald's.

    At the Games Meetup I played Agricola and Carcassone.  Jackie and I took the subway together on the way home.

    Stayed awake past 03:00!

May 11, 2010

    Dreamed of asking Moira where I could buy The New York Sunday Times. (I haven't bought it for years!)

    At today's singing lesson I tried the recitativo at the start of "Il Balen di Suo Sorriso."

    Dinner was a curry.

    Went to a Shyness Meetup at Starbuck's near the Davisville station.

May 10, 2010

"What's brainwashing?"

"I'm not sure exactly.  It's something the enemy does."

--Jules Feiffer

"If they say fight, I'll fight.  The idea of a democracy is that people shouldn't be forced into acting the way the government wants.  They should do it on their own."--ibid.

    Dreamed of the song "The Big Rock Candy Mountain"; visiting our old house in Sackville, N.B., in the winter (in bare feet!) on the way to Halifax.

    We found some cauliflower and broccoli plants.

    Dinner was a roast chicken.

    At choir practice we did part of the opening chorus from Mascagni's Iris.  It's really tough.

May 9, 2010

"You're a shit, Malone!"

"Yeah, but I'm a police shit!"

--Australian police sex comedy Scobie Malone

    Didn't get out of bed till past 13:00.

    Finally got started rearranging my comics collection.

    Dinner was lobster rolls.

    Saw the DVD of Not Quite Hollywood, a brisk documentary about Australian B-movies from the 1970s and '80s.  Lots of commentary by Quentin Tarantino.

May 8, 2010

    Dreamed of introducing Mother to Games Meetup organizer Sarah; a triumphalist U.S. film released just after the Pearl Harbor raid; wonding if Doagie Hogan (an antihero character in the comic strip Steve Canyon) could outsmart Machiavelli.

    John came over to help fix the bathroom pipes.

    Unusually cool weather for May.

    Dinner was scallops.

    Saw the DVD of the Maysles brothers' famous documentary Grey Gardens.  It was strange and rather disturbing, as if photographer Diane Arbus made a movie.

May 7, 2010

    Dreamed of living on a boring colony on the moon; joining a choir there while pretending to be in a wheelchair.

    We picked up some cabbage and tomato plants, but it's still too early for the broccoli and cauliflower.

    Dinner was KFC.

    Saw the DVD Unseen Cinema, with dozens of early avant-garde films, largely silent.  I liked the Russian-style film about oil production.

May 6, 2010

Senator: "Mr. President, I want you to know that all of Congress is praying for you."

President Wilson (crippled by a stroke): "Oh, they are?  Which way?"

--Backstairs at the White House

    Dreamed of being midway through the British World War II documentary series The World at War.

    Baked rye bread.

    Dinner was pork steak.

    Saw the DVD of the first part of the middlebrow miniseries Backstairs at the White House.  Some nice acting.

    The bathtub drain got clogged and started dripping through the ceiling of the room below!

May 5, 2010

"You hurt me again.  But you know I like it, don't you?"--The Big Knife

"At the moment before the bomb drops--every person in the world will have the satisfaction of knowing his side was right"--Jules Feiffer

    Dreamed of doing my laundry during World War II; someone giving my clothes away before I was finished.

    Went shopping.

    Finished Empire.  The first part was good, but they ended up taking too many liberties with Roman history.

    Dinner was curry.

    At the Games Meetup, I managed to play four games!  They were Carcassone, Stone Age (Jackie won), Smallworld (my races were diplomatic amazons, flying skeletons and bivouacking ratmen), and Metro.

May 4, 2010

"Every way's a way to die, huh?"

"I'm older.  Every way's a way to live."

--The Big Knife

President Eisenhower: "I mean, of course, no disrespect for our enemies by that remark"--Jules Feiffer

    Dreamed of concealing a tissue box in a car.

    At today's singing lesson I tried "Cruda, Funesta, Smania" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lamermoor for the first time.

    Dinner was roast beef.

    Planted the potatoes.

    Saw the DVD of Robert Aldrich's movie of Clifford Odets' The Big Knife.  An unsubtle inside-Hollywood melodrama, with Pack Palance playing a movie star clearly based on John Garfield.  Of its time.

May 3, 2010

"Why do you think he left New York?"

"That's not a question, that's an insinuation."

--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of googling the song "You're a Builder-Upper" (which I've done before) and only finding foreign-language translations.

    Planted most of the vegetables. (I was hoping Father would help, but he was too tired.) There isn't much space left for the potatoes because I planted along east-west lines instead of north-south, which would have been more space-efficient.

    Dinner was ravioli. (Moira decided she prefers tortellini.)

    Saw Todd Haynes' Superstar:  The Karen Carpenter Story (made with Barbie and Ken dolls) on YouTube.

    At choir practice we spent almost the whole evening on the La Sonnambula chorus.

May 2, 2010

"Then you're 30 wishing you were 20, then you're 40 wishing you were 30..."--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of the John Wayne western The Searchers.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Foxes Den.  I played Metro and a new game called Stone Age.  The latter was pretty fun, and I did rather well for a beginner.  Jackie came, but I didn't get a chance to play a game with her.

    Dinner was shrimp and rice.

    Saw the DVD of Rene Clair's early sound movie Under the Roofs of Paris.  Quite an unglamorous portrait of the City of Light.

May 1, 2010

"Why can't I be an outsider?  Why can't I be hip?...  What I wouldn't give to be a non-conformist like all those others"--Jules Feiffer

Helen's husband (seeing her sister for the first time): "She's Helen's exact image--but beautiful!"--Her Sister From Paris

"He didn't pick you, Betty.  He married you, but--he didn't pick you"--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of visiting my alma mater Mount Allison campus in September; reading of a dictatorship in ancient Greece that collapsed in one generation; seeing a group of assassins stalking Roman Polanski; arriving home on New Year's Eve just before midnight.

    Started reading Explainers, a reprint of Jules Feiffer's early cartoons in The Village Voice from the late 1950s and early 1960s.  He was very original.

    Went to an Asperger's Meetup at Newtonbrook Bowlerama, where we played two games of five-pin bowling.  Rebecca smoked us, but I managed to come a strong second.

    Dinner was Chinese food.

    Saw the DVD of Her Sister From Paris, another Constance Talmadge-Ronald Colman silent comedy.

April 30, 2010

    Dreamed of the Newfoundland folk song "She's Like the Swallow"; the TV mystery show Columbo.

    We picked up some seed potatoes and onion sets.

    Dinner was steak.

    Finished the Little Orphan Annie reprint.  Brilliant stuff.

April 29, 2010

Young Hispanic: "Politics is bullshit!"

Campaign pro: "I was wondering what it was..."

--The Candidate

Preparing for a TV debate: "I can interlace my own fingers"--ibid.

    Dreamed of Batman.

    Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan.

    Bought some new yeast and baked last night's bread.

    Dinner was spaghetti.

    Saw the DVD of Michael Ritchie's The Candidate (for the second time). One of the sharper satires of American politics, though it's very 1972!

April 28, 2010

    Dreamed of being an undergraduate student again; realizing I had no business being in college and deciding to drop out; an adventure show set in a post-apocalyptic world with a hero who has to flee his enemies on Prince Edward Island.

    Went shopping. (We also got some seeds at Rona.)

    Dinner was salmon.

    Spread some peat moss over the garden.

    At the Games Meetup I played a new game called Trans America, along with Ticket to Ride and Smallworld (where my races were berserk ratmen, underworld sorcerers and alchemist amazons).

    Tried to bake multigrain bread overnight, but we didn't have enough yeast.