Suspended In Time

I had a very quiet day. I slept in, then headed out for an errands run after breakfast. It was cloudy in the morning, but the rain held off. I made a fast stop at the bank to deposit Christmas money, then rode down through Newton River Park. It was surprisingly busy for a damp and gloomy day, with lots of dog walkers, joggers, and parents getting their kids out before the weather got bad.

The Library was busy, but there wasn't much to do. I shelved a small stack of DVDs and some children's books, but there were other volunteers there as well. I did take out three cartoon DVDs, the new specials for the 2009 Strawberry Shortcake and the Barbie As series and the second season of Sean the Sheep.

Made quick stops at Super Fresh for cooking spray; also got Stash's White Christmas White Tea. Went a few doors down to Dollar Tree for sponges, toothbrushes, and a shower curtain. By the time I stopped at Nick and Joe's for lunch, the on-and-off rain had turned into a shower. I enjoyed a cozy meal of grilled cheese and tomato with a cup of Italian Wedding soup, but I couldn't avoid the weather. I just rode home in the rain.

Spent the rest of the evening at my place, avoiding the at-times heavy rain. I worked on updating several inventories for a while, then ran Xanadu while making Chicken With Mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, and an Escarole Citrus Salad for dinner. Xanadu is the strange story of a young artist (Michael Beck) who is inspired by an attractive blond (Olivia Newton-John) to follow his dream and open a roller-skating disco palace in the dilapidated Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles. He even persuades former clarinetist Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly), now the owner of a construction and restoration company, to help him out. Kira, however, is not what she seems...

TV Tropes is right in calling this "the nexus of 70s cheese and 80s cheese." It's kind of obvious they had plenty of music when they began filming, but no script at all. They were literally making the script up as they go along, and it shows. Nothing makes sense, the editing is all over the place, Beck is hardly right for this sort of romantic lunacy, the special effects look like refugees from Tron, and the animated sequence a little more than half-way through (by Don Bluth on his first solo assignment) doesn't have anything to do with the film and stops it cold.

For all the craziness and bizarre costumes and just plain 80s-ness of the whole thing...I really liked it. I liked the energy. I liked the style. I liked the charming number between Kelly and Newton-John, "Whenever You're Away From Me." I still love the soundtrack. I thought the film had a kernel of a good idea, showing the collision of 40s and 80s musical styles and how much life and musicals had changed in the ensuing years. It just tried to pile on way too much of everything. And a real script might have helped, too.

I thought it was very cute, but I really can't recommend it unless you're like me and have built an immunity to camp. This is the definition of "not for everyone." If you're interested but don't want to handle the cheese, try the 2007 Broadway Cast Album. Apparently, the Broadway version became a surprise hit in the smallest auditorium on the Great White Way by playing this for the delightfully kischy hoot it is.