Around the World With the Stooges

It was just dark and damp when I got up around 9:30, but by the time I was eating breakfast, the storm was out in full-force. No matter. I ate breakfast, then grabbed my umbrella and went to retrieve my most recent order from Amazon.com...and given my current financial situation, the last order I'll be getting from them for a while. I couldn't find the two 60s Stooges movies I wanted to see at FYE last week. I did see The Three Stooges Collection Vol. 7, but I found it for cheaper at Amazon with free shipping.

Ran a couple of shorts as I got ready to head out. Volume 7 brings more changes to the Stooges as Columbia downsizes its short subject department and embraces new technology like 3-D. It also brings more remakes - "A Missed Fortune" is Shemp version of the Curly short "Healthy, Wealthy, and Dumb," while "Listen, Judge" combines gags from "A Plumbing We Will Go" and "An Ache In Every Stake." I once again found myself feeling sorry for the Stooges when a dame plays them all for a sucker in "Corny Casanovas." Larry's the one causing the trouble in the odd "He Cooked His Goose." He's a pet store owner chasing Moe's wife and Shemp's girlfriend, until Shemp figures out a way to turn the tables on him.

I waited until the rain stopped to head out for this week's gym/groceries run. I didn't get to Lucile Roberts until 12:30, thanks to having to go back twice for things I forgot. Lucile Roberts was dead, probably thanks to it being lunch time. There were only two or three other women there. I watched the men's basketball semi-finals (I think Russia beat Spain), men's canoeing, and men's wrestling. (The little American guy was really killing his opponent.) Did a really nice elliptical session, then a quick one on the arm machines.

Went to the Acme next for a much-needed paycheck and a short grocery trip. I rarely need a lot in the summer; when I'm at home, I eat meat, vegetables, and the occasional slice of bakery bread. I was mostly restocking things like chicken ($1.99 a pound for Acme's skinless chicken thighs!), green tea, white cooking wine, tortillas, milk, and fruit concentrate. Acme's generic Shopper's Value Ice Cream was even cheaper than usual - a $1.78 for a small, square paper package like the old Sealtest cartons? I couldn't resist. (Not only that, but it's less fattening than many frozen yogurts!) I also had an Acme coupon for two free Shopper's Value bags of salty snacks. Got two bags of pretzels, the mini twists and the honey wheat rods.

Spent the next few hours at home, doing things around my apartment. I put my groceries away. I baked brownies. I hung the new shower curtain. Amid the activity, I watched The Three Stooges Go Around the World In a Daze, one of the two 60s Stooges movies I grabbed with my Amazon order. This is a cute updating of Around the World In 80 Days, with some of the Stooges' older material (such as Curly-Joe going bezerk whenever he hears "Pop Goes the Weasel," a reworking of a Curly gag from the short "Punch Drunks") thrown in. The great-grandson of Phines Fogg must go around the world in 80 days again...this time, without spending the dime. He's joined by his three incompetent servants (the Stooges, naturally) and a lovely American woman on tour in Asia. Not to mention, two thieves have framed him for a bank robbery he didn't commit, and there's a world-wide warrant out for his arrest.

Only necessary for major fans of the Stooges or of the source material. Ok time-waster if you run into it on cable or for rental...but those interested in the Stooges will definitely want to go to the shorts first. Jules Verne fans will want to try the 1957 movie or 80s mini-series before coming here.

Thankfully, at press time, the weather has continued to be off-and-on cloudy and humid but not rainy. I got to and from work dry, despite occasional reports of wet weather from customers. Work was busy when I came in, on-and-off after rush-hour ended. Other than a few remaining beginning-of-the-month people, there were no major problems.