Adventures In the Rain

I slept so late today, I didn't get to the Acme until 12:30! Surprisingly, it wasn't busy at all. I was able to walk right up to the counter and get my big paycheck from last week without a fuss. Good thing, because I needed a lot today. Had to restock flour, canned tomato sauce, wraps, canned black beans, canola oil, dollar single packs of fish, oranges, bananas, and apples. Thank heavens the $1.49 apples have returned, and they had a sale on bags of oranges. Thought I'd try escarole in place of lettuce - I used to eat it a lot when I lived in Wildwood because it was so cheap. They were still out of the small bags of frozen peas. I just bought the large ones. The Acme is clearing out cereals and the remaining holiday food items; ended up with a box of Pillsbury Holiday Cake Mix to replace the white cake mix I used on that Pumpkin Pudding Cake, a bag of Pumpkin Bar Cookie Mix, and a second box of Cascade Farms Multi-Grain Square Cereal (and may get even more - $1.59 for a cereal that usually costs more than $3.50 is too good of a deal to pass up!).

I ran more of that public domain cartoon set while having lunch. The set seems to mainly be separated into these categories:

The Paramount Superman Shorts
Former Disney animator Ub Iwerks' ComiColor Classics
The Mighty Heroes - a 60s Terrytoons series
Betty Boop
The Famous Studios (Paramount's later animation studio) Popeye Shorts
Little LuLu and Little Audrey, mischievous moppets from Famous Studios in the 40s and 50s
Mel-O-Toons - Limited animation adaptations of kids' 45s from Capitol Records from the late 50s/early 60s
Ray Harryhausen's marionette fairy tale stop-motion shorts
Baby Huey and Casper the Friendly Ghost - two more Famous Studios refugees
The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo - Mid-70s series that uses Clutch Cargo-esque limited animation to educate viewers about sea life around the world; Billie Mae Richards, best known as the long-time voice of the Rankin-Bass Rudolph, is the voice of the boy and girl here
The Fabulous Fleischer Folio - The Disney Channel's name for the Fleischer Brothers' public-domain color one-shots works rather well here, too.
Screen Songs - This long running Paramount series mixes "Sing Along"-style karaoke with music videos. The Fleischers did the originals from 1929 to 1938. Famous Studios revived the shorts in the late 40s.
Noveltoons - Famous Studios one-shots
Foxy Fables - Claymation series from England based around Aesop's Fables
A few Fleischer Brothers Popeye shorts, notably the Arabian adventures Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor, and Ali Baba
A series of anime-esque adaptations of fairy and folk tales from around the world
Mr. Piper - More fairy tale adaptations, these introduced by a jolly, plump live-action host
Aesop's Fables - the original 20s-30s Terrytoons
Van Beuren Shorts - Includes the Parrotville series and the 30s color Felix the Cat
Felix the Cat - As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the silent "Astronomeous"

I've never been so happy to be wrong about something. Along with my wonderful new coat, this set was by far my favorite Christmas present. I've been considering buying one of those big sets with tons of public domain shorts for ages now, but I never quite got around to it. The prints are battered, often missing their original credits, and probably censored in many cases (cough, Betty Boop), but some of these shorts are very rare, and the sheer variety makes things interesting. You never know what to expect next - adventures under the ocean, little girls making mischief, a sailor rescuing his very thin girlfriend, a fairy tale that may or may not be set to music, Superman saving the day, a British Claymation fox outwitting the entire forest.

I ran a few errands after lunch. My first stop was a quiet bank to deposit my paycheck. Even with my college deferment ending and two much smaller paychecks next week and the week after, I should still have enough money for the rent this month. As I've mentioned, unlike in the summer and fall, my hours won't be staying like this. February is stuffed full of events, sports, and vacations, and is really our busiest month of the year, even more than November and December.

Made a short stop at Dad and Jodie's next. I wanted to drop off the rest of the black crochet pot holder/coaster set I made for them and say "hi," since I didn't do the laundry at their house this week. They were relaxing after having done their own cleaning and Christmas de-decorating. I chatted with them about their vacation to Florida in mid-February and got to look at all the weather and navigational apps on Dad's early iPad. Dad's apps said that heavier rain was on its way. It had rained on and off all day, but never heavy or for very long. I wanted to avoid the weather before it got worse, so I just headed home.

It was just starting to spit when I got home. The rain picked up later and became quite heavy for a while. I spent the rest of the evening inside. I baked Pumpkin Bars and Chocolate-Orange-Chip Muffins, made Chicken Vegetable Soup for dinner, and watched Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

This one has a lot in common with John Carter - rogue hero meets feisty princess while seeking artifact that could save a whole kingdom. In this case, the artifact - a dagger that can propel a person backwards in time - will not only save Persia, but time itself. The title character (Jake Gyndenhaal) is accused of killing his father by his adopted brothers and treacherous uncle (Ben Kingsley). He pairs up with the princess whose sacred city they raided (Gemma Arterton) and the owner of an ostrich-racing track (Alfred Molina) to secure the dagger and get it into the right hands.

The story isn't the only thing it has in common with John Carter. This was another huge fantasy flop for Disney that doesn't deserve it's poor reputation. While it's not as well written or complex, it has its own virtues, including some amazing special effects (check out that literally explosive ending under the city). The acting is either dull or over-the-top and the writing isn't as solid; even so, while this doesn't get the glowing review from me that John Carter did, it's still worth seeing if you're a sci-fi, fantasy, or action fan looking for light entertainment.