Well, Blow Me Down!

Started out today with more Popeye shorts. Wow. I don't remember Olive Oyl being quite this tough before. In the second short "I Yam What I Yam," she's knocking non-PC Indians here, there, and everywhere, and then holds off a whole lot of them on her own...and that's before Popeye appears. There are times when I'm amazed Bluto can get near her, never mind how many pounds he has on her. 

I opted to do the laundry at the laundromat today. I'm tired of how long Dad's drier takes, even on it's highest setting. It was cloudy and cold when I headed out, but not nearly as cold or as windy as it has been. The laundromat was fairly quiet except for two guys working on their own loads. I had a fairly large load of my own. I wanted to wash the new jeans I bought yesterday. I read one of the Larry Fine biographies Lauren gave me for Christmas while listening to the news, The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless. 

Finished out disc one of the Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938 set when I got in. Popeye's world here is strange and gritty, filled with unusual characters and urban adventures. I wish I could have seen them like this when I was a kid. My stepfather is the one who introduced my sisters and me to Popeye. Popeye was one of the few cartoon characters he ever seemed to want to watch with us. The two have a lot in common - Dad is a sailor, loves spinach, and frequently mangles the English language (his wife has spent 25 years correcting his vocabulary). (My other introduction to Popeye's world was the underrated 1980 musical with Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall as Popeye and Olive. I actually found the soundtrack LP at a yard sale a few years ago and will probably pick up the DVD eventually.) 

Unlike the Disney and Looney Toons crew, I never really knew much about Popeye beyond Dad's interest, so I went right into the special features after the shorts ended. Unlike Mickey or the Toons, Popeye was actually a refugee from the comics. And in fact, Olive Oyl pre-dates him by a decade. He was introduced as a one-off character in 1929, when Olive and her family were appearing in a comic strip called Thimble Theater that spoofed melodramas. Popeye proved to be so popular, Olive became his girl, and the strip was reworked around his increasingly bizarre adventures.

Work was pretty much the same as it has been - busy during rush hour, quiet thereafter. Mother Nature did her part. It got very dark and started snowing yet again somewhere around 5. The snow had stopped by the time I finished at 8. Once again, there was only about an inch on the ground; this time, the street was too warm for ice and slush. I got home with no problems.