My original plan for this morning was going to yoga with Rose. As I was getting dressed, I heard the phone ring. Yes, it was Rose. She was running late and simply couldn't make it. Could we try for Tuesday? I shrugged. Why not? Rose has done things like this before. I decided I'd just have a leisurely breakfast and do yoga at home later instead.
Ran the 1937 film version of The Prisoner of Zenda during breakfast. Pretty much the same deal as the book - minor British nobleman Rudolf Rassendyl (Ronald Colman) has to substitute for his look-a-like cousin (also Colman) to keep the throne out of the hands of his dastardly brother Michael (Raymond Massey). His duties are complicated when he falls for Princess Flavia (Madeline Carroll), the King's fiancee. C. Aubrey Smith and David Niven are Rudolf's companions, Mary Astor is Michael's mistress, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is Michael's roguish aide Rupert. If you're going to see one version of Prisoner, make it this one. It's one of the definitive swashbucklers that's been spoofed ever since, especially Colman.
Headed out as soon as Prisoner ended. It was a great day for a ride. The sun was out, the clouds were light and fleecy, and there was still no wind. Best of all, it was much warmer, into a more normal mid-to-upper 30s. Even so, I rode on the street next to Newton River Park. Many of the paths, even on the brighter side with the playgrounds and picnic area, were still covered in snow and ice.
I arrived at the Haddon Township Library around quarter of 11. They were pretty busy, once again with piles and piles of DVDs people watched over the last few cold days being returned. I managed to get all of the kids' and adult titles on their shelves, and cleared a small pile of kids' and foreign movies out of the adult section as well. Wanting to lighten up a bit after the intense dramas I took out last week, my DVD rentals this week included the Hugh Jackman Oklahoma! London stage revival, the Mark Wahlburg football tale Invincible, the French animated film A Monster In Paris, two sets for the original 1983 DIC Care Bears, and the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic special Equestria Girls.
Went across the street to the Westmont Plaza for lunch. In honor of the Lunar New Year (generally known as Chinese New Year in the US), I opted for the Plaza's Asian restaurant, Bamboo. It was 12:30 when I arrived at the small storefront. They were crowded with groups of middle-school-aged kids from the junior high down the street. I didn't really mind the kids being there - they were noisy but pretty funny to watch. (Especially when one of the girls grabbed a container of fried rice from one of the boys and made him chase her around the room to get it back.) What did bother me was that they all kept going in and out every two seconds, letting the heat escape and making the room cold as heck. I ate my sweet and sour chicken, pork fried rice, and steamed vegetable dumplings and chuckled at the kids' antics.
Made a quick stop at Thriftway next. I picked up bamboo shoots for my dinner and those cheap brown eggs (at $2.29, cheaper than Thriftway's white eggs!), but I was mainly there to take out money for next week.
Headed straight home after that. Despite the nice day, I really wanted to get the cleaning started. Ran the 1st Broadway original cast album for The Scarlet Pimpernel as I gave the bathroom a decent scrubbing. Evidently, this show was constantly tinkered on throughout its Broadway run, so much that there was a second CD with the new material. I only have the first one, and I'm perfectly fine with it. I'm especially fond of Chauvelain's impassioned ballad "Where's the Girl?"
I ran the two Care Bears DVDs as I cleaned the kitchen. The Care Bears started their career in animation with a pair of anime-esque specials and a subsequent series. The villains Professor Cold-Heart and his dumb lackey Frostbite carry over from the specials, along with their being the only villains in any of the TV series to outright attack the kids the Bears are helping. Here, the show seems to be split between stories with Cold Heart and stories with the Bears dealing with crises at Care-a-Lot and among each other.
Two of the most bizarre stories from this series didn't involve any regular villains. "Drab City" brings some of the regular Bears and Cousins to the title town, where everyone is being rendered gray and apathetic by a huge meteorite in a park near-by. A little girl who lives outside of town and isn't effected helps bring the Bears to the park to get rid of the meteorite, before they're stripped of their colors, too. "The Cloud Worm" has the Bears defending Care-A-Lot against a huge worm-like critter whose job is to eat holes in the clouds so sunlight can shine down on Earth.
My favorite story from these discs was another villain-less tale, "The Old Man and the Lighthouse." For once, the kids are the villains here. A bunch of children take a boat to a lighthouse to see if its keeper is really as weird as he's rumored to be. The Care Bears try to stop them, but when everyone, including the Bears, get lost in a storm, it'll take help from the old man - and the Bear's signature Stare - to prove that not every old lighthouse keeper is "weird."
Switched to my Have a Nice Day! 70s CDs as I settled down to do some yoga. I'm so much better at yoga than I used to be. I thought I might be rusty after not having done it for seven months, but I'm actually managing some moves I wasn't good at before, like bridge pose. I still can't get on my head, and my balance is still shaky, but my flexibility has improved.
After yoga, I had the last of the shrimp stir fry for dinner, then made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies for the Acme's Super Bowl party tomorrow while watching the first half of Oklahoma! Hugh Jackman's performance as love-struck cowboy Curly was the biggest reason for the success of this show, but far from the only one. This is a great deal grittier and more rugged than most versions tend to be, with Earth-toned sets that look like a real Oklahoma farm house and train station. Laurey's no dainty Shirley Jones blond, either. She's a tough tomboy who only shows her feminine side when Aunt Eller gives her a dress...and her dilemma over which man to attend a local social with crops up in her dreams. Also, this is the only production I've ever seen where the Laurey and Curly who perform in the dream ballet are the same ones who do the rest of the show. Recommended for fans of Jackman, stage musicals, Rogers & Hammerstein musicals in general, and Oklahoma! in particular.
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