Creating My Fantasy World

Actually, I spent most of the morning inside, online and writing. I intend to turn these stories into as long of a series as I can draw them out. They're about a young queen who is tired of her duties, and her adventures in her kingdom and those around her. They're supposed to be set in a kind of fantasy 30s, with the cars, radios, movies, and clothes of that era...mixed with fairy-tale aspects like dragons, demons, evil sorceresses, enchanted soldiers, wacky witches, and good-natured general store clerks. As of right now, these stories are for me to vent and do some kind of writing. I may show them to one or two other people whom I trust, but they won't be going online at the time being.

I decided to give my DVD player a rest and listen to soundtracks while I made leftovers for lunch. Xanadu and Annie both came out in the early 80s, and they're favorites of mine. Neither have ever been popular with the critics, but their soundtracks are outstanding. There's some fun additions to Annie's song stack - my favorites are "We Got Annie" and the hilarious "Sign!," the latter for Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan and Albert Finney as Oliver Warbucks. There's also Burnett joining Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters for an awesome version of "Easy Street" and Burnett's classic version of "Little Girls."

Xanadu is a bit more problematic. The trouble isn't in the music. There's a fine disco/rock score at work here. My favorite numbers are the fun "All Around the World" for the Electric Light Orchestra, the gorgeous ballad "Suspended In Time" for Olivia Newton-John, and her charming duet with Gene Kelly "Whenever You're Away From Me." The movie itself makes no sense whatsoever. Annie at least had its stage pedigree and decades of comic strips to draw on. Xanadu was an attempt at an original story - a muse (Newton-John) comes down to Earth to inspire an artist to create a roller disco. It's a fun flick if you can get with the cheesy vibe and ignore the plot holes, but most people will probably be perfectly content to buy or download the album (or the Original Cast Album for the stage version, which switched things around by playing it as the kitsch it is).

Ran the soundtrack for Thoroughly Modern Millie as I prepared for work. As much as I get a kick out of the movie, the soundtrack is really for Julie Andrews and Carol Channing fans only. They're the only ones heard on the soundtrack, besides James Fox introducing "The Tapioca" and an older woman later in the movie performing "Rose of Washington Square." That said, there's some really cute numbers here, including Channing wailing through "Jazzy Baby" and "Do It Again" and Andrews introducing the title song.

Work was pretty normal for a Monday - steady, not overwhelmingly busy except during rush hour. The nice weather may have helped. It got into the lower-mid 50s here and will be getting even warmer later this week. It did slow down enough by the end of my shift for me to head out with no relief.