Thinking Outside the Box of Bricks

Started off the day with disappointment. It seems that, despite what WOGL's site says, American Top 40 is gone for good. The other show was on again. I just ready Emily Climbs instead, without music.

I had a lot to do today, anyway. My first stop was the Collingswood Farm Market. They're down to their last three weeks of the year. There's now more craft booths than food booths, but I still found everything I wanted and then some. I bought grapefruit from the tropical and citrus fruit sellers, my favorite little apples from the orchard booth, cranberries, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, a green pepper, a half-gallon of apple cider, and a bag of baby spinach.

I went straight home this time. I suspect yard sale season is done here. There were none in this area today. Yard sale season only extends into November when we have unusually warm weather. It's actually supposed to get colder next week. Besides, most people will probably be concentrating on the holidays, not clearing out their clutter, once we get past Veteran's Day. Instead of hunting down yard sales, I changed into my uniform, then finally took two huge bags of unwanted clothes and knick-knacks to the very busy Logan Presbyterian Church Thrift Shop. I took a quick look around, but I didn't really have the time to shop. I had to get to work.

(In fact, I still have one bag that didn't fit. I have no idea what to do about the bag of empty DVD cases I cleared out when I bought books for my home-made DVDs in August.)

I went to the Acme after leaving the thrift shop and arrived right on time. Good thing, too. There were long lines when I got in. We were on-and-off steady for most of the evening, though surprisingly, it could have been worse. People who had the weekend off may have taken one final trip to the Shore to close up the summer house. We're still having problems with people not reading that darn turkey coupon and holding up the line when they have to go back and get their turkey. Otherwise, the day went fine. It had calmed down enough by 5 for me to leave with a relief that had to be sent elsewhere.

When I got home, I made myself a nice dinner of turkey tenderloins baked with sweet potato and apple cider and sauteed spinach and mushrooms. Finished out the wartime shorts as I cooked. Most of Termite Terrace's wartime output consisted of war-themed stories featuring the regular characters giving the Axis the business (like Daffy's "Daffy the Commando), goofy revues on life in the barracks ("Meet John Doughboy") or on the homefront ("Wacky Blackout"), or comic allegories on how the war began and how we were hoping to win it ("Fifth Column Mouse").

Of the revues, I'm fondest of "Weakly Reporter," which depicts life in the city during wartime. I love the woman who manages to start an entire factory with her one bobby pin. My favorites of the allegories is "The Duckinators." Geese, ducks, chickens, and doves depict how the Axis rose to power, and how the US tried to stay out of it...until push came to shove and they wound up being the ones pushed.

Switched to The LEGO Movie while eating and cleaning up from dinner. Emmett (Chris Pratt) is an ordinary construction worker LEGO piece who does normal stuff and whom no one in his all-brick world looks at twice...until he sees an unusually attractive LEGO girl (Elizabeth Banks). Following her, he discovers a glowing red piece that gets stuck to his back. The girl, Wyldstyle, and an elderly blind man (Morgan Freeman), claim that the piece means he's "The Special" who will save them all from the evil President Business (Will Farrell). After he accidentally allows all of the Master Builders from almost every LEGO line to be captured, Emmett realizes that he must harness his previously buried creativity to get them out of a lot of tight jams...and that everyone around him is special, no matter what line they come from.

To paraphrase the song heard throughout, this movie is awesome. The directors had a blast gathering as many licenses and LEGO lines they could and mixing them all together. It's an enormously entertaining free-for-all on the importance of creativity and finding one's own way of being "special." All commercials should be this enjoyable and thought-provoking.

Mom took my nephews to see it when it came out back in March. She said they loved it so much, they came home bursting with ideas for new LEGO buildings and worlds. I hope it inspires other kids (and kids at heart) likewise. Highly recommended for older kids and just about anyone who appreciates creativity and excellent and unusual animation.