Volunteers of Oaklyn

Actually, I did a lot of volunteering today. Started at Studio LuLoo around 11. They mainly just needed their dishes washed again. I couldn't have gotten into the kids' playroom even if I wanted to. It was blocked by a table and filled with a rack of costumes. (Maybe they put on a play with the little guys this weekend?) Most of the room looked at least somewhat better organized than it had before...except for two huge containers overflowing with dishes. This time, I used one bin for to hold dish water while I cleaned. Most of the dishes weren't quite as bad as last time, except for a few coffee cups that hadn't been emptied properly and two plates that had remains of what appeared to be yesterday's lunch. There was just so much!  It took me an hour to get it all done.

The Oaklyn Library was even less busy. There was one person on the computers and the librarian and CNN, and that was it. Not much to do there, anyway. I organized adult and kids' DVD's and the kids' series books and shelved one children's book on rhinoceroses. I was out within a half-hour.

Work was steady for most of the evening. Once again, it was cold but sunny. The warm sun melted a lot of the snow and brought people out of the woodwork. My relief, one of the college boys, was right on time. I was in and out quickly and with no trouble.

When I got home, I finished Brain Donors, which I started during lunch. This hilarious riff on the Marx Brothers movies has a trio of shifty characters - shyster lawyer Roland T. Flakfitzer (John Tuturro), cab driver Rocco Meloncheck (Mel Smith), and sweet jack-of-all-trades Jaques (Bob Nelson) trying to help a pair of young dancers get their big break. Flakfitzer is competing with an obnoxious solictor to take over a ballet company funded by a wealthy older widow (Nancy Marchand). Meanwhile, the egotistical dancer Volare has his eye on the ballerina, and doesn't appreciate the antics of Flakfitzer and the others one bit. When they're arrested and the kids get in trouble, it'll take all their wits to bring down the curtain on Volare and teach him not to mess with these Marx-style tricksters!

I remember seeing this hilarious gem as a tween on cable when I was a kid. Dad used to rent it, too. Tuturro in particular is having a ball as the witty ambulance chaser who does have a heart in there somewhere. The video and the DVD were hard to find for years; thankfully, it's currently available through the Warner Archives as part of their Paramount Collection.