Continuing the Epic

Today was my early work day. It was quiet and surprisingly quick for a day that was mildly busy at best. I worked the register the entire day and had no problems doing so. My relief was one of the college girls, and she was right on time.

I took the back roads home down Nicholson Road again. It was another hot and sunny afternoon. No wonder we were dead. Once again, the traffic was fairly busy, but not only was it a nice day for a long ride, I still wanted to avoid the repairs on the Black Horse Pike.

Once again, I spent the next two hours writing. I'm coming up with ideas all over the place. While Governor Pruitt and his right-hand-woman Priscilla Cosgrave talk about getting together with a certain female smuggler named Paula, Lord Jeff Singer is determined to return to Boston, much to the consternation of his wife Hilary. With Jeff gone, Mackie Bloom is overworked...until Scott returns to the station in the capacity of an actor and kitchen worker. Meanwhile, Scott insists that Maple take over another one of his roles...at least until he can shake off Pruitt's suspicions and get back into Elizabeth's good graces.

After I finally got off, I spent the next hour or so in the bath. Ahhhhh. That felt nice. I read the American Girl Felicity mystery Traitor at Williamsburg and just enjoyed kicking back. It feels great to actually be able to do one of the things you most enjoy, and do it a lot. I haven't had this much fun writing a story in a very long time.

I ran Cats Don't Dance while having a salad and leftover rice with farm-market-fresh scallions and brown rice for dinner. This unusual animated musical tells the story of a Danny, a cat who comes to Hollywood in 1939 to be a song-and-dance performer. Animals, however, are barred from any kind of acting that doesn't involve them, well, acting like animals. There's also Darla Dimple, a sugary-sweet child star who claims to love children and animals (but really hates both) to contend with.

This was yet another non-Disney animated film that got lost in the sea of copycats in the late 90's. Too bad, because it's one of the more creative animated movies from that era. The story, likely inspired by Hollywood's treatment of minorities in the 30's and 40's, is inspired, and the musical numbers are a lot of fun. Not to mention, it has one of animation's strangest villains. Darla Dimple (and her number "Big and Loud") must be seen to be believed. If you're a fan of musicals or just of animation that tries something a little different, this is worth a look at least once.