Began a cloudy Memorial Day with breakfast and more wartime shorts. Donald Duck starred in a series of cartoons from 1942 to 1944 that mainly had him dealing with daily life in the army. "Donald Gets Drafted" and "Sky Trooper" show how Don ends up in the army, how he drives Sargent Pete crazy with his desire to become a pilot, and what happens when Pete does get him on a plane. "The Vanishing Private" has Donald using a new invisibility paint first on a new cannon, then on himself. Pete goes crazy trying to find "the little man you can't see."
Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon working on my story. I did more later in the evening, after dinner. Leia is being seduced by what she thinks is Han Solo...or is he? Han reveals the truth when he arrives in time to shatter the magic mirror. The moment the mirror's broken, so's the illusion. Palapatine returns to his original skeletal form. Leia and Han try to find out what his plans are for Luke and the Rebels, but he shoots Leia in the shoulder with his magic and vanishes before they can get far. Leia feels well enough to go after him.
Meanwhile, Wedge is just hoping he'll survive the battle at the foot of the Black Crystal Mountain when he hears wings flapping. Luke's friends the Sith Dragons from the first story have arrived! They acknowledge their fellow magic-sensitive beings, the remaining Wookie stallions, before helping the Rebel army get to the drawbridge.
I had enough time to eat and pack after getting off before heading to work. Despite the clouds and the somewhat cooler temperatures, it was killer humid. The clouds did look like they were trying to break up at one point, but they finally returned for good. Though I did end up in the registers for a half-hour when we were overwhelmed with customers, I was mostly outside. There were just as many carts that needed to be gathered. I was actually surprised they didn't put me in the registers more, given how busy they were, but I guess they figured the one other bagger couldn't do it all on his own. At any rate, it went pretty fast, and I was in and out.
When I got home, I watched more wartime shorts, first while having leftovers for dinner, then as I ate the last of the pumpkin bars for dessert. "Der Fuher's Face" is probably the strangest and the most creative of the World War II Donald cartoons. Donald dreams himself into a surreal Nazi Germany, where he has to make more shells for the Third Reich...or else! "Fall Out, Fall In" is more typical. All the poor duck wants after a very long march is dinner. But he can't eat until he sets up his tent...and then he can't sleep because his fellow privates make too much noise. "Commando Duck" has Donald sent to Japan to "wash out" the enemy (and encounter quite a few stereotypes).
Did the last few Looney Tunes wartime shorts I had during dessert. Bugs becomes a "Super Rabbit" when he eats a genetically enhanced carrot. He uses his powers to stop a cowboy from attacking his fellow bunnies. When push comes to shove, he changes into the uniform of a real hero...a Marines officer. Daffy, on the other hand, is having none of this "draft" business in "Draftee Daffy." He does everything he can think of to avoid that annoying Little Man From the Draft Board.
My personal favorite of the Looney Tunes wartime shorts is "Falling Hare." This is one of the rare times Bugs goes up against an antagonist who gives as good as they get. He discovers a gremlin sabotaging planes at an air field. That gremlin may be small, but he has a battery of tricks at his disposal, including sending a plane into a freefall!
And speaking of, we honor all those who fought and died for our country on this Memorial Day.
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