Saturday, November 04, 2017

Dolls On a Fall Morning

Started off a glorious fall day with a few stories from Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater during breakfast. Hello Kitty is "Cinderkitty," a football fan who is forbidden from attending the big game by her nasty stepmother and jealous stepsister. A fairy godmother gives her the chance to become the most popular cheerleader there...and then make the winning goal and capture the eye of the quarterback penguin prince. She learns not to go into a stranger's house in "Goldikitty and the Three Bears." A trio of hungry bears (Catnip, Grinder, and My Melody) decide she's on the menu when they first find her in the woods, then eating their pizza and breaking their chairs in her house.

Headed out for today's errand run around quarter of 11. First stop of the day was on Ridgeway Avenue in Oaklyn, a couple of streets down from Manor, for a yard sale. I didn't see anything for me, but I dug two DVDs out of a box for Lauren for Christmas. (I just hope she doesn't already have them. She could always give them to her coworkers or parents if she does.)

As I rode down Kendall and turned onto West Clinton, I encountered something I totally didn't expect to see today. There was what appeared to be a small fair or block party across from the Oaklyn School. While there were a few local booths, it was mostly people stirring great silver vats of some smoking brew. I had no idea what was going on until I noticed the signs for the new business replacing Studio LuLoo - a store selling products to make your own beer. Must have been people advertising the new store.

Didn't get to the Collingswood Farm Market until 11:30. Even at that late date, they were still packed with people buying produce for birthday and tailgating parties. Eggplant is gone, but I did see chestnuts for the first time this season. I picked up cranberries, broccoli, small Gala apples, and Brussels sprouts.

After a quick stop at WaWa for water and a treat, I headed down Leeds Avenue in Collingswood and into Haddon Township, and then to Audubon. I wanted to check out an estate sale on East Merchant. It was at a small white house that looked like it was 60's era, with a white and grey awning over the front window. There were items in the back garage and front yard as well as inside. Found a box of lovely Christmas cards, a nice wooden sunflower plaque to hang up in my living room next summer, and a metal slotted pasta spoon. The spoon was a quarter; got all three for a dollar.

Since I was on that side of the street, I decided to take a look at the House of Fun on my way home. I poked through the Star Wars items, but didn't see anything I really wanted. (Last Jedi is coming out next month anyway. There will be tons of new merchandise for that.) I did get a Playstation game for Lauren. She bought a PlayStation 1 on eBay a few days ago, but didn't get any games with it. The game was even still in its plastic.

Ended up at Phillies Phatties for a quick lunch. Thought it was 1:30 by then, they were still busy with teens and kids coming in for a late lunch or snack, not to mention hungry brewers from the block party. I took my slice of cheese, slice of mushroom, and can of Cherry Vanilla Pepsi outside and watched the partygoers stroll down West Clinton.

After I got home and got organized, I did some quick vacuuming and took out the rugs to be aired. Figured I'd let the rest of the Hello Kitty disc run while I worked. "Sleeping Kitty" is cursed by a magic TV that makes her sleep for a hundred years...or until Prince Sam can kiss her. "Kitty and the Beast" takes Hello Beauty and her bratty sister Catnip to an enchanted castle, the home of a pig-penguin monster. Catnip's scared of him, but Kitty can see his heart under that snout. Grinder is Kitty's protector in "Snow Kitty and the One Dwarf," but can he save her from the schemes of the jealous Queen Catnip?

With colder weather coming next week, I figured it was time to change the American Girl dolls into warmer clothes. Samantha, Josefina, Felicity, and Molly are all in their original meet outfits. Molly wears hers with Sam's black strap shoes and the knee socks from Kit's School Outfit. Added the black stockings and boots from Rebecca's School Outfit to Sam's dress. The camisa (shift) that goes with Josefina's "meet" outfit is short-sleeved, not a good idea for November in New Jersey. I switched it out for her original long-sleeved night shift. Jessa's feeling groovy in the blue and green paisley tunic with a square collar Lauren sent me a while back, the beaded bell-bottom jeans from the 2003 "Ready for Fun" outfit, and the tan boots Whitney originally came with. Whitney wears the Our Generation pink overalls outfit I got from Lauren for Christmas last year.

Worked on writing when I was done with the dolls. Leia and her daughters have a strange dream that night. They appear in a lovely rose garden, wearing elaborate gowns and jewels. They're approached by four handsome men. Three are younger, dressed in fine velvet suits. The fourth wears a king's crown in his silver locks, but he can neither step out of the shadows, nor reveal his true name. As Prince Poe tells the women, he's mute, and his wards speak for him.

Poe tells the women that the four of them are under a curse and are prisoners in the manor. Leia tries to ask them where, but they evade that question. As she's about to kiss the king, a hideous sorcerer appears. He binds the four men and spirits them away, slamming Leia with his evil lightning on the way out.

She awakens the next morning to find herself back in the room she shares with the girls. They reveal that they all had the same dream. Leia tells them that they'll ask the frogs and horned toads about what they saw at breakfast.

I got so into writing, it was 7:30 before I broke for dinner. Just quickly roasted beef hot dogs, Brussels sprouts, and "french fries" for dinner while watching another Fairie Tale Theatre episode. "The Tale of the Frog Prince," in fact, was the pilot episode. Terri Garr is a spoiled princess who turns down every prince in the kingdom because they're not good enough for her. She finally meets her match in a cheerful frog (Robin Williams) who rescues her golden ball from a well, then insists on coming home with him. The ball is the life of the party, but she's not as amused, until he rescues her from a scorpion. But this funny amphibian is not what he appears to be...

Moved on to Treasure Planet as I cleaned up from dinner and settled down for the night. This is one of Disney's most unique movies, a fusion of the pirate novel Treasure Island and space opera. Here, Jim Hawkins (Joseph Gordon-Lovitt) skysurfs over his mother's inn, listening to stories about the mysterious Captain Flint, who left all his booty on the infamous Treasure Planet. A dying sailor leaves a golden ball with the boy and his mother Sarah (Laurie Metcalf) and dog-like Doctor Doppler (David Hyde-Pierce) that turns out to be a map to the treasure. Doppler hires no-nonsense lady cat Captain Amelia (Emma Thompson) to take them across the skies find the planet. She has her doubts about the shady crew, especially a cyborg named Long John Silver (Brian Murphy). Turns out she has good reason to distrust him. Despite forming a bond with Jim, Silver kills Amelia's first mate Arrow (Roscoe Lee Browne) and incites the crew to mutiny. Jim, Amelia, and Doppler flee to Treasure Planet, encountering B.E.N (Martin Short), a crazy abandoned droid. They're caught when they return for the map, leading Jim to make the biggest gambit of his life...one that could either kill his friends for good, or make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.

On one hand, I really wish they hadn't felt the need to compress so much of the story. I never feel like I saw Jim and John Silver become a team. One minute, they hated each other. The next, they were nearly father and son. Other characters fare somewhat better, including Thompson's tough Amelia, Hyde-Pierce's clumsy, shy Doppler, and Michael Wincott as the vicious insect-like crew member Scroop.

One thing I do like - and have always liked - about this movie is the design. Space and traditional pirate stories may not mesh well, but they sure look like they do. The flying pirate ships are amazing in their detail, and the final frontier never looked more vast or beautiful. Nice score too, including one of my favorite rock songs from a Disney movie, "I'm Still Here."

For all it's problems, this didn't deserve either the scorn it got from critics when it came out in 2002 or the drubbing it got at the box office. It's one of the most unusual and creative movies Disney ever did. If you have older kids who love pirate tales or Pirates of the Caribbean, they may be willing to give this one a look.

Finished the night on YouTube with a rare Muppet special. There were two Muppet retellings of fairy tales released in the late 60's-early 70's, just as the group was starting to become popular. I did the second one from 1971, The Frog Prince. Kermit helps Robin, a little frog he meets by a well, rescue the ball of a lovely princess. Unlike the princess in Fairie Tale Theatre, this one is sweet as well as lovely...but she's under a curse of her own. The witch who transformed Robin into a frog made her talk backwards, so her father the king can't understand her. She and Robin are the only ones who know that the king's "sister" is really a witch who wants to take over the throne. While Kermit goes to get the help of the other frogs at the well, Robin tries to evade the witch's ogre Sweetums and translate the princess' instructions on how to destroy her magic for good.

This used to turn up a lot on cable in the 80's and early 90's. It's a really fun special, with several decent songs and nifty special effects. If nothing else, at least four characters created for this special would eventually appear on The Muppet Show. Robin (as Kermit's kid nephew) and Sweetums were regulars; the king and his page Featherstone were used for royal-based skits in the first few seasons.

Here's the YouTube link, for those of you who also have fond memories of this show:

Tales from Muppetland: The Frog Prince

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