Monday, January 08, 2018

Ice Is Not Nice

Started off the morning with one of two winter-themed episodes in the first season of Sailor Moon. "The Snow, the Mountains, Friendship, and Monsters" takes the girls to a ski resort, where Rei and Usagi are hoping to join the Moon Princess skiing contest. They hit a lot more than a rough course when it turns out that the contest is a trap and the Negaverse is involved.

Spent the rest of the morning working on writing. Han, Chewie, and BB distract the trolls guarding the others. They get Poe out first; he helps free the rest. Only Rey is missing. Kylo Ren has her, hoping to force her to marry him. The entire group manages to get past the trolls...but Hux and Phasma block their way...

Broke at 1 for lunch. Watched the other first season Sailor Moon episode based around cold-weather activities as I ate. "Paired With a Monster: Mako the Ice Skating Queen" moves from skiing to the more rarefied world of figure skating. The Guardians are thrilled when an Olympic gold-medalist figure skating pair holds skating lessons at a new rink. Makoto's natural athletic ability captures the eye of the male skater...but not only is his partner jealous, but it turns out they've been recruited by the Negaverse to help them get their hands on the Silver Crystal.

The clouds were moving in just as I was leaving for work. I figured I'd be ok on the bike. I did clean the bathrooms early on, but I was mostly outside, rounding up carts. It wasn't busy when I got in, but as the weather got worse, so did our customers. It started raining lightly around 3:30-4. The sleet didn't arrive until past 5. At least the relatively warm day, in the lower 30's, had melted the parking lot somewhat. It didn't help our vestibule. After I finished doing outside trash, I rounded up another bagger to help drop salt on the front patio.

The sleet was starting to wind down when I rode home. The main roads were fine. I didn't have any real problems until I got to Manor Avenue. I went as slowly as I could, and even then, I almost slipped a few times. I had to walk even slower up my steps.

Did two episodes of Good Eats that were perfect for sleety, rainy nights as I made baked beef sausage, roasted green beans, and mashed cauliflower for dinner. I really can't do most of the recipes in the episode on Dutch ovens - they require grills or something that can cook with coals - but it's interesting to watch anyway. Cooking fish and vegetables in pouches made from parchment paper is something else again. I may have to give that a shot sometime.

Ended the night with Grand Hotel as I went online. The mother of all all-star movies shows us what goes on during a 24-hour period in an expensive hotel in Berlin in the early 30's. "People come, people go, but nothing ever happens," claims battered Dr. Ottenschlag (Lewis Stone). He's obviously not looking in the right places. There's something happening in every corner, from the dying former accountant Kringelin (Lionel Barrymore) befriending the penniless Baron (John Barrymore), to the Baron pursuing the retiring ballerina Gruinskaya (Greta Garbo), to the ruthless businessman Preysing (Wallace Beery) trying to close a major deal, to his secretary Flammchen (Joan Crawford) just wanting out by any means necessary.

The cast makes this classic drama watchable today, especially Lionel Barrymore as the accountant out to really live for the first time, and Garbo as the ballerina who thinks she's found love in the Baron's arms...only to lose him to tragedy. If you're into the cast or other all-star movies from the 1930's, this Oscar-winning Best Picture is worth catching.

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