Snow In the Springtime

It was still just cloudy when I finally rolled out of bed this morning. Despite the weather, I opted to honor the first day of spring during breakfast with a couple of cartoons. It's "Spring In Acme Acres" during the first season of Tiny Toon Adventures. Babs and Buster introduce three cartoons with (very) mild spring themes. "Love Among the Tunes" has the Elmer Fudd Cupid turning his arrows over to Conrad so he can go on vacation. The none-too-bright vulture proceeds to create some odd matches, including Babs and Montana Max. "Elmyra's Spring Cleaning" proves to be hazardous to all of Acme Acres, especially one poor fish whose bowl she sucks into her vacuum cleaner. "That's Incredibly Stupid" is a parody of the goofy stunt-based game shows that were wildly popular in the late 80's-early 90's. Plucky keeps making Dizzy do all the stunts, but the last one proves to be more than even Plucky can handle.

Did a few shorts while getting ready to run errands. "Springtime Serenade" seemed very appropriate, given it had started to snow by the time I put it on. This later Walter Lanz Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon is one the few the character did during his starring years in color. He and Fanny are proprietors of a summer resort who, along with the other animals of the farm and woods, are delighted that spring is here and they can get their cleaning done. A grouchy old groundhog is determined to spoil their fun with predictions of bad weather. They don't believe him at first, until the snow actually begins to fall.

"Springtime" is the second of the seasonal-themed Disney Silly Symphony shorts (and the third Silly Symphony period), and as such, is the one of the most basic. It's pretty much just animals dancing and eating each other in time to classical music.

The snow was just coming down as a light squall when I headed out. My first stop was the Oaklyn Library. Considering the weather, I was surprised there was even just one other person there besides the librarian and me. I organized DVDs and half-listened to the blather on CNN. I did end up taking out some movies here. They get new releases quicker than the Haddon Township Library. Found Coco and Thor: Ragnorok, along with the French ballet-themed animated film Leap!

The snow and wind were both picking up by the time I left the library, around quarter of 1. I was going to go home, but I really wanted to return the Haddon Township Library DVDs. My next day off is Saturday, and they usually have plenty of help that day. Thankfully, the traffic wasn't too bad at that point, though the snow was just starting to mix with ice and sting my face.

Needless to say, the Haddon Township Library wasn't busy, either. I didn't have nearly as much to do this week as I had last week. Just shelved the children's DVDs and CDs and audio books. Didn't take anything out here; I don't know when I'll be able to get here again.

By 2:30, the snow was quickly turning into sleet. Beyond really hurting when it hit my face, it was making the sidewalks and back roads more than a little slippery. I went straight home, dodging early traffic that may have been let out early due to the weather.

Made some calls when I got in. Today is Mom's birthday. She was spending it buying a new car after the old one was totaled in a crash. They got luckier than we did weather-wise; at press time, all they've gotten has been rain.

I called Dad before that, hoping for a ride to work tomorrow. Jodie called me back while I was talking to Mom. When I did get through to her, she told me what I'd suspected all along. The roads are a sheet of ice...and if they continue to be messy, she and Dad won't be going anywhere tomorrow. I don't want to call out and lose my 8 and 1/2 hour day, but if no one can get out, I may have to consider that.

Did two more spring-related Silly Symphonies while I got organized. "Birds In the Spring" is what the title implies. We follow a family of birds in the late spring, particularly one cheeky little fledgling who gets into big trouble when he leaves the nest for the first time. "The Goddess of Spring" is the myth of Persephone and Hades retold as a full-blown mini-opera. This was one of several Symphonies Disney made as a test for Snow White. While some of it is lovely (the dancing in the "Mighty Hades" number is pretty nifty), other bits show that Walt's animators had a long way to go (Persephone dances like she has no bones).

Spent the rest of the afternoon inside, working on my story. Han continues to be fussy after Obi-Wan and Luke go off to work on spells, insisting on sleeping in the cart and turning it into a tent. Leia helps him. She finally decides it's time to bury the hatchet with this man, especially given he's not in great shape. He agrees. He finally thanks her for having saved him earlier and asks her if she'll teach him how to handle a sword. Only if he shows her how to handle a mechanical bow; she's never seen one before.

They finally make it to Scarif, a dusty port city. Obi-Wan tells them they'll look for people to help them get to Coruscant and deal with Palpatine and who know about Han's real identity there. Leia points out that unicorns are rare, and Luke might attract unwanted attention. He makes his horn invisible and the rest of him look more like an ordinary horse.

Got so into writing, I didn't break for dinner until quarter of 7. Used up the last of the spaghetti sauce, along with spinach, mushrooms, and Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, to make Italian Scrambled Eggs for dinner.

Played more Lego Star Wars as I ate. There's one piece in "Retake Theed Palace" I just cannot get to! I'll have to look that one up online. Had a much easier time finally finding the red brick in "Darth Maul."

Finished the night with Can-Can. The 1960 film version of the Cole Porter show keeps most of the original show intact, but eliminates the artist subplot. Satine Pistache (Shirley MacLaine) runs a nightclub in Paris that's notorious for performing the scandalous, leg-baring can-can dance. Her lawyer boyfriend Francois (Frank Sinatra) and a laid-back judge (Maurice Chevalier) are more than happy to look the other way. A newly-arriving judge (Louis Jordan) is less willing to play Satine's game. He tries twice to get her arrested and actually succeeds the second time. She tries to seduce him into changing his mind, but ends up falling for him. Francois doesn't like that one bit! Satine has been trying to get him to marry her, with no success. Now she has a judge who is more than willing to comply. Francois responds by getting her drunk at a high-society party, where she embarrasses herself. But Satine has her own way of getting back at him...and proving that the can-can is really good, clean fun for all.

Overlong fluff, but it does have some good numbers, notably "It's All Right With Me" for Sinatra and an attentive Juliet Prowse (in her first role), "Live and Let Live" for Chevalier and Jordan, MacLane's "Adam and Eve Ballet," and the full version of the can-can with Prowse and MacLane in the finale. I'm especially fond of the colorful and evocative costumes, which gained a deserved Oscar nomination (along with the score).

This is still a favorite of Mom's. She saw it as a kid and introduced it to us when it came out on video in the early 90's. If you're a fan of the cast, Porter's music, or like your musicals on the lighter side, this musical might be all right with you, too.

I'm really crossing my fingers. It snowed and sleeted on and off all afternoon. The snow stopped around quarter of 5, and it hasn't really done anything since then. Right now, they're saying anything from 5 to 10 inches. Yikes! If it's going to do that, I may be stuck here. We'll see what happens.