Wednesday, April 11, 2018

All Kinds of Dreamers

Began a gorgeous, sunny spring day with two favorite fourth season Sailor Moon episodes. Rei is interviewed by a local magazine in "Flames of Passion: Mars' Raging Super Attack." Her sudden notoriety gives her a big head about where it could all lead...but she's brought down to Earth when a painfully shy girl named Nanako asks to be her assistant. What she really wants is to imitate Rei and her dreams, since her own dreams to have a career went nowhere. It takes an attack by VesVes and her magic-imitating monkey to bring out Rei's newest power - and prove to Nanako that it's best to live out your own dreams, not someone else's.

Living out your own dreams is also a theme of "Don't Lose Sight of Your Dreams: The Mirror of Truth." Usagi and Chibi-Usa encounter a starving artist in the park. He has no money because he only paints what he sees as the truth. Most of the people he paints refuse to believe they look the way he sees them, even when it's a perfect likeness, and won't pay. This includes snobby CereCere, who gives him a sob story about her father, then forces him to draw her the way she wants him to draw. She attacks him after he decides his integrity is too important to him, but the Guardians are a (little) bit more understanding.

My 8 and 1/2 hour day was actually pretty boring. It was quiet for most of the day. Even when it got a little busy during rush hours, it didn't stay that way for long. I did inside and outside trash and returns in the morning, then spent the afternoon cleaning the bathroom, sweeping broken glass in the parking lot, and gathering carts and baskets. I was on my own for most of the day. The only other bagger up until around 4:30 was outside all day, and I was totally alone between 9:30 and noon and 4 and 4:30. I'd start doing one thing, only to get called to do two others.

At least it was a nice day for all this. While it was only in the mid-50's, still cold for this time of year, that's a lot warmer than it has been. The sun was almost hot when you could get out of the wind.

As soon as I got home, I changed, then had leftovers for dinner and made Fudgy Brownies. Watched an episode of Danger Mouse as I baked. "The Day of the Suds" has DM and Penfold in hot pursuit of their runaway washing machine. Baron Greenback has programmed all of the washing machines in London to do his bidding at the sound of his voice. Even after DM cleans up that scheme, the run-off from the broken washers creates a mutated suds monster that threatens to turn all of London into one big soapy mess!

Played Wii Sports while the brownies were in the oven. I rounded up a lot of carts today and wasn't up to anything really heavy. Stuck to mostly working on tennis and golf. I'm getting better at Target Practice on tennis and golf, but I still have problems with timing my swing and making the ball go where I want it to.

Did a little bit of Lego Star Wars after I got the brownies out of the oven. Tried to find the red brick in "Gunship Calvary," but had no luck. Didn't get the red brick on "Falcon Flight," either, but I did find the last piece. Got enough studs from both rounds to finally buy the 6x extra.

Finished the night after a shower with Despicable Me 3. After that detour with the Minions a while back, we return to the world of Gru (Steve Carell), Lucy (Kristen Wiig), and their girls. Gru and Lucy are still working for the Anti-Villain League, but when they fail to capture former 80's child star-turned criminal mastermind Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) and stop him from stealing the world's largest diamond, they're fired. On top of this, Lucy is struggling to help raise the girls, the Minions want Gru to return to villainy, and Gru has just learned that he had an unknown twin brother, Dru (also Carrell). Dru lives in a fabulous mansion in the country of Freedonia, bought with money from their supervillain father. After the brothers bond in his tricked-out car, Dru thinks he's talked Gru into returning to full-time villainy to steal the diamond back. Gru really intends to give it to the Anti-Villain League and get his job back. Elsewhere, Gru's younger daughters Agnes (Nev Scharrel) and Edith (Dana Gaier) search for a real live unicorn, while older girl Margo (Miranda Cosgrove) avoids a love-struck local boy and the Minions end up in jail for trespassing at a talent show.

Not bad, not great. The brothers and the girls and their antics are what works this time around. A lot of people praised Balthazar Bratt and his 80's obsession, but I found him more annoying than anything. Dru and Gru, on the other hand, are pretty funny as the brothers with very different ideas of what it means to be a villain. Loved the younger girls and their search for the unicorn, too.

If you're a fan of this series, this one is worth checking out as well (and is far better than Minions)...but if you're new to Gru's world, by all means, please check out the first two movies before coming anywhere near here.

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