Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Keep Calm and Make Movies

The rain from earlier in the morning was just ending by the time I rolled out of bed. Had breakfast while watching an episode of Wonder Woman on protecting the Earth, "Formicida." The third season had some pretty bizarre plots, but this one really takes the wooden cake. The title character is a scientist who has taken on the strength and stamina of ants. She kidnaps her own brother after he sells their pesticide formula to a major company. Problem is, it wasn't finished. If mixed with water and polluted air, it could turn deadly to animals and humans. When the head executive refuses to stop the production of the formula, she orders her ants to destroy his buildings. Wonder Woman has to show them that two wrongs don't make a right...and you can't save the Earth by harming others.

It was still showering a little bit when I headed to work. While I did do carts in the morning, before the afternoon baggers arrived, I spent most of the first half of my shift doing returns. I did get stuck in the register once before break...and of course, I had to deal with an obnoxious customer who made a fuss over not knowing where the right cheese for her WIC check was. She had the wrong one twice. By the time I returned from getting the right one, she'd already left.

The rest of the afternoon went far more pleasantly. I finally got to those two carts of candy. Spent a couple of hours shelving candy bars and Mentos. I'm pretty proud of myself. Not only did I manage to get both carts done, but I did it literally with no time to spare. Shortly after dumping the empty boxes in the baler, I was out the door and on my way home. The rain was long-gone by that time, too. The sun was in and out for the rest of the day, and it was warm and very humid for April.

The papers for the review for my food stamps were in the mail box when I arrived. To my shock, they're due on the 29th...which is a Sunday. I'm pretty sure the Camden County offices are likely closed on that day. Plus, I swear the case manager told me they were due by June, not within four days! I'll have to do it tomorrow, on top of everything else I have planned.

Calmed down with some writing. Leia challenges Palpatine to a duel. She's barely holding her own with the surprisingly nimble older man when she manages to get the table on him. Leia takes off with the others, sending Luke and Lando to retrieve the servants. She and Han get outside...just as a towering, fire-breathing black dragon smashes out of the dining hall window! Leia attacks the dragon while Han and Chewie rush to retrieve Falcon.

Palpatine, however, beats her back, finally getting her against the edge of the mountain. He sneeringly tells the girl that her beloved father had once worked for him, killing his political enemies, including children. Anakin turned away this life after he tries to stop Palpatine from murdering Sir Mace Windu, one of the Jedi Order's best knights, and Padme reveals that she's pregnant. He was banished from the kingdom after that, fleeing Palpatine's wrath with his wife and best friend. Leia's shocked, but he has no qualms telling her that he hopes she'll do what her father couldn't - work for him and be his right-hand.

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Had leftovers while watching an episode of Danger Mouse. "The Invasion of Colonel K" has Baron Von Greenback entering the slightly senile Colonel's mind and taking it over. He fires DM and Penfold, but Dr. Squawkencluck catches wind of his scheme and shrinks them as well. Now it's a race to the Colonel's mind to keep Greenback from accessing the highly sensitive information stored in his memories.

Did Wii Sports after dinner. Mostly focused on tennis this time around. While I'm not bad at hitting balls and I'm getting better at hitting targets, I still can't aim straight. I think the most I've gotten on the "Timing Your Swing" mini-game is 5. The actual game went better. Won the first three games; lost the second ones.

Moved on to Lego Star Wars after about a half-hour. Thanks to an online tutorial, I was finally able to get the last piece I needed for "Retake Theed Palace" and complete that round. Also did the first five bounty hunter missions. I was only able to complete three; I'll re-do the other two and play a few more another time.

Finished the night online with Their Finest. It's 1940 at a movie studio in war-torn London. Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) is hoping her new scenario, about two sisters who tried to take part in the Dunkirk evacuations, will allow her to make money for her artist husband Ellis (Jack Huston) and stay in London. She and three other screenwriters, including Tom Buckley (Sam Clafin), are recruited to write the screenplay. As the movie goes on, they find themselves expanding the part of a drunk uncle for aging leading man Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy) and tacking on an American character to appeal more to the US. The American character is played by a Norwegian-American pilot (Jake Lacy) who is useless with dialogue. Catrin develops a friendship and rivalry with Tom as the location shooting continues that eventually turns to love, to the consternation of her so-called husband. But the movie's having it's difficulties...and when tragedy strikes, Catrin will have to decide whether it's worthwhile to continue with the movie, or leave it behind.

Ok comedy-drama isn't sure what it wants to be, a romantic comedy or a moving tale of people dealing with the tragedies of war time, or both. Clafin and Arterton do come off well as the romantic leads, and Nighy's leading man-turned reluctant teacher nearly walks off with the movie. Not bad for fans of the time period, the cast, or British war history if you can find it.

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