Road to a Rainy Day

Kicked off another cloudy, humid, gloomy morning with a biography and two poems on Columbus from the Colliers Harvest of Holidays book. All three were surprisingly critical of Columbus and what he did and didn't do for when they were written in the 40's and 50's. He may not have been much of a sailor, been the first person to discover America, or found the gold and silks of India and Japan like he'd hoped...but he was among the first Europeans to discover the Caribbean islands we now know as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, San Salvador, and Cuba.

Moved to breakfast and Halloween Is Grinch Night after I finished my journal. A sour sweet wind sends the Grinch on the prowl, with his dog Max reluctantly hauling his wagon filled with wild psychedelic scares. One little Who takes it on himself to make sure that the Grinch never makes it to town.

Worked on writing for about an hour. The massive room Leia and Harry enter is the Armory, where the swords were kept. All three seem to be missing...but Harry can feel the Sword of Strength. It's calling him. He just has to find out where...

Rushed out to work as soon as I got off the computer and changed. Between the dark and damp weather and this being a holiday and the last day of a 4-day sale, we were busy all afternoon and evening. I did get stuck in the register for about an hour off-and-on to do breaks, but I was mostly doing carts and baskets. I also got to teach another new recruit how to do the trash, this time outside. He caught on really fast, too - he opens bags like a champ.

It started misting sometime in the early afternoon, and has been misty and damp for pretty much the rest of the day. It was still misting heavily when I rode home. Did two episodes of Sailor Moon from the first season while I dried off and ate fried eggs, potatoes, and a salad for dinner. "The Summer, the Beach, Youth, and Ghosts" is what it says on the tin. Rei takes Usagi, Luna, and Ami to an old beach resort for training. Usagi keeps freaking out at the spooky servants who run the place. Ami befriends the young daughter of the grouchy owner, who may have a strange secret of her own...

"Protect Children's Dreams: Friendship Through Anime!" takes the girls behind the scenes at the animation studio where the new Sailor V movie is being drawn. Usagi and Rei want autographs from their favorite animators. Ami's more concerned with one particular animator who has been acting very peculiar, including threatening to kill off Sailor V in the final scene.

Finished the night with The Road to El Dorado. Tulio (Kevin Kline) and Miguel (Kevin Branaugh) are con-men in Spain who find themselves in possession of a map to the fabulous city of gold, El Dorado, in Central America. They inadvertently end up on a ship with the explorer Cortez (Jim Cummings) that's bound for the New World. They flee the ship with Cortez' horse Altivo (Frank Welker) and eventually end up on the shore of what would become Guatemala. Traveling further inland, they discover that the city is real, and the natives believe them to be gods. They run with this, hoping to get back to Spain with the gold and the street-wise native girl Chel (Rosie Perez). Miguel, however, comes to truly care for El Dorado and its people, to the point of throwing out the sorcerer Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante) when he insists on human sacrifice. Cortez, however, is still after them and the gold, and Tzekel-Kan is desperate to get his position back. The wily trio will have to work together if they want to save El Dorado from both black magic and Cortez' attack.

Hilarious action-adventure tale was a flop on first release in 2000; people were still conditioned to think all animation was singing princesses at that point. Mom took Keefe to see it, and they both adored it. Keefe went around saying "You the god!" for ages. It's become something of a cult favorite of late, thanks to gorgeous hand-drawn animation, the hilarious dialogue (much of it ad-libbed by Branagh and Kline), and one of Elton John's best scores. (My favorite John single, "Someday Out of the Blue," came from this movie.)

If you're looking for a great animated movie for older boys or are a fan of either leading man, this is one Road trip worth taking.