Goofs and Deadpools

It had been snowing when I finally went to bed last night. By the time I got up, the snow had stopped. There was a little bit on the porch, once again about an inch. I still celebrated our wintry weather with two snow-based specials. Frosty Returns in an odd tale from the early 90's. It kind of plays like a cross between a Rankin-Bass special and a Peanuts special. A far more sarcastic Frosty (John Goodman) helps a little girl who loves magic and her science-obsessed guy friend save their winter carnival from a nasty executive (Brian Doyle Murphy) who has created a chemical that instantly dissolves snow.

The Pink Panther finds himself in the Olym-pinks when he joins the 1980 Lake Placid ski team. His long-nosed rival just can't seem to beat him. He cheats at everything from the ski jump to bobsledding, but usually just ends up freezing his rear off in the icy waters. Meanwhile, Pink just wants to out-ski a piano that's determined to keep sliding after him.

Headed out to run errands around 11. My original plan was to check out the Gloucester Outlets, but between my finances, the weather, and the bus only stopping at Audubon and the Outlets at certain times of the day, I decided to save that trip for later in the winter or early spring. Opted to just explore some of the stores in the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center, starting with Goodwill. They were busy as heck when I arrived. I ducked around a woman dropping DVDs into a pile next to her to grab a few myself. Found collections of Goofy and Mickey Mouse cartoons from the long-out-of-print Classic Cartoon Favorites DVD series. (They also had Donald and Chip and Dale, but I already have the latter DVD and all of Don's shorts on my Treasures sets.) Also picked up Dumbo: Big Top Edition to review eventually and the British action film The Sword of Sherwood Forest, the latter still in its original plastic. 

My best find was something I've been hoping to pick up for a long time. The Haddon Township Library had the PBS documentary miniseries Broadway: The American Musical in its non-fiction collection, but the set has vanished from the shelves within the last year or so, and it could cost up to 50 dollars even when new. I found it for $5.99. It's totally intact, complete with the flyer from PBS advertising other sets and giving an introduction to the episodes. 

Was in and out of a few stores next. I'm still hoping to find a new bathrobe and a new pair of winter boots. I never did find a bathrobe. (I probably will end up getting that online.) I did see a few pairs of boots I liked at Marshalls and Ross, but I didn't buy them. I'm glad I waited. I found just the right pair at The Shoe Depot, black Totes boots with non-slip rubber bottoms and warm fur lining - and they were on sale for $17. 

By this point, it was almost 2, and my stomach was grumbling. I was originally going to eat at Chick Fil'A, but even then, the line for the take-out window was still half-way around the building. I went with Arby's instead. Had a tasty if messy turkey gyro with curly fries and Mello Yello. There was only one other guy there besides the people behind the counter. I enjoyed the quiet and my meal as I sat by the front window and watched cars go by on the Black Horse Pike.

Next stop was a far busier Acme to get my schedule and do my grocery shopping. Given I spent a lot of the week eating at home, there was a lot that I needed. This week is one of our occasional "buck a bag" produce sales. I grabbed bagged spinach, celery, oranges, a container of cherry tomatoes, and a bag of those tasty baked pea snacks. Had online coupons for Belvita breakfast cookies (treated myself to the chocolate sandwich cookies), butter, Celestial Seasonings herbal tea, and Pantene conditioner - they finally had the curl formula. Restocked apples, bananas, skim milk, yogurt, chocolate chips, canned pineapple, cake mix, powdered sugar, regular black tea, eggs, turkey bacon, and blueberry preserves. 

My schedule is much better than it was before vacation, and in fact is probably the best schedule I've had since Christmas week. More hours, all in the mid-afternoon except for an early Sunday. I'm so glad I have Martin Luther King Jr. Day off. The high that day is supposed to be in the teens. I'll just have to do everything next Thursday and Friday.

Went straight home after I left. Put on the Goofy DVD while I got organized. With the Walt Disney Treasures sets out of print and nearly impossible to find, I figured these were the next best thing. One of the reasons I bought it was to have the full "Art of Skiing," which is the very first cartoon on the set. "Father's Day Off" was also pretty funny. Poor Goof! If he thought being a single dad in the 90's was tough, being a married dad whose wife went off for the day in the 50's was even harder. He has to iron a dress that's shrunk, keep his son out of trouble, wonder why the heck the milkman kissed him, take care of a neighbor's baby, save his wash from birds, and explain to the cops why they heard the radio and thought it was a real murder. 

Worked on writing for the next few hours. Han, Chewie, and Luke knock out three guards who try to attack them and steal their black and white armor. They pass themselves as guards and Ben and Chewie as monks on their way to Nottingham Castle. Luke's hoping to save Maid Leia, but Han just wants his money.

Broke for a late dinner at 7. I was still full from my late lunch and opted for something lighter than the crusted fish I originally had planned. Fried up the turkey bacon and crumbled it into spinach, thinly sliced onion, chopped broccoli and cauliflower florets, and cherry tomatoes. Added my own home-made mayo-red wine vinegar dressing. Oh, yum! It came out really tasty and filling, a nice blending of flavors.

Finished out the remaining Goofy shorts as I ate. "The Big Wash" introduces Dolores the Elephant. Goofy is her caretaker and has to give her a bath, but she absolutely refuses to get clean and does her best to hide from his hose. He's a "Baggage Buster" when a magician's trunk that he's trying to load onto a train gives him nothing but trouble. Goofy tries to get an equally reluctant bear to "Hold That Pose" after he's taken up photography. A big cat refuses to take the loss of his home "Lion Down" when Goofy plants his tree on the top of his apartment building. He decides he likes Goof's hammock and tries to throw him out. Goofy tries to learn "How to Dance," but he's not prepared for how aggressive people can be when they're jitterbugging.

Moved on to The Sword of Sherwood Forest as I cleaned up from dinner. This British version of the Robin Hood legends from 1960 picks up with Robin (Richard Greene) and his men already outlaws. They vow to aid the Archbishop of Canterbury (Jack Gwillim) when he speaks out against the Sheriff of Nottingham (Peter Cushing) confiscating the lands of a lord who died in the Crusades. There's also Maid Marian (Sarah Branch), who wants the Archbishop to help her provide for the family of a man who was killed by the Sheriff's men. She thinks Robin's a selfish jerk at first, but she starts to fall for him when she realizes that he intends to help the Archbishop and give the Sheriff's money to the poor.

I never heard of this Robin Hood before...and now I'm wondering why. Maybe it's because this came from Hammer Studios, which normally specialized in horror. To my surprise, I actually quite enjoyed it. Cushing made an especially hissable Sheriff of Nottingham, and Nial MacGinnis and Nigel Green were fun as Friar Tuck and Little John respectively. Greene was a bit stiff as Robin, but he wasn't bad, and he certainly looked dashing enough in the action scenes. Loved the gorgeous widescreen color cinematography, too. Evidently, I'm not the only one who liked it - it was a surprise hit in 1960 in England. 

If you want a Robin Hood that's more Errol Flynn and less Kevin Costner, you could do far worse than to look around for this one.

Finished the night with Deadpool 2. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is looking forward to starting a new life with his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) when she announces that she's pregnant, but that's tabled when one of his targets shows up and kills her. After he tries to commit suicide, he recovers at the X-Mansion with Colossus (Stefan Kapicic), Teenage Sonic Nuclear Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), and her girlfriend Yukio (Shioli Kutsana). They want him to join the X-Men, which he does only after much persuasion and because he thinks Vanessa would want him to. Their first job is to subdue Russell (Julian Dennison), a young fire-based mutant being raised in an abusive orphanage. 

He and Deadpool both end up in prison after Deadpool attacks some of the orphanage leaders who hurt the kid, but Deadpool's broken out by tough guy time-traveler Cable (Josh Brolin). Cable wants to kill the kid before he can murder anyone, including his family. Deadpool gets together a group of semi-mutants and just plain strange folk he calls X-Force, but the only survivor of the initial parachute drop is lucky Domino (Zazzie Beetz). Collins does get out, with the help of massive Juggernaut (voice of Reynolds). Now Deadpool and one of the strangest groups of superheroes ever have to stop Collins from killing the heads of the orphanage...even if they have to manipulate time itself to do it

Wow. Yeah, if you loved the first movie, you'll probably enjoy this one just as much. The gags are just as funny this time around, especially if you know anything about the X-Men and Marvel films or recent pop culture. Yes, it's still violent and there's still a lot of cursing and blood. This isn't a superhero movie for kids or people who aren't into heavy action. I also wish they'd made more use of a lot of characters, including Vanessa and the other members of the X-Force. Not to mention, as with Teen Titans Go to the Movies, those who aren't into recent superhero films or pop culture probably won't get a lot of the jokes, and many of the gags will likely become dated in a few years. 

Those caveats aside, if you're into meta-jokes or loved the first Deadpool movie, you'll probably have just as much fun with the second verse as you did with the first. 

(And incidentally, most of the snow - including the snow that had been around all week - had vanished by the time I went home from the grocery store. It wasn't warm so much as it was damp and chilly. While we're not supposed to get the two feet of snow that Lauren says is predicted for Western Massachusetts, we are supposed to get at least another two inches, plus freezing rain. We'll see what happens. I'm more concerned about the freezing temperatures on Monday and Tuesday.)