Legendary Lizards of the Wild West

Started today with the musical DuBarry Was a Lady, with Red Skelton as a hat check boy in a nightclub who dreams that he's King Louis of France, singer Lucile Ball is Madame DuBarry, and dancer Gene Kelly and swami Zero Mostel are revolutionaries. Some fun music, but there's lots of references to World War II pop culture that you probably won't get if you're not a fan of that era, and Ball and Kelly don't really have enough to do.

The laundromat was quiet today. There were only a few people when I arrived, and almost no one when I left. Just as well. I had a lot of laundry to do, including bathroom towels. I let the clothes dry a little longer than usual because of the towels, and I was still out by noon.

When I got home, I put the laundry away, had tuna salad on lettuce for lunch, and watched Rango. This computer-animated curiosity is set in the bone-dry Mojave Desert of the American Southwest. "Rango" is the name a lost lizard comes up for himself when he stumbles onto the town of Dirt. It's a real old-fashioned Wild West community...populated by the kind of critters you'd find in the area, like lizards, snakes, turtles, moles, and aardvarks.

The plot is pretty old-fashioned, too. Rango manages to use his acting abilities to convince the town that he's a gunslinger. They make him their sheriff, and soon enough, the lonely lizard whose only friends were the toys in his aquarium has become the soul of the entire town. Trouble is, Dirt's also a very dry town. Their water supply has been drying up, and if they don't find liquid soon, they'll all have to leave. Rango vows to help them. Can he rescue the water supply and avoid the Mayor's hitmen, without revealing that the closest he's ever came to being a lawman is playing one?

Definitely an odd one. Johnny Depp is the voice of Rango, which many explain some things. I'm a fan of westerns and loved seeing Nickelodeon making fun of long-time cliches. As a storyteller, I also enjoy seeing how Rango convinces the town to make him sheriff. This is too violent for little kids, but pre-teens and young teenagers will probably get a kick out of it.

Work was quiet for most of the night, especially compared to yesterday. It was very mildly busy during rush hour, but no problem for the rest of the night. I spent a half-hour after my break doing returns. I was in and out easily with no relief.