Monday, March 21, 2016

Spaceballs the Blog Entry

We never got snow yesterday, at least not that I saw. There may have been a tiny bit this morning when I got up, but by the time I was eating breakfast, it was long gone. I celebrated the arrival of spring with another Rankin-Bass Easter special, The First Easter Rabbit. Stuffy was originally a toy bunny who belonged to a little girl named Glinda. He thought it was all over when she got scarlet fever and he was put aside to be burned. A fairy takes pity on him and turns him into a real rabbit instead, the Easter Bunny, symbol of springtime. With the help of a group of con-artist bunnies (and Santa Claus), Stuffy prepares for the holiday and avoids the nasty Zero, who wants to take over his new home April Valley.

Headed out to do the laundry around quarter of 11. To my dismay, not only did I have to use the more expensive washers because the cheaper ones were all taken, but the coin machine wouldn't take one of my bills. I had to go to Duncan Donuts across the street to cash it. I also forgot laundry detergent on Friday and ended up buying one of the tiny boxes of powdered soap. Good thing I didn't have a big load. I spent the next hour working on story notes and half-listening to The View.

As soon as I got in, I put everything away and went right back out again. My first stop was the Westmont Bagel Shop for lunch. One of the specials they had listed for today was a Grilled Chicken Parmesan Panini on sourdough bread. I thought that sounded delicious. It was, if very messy. They loaded it up with tons of cheese and tomato sauce, making it a bit hard to eat.

Headed across the street to the Haddon Township Library after lunch to do this week's session there. There were piles and piles of kids' DVDs to shelve. For once, they actually all fit with room leftover, even the overstocked series like Scooby Doo and Sesame Street. There wasn't much else there to do. I put away one New Age CD and a small stack of new releases.

While I didn't take out any movies this week, I did decide to look around for Star Wars novels. Scoundrels sounds like a Star Wars version of Ocean's Eleven. Right after the destruction of the first Death Star, Han still needs money after losing that reward. He assembles a crack team of thieves and rogues (including Chewie and Lando Calarissian) to open a supposedly impenetrable safe belonging to a huge crime syndicate.

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor seems to be a bit more typical for the franchise. Shortly after Return of the Jedi, Luke and the others discover rumors of another Sith Lord on Mindor eyeing the Empire. Luke takes the crew and Rogue Squadron after him, but the man proves more cunning than anyone suspects...

Stopped at Thriftway for a few things on my way home. They have better prices on whole-wheat flour and eggs. Needed pads and a new toothbrush, too. Went a few doors down to Dollar Tree for Easter cards. Neither place was that busy. The lines at Thriftway were more from a lack of cashiers, rather than there being a lot of people around.

Went straight home after that. Spent the rest of the evening writing. The Imperial Army is hot on the trail of the dilapidated Falcon. Han and Luke are able to out-duel and out-shoot them while Leia drives the cart through the woods. Han's just happy they got rid of them. Leia's not so sure they're gone for good. She's a little worried that someone may be following them...

Ran Spaceballs while making a "Holiday Spaghetti" pasta and sauce recipe from Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book. I used canned chicken, replaced the tomato soup called for with tomato sauce, and added carrots, a mushroom (I only had one left), and celery in with the onion. Ooh, yum yum. Tasty and simple, yet hearty enough for dinner.

Spaceballs is Mel Brooks' hilarious space opera spoof from 1987. Though Star Wars is obviously the main target, other movies are referred to as well, including the Alien and original Planet of the Apes series. Two self-proclaimed "space bums" (Bill Pullman and John Candy) rescue a runaway princess (Daphne Zuninga) and her droid (voice of Joan Rivers) from the hands of the dastardly title characters, including Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and the President (Brooks).

This is yet another comedy/fantasy from the late 80's-early 90's that was beloved by my family and frequently turned up on cable. It's also another one we all had memorized. I can still recite the dialogue to this day. If you're a fan of Brooks' style and/or the sci-fi-fantasy movies of the 80's and early 90's, this one is a no-brainer that's worth looking around for.

And I'm mad at Charlie again. First of all, no one ever showed up today to put in the new bathroom sink. Second, the pipes are leaking under the kitchen sink again. And third, while the burners work on the stove, the stove itself doesn't. I tried to make Banana Muffins tonight, and the stove just would not heat. I wonder if the pilot is out...and I have no idea where the pilot is in the stove. Either that, or the fools didn't put the hoses back on properly. They'd better show up tomorrow or sometime this week and fix these problems.

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