Monday, November 14, 2016

March of the Fantasy Tales

Started off the morning with more She-Ra. Adora saves He-Man in "He Ain't Heavy" (where he's kidnapped by the Horde) and evades Skeletor in "Horde Prime Takes a Holiday." She has to rescue her own voice when Shadow Weaver seals it, and the voices of a group of locals who want to join the Rebels, in bubbles in "A Loss for Words." Madame Razz the witch, her talking broom, and Bow's koala/owl thing Kowl end up saving her from the Sixth Dimension in "Three Courageous Hearts."

My favorite episode from the last round was "Enchanted Castle." When Bow and She-Ra help an old woman, she does them kindness in return when they're captured by an evil queen who wants to keep them as slaves. The old woman proves the old adage about doing kindness and having kindness done in return, for she's not what she seems to be...

And...yeah, for all the camp, this ended up being fun. No, it hasn't dated that well, but I sort of liked it this time around. It's actually pretty funny, an odd and charming cross between sword-and-sorcery tales, superhero comics, and Hunger Games-esque dark sci-fi.

What I love most of it, especially as a girl who grew up with this show, is how awesome She-Ra was. She probably inspired many of our childhood stories that had girls rescuing boys. Although she occasionally was the one saved, she more often than not was the one who kicked rear, not only with her sword, but with her mind. She tricked the villain of the week as often as she fought them (probably because this was a kid's show).

Though I enjoyed it, I don't really recommend it unless you grew up with it, are a huge fan of the old Filmation action cartoons of the 70's and 80's, or have a daughter who is an action or fantasy fan and won't mind the limited animation and stilted dialogue.

Worked on cookies as I watched. I tried a recipe from one of the cookie cook books Lauren sent me last year, Double Chocolate Chip Cookies - namely, chocolate cookies with chocolate chips. I've really been craving chocolate lately. Oh yummm. They came out beautifully, perfect little chocolate morsels.

Headed to work around quarter of 11. It was still a beautiful day at that point, bright blue and sunny. I spent most of the day doing carts. We're sort of low on them right now. A lot of the carts are being used to by the carpenters doing remodeling to hold equipment or pieces of wall or shelves. I wish they'd bring their own trolley or something. We need those carts for our customers.

At any rate, it was never really busy. Perhaps people were scared off by the weather. I saw clouds on the horizon as early as 11:30. By the time I was done at 3, it was cloudy, cool, and breezy. I headed home quickly, hoping to avoid the rain that was supposed to come later.

Finished out the last episode on the She-Ra set, then worked on writing. Luke has presents for everyone at the party. He saves the most special present for Rey - a funny old nutcracker, dressed as a soldier. Luke shows her how to crack nuts with it. Rey's older brother Ben is jealous of the attention his sister gets. He grabs the doll and tries to crack the largest nut in the bowl, breaking it's jaw in the process. Rey is horrified. Their father Hans is angry and makes Ben apologize. Snoke tries to soothe Ben's outburst, while Luke temporarily repairs Rey's new toy.

Did more Nutcracker while eating leftovers for dinner and making Cranberry Flummery. This time, I ran a favorite of mine, the 1977 version featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov. This one is fairly traditional, though it naturally places more emphasis on Clara and her nutcracker prince, giving them the Sugar Plum Fairy's dances in the second act. Given how short it is, it's not a bad starter Nutcracker for kids if you can find it.

Went back to Lego Star Wars after I finished dinner. Finally got the last three pieces on "Through the Jutland Wastes" and two more pieces on "Hoth Battle." Otherwise had no luck. I just couldn't get to that last piece in "The Battle of Endor."

Ended the night with the more comic Snow White and the Three Stooges. We move from ballet to ice skating for this unique version of the famous fairy tale from the early 60's. The first half of the story is pretty true to the original fairy tale, other than Snow White's (Carol Heiss) fondness for ice skating. In this tale, though, the "dwarves" are the Three Stooges (by this point Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe), whose adopted son Quatro may not be whom they think he is. A lot of Stooge fans have problems with this, especially since the Stooges' routines are sort of water-down compared to their earlier shorts. I find it charming and colorful. If you love the later-day Stooges or ice skating extravaganzas or fantasy musicals, there's a lot to recommend here.

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