Wednesday, January 25, 2017

You're Gonna Make It After All

Started a gorgeous, sunny day with a later Three Stooges shorts. "Musty Musketeers" is a remake of the earlier Shemp short "Fiddlers Three," and one of the few times I like a remake of a short better than the original. The tale of three minstrels who rescue a princess from the Black Knight in order to wed their sweethearts has been tightened up and trimmed, and has a far better ending.

Work was pretty much the same deal as yesterday. I spent most of the day cleaning. I used a magic eraser on the ice bag freezer, scrubbed the wood trim around the offices as well as I could, organized candy, and dusted around the registers. I also bagged and helped two older women outside. There were plenty of baggers to do carts...but not enough carts to do. There were a ton workers running around, doing last-minute organizing and details, and using our carts to hold their supplies. I really wish they'd bring their own darn carts. We need ours for our customers.

Went straight home after work and straight back out again. I needed to get the laundry done. I'm kind of glad I waited. I was originally going to do it Monday, but the weather got crazy. The laundromat was pin-drop quiet when I arrived. I think I saw three people the whole time I was there. I worked on story notes and listened to the news. Maybe it's just as well that I didn't have that big of a load anyway. I was in and out in less than an hour.

Called Willa about Rose and the lease after I got home (I haven't heard back yet), then worked on fanfic. Chewie and Falcon escape when Jabba's boys capture Han. They're able to waylay the royal carriage on the road. Leia, Obi-Wan, and Luke recognize the animals. Obi-Wan can sense their nervousness and realizes something wrong. Ashoka, who remains in the carriage, says she senses a trap. The magician and the royal twins decide it's time to plan a trap of their own...

Oh, and I revised my Sequel Trilogy Beauty and the Beast idea. I decided the historical thing was too complicated and decided to set it in the same fantasy universe as my other fairy tale stories. Leia Organa and her brother Luke were driven from their fine mansion in Alderaan by a wicked magician and her own son. Believing her husband dead, Leia and Luke raise three orphan girls - Jess, Rey, and Kaydel - in a school in the city. When the school fails, they find themselves forced into the country.

Luke thinks he may have prospects in the city and returns there. The women all ask for gifts. Leia wants books, Jess tools, and Kaydel ribbon trim. Rey, who loves plants, only asks for one perfect rose, for none grow around their cottage. The former teacher is stranded by a blizzard in a seemingly abandoned mansion. He hears voices and knows someone is bringing him food, but he can't see who. The mansion has extensive gardens, including stunning roses. But Luke barely picks one when he's attacked by a hideous monster with a familiar gravely voice. The monster says  he'll let him go - if he sends Leia in his place.

Her brother refuses at first, but Leia is determined to go...and the girls won't let her go alone. All four women are eventually detained at the mansion. Turns out there's four beasts here, for the monster is accompanied by three younger animals, all of whom are far more positive that one day things will get better. The youths are the Beast's apprentices, changed spitefully by the wicked magician Snoke and Leia's own son Ben.

Leia and the girls have mysterious dreams their first night there. They imagine themselves in stunning gowns in the garden, accompanied by four handsome men. The eldest, rugged and silver-haired, is familiar to Leia...but he can't tell her the truth, for in the dream world, he's mute. His three wards speak for him. They're all taken away by a shadowy figure who seems to hold a terrible power over them all. Leia and her three adopted daughters become determined to solve the mystery of the decaying mansion and find out who's the real monster...and who's the prince.

Had leftovers for dinner and made Cranberry-Triple Chip Muffins while watching my first Valentine's Day specials of the year. Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You is somewhat similar to Pooh's Grand Adventure. Pooh and the gang see Christopher Robin making a valentine for a girl and think he doesn't love them anymore. They go on a journey through the Hundred Acre Woods in order to capture a "Smitten" bug and cure the boy.

"Un-Valentine's Day" is an episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Rabbit once again tries canceling a holiday because things didn't go as he wanted. Evidently, Pooh had flooded the area with Valentines the year before. What the yellow bunny forgets is that Valentines don't always have to be made out of paper. When Pooh finds a jar of honey with a heart on it on his doorstep, it sets off a chain of events that begins with a flying cake and ends with a "valentine" play for Christopher Robin gone comically wrong. But just who did send the original jar of honey?

Finished out the night - and honored the late Mary Tyler Moore - with four episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show. I'm glad I remembered Lauren sent me her dubbed copies of this show a couple of years ago. I no longer have any Mary Tyler Moore Show episodes. Dick Van Dyke is a bit more domestic. Rob Petrie (Van Dyke) has to balance his home life with a son and his attractive, smart wife Laura (Moore) with his unusual job as head writer for a comedy show. His co-workers include goofy Buddy (Morey Amsterdam), man-hunting Sally (Rose Marie), and humorless manager Mel (Richard Deacon).

These episodes from the first season mainly revolve around Rob trying to balance his home life and his unusual career. "The Sick Boy and the Sitter" is the first aired pilot. Laura is worried when their son Richard comes home with a slight fever. Rob talks her into leaving him with a sitter and attending an important event with him, but she constantly calls anyway.

"Jealousy" has Laura upset because Rob's been working late with an attractive movie star. Everyone assumes the worst, until Laura checks up on him herself.

Laura tries to play matchmaker with Sally in "Sally and the Lab Technician." She and nerdy Thomas Edson don't seem to hit it off...but it turns out Sally's wisecracks made a far more positive impression than Rob and Laura's constant fussing.

Rob has a bout of jealousy of his own in "The Meershatz Pipe." Buddy makes Rob think Alan Brady gave him a fancy pipe. Rob is so insecure, he comes into work sick...but it's Alan Brady who has the biggest surprise for him.

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