Wednesday, December 27, 2017

I've Got My Movies to Keep Me Warm

Started off a sunny morning with breakfast and more Backyardigans. Did "Cave Party" in honor of our chilly weather. Tasha and Austin are cave kids having the world's first get-together to howl at the moon. Fellow cave dwellers Uniqua, Pablo, and Tyrone have to invent ways across the snow to get to their cave. Meanwhile, Tasha and Austin invent things to do when they arrive.

"Race Around the World" has Austin competing against Uniqua, Pablo, and Tyrone to run, snowboard, kayak, and hike around the world. The other kids already have gold medals, but Austin proves it's just important to be prepared and have the things you'll need for your trip.

Work was infinitely easier than yesterday. While I did some returns when I got in and spent the last hour gathering carts, I mostly bagged. Even that wasn't difficult. We really weren't that busy. Most people are out of town, still resting up from Christmas, or waiting for the beginning of the month next week.

The first packages of my Christmas Amazon.com order had arrived just as I was leaving. It was my new brown New Balance sneakers. I hadn't realized they were suede. I'll have to wear my winter boots on rainy days, then.

Spent the next few hours writing. Poe, Kaydel, Jill Phasma, and Jack Hux arrive to try to save Rey and BB from the Living Trees, but they wind up being captured, too. They're in dire straits when a little old woman in brightly patterned clothes arrives. She strikes a match, creating the one thing the Trees fear - fire. They're so frightened, they release their victims. The gypsy is Maz "Floretta" Kantana, the head of the Takodana gypsy clan. She agrees to take them to her camp, where the other gypsies will help them find Kaydel's sheep.

Broke for dinner at 6. I was inspired to try something different by someone who mentioned they were having soup for dinner at work. I wanted to use up the last of the chicken broth, and I'd already taken out ground turkey. I made Italian Meatball Soup, with escarole, broccoli, carrots, and onions. Yum. It came out pretty well, flavorful and hearty for a cold day.

Ran Oklahoma! while the soup cooked. This is the original film version of my favorite Rogers and Hammerstein musical. Curly (Gordon MacRae), a cheeky cowboy, wants to ask farmer Laurey (Shirley Jones) to the box social that night, but she's already going with menacing Judd Fry (Rod Steiger). Meanwhile, flirtatious Aldo Annie (Gloria Grahame) has to choose between another cowboy, Will Parker (Gene Nelson), and a peddler (Eddie Albert) who's been making overtures to her that he doesn't mean. Laurey really loves Curly and only went with Judd because she wanted to make her beau jealous, but it backfires in a spectacular way when Judd becomes dangerously obsessed with her.

Slightly stagy but still enjoyable version of the beloved musical. MacRae is a tad stiff as Curly, but Steiger is a wonderfully dark Judd, Grahame is hilarious as the indecisive Annie, and we have Charlotte Greenwood as salty Aunt Eller.

Finished out the night with the fantasy film Willow. The title character (Warrick Davis) is the member of a race of little people who wants to be a magician. He isn't very good, mostly sticking to parlor tricks. He learns more about real magic when his children find a baby who turns out to be the princess of a far-away land. He must journey to this land to return her, aided by a sarcastic thief (Val Kilmer) and two hilarious brownies.

A long-time family favorite we used to see a lot on cable in the late 80's - early 90's. Kilmer and Davis play off each other well as the roguish womanizer and devoted father, and the brownies are hysterical. Highly recommended for fans of sword-and-sorcery fantasy.

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