I was glad to see a much nicer, sunnier day when I woke up this morning. Continued with Tiny Toons as I made corn meal mush and a mandarin orange cup for breakfast. It's a "Love Disconnection" when the Toons' dates don't go as expected. Montana Max is less than thrilled with "My Dinner With Elmyra." She handles Monty better than you might think, given her low IQ. Fifi, Babs, and Shirley think they're "The Amazing Three" when they go to Perfecto Prep's spring dance to meet more sophisticated guys. Not only are they too snobbish for the girls, but when one dumps a bowl of fruit punch on Shirley, it sets of a psychic reaction that parodies "Carrie"...and gives the girls a better appreciation for their own guys.
Next on the agenda was making a few phone calls. Dad was first. Didn't get him, but I left a message telling him about the changed vacation times. Lauren's still coming and going at the same time, just different dates. Also moved my counseling appointment to 2 PM on May 16, which is now the first day of my vacation.
While I was doing chores, Plucky Duck was going on a nautical adventure in "The Voyage of the Kon-Ducki." This spoof of the real-life 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition and Oscar-winning 1950 documentary has Plucky and his native servants Hamton and Sweetie building a raft from spare parts. Plucky wants to prove that his ancestors sailed across the ocean in the 1970's, but storms at sea and his constantly changing leadership may make the voyage harder than he thinks. "The Making of Kon-Ducki" pokes fun at "making of" featurettes.
Moved on to "Sepulveda Boulevard" as I got ready for work. The second episode to make fun of a 50's movie in a row turns Sunset Boulevard into the tale of a fading cartoon star (Elmyra) who hires an out-of-work screenwriter (Montana Max) to whip her comeback into shape. Monty doesn't care if she comes back or not...but he does care about getting credit and passes off her work as his. However, her director-turned-butler (an unusually chilling Hamton) is onto him, and another opportunistic writer (Plucky) is determined to steal his script. She thinks a big-time director wants to film her movie...but he's really only interested in Furball.
(Incidentally, this is one of the strangest episodes the show ever did...and given some of the bizarre plots that turned up in the second season, that's saying a lot. The movie was already weird to begin with. For all the gags and the changed ending, it's actually kind of mature for this show. This is also the only episode of the series to not feature Buster or Babs, except for a brief glimpse of Babs on a billboard.)
Headed off to work the moment the episode ended. Work was...really dead for almost the entire day. There was barely any trash or cleaning to do. I mopped the bathrooms several times, shelved the few returns, and gathered baskets or carts. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, bright, and still windy but not nearly as cold as it has been the past few days. It's also the middle of the week and the middle of a month that doesn't have a lot going on besides sports playoffs and Earth Day.
The only major event the entire day was a visit from two more preschool classes. I saw the head bagger show the kids how our baler (the machine that crushes boxes) worked. Their little faces were so amazed! She took them through our lounge area and they compared it to their own cafeteria.
It was so nice, I took the long way home down Nicholson Road. I wasn't the only one who went out to enjoy the weather. I dodged a lot of traffic, even as I made my way down Atlantic Avenue to Manor.
Had an early dinner when I got in. Did more Toons while I ate leftovers. Two crooks are saying "Take Elmyra, Please" in the second season finale when they kidnap her to get the formula for a new fuel her father created. She drives them crazy by putting on her own "TV show." (Incidentally, this is the only episode where we get to meet Elmyra's full family...and there's a reason for that. Apparently, this was supposed to have launched a spin-off about Elmyra and her eccentric clan, but it fell through. The closest we got was Elmyra turning up in the later seasons of Pinky and the Brain.)
The third season kicks off with the TV spoof "Thirteensomething." Despite the title being inspired by the adult comedy-drama Thirtysomething, the show is actually making fun of melodramatic early 90's teen dramas like Beverly Hills 90210. Babs is a huge fan of the show and would do anything to appear on it, including hiding her animal and animated attributes. Meanwhile, Buster advertises for a replacement for Babs, without success. Babs does end up on the show, but she realizes how much she misses Buster...especially after he shows up and begs for her to come back.
Worked on writing for a little while after dinner. Leia wants to know how Palpatine got his hands on Han. He explains that he was ambushed just outside Scarif while heading to a gambling tournament to earn the money to pay off Jabba. Palpatine's men managed to capture him and his horse Falcon, but Chewie got away.
Did some Wii Sports next. I can do well at boxing when I don't have to actually aim at something, as in the actual game and bag work. I just can't seem to aim my fist rights to hit the Mii trainer's targets. (I wonder if the bar for the games being on the low table I use for an entertainment center is part of the problem?) Also worked on tennis (got a silver medal on returning balls), bowling (my best-ever score), and baseball (no one scored...but no one lost, either).
Finished the night chatting with Lauren while watching Galaxy Quest. "Galaxy Quest" was a wildly popular sci-fi show in the 1970's...but the fans still expect the cast to appear together at conventions and small-time gigs over two decades after the show ended. Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen) played the original captain. He's been behaving like a diva lately, showing up late for gigs and being nasty to his devoted geek fans. When he turns up with a wild story about being kidnapped by aliens, the rest of the crew doesn't believe it....until they're beamed up by the Thermians, who have seen every episode of their show and believe them to be true. They think they really are a heroic crew of galactic protectors who can save them from the evil warlord Sarris (Robin Sachs). Now this group of feuding actors have to figure out how to work as a team...and work with their adoring fans...or the "Omega 13" reactor will blow them all to the moon and back!
I saw this movie twice at the theater in 1999 (one of only two movies to date I've seen in the theater more than once). I loved it then, and I love it now. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen about fandom and the relationship between fans and the people and media they love. Alan Rickman and Tony Shalhoub are of particular note as the sarcastic former Shakespearean typecast as Nesmith's alien sidekick and the most laid-back science fiction star you'll ever see. If you're involved with any kind of fandom (not just sci-fi), you'll probably find this hilarious fish-out-of-galactic-water tale to be as hilarious as I do.
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