Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Cat and Mouse and Cowboy Games

Started off the morning with a really quick breakfast before moving on to writing. Leia tells Laurence and Charel that she intends to follow Yasmin to her house to find the sword and free Harry. Larry warns her that this might not be a good idea. The woman Yasmin's goons grabbed was a government agent, and they may attack Leia as well if they think she's with her.

Broke at 11 for a quick lunch and some Tom & Jerry shorts. Tom is "Cat Napping" on a hammock, but there's no way Jerry is going to let him get some rest. He stitches together wings and becomes "The Flying Cat" to catch Jerry and a canary. Jerry and his nephew Nibbles are musketeers who attack Tom the Cardinal's Guard in "The Two Mouseketeers." The prequel "Touche, Pussy Cat!" explains how Nibbles came to join his uncle.

Work was absolutely no trouble at all today. Between the sunny and breezy weather and it being the middle of the week and the month, we were dead all afternoon. I spent most of the day doing carts, but it was so quiet, I was also able to get the recycling, returns, and inside trash done and gather baskets.

A pleasant young man gave me a test on the Acme's new computers shortly before my break. The registers now use a touch-screen system, rather than a keyboard. It was no problem. I passed with flying colors. I always did do better with essay or hands-on tests than with questions and answers.

Went straight home and had leftovers for dinner while watching a few more cat and mouse antics. Jerry's country-singing uncle is a "Pecos Pest" when he keeps yanking out Tom's whiskers for his guitar strings. Tom has "Designs on Jerry" when he creates a blueprint for a better mousetrap. Even the drawn Jerry manages to foil his drawn cat counterpart.

Finished the night after a shower with City Slickers. Mitch (Billy Crystal) just turned 39, and he feels like he hasn't done anything with his life. His best friends aren't doing much better. Phil (Daniel Stern) hates his wife and his job, while Ed (Bruno Kirby) can't decide if he wants to have kids with his much-younger wife. After a disastrous birthday party that results in Ed breaking up with his wife, Mitch ends up going to a dude ranch with his buddies to take part in a cattle drive. They quickly prove to be out of their depth with the hard-bitten owner, Clay Stone (Noble Willingham), and the crusty head cattle driver Curly (Jack Palance). Mitch's antagonizing the two head cowboys on the ranch doesn't help. Mitch does finally make friends with Curly, especially after he adopts a calf he delivered from a dying cow. They finally do make it to the round-up...but when things go wrong and the cattle and calf are in danger, the trio prove that working together and talking things out may be the best kind of therapy there is.

This seems to have been one of those things that just came together and worked. Palance worked so well as the tough-bitten old hand with a soft heart, he won an Oscar. It's a bit sitcom-ish, but it still garners laughs, especially once the guys make it to the ranch and everyone is picking on them. (And it's never worked again - a sequel in 1994 that involved a treasure hunt and most of the same cast flopped.) If you're a fan of comic westerns, Crystal, or Palance, this is one trip out west worth taking.

No comments: