Wednesday, October 10, 2018

On the Back Porch

Spent most of the morning and afternoon at work. While I did gather the trash and recycling, shelved two carts filled with returns, and organized a small box of gift cards, I was once again mainly outside with the carts. It was a good day for it. While it remained humid and warm, it was sunny and much breezier. We were dead for most of the day. It wasn't even that bad when I headed out around rush hour.

Charlie met me when I got home. He'd spent his morning and afternoon fitting the new railings onto the porch. While not 100 percent finished, I can at least now enter the house through my own door. He still needs to put the siding on the house and the new porch light, but I appreciate what he did do. I'm a bit surprised that the railings don't extend all the way to the ends of the porch. They stop three-quarters of the way on either side. The porch butts up to the roof on either end. Maybe he couldn't find railings that fit against the roof.

Worked on writing for a few hours after I got in. Harry and Leia are confronted by three large yellow crystal statues of warriors when they come into the secret room. Leia figures out their trick. Harry has to "shake" their hands to unlock the door to the Sword of Strength. He's delighted to find it...but they may have been followed...

Broke for a quick leftovers dinner at quarter of 7. Did a Backyardigans episode while I ate. Pablo, the editor of the Bigopolis Daily News, wants his cub photographer Tasha to find some "Front Page News" that'll really sell papers. Unbeknownst to him, she's also "Super Snap," the super-speedy heroine. She keeps trying to take a picture of Bug Girl (Uniqua) and Captain Bubble (Tyrone) saving the city from a giant robot, but ends up having to save them and not getting the picture. The robot keeps saying "cheese," which baffles Uniqua and Tyrone...but Tasha figures out what it really wants.

Finished the night after a shower with National Lampoon's Animal House. I meant to run this one closer to the beginning of the school year, but I never got to it. The Delta Tau Chi fraternity is the craziest group at Faber College in 1962. They drink, hold wild parties, play all kinds of pranks on the rich and obnoxious members of Omega Theta Pi, and are barely passing classes. Dean Wormer (John Vernon) has had it up to here with their antics, and with the help of the uptight head of Omega Greg Marmalard (James Daughton), does his best to get them expelled by placing them on a "super secret" probation. The Deltas' idea of shaping up is holding a toga party that ends with Otter (Tim Matheson) making love with Wormer's wife and Pinto (Thomas Hulce) picking up the mayor's much-younger daughter (Sarah Holcomb). A road trip to a girl's college doesn't go much better, ending with them being chased out of a largely African-American bar.

When they return, they discover that their grades have sunk so low, they're all out. Bluto rallies them to take on the school, anyway. They manage to sneak their entry in the school's homecoming parade and cause chaos...and prove that there's room enough in academia for even the wildest of misfits.

Wacky late-70's comedy benefits from it's young cast, especially John Belushi as Bluto, the oldest and horniest of the Deltas, and a hilarious script. It's still popular among college students in particular to this day. If you're a fan of Belushi, any of the cast, or of the "slobs vs snobs" comedies of the 70's and 80's, you'll want to toss on a toga and join the party.

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