Legends In the Rain

Kicked off the morning with a banana-strawberry applesauce smoothie for breakfast and The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town, the last of the three Rankin-Bass Easter specials. Sunny the bunny is taken in by the young orphans of Kidsville, who raise him as one of them. Hoping to trade their eggs to the outside world, he takes them over the Big Rock Mountains and past Gadzooks the grouchy bear to gloomy Town. It's ruler Lady Lily Longtooth doesn't like rabbits or eggs in her town, but her nephew King Bruce thinks's he's a lot of fun. Lily keeps trying to make laws to ban the rabbit and his kid friends, but they continually invent new traditions to get around her strict laws.

Switched to Sailor Moon as I got ready to head out. "Learn How to be Skinny With Usagi" has Usagi, Naru, and a couple of their buddies attending a gym after their teacher Miss Haruna seemed to really lose weight there. Not only does Usagi overdo it, but she faints after not having eaten all day. She's thrilled when Motoki, the guy she has a crush on, tells her that she looks fine, but Luna tells her she's still overweight and needs to return. Turns out that's not the only reason. The gym is a cover for the Negaverse, and they're skimming energy off its clients. Sailor Moon has to take them down, before her teacher loses any more energy.

Headed out around quarter of 1. First stop was the Oaklyn Library, mainly to return the DVDs. Other than one guy who is always there reading the new releases, they weren't any busier than the Haddon Township Library was yesterday. I took a look at the DVDs and the kids' area and moved on. (And once again, I took nothing out. I have plenty to watch right now, with everything I've bought over the past few months.)

The sky had been gloomy and gray all morning, and while it wasn't really windy, it was much colder than it has been, probably in the upper 40's. It was just starting to sprinkle a bit as I rode past Wal Mart to that new Taco Bell/Pizza Hut about a block from the Acme on the Black Horse Pike. Turns out the coupons they sent me were for carryout or takeout only. I decided that Tu Se Bella's has better pizza anyway and opted for three tacos at Taco Bell. They had a long line for 1:30, but the main room wasn't that full. I settled at the high metal table and scratched modern wooden chair and enjoyed my tacos and Baja Blast soda.

Made my way past the long line for Chil Fil'A's take out windows and back towards the Acme for this week's grocery session. There were a lot of good sales, starting with $1.99 for Land O' Lakes butter this weekend. Since I had shredded Italian cheese at home and didn't have pizza for lunch, I bought a tube of dough and two cans of tomato sauce and decided to have it for dinner. Grabbed pesto, green beans, and tomatoes for a recipe I'll be making for dinner tomorrow or Sunday. Had an online coupon for free generic Greek yogurt; bought two more for smoothies this week. Also had a good online coupon for Belvita cookies. I went with the strawberry and dark chocolate sandwich cookies. Strawberries were on sale, too. Restocked pears, bananas, mandarin orange cups, skim milk, spaghetti sauce and meatloaf seasonings (the Acme's are still buy one, get one), vanilla extract, canola oil, shaving lotion, cake mix, tuna, and French vanilla pudding mix.

My schedule for next week is a little frustrating. On one hand, I have more hours. On the other hand, once again, I don't have a day off until next Friday (although I do have Friday and Saturday off). No one is on vacation, so I still don't understand why they can't spread my days off out, like they did this week. At least the latest I work is 5.

The rain was starting to come down heavier by the time I got out of the Acme. This was no day to linger. I headed straight home and spent the rest of the afternoon there. Ran the next episode of Smallville while I put everything away. "Transference" ends up with Clark inside Lionel Luther's body when Clark tries to grab a green stone from him that he intends to use to kill his son Lex. While Clark tries to avoid fights and get out of prison, Lionel flirts with the girls, quits the football team, tells Lex about Lana and Jason, and basically causes as much trouble as possible.

Worked on writing for a while after I finished. The seedy corner bar a few streets down from Ben's comics shop is a hang-out for local mercenaries and toughs...including carpenter and mechanic Harris Arietta and his dog Chewbacca. Harris has done work for Ben's shop in the past, and Ben hopes he'll help them get across town to Alden Hills and avoid Vader and his goons. Harris will...for a steep price...

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Ran more Smallville while I stretched out the dough, covered it with sauce, and made myself a Broccoli and Mushroom Pizza for dinner. Clark starts to think he's a "Jinx" when he trips during a football game and breaks another player's collarbone. Chloe discovers that there's a lot more to it than Clark's powers being weird. Russian exchange student Mikhail Mxyzptlk has the power to create whatever luck he wants - including causing the other team to lose. While Chloe and Clark try to figure out how to stop him so Smallville can win the championship, Lex makes his own bet with the mischievous foreigner.

Moved on to "Spell" as I cleaned up from dinner. We find out what it is that has been haunting Lana since she was in France when she opens a spell book and is possessed by a witch named Isobel, who wants the three Kryptonite knowledge stones to enhance her powers. She lets Chloe and Lois be possessed by her friends. When Clark finds out, they torture him and take his powers. Clark, however, may be the only one who can stop them from doing any more damage.

Finished the night with High Noon. Former Marshall Will Kane (Gary Cooper) has just married Quaker beauty Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly) and intends to retire. Those plans are put on hold when he learns that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), whom he put in jail, is coming back to town for revenge. Amy wants to leave, but Will won't let Frank hurt anyone. He tries to round up a posse, but no one wants to go up against the notorious gunslinger,  not even his friends or deputies. Amy talks to Helen Ramirez (Katy Juardo) who had once had relationships with Miller and Will. She's leaving town, but can't understand why Amy won't stand by will. In the end, Will and Amy are the only ones left to stand against Miller...and teach the town a valuable lesson in standing up for what's right, no matter what the odds.

Simple, intense story of a man who has to take on gunslingers by himself is one of my favorite westerns. It's fast-moving but fairly talky, and not for people who are expecting a more traditional western with a lot of action. Cooper won an Oscar as the honorable former marshal; Grace Kelly made a smashing debut as his not-so-delicate Quaker wife, who stands by her husband even though it goes against her own values. Juardo as the town bad girl and Lloyd Bridges as Will's bitter deputy who refuses to get involved because he was passed over for a promotion are also excellent. Cooper, the editing, score, and the song "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling" all won Oscars.

Not for people looking for a more upbeat or typical western tale, but if you love the cast or want to see a western that leans more on character than action, this is a classic that gets a hearty recommendation from me.