Thursday, April 18, 2019

The Sailor and the Star

Slept in a little bit this morning, but I did have enough time to start the set of Popeye 40's cartoons before work. We begin with the very first Popeye color short, "Her Honor the Mare." Popeye's nephews find a broken-down old horse and bring her home with them. Popeye wouldn't mind so much if they didn't insist on keeping her inside. He does everything he can to remind them that horses are outside pets.

Popeye's Navy buddy Shorty joins in for "The Marry-Go-Round." Popeye wants to propose to Olive, but doesn't know what to say to her. Shorty tries to show him how to do it...but Olive ends up falling for him instead!

"We're On Our Way to Rio" is more-or-less a color version of the earlier "Kicking the Conga Around." This time, it's the samba Popeye doesn't know how to dance. Once again, it takes spinach to get him stepping with the beat.

Olive is "The Anvil Chorus Girl," a female blacksmith who is overwhelmed with work and the heavy tools she uses. Bluto and Popeye try to help, but they may end up making more of a mess than anything. She's upset with Popeye when he loses a big fight in the ring. He has to remind her that he's "Spinach-Packing Popeye" who has fought and won many opponents before, via sequences from the earlier "Sinbad the Sailor" and "Ali Baba" featurettes.

Popeye's not feeling "Puppet Love" when Bluto creates a live-sized marionette version of him and uses it to push Olive away from him. He turns the tables on Bluto and uses him as a puppet. "Pitchin' Woo at the Zoo" is somewhat similar, only this time, Bluto is a zookeeper who makes uses of some of his more ferocious or playful charges to get Olive to himself.

Headed out to work as soon as the cartoon ended. Thankfully after yesterday, work was no problem whatsoever. It was so nice, I spent the entire day outside, gathering carts, sweeping, and doing the outdoor trash and recycling. It was too beautiful to be inside! The day was hot and sunny, probably in the upper 70's, with a nice breeze and a brilliant blue sky.

It was so nice, I took the long way home down Nicholson Road, dodging the beginning of rush hour traffic. Spring has really hit the neighborhood now. The trees are a lovely, soft green. The dogwood and cherry blossoms are in bloom. Bold tulips have replaced the early hyacinths and daffodils in yards. There were quite a few kids outside riding bikes or throwing baseballs, and several adults working in their yards.

Charlie came upstairs shortly after I got in. He and Richard covered the siding with black paper. I ignored them, changed, and worked on my story. Leia is horrified when Tarkin goes through with his destroying her family's home Aldera Hills, despite her telling him where the tapes supposedly are. Meanwhile, Harris' attempt at fooling the Shadow Man guards at the gates doesn't work. He knocks them out instead and suggests he, Charlie, and Luke dress as the guards to gain entrance.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Finished out the Popeye shorts while I had turkey hot dogs, steamed asparagus, and pasta tossed with olive oil for dinner. Olive is "Moving Aweigh." Popeye and Shorty try to help her pack her things, but a cop gets upset when they accidentally hit his car and keeps trying to arrest them.

"She-Sick Sailors" has fun with Superman and the popularity of superheroes in the early-mid 40's (likely due to Paramount also making the original Superman shorts). Olive has fallen in love with the comics and refuses to date any man but Superman. Bluto dresses as him to impress her...but Popeye is determined to prove he's as good as any superhero.

"Pop-Pie A la Mode" is a lot tougher to take today. Popeye is stranded on an island filled with extremely and annoyingly stereotyped natives who want him on tonight's menu. He's happier to be stranded with Bluto in "Shape Ahoy," at least until Olive washes up as well, and they end up fighting over her.

"For Better or Nurse," the guys try to get themselves injured when they see an attractive Olive working as a nurse in a local hospital. "Mess Production" was the last cartoon made during and themed around World War II. Olive, Popeye, and Bluto are all working at a wartime factory. Both guys do their best to rescue Olive after she's knocked senseless and wanders around the machines and production line.

No wonder it took them so long to put this set out. Most of the cartoons were kind of disappointing. Shorty was no replacement for Bluto. "Moving Aweigh" wasn't too bad, but "The Marry-Go-Round" just got weird. "Puppet Love" got a little creepy, especially when Popeye started using Bluto as a human marionette, and there were the stereotype complaints on "Pop-Pie a la Mode."

The set definitely improves as it goes along. "She-Sick Sailors" was a riot; it'll be even funnier if you know anything about the Paramount Superman shorts. Popeye and Bluto's attempts to hurt themselves and get closer to Olive in "For Better or Worse" were pretty funny too, as was Olive stumbling around in "Mess Production."

I'm afraid there's more misses than  hits here. I'm ultimately glad I bought it, but I really wouldn't recommend it for anyone but major fans of Popeye. Hopefully, the next batch will start off as strongly as they end.

Went into Kirby's Epic Yarn after dinner. After a try at getting that last music disc in King Dedede's Castle, I finally opted to take on Yin Yarn. It took me two tries, but for the first time on my own, I actually managed to get the patches for the final rounds in the game. The first one has you playing through several of the abilities you pick up along the way; the second is a shooting round that takes place on-board Meta Knight's ship the Halbeard. I lost a lot of beads in the first one, but managed to get up to silver in the second; found all three items on both. If I continue with this game, I'll either go back and see if I can find some of the items I missed, or play a few of those mini-games with the little tadpole guys in Patch Land.

Ended the night with last year's version of A Star Is Born. I go into more detail on the fourth retelling of this famous story at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

A Star Is Born (2018)

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