Hot Harvest

Kicked off a sunny morning with a quick breakfast and more Goof Troop. It's a "Nightmare on Goof Street" when Goofy wins a remodeling contest, but Pete convinces him to let the men add a game room to his house. Turns out that for once, he's the one who gets tricked when the men who held the contest turns out to be con artists who take Pete's house apart, then sell it for spare parts.

Headed out shortly after the episode ended. I had a few errands to run, starting with the Collingswood Farm Market. This one was really important, since I won't get there next week. I didn't make it until quarter after 11, and it was still packed with people looking for produce for summer barbecues and pool parties. I dodged enough people to grab a tomato, Chinese beans, blueberries, peaches, a small cantaloupe, and two ears of corn. Went quickly across the street to WaWa after I finished to grab a lime Perrier and money for the laundry later in the day.

Rode around for a little while, looking for an estate sale in Westmont, near Crystal Lake Road. Not only did I never find it, but while it still wasn't as humid as last week, it was getting much hotter. I finally gave up around 1 and went home.

Put everything away, then made a blueberry-zucchini smoothie while continuing Goof Troop. Pete once again insists on getting in on something Goofy inherits in "When There's a Will, There's a Goof." This time, he claims to be Goofy's brother in order to claim a big inheritance...that turns out to be a collection of huge shellfish, mollusks, and slugs. While Pete tries to offload the critters, the rest of the family get attached to them, until they start to make a mess in the house.

"Winter Blunderland" is the first of two snow-themed episodes in a row. Pete claims he wants to take Goofy and the boys skiing, but he's really after photos of Bigfoot. He dresses Goofy as Bigfoot so he can bring him to his used car lot and advertise him as being part of the show, but then the real Bigfoot shows up...and she falls for Goofy!

I still had one last thing to do for the day. My laundry badly needed to be done. Once again, I picked the right time. It was dead as a doornail there. I think I saw two people the entire time. Good thing, too. I had a larger load this week, including a lot of clothes from the heat wave last weekend and my work uniforms. Worked on story notes and ignored the boring nature and consumers' shows on NBC.

Went on the computer when I got in. I tried to do research on free website builders. Trouble is, there's just so many! I have no idea what would be right for my needs. Not to mention, the better plans cost money. They say the free plans don't look professional, but I can't make money for the fancier plans without it. I wish I knew someone who was more familiar with this, someone I could talk to about finding writing jobs and writing and websites and how to sell your writing.

Tried to do a little writing when I gave up on that. Maz tries playing matchmaker with Leia next. Leia is clearly interested in Harris, but claims she's too busy and he's too immature. Maz knows there's more to him than what's on the surface, and maybe she needs to dig a little deeper to find it...

Broke for dinner around 6:30. Pete experiences a "Gymnauseum" when Peg starts trying to push him about losing weight and the svelte owner of a muscle car shop makes a play for her. Goofy gets Pete to join a winter sports contest, but he has to lose weight to do it. Peg tries to make him jealous to motivate him, but it works too well. Now he thinks the only way to get his wife back is to win that contest.

"Come Fly With Me" is the strangest episode this show ever did, and is probably creepier than either of the horror-themed episodes. When Pete fights with the boys over his new computer, he's somehow zapped by the electrical waves and turns into a fly. He has to dodge Goofy making shoo-fly pies, everyone swatting him, and the real flies preparing to invade their houses in order to figure out how to turn back into a cat-man again.

Moved to Lego Star Wars after dinner. It took at least four tries, but I did finally finish the blue minikit challenge for "Through the Jutland Wastes." Still can't figure out "Rebel Attack." The blue pieces don't stand out enough against the gray and blue backgrounds. I'll give that one another shot tomorrow.

After I went online, I worked on my review for the CGI version of The Lion King that I saw yesterday. I go more into that one - and the pros and cons of Disney's remake fever - at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

The Lion King (2019)

Speaking of animation, I finished up the night with another animated movie, Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is a young Afro-Hispanic teenager living in New York who was just switched to a prestigious boarding school. He's having a hard time fitting in and is so scared of making friends, he hasn't even talked to his roommate yet. After his Uncle Aaron (Marhershala Ali) takes him to the subway to check out the graffiti, he's bitten by a radioactive spider and gains extraordinary powers. He thinks he's alone, with the original Spider Man having just been killed by the nasty gangster Kingpin (Liev Schriber), but then is nearly killed by two of Kingpin's men and is saved by another Spider Man (Jake Johnson). He's after a key that will open Kingpin's particle accellerator, which he calls "The Collider," and send him home.

Peter's not the only Spider Man Kingpin's brought to New York, either. There's a lot of them, including an Asian girl with a Pacific Rim-type spider robot (Kimiko Glenn), Gwen Stacy from a timeline where she became Spider Woman (Hailee Steinfeld), the black and gray Spider Man Noir (Nicholas Cage), and anthropomorphic pig Spider Ham from an all talking animal world (John Mulaney). Each of them have their own abilities that they bring to the table...and each reminds Miles that, no matter how strange or difficult things may seem, he's never alone.

Wow. This deserved every bit of its Oscar win last winter. The animation style was incredible, somehow making the brilliant colors and lines of a comic book work in CGI. Every Spider Person is done in their own style, from Gwen Stacy's girlie pinks and grays to Peni's anime to Spider-Ham's 2D cartoon, and it works beautifully. Moore and Johnson work nicely off each other as the newest Spider-kid and one of the best-known ones, and Schriber makes an appropriately menacing Kingpin. I also liked the emphasis on Miles' relationship with his parents and uncle, something sorely lacking in many superhero stories (including Peter Parker's original origins).

I really regret not having gotten to see this in the theater last fall. I'll bet it was incredible on the big screen. If you're a fan of Spider Man, comic books, or want to see a really unique take on a familiar character, I can't recommend this one enough.