Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Changes Blow In

Began the morning with silvery clouds, breakfast, and Blockbusters. The champ made short work of a pair of sisters in the beginning and a mother-daughter team in the end, but he still struck out in the Gold Run bonus round. I think he got two answers there.

Switched to original My Little Pony on The Roku Channel as I made Orange-Chocolate Chip Muffins for lunch at work this week. "Crunch the Rockdog" mercilessly turns everything he touches into stone. The ponies discover from a living mountain he was made to be a guard dog without feelings. They have to bring him the mountain's Heartstone to make him understand how others feel about his actions. Meanwhile, romantic Truly can't understand how logical Wind Whistler can be so seemingly frigid...but sometimes Wind Whistler reveals how logic can be helpful in dealing with a problem.

Paradise and Fizzy would rather be reading and playing than repairing Paradise Estate. They think they've found the answer when a sorcerer sells them magic paint that will make anything easier to repair. What it does is make the furniture come to life and repair itself, then decide it doesn't like how the ponies handle them and chase them out. Only Baby Cuddles' motherly buggy remains faithful to her pony. It's Cuddles who finally ends "The Revolt of Paradise Estate" when she helps the furniture see that the sorcerer treats them even worse.

As the cartoons ran, I happened to look at the window and notice snow coming down, and hard. It didn't stick, or amount to more than very pretty frozen rain. It was gone by the time I called Uber...and of course, started again more heavily by the time the car arrived. At least the guy was a good sport about it, even switching to music from the Inauguration when we both came to the conclusion that neither of us really wanted to hear about politics. 

Thankfully, the snow was slowing down when I arrived and was gone by the time I went out to gather carts. The squalls did leave behind some nasty cold gales, blowing carts around and making it hard to push them. There was also a mix-up with the sweeping early in the day, and I got stuck in a register for a few minutes later to go in for a manager's break. (Apparently a lot of people called out or didn't show, I'm guessing because of the Inauguration.) At least it wasn't busy. In fact, we were dead almost the entire afternoon. It got a little busy at rush hour, then went right back to being dead. More help arrived later to take over the cleaning and sweeping.

Went straight into Match Game PM when I got home. Brian Billick, future Super Bowl-winning coach of the Baltimore Ravens, was a contestant in this episode. He's definitely a better coach than a game show player. He lost rather badly and didn't really seem to understand the game that well. The champ had a far easier time on Sale of the Century. She was ahead by the second half and killed at the Speed Round, winning a trip to Aruba. Still couldn't get that Bonus Round, though.

Finished the night after a shower watching the 1940 Thief of Baghdad at TCM's on-demand site. I'm in the mood for a good romantic adventure. Sabu is the title character Abu, who first encounters King Ahmad (John Justin) in prison. Ahmad was tricked by his Grand Vizier Jaffar (Conrad Veidt) into going among his people as a poor man. The two do manage to escape, only for Ahmad to fall for the Princess (June Duprez) of a neighboring city. Jaffar wants her (and her kingdom) too. He plies her father the Sultan (Miles Malleson) with mechanical toys in order to gain her hand, but she's in love with Ahmad. Jaffar angrily blinds Ahmed and turns Abu into a dog. He also tricks the Princess, letting Ahmed awaken her, only to force her onto a ship so he can get her to hold him. 

That restores the guys, but Jaffar shipwrecks them when they chase their vessel. Abu finds himself alone with a bottle and a genie (Rex Ingram) who gives him three wishes. It may take a lot more than even a genie's magic to help Abu find the All-Seeing Eye and keep his friend from ending up losing his love and his head!

Oooh, this was fun, and worth all the trouble they had filming it. (It started in England, but had to move to the US when World War II broke out and went through at least five directors.) The special effects still look pretty darn good, especially on the genie. Sabu and Ingram have the most fun as the young thief caught up in adventure and the genie who sees Abu as his ticket to freedom. I love the gorgeous pastel colors too, straight out of an Arabian Knight storybook. Honestly, if you love Arabian Knights tales or are also looking for a good adventure, you'll want to check this out on TCM or dig up the recent Criterion Collection release. 

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