After I finally re-signed in (again), I switched to Disney Plus for two birthday-themed episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It's "Minnie's Birthday," and Mickey wants to hold a surprise party for her. The others help bake a cake and set up the decorations while sending Minnie off to do other things. When she gets frustrated that no one remembers her birthday and starts leaving, they have to bring her back.
"Happy Birthday Toodles!" celebrates the day Professor Ludwig Von Drake built the flying computer thing that holds the mouseketools. It's also the episode where Toodles gets the big smiling face and the (slightly annoying) voice he'll retain for the remaining two seasons. Once again, the others hold a surprise party and have to figure out how to keep Toodles from finding out. There's more emphasis on the party this time and seeing how a flying computer thing pulls off pinning the tail on the paper elephant and doing limbos.
Moved to Press Your Luck next. The lady never had a chance against the two men. She only got one spin in the first round and hit a Whammy and didn't get much money in the second. It was all about the guys. The younger man came up with over $17,000 in cash and prizes before he decided he'd had enough and passed his spins to the champ. That proved to be a wise decision. The champ hit two Whammies, and though he did make some money, it wasn't anywhere near $17,000.
Split Second was even more exciting. A young man who worked on music videos barely beat two smart ladies in the first episode, then hit the car on his first try. The gentleman in the second one had a lovely Scottish accent and less trouble with the two ladies. Though he beat them easily in the regular rounds, he just got past them in the countdown round and ultimately decided a trip to Bermuda sounded way more fun than a car.
By 2 PM, the rain had taken a temporary leave of absence, and the sun was barely out. I was tired of sitting around inside doing nothing and opted for a quick walk to the newly-remodeled Dollar General. It was windy and chilly, or at least cooler than it has been, barely in the 60's. The rain has really helped the local plant life, though. The daffodils are largely done, but the tulips and hyacinths are out now, and the irises are coming up. The trees have pale green leaves under their creamy white and pink flowers.
The biggest change at Dollar General was the addition of a produce section. Oranges, apples, onions, and bananas lined the wall next to the coolers as you come in. The prices aren't really all that much better than the Acme, but that might be useful in a pinch. Only the seasonal aisles remained largely the same. The food was now scrunched into two aisles instead of three, and everything else had been moved and/or reorganized. I did manage to find two pillows to replace my old, flat ones I've been using for a couple of years.
Put on the second half of Let's Make a Deal as I got organized. I came in just as one man turned down appliances for $800. Two ladies were smarter. One turned down the money and got living room furniture. The other turned down the box on the floor for the money and missed a zonk. Two ladies, a bunny and a jester, traded in prizes for the Big Deal of the Day. The bunny ended up with kitchen appliances that were a slight comedown from her earlier furniture. The Big Deal went to the joker, who laughed all the way to the bank with an upright piano and a trip to the Bahamas.
I also got my birthday presents from Lauren at this point. She sent me the first and third season sets for the original The Odd Couple, since those were the ones I couldn't find around here. I'll be taking a better look at them next week.
Went online to do job searching and get my schedule. I have even fewer hours than I did this week. In good news, I put in for Sunday and Monday as vacation days to celebrate my birthday, so once again, I'll still get something of a paycheck. Friday is my first floral department day in probably over a month, since well before Easter.
Put on Care Bears Family as I looked at my schedule and did some job research. The Bears and Cousins are so intent on celebrating their defeat of No Heart, it looks like they may have forgotten Birthday Bear's big day. He's not the only one with "Birthday Bear's Blues." Birthday Bear is sent to Earth to help a wealthy little boy who is celebrating his birthday alone. His boasting about his big party and toys drove away his classmates and nearly does the same to the Bears and Cousins. It's not until No Heart gets everyone lost in a maze of thorns that the little boy realizes his reliance on his toys made his friends think he was bragging. He finally asks for help, just as Birthday Bear begins to understand how truly important his friends are to him.
I thought of making myself a cake, but I was too tired. After the Bears ended and I got offline, I just went down for a nap instead. Slept for a blissful hour and a half on my fluffy new pillows, with the window open to catch those cool winds.
Went straight into writing next. Handsome but arrogant young Lord Jerrick's sister is Lady Jacqueline, an elegant middle-aged woman in white who looks like an older version of him, with her gold hair and translucent complexion. Kathleen is so flustered by her beauty and her intimidating airs, she can barely stammer out directions to town. She also notices that the air drops nearly ten degrees when they're around...
Broke for a late dinner and Match Game '73 at 7:30. Bert Convy, Mary Ann Mobley, and Ann Elder join in, while Nipsey Russell sits in for Charles. Gene starts the show by bringing out Johnny Olsen, who announced the show from the 60's through the end of the syndicated run to praise the job he was doing. The others have a harder time with "__ Booth" in the Audience Match.
Moved to Dailymotion for the last of the three epic historical road race movies of the 1960's. Monte Carlo or Bust, or Those Daring Young Men and Their Jaunty Jalopies, was a direct sequel to Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines that debuted in 1969. This time, we've skipped ahead a decade to 1922 and the real-life Monte Carlo Rally. The eccentric British inventor (Peter Cook) just back from India and his lackey (Dudley Moore) want to show off their gadget-laden vehicle. Two German thieves (Gert Frobe and Peer Schmidt) use the rally to escape with the jewels they purloined. A pair of horny Italian cops (Lando Buzzanca and Walter Chiari) spend most of the race chasing three attractive French doctors (Mireille Darc, Marie Dubois, and Nicholetta Machiavelli).
Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas), the son of the villain from the first film, wants to avenge his father, who lost half of the family car factory to nerdy American Chester Schofield (Tony Curtis) in a poker game. Like his father in the air race, he lies and cheats his way across Europe. Schofield eventually picks up a pretty British lass (Susan Hampshire) who is supposed to distract him, but falls for him instead. It's a wild race to the finish to see who will be the winner of the silver cup...if Schofield can stay awake after being drugged to drive!
Just as much fun as previous entries, with a cast that's even better. Curtis trades his white-clad Douglas Fairbanks type for something quieter and a lot dorkier, but just as much fun. Hampshire makes for a funny and spirited love interest. Some of the Italian guys/French girls subplot gets into slightly racy territory, including Darc running around topless briefly. Cook and Moore get the top honors here as the strange English twits whose creations are more likely to blow up in their faces than actually work.
While the previous film and The Great Race are a bit better, all three are worth checking out for fans of 60's comedy, historical comedies, or epic race films.
Sailor Moon has an even more action-packed birthday. "Usagi In Tears: A Glass Slipper for My Birthday" has her upset because she thought Mamoru forgot her big day. Turns out she never told him to begin with. Even when they make up, the glass slipper she badly wanted turns out to be cursed into a monster by nasty witch Kaorinite, who steals Usagi's broach in order to get her pure heart and captures Tuxedo Mask.
Usagi is determined to rescue him in "The Stolen Pure Heart: Usagi's Crisis." Older teens Haruka and Michiru pick her up while she's on her way to the TV tower where he's being held. They're generally sympathetic towards Usagi's insisting that she would rather save everyone than sacrifice lives, but they have their own secret...one that may involve the pure heart crystal Usagi holds and Kaiorinte wants.
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