Caught the second half of Press Your Luck as I prepared to go out. One of the two guys Whammied out almost immediately. The lead and the turns kept going between the one lady and the remaining guy. The guy finally hit a Whammy and couldn't make more money, leaving the lady to win with a ton of money and three vacations to Mexico, Puerto Rico, and a cruise to the Mexican Riviera.
Headed out after the episode ended. I wanted to give the ride up to Barrington and Haddon Heights a second shot after my first attempt at the beginning of the month got rained out. It was cloudy, but this time, the dark clouds were just clouds. They kept it cool and windy, but I never felt so much as a raindrop the entire day. Made a brief stop at WaWa in Audubon for a watermelon Propel, but otherwise made it up the White Horse Pike to Barrington by noon without incident.
The Barrington Antique Center is huge warren of cozy little rooms jammed to the rafters with every vaguely collectible item you can imagine, from genuine antique glassware and furniture to DVDs and Barbies from a few years ago. I wish their records were cheaper. I have come up with good records there on occasion, but $10 for a rock title I could get out of the dollar bin at Innergroove is too much. I did find the Santana album Inner Secrets for $5 and Shirley Temple's Storybook, a collection of fairy tales and two Washington Irving stories inspired by her TV show of the same name. The book has gorgeous color and pen illustrations redolent of the early 60's when the show was out and even features a story I never heard of before, "The Land of Green Ginger."
Dodged the traffic on Clements Bridge Road and made my way down Atlantic to the industrial park on the other side of town. The House of Fun is next-door to the park in its own building. This store focuses on pop culture collectibles, toys, horror and cult DVDs and blu-rays, and stuffed animals. I was going to get a DVD, but it was too expensive. I just dug an older Beanie Baby ghost, Spooky, out for Halloween.
Next stop was what's now known as Doc's Finds, formerly Station Avenue Antiques in Haddon Heights. There's now fewer antiques and more locally made clothing and food, and the dollar record bins are gone. I still came up with some good finds of my own:
Maureen McGovern - Maureen McGovern
The Moody Blues - On the Threshold of a Dream
The Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons (the US version with "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday") and Beggar's Banquet
The Haddon Heights Library is next-door, so I stopped there next. I only fished a cozy mystery, The Cider Shop Rules, out of the row of books on that 50 cent sale, but I did have a nice chat with the young librarian when she complimented me on my Pokemon backpack. The owner of Doc's Finds complimented me, too.
Rode down Atlantic Avenue, mainly so I could pull in at the Legacy Diner in Audubon for lunch. I was definitely feeling like breakfast, so I got coconut-pineapple pancakes. Yum. Tons of coconut and fresh pineapple pieces in three pancakes that were so huge, I couldn't finish them. By 3 PM they weren't all that busy, so I got to enjoy my meal in peace.
Went straight into working on the inventory when I got home. Along with adding the titles I just bought to the rock inventory, I did Kismet, Les Miserables, A Little Night Music, Lost In the Stars, and The Magic Show. Lost In the Stars, which I picked up at a yard sale two years ago, is the only album from this batch that didn't come from one of the record stores in the last decade or so...I think, anyway. I'm not sure where Kismet came from anymore.
Had a very quick dinner while watching Match Game Syndicated. The late Peter Marshall turned up for what would be his first of two weeks. Gene sat in his seat in the opening, and he came out with Gene's microphone. They kept talking about how much they resembled each other. Personally, I don't see it.
Headed out for a treat after the show. It remained cool, cloudy, and humid, perfect weather for a walk to West Clinton for Oaklyn's Final Friday block party. Every last Friday of the month from June through October, there's a big street fair on the last two blocks of West Clinton near the school, with food trucks, craft books, face painting, and a live band.
I ran into Rose, Finley, and Craig on the parking lot across from the school where the bean bag game and craft booths were. Rose had their two dogs Cider and Oreo and took them home after a few minutes. (Khai apparently had opted to go home early.) Finley insisted on her father buying her a second lobster roll from the lobster food truck and ran into Phillies Phatties to greet friends of hers. She had these cute pink, lavender, and turquoise streaks in her hair that I suspect were the result of combs or clips. After they left, I bought myself a banana donut from Common Grounds' booth. Alas, despite the sugary icing, it was rather bland.
Finished the night at home with Big Trouble In Little China at Tubi. Trucker Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) finds himself caught up in a very weird adventure in San Francisco's Chinatown when the fiancee (Suzee Pai) of a friend (Dennis Dun) who is kidnapped by a street gang. After they get between two warring mystical societies, she's kidnapped by an ancient Chinese sorcerer who thinks sacrificing her will break a long-standing curse. Her friend Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) is also kidnapped when Lo Pan realizes she also has green eyes. He'll kill her and marry the other girl. Jack eventually aids an old friend who is also a warrior in solving the secrets of Chinatown and the mystical elemental warriors.
Supremely weird action flick wasn't a hit at the time, but I think it's worn much better than the other action film revolving around Asian mysticism that came out in the mid-80's, The Golden Child. Russell's clearly having a ball as the normal guy caught up in this oddly magical adventure. Not all of the Chinese stereotypes have dated that well, Cattrall has little to do in a boring love interest role, and some of the scarier monsters put this out of reach of the very young, but by and large this wild action fantasy is still a hoot for teens and adults who are into 80's adventures.
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