Called Uber shortly after the show ended. My original plan for today was to hit the Blackwood Outlets...but it was showering when I got up and would continue raining in some form for the rest of the day. I decided to switch days and went to the Deptford Mall instead. I was pleased and surprised when the car arrived within a minute and dropped me off in less than 20. There was no traffic anywhere, not even on the highway. The cheerful older lady was a huge Michael Jackson fan. She blasted "Rock With You" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" all the way to Deptford.
Wanted to hit Round 1 Arcade first before I was laden down with packages. The Lane Master bowling game and several new games were down, but everything else seemed to work. Spent the next hour or so running from skee ball to the ring toss to the pirate wheel to Bust a Move to Pac Man and Hot Wheels. Got Yoshi on Mario Kart Deluxe, but I couldn't manage more than third. Didn't do so hot on Cruisin' Blast, either. Came in fifth there on the difficult Singapore course.
Came up with over 2,790 points. They didn't have any interesting stuffed animals, so I decided to try something different. The back wall had "World's Smallest" versions of everything from hair dryers to ping pong games. I went with a mini vintage auto scan radio and a mini tool kit with tiny screwdrivers that really worked.
Hurried across the mall to Red Robin for lunch. Maybe due to it being past 1:30 when I got there, I didn't have to wait in line. Tried one of their Tavern Burgers, a smaller burger made for less boisterous appetites, with sweet potato fries. Yum! The double patty burger, with its French-fried onions, was just enough, and the fries were good, too.
I spent the next two hours walking around in the mall. Peeked at Go! Callenders and Toys, Box Lunch, Spencer's, FYE, Aeropostale, and Champs Sports, but I only ended up buying clothes in the anchor department stores. I picked up a long-sleeved pale green shirt at Boscov's and a darker green short-sleeved shirt and black jeans on good sales at JC Penney. (The t-shirt came out to $5; the jeans were $23.)
Headed out around 3:30 to Barnes and Noble. This was a lot harder than crossing the street at my birthday was. The traffic was absolutely terrible. At least the rain was down to a drizzle at that point. I was mildly damp as I made my way past the abandoned mall that used to house Bed, Bath, and Beyond and the Christmas Tree Shops.
Barnes and Noble was even busier than the mall had been. I didn't find any of the books or records I was looking for, but I did turn up a few things. I only have the original soundtrack for the Disney Little Mermaid on a cassette that's currently in storage. Found a picture disc vinyl version with all the songs and some instrumental tracks, plus two books:
Death In a Castle Dark - Victoria Bond
Beastly Beauty - Jennifer Donnelly (This was a teen novel with a female Beast who is rescued by a male thief Beauty - frankly, it sounds like "Tangled and the Beast" or a romance novel, but I love unique Beauty and the Beast stories, so I'm willing to try it. Besides, all hardbacks at Barnes and Noble are currently 1/3 off. I got it for $13.)
Since cookies were buy one, get one half-off, I had an oatmeal and a peanut butter cup along with a Gingerbread Frappucino while calling Uber. Between the rain coming down harder by 5:30 and it being the height of rush hour, it took almost 20 minutes for the driver to arrive this time. At least he was pleasant when he did come, and he went through Oaklyn to avoid traffic.
Had dinner when I got home and watched tonight's game show marathon on YouTube. With the Family Feud holiday episodes having been well-received, the owner of the Match Game Productions channel did a marathon of even more famous non-Christmas episodes of the show. Some of the craziest answers of any game show could be heard here. In one episode, when Richard said "name an animal with a three-letter name," a young man said "frog." His father's "alligator" answer was even worse. (And frankly, most of their remaining answers weren't much better.) Not that all the answers were that goofy. In 1978, a woman because the first to give all number one answers and win her Fast Money on her own.
Celebrities generally tended to do better. Betty White turned up twice here, in the game show host week leading the Marvelous MCs along with Jim Perry and Bill Cullen and in the Walk of Fame special with none other than head producer Mark Goodson leading the men. Feud prime-time specials were a great way for teams from ABC shows of the time to play each other and plug their own program. The first had The Love Boat and Eight Is Enough and Soap and Three's Company playing each other. The second contrasted city and suburb with the sitcoms Angie and The Ropers and the drama The Waltons and the action show The Dukes of Hazard. Three's Company won the first special, with John Ritter adorably clumsy even on a game show. Angie killed the competition in the second. Debralee Scott became the second contestant in the marathon to get all her Fast Money answers in one go.
Other things happened on this show besides actual playing. Rodeo champs from Nevada in big ten-gallon hats showed up in the very first syndicated episode. Kids performed break dancing moves in another...and then announcer Gene Wood showed off his idea of street dancing. Richard's sons Gary and Mark and Mark's wife brought him a cake for his birthday in a celebration that took so long, they let both teams play Fast Money to make up for the curtailed questions. Sammy Davis Jr. had a blast talking to the contestants and even hosting a question in another show.
Let's see the origins of the Feud and enjoy some of its most famous episodes in this hilarious and heartfelt marathon!
Finished the night at Tubi with The Snow Queen. I went further into the first US dubbing of this exquisite Russian fairy tale at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
(Oh, and I tried the radio when I got home. It works great, and it just needs two AA batteries. I got a jazz station and absolutely loved it. And since it looks like a vintage radio from the 30's, it might make a great accessory for Molly and Kit. The mini-radios American Girl had for them are long retired.)
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