Making Changes

Started off my day with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power on Netflix for something different. Watched the first half of the two-part pilot "The Sword." This pretty much follows the original show, only here, Glimmer is an adorable hot-tempered spitfire who is far younger than the others (and is treated as such by her mother Angela), and Adora and Catra are buddies. In fact, Adora initially ends up in the Whispering Woods to give Catra something to do after she's not permitted to go on a raid. I really like the animation - the characters look less like muscular 80's models and more like the awkward young people they are, and the anime-esque designs surprisingly work well with them. 

Switched to Remember WENN while making the bed and getting paperwork organized. I enjoyed revisiting The Monkees so much last fall, I thought I'd check out another show that meant a lot to me. WENN debuted in January 1996 as a four-part mini-series, beginning with "On the Air." Betty Roberts (Amanda Naughton) arrives at Pittsburgh radio station WENN in September 1939, having just won a writing contest. Erudite manager Victor Comstock (John Bedford Lloyd) tells her she's an intern who has a lot to learn. He realizes that maybe he could learn a few tricks himself when their writer passes out drunk and Betty has to rush in and save the broadcast with her contest-winning play.

"Klondike 9366" further introduces estranged husband-and-wife acting team Hilary Booth (Melinda Mullins) and Jeffery Singer (Hugh O'Gorman) and brings in perky blond ingenue Celia Mellon (Dina Spybey). Ceila gets a baptism by fire her first day when Victor wants to do a call-in talk show. It's a bust...until they hear from a little boy (Nick Holmes) who is worried about an intruder outside. 

We learn more about Ceila in "A Rock and a Soft Place" as Victor and Betty try to figure out how to keep two very different sponsors happy. Mrs. Mellon of the Pittsburgh Public Library Theater wants more culture and less violence. Mr. Acton of Acton Anthracite Coal wants to ramp up the violence and tone down the mush. This is also the first of several times on the show we meet a character who isn't what they claim to be when Ceila keeps trying to avoid Mrs. Mellon, whom everyone assumes is her mother. 

"There But for Grace" brings in the first of three Broadway divas who would have prominent guest-star roles on the show. Movie star Grace Cavendish (Patti LuPone) makes a stop on a bond tour. Her stage rival Hilary Booth thinks she's there to steal her thunder, but she really came to see her former flame Victor (to Betty's consternation). 

I finally got that interview in while "There But for Grace" finished. I quickly went over my tax sheets with them, then my application. Showed them brand-new ID card and my much-mauled Social Security card, and that was that. I did need to photograph and email the application to them afterwards. I just need to get fingerprinted in Cherry Hill on Thursday, and that will be that.

Took Uber to the Best Buy at the Market Place in Cherry Hill after lunch. I didn't want to go through my laptop overheating again or risk it dying all together like my previous one did. I spent a half-hour looking over the two rows of Chromebooks. Ended up with a Lenovo that cost about $340, more than I spent on my previous laptop. It's my first real wide-screen laptop, though, with great audio and visuals...and really tiny words. I may have to figure out how to make the words on this thing bigger.

Watched Thrill of a Romance while I set up my new computer. I go further into this romantic comedy with music featuring Esther Williams and Van Johnson at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Thrill of a Romance

Jessa picked me up at quarter after 6. She had some great news. She'll be gone next week because she's using part of her inheritance from Dad to take a trip to Europe. She mentioned seeing Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, and Venice, Italy. We celebrated with dinner at Bahama Breeze. She had a bowl of plaintains, chicken, beans, and rice. I had blackened mahi mahi tacos and a bowl of fruit with mango sorbet. Oh, yum! The crispy fish was perfectly seared, and the fruit hit the spot a lot more than fries would have. And for once, the serving was just enough for one sitting without having to take anything home.

The main reason I suggested Bahama Breeze is because a second 2nd Avenue Thrift location had opened at the green-roofed shopping center next-door to the Cherry Hill Mall. That place was huge! It was easily twice the size of the one in Pennsauken, with more racks of clothes than they probably had in the Cherry Hill Mall JC Penney and Macy's. They had so many shelves of books and CDs, I spent almost an hour just going over those. Ended up with 6 CDs: 

Irving Berlin In Hollywood, a TCM collection of Berlin songs from Call Me Madam, Top Hat, Alexander's Ragtime Band, and Easter Parade, among others. 

The Rodgers and Hammerstein Collection, songs from there shows (including their lesser-known work) performed by vocalists of the 40's and 50's

Alabama - Christmas

Air Supply - The Definitive Collection 

Billboard Top Hits 1975 and 1977

And three books: 

Daisy Fae and the Miracle Man and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Dancing to "Almendra" by Maya Montedro

Finished the night after a shower with my new Irving Berlin In Hollywood CD. We get a really nice overview of the songs Berlin wrote for films here, including one used in a non-musical (Clark Gable's rendition of "Puttin' On the Ritz" from the drama Idiot's Delight). I was especially glad to hear the outtakes and songs cut from movies, like Ethel Merman's "Marching Through Time" that was dropped from Alexander's Ragtime Band. Judy Garland was so hilarious singing "Anything You Can Do" with Howard Keel, I almost wish she'd been able to complete Annie Get Your Gun. She had a rather nice "They Say It's Wonderful," too.