Rainy Day Blues

Began the morning with breakfast and Garfield and Friends. "Mystic Manor" is supposedly a haunted house, but it's closed. When Odie wanders into the house, Garfield has to chase him around its many frightening tricks and monsters, or no dinner! It's "Flop Goes the Weasel" when Wade Duck accidentally runs into the chicken-eating weasel and catches him. Everyone says Wade is a hero, which gives him a swelled head...until the weasel comes back and the chickens now expect him to catch it. Jon is shocked to learn "The Legend of Long Jon," his pirate ancestor who turned traitor. Garfield discovers a hidden secret in his diary that may change what people believe about the buccaneer.

Spent the rest of the morning watching Let's Dance. I go further into the only pairing of Fred Astaire and boisterous comedienne Betty Hutton at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Let's Dance

The weather was dreadful when the movie ended. It was unseasonably cold, not even in the 60's, and had been showering heavily all morning. This mess would continue pretty much the entire day. I called Uber. Fortunately, no trouble there. The driver going to Thomas Sharp School arrived in 5 minutes. The one going home took 9, but in his defense, he was picking me up during rush hour on a rainy day.

I think you can guess that the kids were really crazy now. They hadn't been outside - at school or home - for two days. They yelled, threw things, and chased each other for the entire three hours. And yeah, we didn't go out today, either. There were 35 of them squeezed into that small gym. At least they calmed down a bit when we broke out the magnetic tiles. They really love those, especially the boys, even if they all fight over the wheeled train flats.

Once I got home, I had dinner while watching the Remember WENN second season finale "Magic." There's excitement in the air and on the air when Hilary and Jeff put on their mind-reading act for some of the most influential men in Pittsburgh, including Amazon Andy sponsor Kurt Holstrom of Holstrom Construction. Scott and Betty reveal to Holstrom that the decoded messages on "Andy" haven't been making sense of late. When Scott decodes the messages, they learn that Holstrom - and the station - are more deeply involved in espionage than any of them could have guessed. And all of that is before a certain station manager who was believed dead in London turns up alive in the Green Room...

The second season runs with the sitcom formula, with some of the wackiest episodes of the entire show. I honestly prefer the more heartfelt Christmas episode, although "Some Good News, Some Bad News," "Scott Sherwood of the FBI," and "Close Quarters" are also excellent. A few of the episodes don't quite land. "Behind Every Great Woman" has always bothered me. Hilary and Scott treat Betty badly during the entire episode, and neither of them really get into trouble for it (although Ruth does get her comeuppance). As mentioned, though I love the interns and wish we could have seen more of them, there's something kind of off about "Don't Act Like That" too. By and large, this is one of the two best seasons of the show...but things get kind of complicated from here on out...

Took a shower, then finished the night listening to CDs while I worked on reviews. I've had my original Billboard Top Hits CDs since they were the only discs I could afford to buy at FYE in college, but I haven't seen them anywhere else in years. The 1975 and '77 both have some terrific songs. Top Hits '75 includes the Captain & Tenille's charming "Love Will Keep Us Together," one of Linda Rondstat's best ballads "When Will I Be Loved," Neil Sedaka's comeback with "Bad Blood," the Elton John hits "Island Girl" and "Philadelphia Freedom," and the first tinge of disco with "Get Down Tonight."

By 1977, the disco trend was in full flower. "I'm Your Boogie Man" by KC and the Sunshine Band, "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave, and "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" by Leo Sayer all reflected the popularity of dancing the night away under mirrored balls in this era. Other favorites from '77 include "Undercover Angel" by Alan O'Day, the driving "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston, and Rose Royce's bouncy ode to the "Car Wash." 

English/Aussie duo Air Supply is one of the most definitive of the "yacht rock" or soft rock groups of the 70's and 80's. Their heartfelt ballads were a major part of my early childhood from 1980 through 1985. They even got a song on the original Ghostbusters soundtrack, "I Can Wait Forever." Other familiar hits on The Definitive Collection include "Lost In Love," "Two Less Lonely People In the World," "Every Woman In the World," "All Out of Love," and "Here I Am."