Worked on notes for Hilary and the Beasts while watching two more cartoons. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic goes western for "Over a Barrel." Applejack is excited to deliver a new apple tree to her settler relatives in the frontier town of Appaloosa. The Ponies realize they're smack in the middle of a land dispute when their train is attacked by stampeding buffalo. Applejack's cousin Braeburn is excited about the new apple trees they just planted, but the local native buffalo say they planted them on their stampeding grounds without permission. Though the buffalo were there first, the ponies still try to get them to share...and they may be in the middle when the stampede takes place and the town fights back.
(And...er, while the idea of Ponies going western is cute, I suspect this probably doesn't get re-run often. The depiction of buffalo as Natives is a little stereotypical, and the buffalo really were there first.)
In honor of the first day of summer (and its new version set to debut on Disney Plus soon), I switched to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and "Pete's Beach Blanket Luau." Pete invites the gang to the lake to cool off on the hottest day of the year, but first, they have to clean up trash, then find a shady spot for their party.
Headed out after the cartoon ended. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, especially compared to what it will be this weekend. It was warm, but not to the degree of next week, in the mid-80's and not that humid. There was a nice stiff wind that kept everything from feeling too hot.
Given it was their last day of school, you likely won't be surprised to hear that the kids got pretty noisy today. They all kept running around, regardless of who told them not to. Thank heavens we were able to take them all outside, not once, but twice. The first time, we had more kids. They spent most of the hour we were out there playing cops and robbers. The second time was the end of the day. The head of the program turned our outdoor day into a game by asking the kids questions about the program and giving them all time on the swings as the prize. They all had so much fun out there! We had a great time drawing inside, too. They kids were fascinated by my attempt to draw Hilary and Troll Jeff and Maple and Eagle Victor from Hilary and the Beasts.
I'm so glad I took this job. Between vacation, the kids, rediscovering WENN, and starting to write stories again, this has been the nicest month I've had in years. I will certainly be applying for the fall program. I'm going to miss those kids! One of the girls gave me a huge hug. Three of them gave me their artwork and paper fans. The father of another girl gave all the caretakers $10 gift cards to WaWa for doing so well taking care of their daughter. I sat with the very last pre-school boy, chatting about water parks and thrilled that we finally got the swings to ourselves before his parents came for him.
I had already planned on getting some kind of a treat after we got out. That WaWa gift card meant I could have one on the kids. I rode up to the WaWa on the White Horse Pike and treated myself to a larg coconut cream milkshake. So sweet and cooling on a fairly hot day!
After I got home, I resumed with the notes and finished out the third season of Remember WENN. "The Ghost of WENN" has everyone on edge during a horror broadcast. Mackie is nervous about the actor who played the part of a lawyer having died when the script got to page 13. Hilary is a bit cheered from having won a radio award...but she's even more anxious than Mackie when the spooky voice seems to target her.
More than any other episode, "Caller I.D" cements why radio is unique among mediums. Mackie dismisses a young woman who calls his music show and claims she's going to jump off a building...until Eugenia confirms that she is out there. She demands that they put on a grand broadcast of all their shows blended together. Not only do they inadvertently create the crossover event, but when she comes to the studio, they give her a chance to see what her idols look like for real...and that the real magic of radio (and TV) is what your imagination conjures.
"Happy Homecomings" are anything but when Betty hears another Johnathan Arnold on the radio. She spends the episode trying to open that locked strongbox...and getting a major shock when she finally does. Meanwhile, Scott not only discovers that codes are still going out through WENN, but that Victor Comstock is alive and well...and brainwashed...
Yeah, this is the infamous episode that left the entire fandom screaming at the top of their lungs...for six months. Before the fracas with finding a place to live in 2021-2022, that was the longest six months of my entire life. It's a good example of why the third season is far and away my favorite season of the series. Though Jeff is missed, some of the series' best and most dramatic episodes turned up here, including "Homecomings," "Who's Scott Sherwood," and "Mr. and Mrs. Singer." This is where the show really became the blend of heart-rendering drama and comic hilarity that makes it such an underrated delight to this day.
Watched The Muppets while I worked. I'll go further into the hit 2011 revival of the beloved puppet characters at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog tomorrow.
Finished the night after dinner with the French Beauty and the Beast at Kanopy. Almost every version of Beauty, from the Fairie Tale Theatre episode to the Disney animated and live-action films, owes something to this 1946 fantasy about a beautiful and kind young woman (Josette Day) who takes her father's place as prisoner to a hideous Beast (Jean Marais). Marais is also Belle's arrogant suitor, who very likely inspired Disney's Gaston. The details here are exquisite even now, with Belle wandering around in the shadows and the Beast turning up with a bloody stag, moving statues and smoke everywhere. If you're a fantasy and or fairy tale fan like me and can handle subtitles, this is an absolute must-see.
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