Headed out to work after that. No trouble there. We were quiet all morning. There wasn't even the usual mid-morning surge. I spent the entire time sweeping, pushing carts, and enjoying a hot, humid, sunny summer's day. Was in and out with no difficulty whatsoever. I even took the long way down Nicholson, dodging the traffic just to enjoy the weather a little longer.
In fact, when I got home, I decided I wasn't quite ready to go in yet. I changed clothes, then went back out and rode my bike to WaWa to grab lunch. Tried their Chicken Ranch Wrap and Strawberry Passionfruit Smoothie, along with a bottle of watermelon Propel. Yummy! The smoothie was just the right sweet-tart, and the wrap had lots of chicken and bacon and ranch dressing.
Had lunch while watching the last two Remember WENN episodes of the second season. Station go-fer and janitor Mr. Eldridge (George Hall) is excited when his old friend, former vaudevillian Pepper Carnasie (Eddie Bracken), visits the station. Unfortunately, he's working for overbearing hearing aid salesman Blair Foley (Michael Patrick McGrath) and his company, who use him as a shill. Frankly, Pepper and Mr. Eldridge are more "Like a Brother" than obnoxious Blair is with his little brother, silent sound effects master Mr. Foley (Tom Beckett). Scott and Foley finally find a better use for Foley's new laugh track machine than to bolster Mackie's bad jokes...showing the overbearing Blair just how important listening is, at any age.
It's "Magic" time at WENN when sponsor Kurt Holstrom are among those who sit in on the debut of Hilary and Jeff's mind-reading act. Scott and Betty are more concerned about the coded messages on Amazon Andy, the show Holstrom sponsors, not always making sense. Holstrom and the codes turn out to be a lot darker than anyone thinks as the cast works together to stop a spy from sending coded information. Mackie's just hoping Hilary's claim that "someone at this station will pass through the doorway between life and death." She's right, but not in the way she thinks when Betty has a late-night visitor...one she thought perished in the Blitz months ago, whom she never expected to see again...
The second and third seasons of WENN are far and away my favorites. Scott's in his element as the con-man station manager, vivacious Maple is a great addition, and this is the season where Hilary and Jeff function the most like a team and get some of the best lines. "Christmas In the Airwaves" is far and away my favorite episode, but "Scott Sherwood of the FBI," "Close Quarters," "Magic," and "Radio Silence" are all enjoyable, too. And if you thought that cliffhanger on "Magic" was crazy, things get even more complicated from here on in...
Switched to Fire & Ice on Tubi after lunch. Ralph Bakshi of American Pop fame made this Conan the Barbarian-esque animated fantasy in 1983, during the height of the early 80's sword-and-sorcery craze. Evil Queen Julliana (Susan Tyrell) and her spoiled sorcerer son Nekron (Stephen Mendel) use his magic to create a series of glaciers that destroys any village in their path. They send a delegate of their neanderthal-like goons to negotiate with Jerol (Leo Gordon), king of the volcano kingdom Firekeep. They're really there to kidnap his beautiful daughter Teegra (Maggie Roswell) and force her to marry Nekron.
Teegra manages to escape and runs into Lam (William Ostrander), a warrior from a village that was destroyed by the glaciers. They fall for each other, but he loses her again when she's captured after he fights a giant squid. She ends up at Icepeak, while Lam falls in with masked warrior Darkwolf (Steve Sandor), who has his own bone to pick with Julliana and her bratty son. Lam and Darkwolf are the only ones who can rescue Teegra from Icepeak, before the glacier hits the Firekeep volcano, and the entire country melts away.
He-Man aside, I never was much for those grunt-and-groan barbarian movies from the early 80's. Rose loved Red Sonja and the Conan films, but I thought they were dumb. This doesn't really change my mind. Bakshi's gorgeous animation, with its rotoscoped, barely-dressed figures against lush tropical or icy backgrounds, doesn't offset the cliched story. Teegra being rescued once or twice would have been interesting, but it happens at least four or five times. There's the violence, too. There's a lot of blood and stabbing each other in this movie. Most of the dialogue, especially in the middle third of the movie, consists of grunting and gasping as everyone tries to either avoid or kill everyone else. Even with the cliches and lack of dialogue, if you're like Rose and you're a fan of Conan or Red Sonja, this is worth checking out at least once for that incredible animation.
Moved to Sailor Moon at Hulu next. Usagi desperately wants to go on a couples-only cruise to find a boyfriend, but Rei gets two tickets and invites Ami instead. Usagi sneaks aboard with Luna anyway and discovers that "I Want a Boyfriend: The Luxury Cruise Ship Is a Trap" when she and the girls are attacked by Jedite and a monster who were taking energy from couples in love.
Watched Match Game '76 during dinner. Though the first episode of the night finished the Tom Poston/Barbara Shawma week, most of the night was devoted to the next week with Greg Morris, Betty White, and Price Is Right model Anitra Ford. Richard spent that week flirting with statuesque blonde Darlene, who wound up being the show's biggest winner to that point.
Finished the night listening to the 2008 South Pacific revival recording. This was enormously well-received when it debuted and ran for three years, and it's not hard to tell why here. Kelli O'Hara is a winning and lovely Nellie. Her "Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" and "Honey Bun" are especially charming. Paulo Szot made such a wonderfully masculine Emille, he picked up one of this show's seven Tonys (still the most for a revival). Loretta Ables Sayres has too much fun with "Happy Talk" and a gorgeous "Bali Hai." This CD also features music that tends to get left off of other recordings of this show, including "My Girl Back Home" (here a solo for Cable), the full Overture and Entre' Acte, and all reprises.
If you want South Pacific in your collection, this and the exceptional original cast with Mary Martin are probably the best choices. (Though I have heard good things about a 1967 Broadway revival with a well-cast Florence Henderson as Nellie.)
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