Football Wizards

Pretty quiet morning. I made gingerbread pancakes for breakfast and watched snow and football-related cartoons. Ran two more Donald shorts, both featuring Chip and Dale. One, in fact, was called "Chip and Dale"; it was their first appearance, and their first go-around with Donald. Donald's chopped down their home for firewood, and they want it back. "Corn Chips" is a variation on this short. This time, the chipmunks fall in love with the popcorn Donald's making over his fireplace on a wintry day, and the trio go into a prolonged battle to see who gets to keep the crispy treats!

I switched from snow to football cartoons after Donald and the chipmunks ended. Mickey Mouse isn't the first Disney character I'd put in Peyton Manning's cleats, but he did do a very cute football-related cartoon in 1932, "Touchdown Mickey." (Goofy's an even less likely Howard Cosell!) And Hello Kitty proves that girls can do anything, even be a princely penguin's wide receiver, in a very imaginative version of "Cinderella," "Cinderkitty."

I finally got a ride to work from Uncle Ken. The snow was slowly beginning to melt, but it was still pretty icy. Work was steady, busier than yesterday but nothing like last week. I'm hoping it won't be too bad this week, despite another storm being announced for Tuesday night-Wednesday. Maybe people got all their panic buttons hit last week...

Uncle Ken drove me back to his house for the Super Bowl. It was a full party, despite the weather. We had Dad (who had a toothache), Jodie, Uncle Ken, Dolores, Dolores' children and grandchildren, Samantha and her family, and a couple of friends of Uncle Ken's. Erica and her mother Miss Helen and Rose and Craig appeared later, after the game began. There was tons of food. Uncle Ken baked a chocolate cake for Samantha's sons Matt and Ethan, who's birthdays were last month and last week, respectively. (Ethan just turned 13; Matt is 11.) There was a bread bowl with spinach dip, Uncle Ken's sensational ham, a vegetable platter, cookies, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, potato salad, a second chocolate cake Erica and Miss Helen brought, and shrimp from Rose and Craig.

I walked back and forth, chatting with everyone. The game went pretty well, too, and halftime was awesome. I'm a huge fan of the British rock group the Who. There's only two left, but those two, singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist/songwriter Pete Townsend, can still put on one hell of a show. Roger Daltrey's harmonica solo on "Baba O'Riley" was just amazing. And I was thrilled when they played my favorite Who song, "Won't Get Fooled Again," as the finale. Everyone laughed when I sang along, but I loved it.

I left with Rose and Craig after the halftime show, so I didn't see the second half. The Saints were behind after the first half, but they apparently made a major comeback and won, 22-17. There will be partying on Bourbon Street tonight, and it won't just be in preparation for Mardi Gras!

Oh, and the commercials that I saw were much better than last year's. My favorite was the guys releasing the whale into the ocean. I have no idea what it was about, but it was funny.

Turner Classic Rock

Here's something I wouldn't expect to see on Turner Classic Movies. They're covering "Oscar Winning and/or Nominated Scores" tonight, and among those running are the infamous 1975 Kurt Russell version of "Tommy."

Come to think of it, I wouldn't expect to see the movies running before ("A River Runs Through It" isn't really a classic - it's from 1992!) or after ("Shaft," "Sleuth") "Tommy" on TCM, either. Glad to see them trying to diversify their audience...

I like "Tommy" (I'm listening to the original album version as I type this), but let me say this is DEFINATELY not for the squemish, young kids (and some older ones), and anyone who isn't a fan of classic rock to begin with. It's massively strange. Fun if you like the Who, but very, very strange. I'm not exactly sure how Ann-Margaret got nominated for this - it still recieves mixed reviews to this day and it's hard for anyone to cut through Russell's excess. (This man accidentally started a fire in an English pier...then got everyone out and filmed the burning building for the movie!)

http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=152705&mainArticleId=152700

Pounding the Streets of Philadelphia

Finally, after two weeks of being stuck inside due to extreme weather, Mother Nature calmed down enough for me to run some errands, including a big one I've put off due to the cold - heading into Philadelphia to do some job hunting.

I thought my best bet for finding a job would be in a bookstore. I know about running cash registers, I know about books and how to sort them, I know how to organize CDs and DVDs. (I keep detailed inventories of my own DVD, video, music, and book collections.) The big chain bookstores seem to have killed off most of the shops in Suburban Philadelphia, so I headed for Center City.

I went to five stores in five hours. I wasn't really surprised to have no luck anywhere. I suspect that what the proprietor of Whodunnit (specializing in mysteries, naturally) holds true for everyone - the extremely cold weather and the time of year has pretty much killed off sales for everyone, regardless of size. One store owner spoke of closing. Everyone was really nice to me, though, and Whodunnit in particular was awesome, filled top to bottom with a great assortment of mysteries - heaven for a mystery-novel-addict!

I bought one of the Paige Turner mysteries, "How To Murder A Millionaire," from Whodunnit. I picked up a Valentine's Day present for myself from the big Barnes and Noble on Walnut Street - "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of the Who, 1958-1978." It was either that or "Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock and Roll Legend," but the latter was more expensive. I probably shouldn't have bought "Anyhow," but it's a wealth of info on British band The Who, with some fantastic pictures.

Oh well. If we do get massive amounts of snow and ice, I'll have some new books to sustain me. :)

Even just being out and about again after two weeks of crazy cold weather was nice. I'm starting to get a better feel for Philadelphia, too. The streets aren't easy to navigate, but it's fun to walk around and just see the sights. (There's a lovely park across from the Barnes and Noble I'd like to take a better look at when the weather improves. :D)