Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Mary Worth 211

When the average price of a gallon of gas is $3.94 in the greater Santa Royale metro region, with many stations exceeding $4.00, not to mention the mysterious 9/10 of a cent extra that no one is talking about, this kind of stress is to be expected. Even Dr. Jeff, who is used to his doctor's salary (remember?), and Mary Worth, who has lived comfortably ever since widowing into wealth, are not immune. But get used to it folks; we're expected to hit $5.00 before the end of summer. Fortunately, Mary's been through hard times, so she knows how to run her life.

Why do I think Mary's about to get herself into a little bit of hot water with Ron Amalfi? Jeff's warnings feel like some kind of ominous foreshadowing. Could it be that Mary Worth is actually about to pay the price for her compulsive meddling? Hee-hee, that would be AWESOME!

I want to take just a moment to say, "Rest in Peace, Sidney Pollack," who died yesterday from cancer at the age of 73. Pollack was the director of my favorite movie, "The Electric Horseman." I know, I know... but I still enjoy it. He was a great director/producer/actor and I'll miss his movies. It's been over ten years, but I remember writing a letter to him about the VHS release of Electric Horseman (they'd omitted the opening Willy Nelson theme song and replaced it with a cheesy synthesized piece). He actually replied via email to say that he'd never seen the VHS because he couldn't stand the "pan and scan" cropping of the film's glorious (my word) wide-screen cinematography, and he was surprised to learn the song was omitted. I was really impressed that he'd take time to send me a personal email like that, and laughed that his presumably felicitous email address began "OverBudget@..." I knew he had to be happy with "The Electric Horseman's" DVD release a few years later, which restored the wide screen and included the omitted song. Now that I can watch the film on my plasma television, all seems right with the world, except that Mr. Pollack has gone on and won't be making any more wonderful films.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, Dr. Jeff! Do you not know Rock-Scissor-Paper Rules clearly state that Dismissive Wave of Hand beats Pointy Finger every time?

Doctor Loung would never be defeated so easily!

Anonymous said...

I'm curious about that picture on the wall. It differs from Mary's typical amorphous tree blob pictures, and I don't recall seeing it before.

Am I right that it is a picture of the Star Bellied Sneetches at their weenie roast? Is this a clue as to where the current plot is going?

Where is Sylvester McMonkey McBean when you really need him?