Fishy Business

Your Sis just called to say she got her brochures from the local print shop after two rounds of excuses. Yesterday, they announced a full invoice price with no deductions for service errors. Today, they handed her the prints but had no idea how many were in each bundle. Is it a full thousand? No one knows. Also, their press broke last night, and they had a competing shop run the remainder of the order. Then they passed the price of that order onto Your Sister. That other shop, by the way, is the company that got my order so horribly wrong in the winter.

Lesson learned: There is no reliable printer in Mayberry.

We drowned our sorrows in lamb curry and ice cream. There was no pre-breakfast workout this morning, but we will do something tomorrow. I'd like to run at the school again, but I'm her gym buddy.

Picture of the Day
Disney is taking The Little Mermaid to Broadway after a preview run in Denver. This was the movie that reinvigorated Disney after about decades of forgettable stuff. Really, unless the title includes the words "Witch Mountain," it probably stunk. Although Pete's Dragon was just fine for a single-digit-aged me. The one person who I think would soil herself with joy about the Mermaid show is my ex, and we ain't talkin'. What I am for comics and wrestling, she was to '80s musicals. Lion King was supposed to be amazing on stage, Tarzan is just about to close after a disappointing run, and Beauty and the Beast is closing so Mermaid can use the theatre.

The cartoon is mostly remembered now for two bizarre phalluses, one in the original poster and the other during the wedding ceremony. The animation is almost quaint by today's standards; I remember the whirlpool scene used some CGI. But the music holds up. "Kiss the Girl" is a standout song. Any musical would give up its stage manager to get that tune. The vocal students at my first college would sing the score while playing pool, especially one guy I've known since elementary school. He did a great Ursula the Sea Witch. Mermaid was one generation's first successful musical, and it paved the way for the form to come back to theatres, although it took South Park to prove someone other than Disney could make money at it.

Still, my favorite Disney cartoon remains Aladdin. We won't talk about Hunchback of Notre Dame or Pocahontas.