I learned two facts today, which I'd like to share with you before they exit my head:

1. According to the makers of the instant oatmeal I had for breakfast, if you find that the oatmeal is too hot to eat, you may add "an ice cube" to cool it down.


2. According to Our Friendly Local Columnist Starshine, despite the feeling of self-importance that the presence of camera crews inspires in our community, not every movie made here is worthy of winning an Oscar.

I bring up these two items to reinforce the point that no matter how mundane or obvious a fact may appear to be, someone somewhere is making a living by explaining it to others who require permission to believe it. (I haven't yet mastered the art of supporting myself by explaining the obvious, possibly because I don't always recognize it on my own. )

I've been in a slightly grouchy mood most of the day, partly due to burning my tongue on some oatmeal, so to cheer myself up and set the proper mood for designing this mural I'm working on, I rented the movie "Xanadu." I was never allowed to see it as a child because it involved roller skating (tool of the devil!!) and pop music (see roller skating), but now I am over 21 and can rent my own choice of substandard, dated musicals starring obsolete pop stars! Freedom! Freedom!

The movie involves Olivia Newton-John (note: not Elton John's wife, as I believed as a child) and a guy painting a big, ugly mural that comes to life. What's not to like? Also, Gene Kelly is in it. On rollerskates! It's great, because Jeff Lynne wrote most of the soundtrack, creating a nice blend of the vapidity of Olivia Newton-John with the suckiness of ELO. All right, so it's old news to you, but to me, one benefit of growing up completely isolated from pop culture is that everything now seems new. I get to explore the hideousness of Lycra unitards and legwarmers from the safe comfort of the 21st century.

Anyway, I'm only watching the movie to get the feel of how a REAL mural painter works, and I think I'm getting the hang of it. For example, in one scene, Mural Painter Guy is kind of falling down on the job, and gets hollered at by his boss.

"When's it gonna be done?" growls the boss, and Mural Painter guy cocks a paintbrush at him and coolly replies, "I'd say that prob'ly it'll be done... when it's done." Now, that is some mural-painting SMACKDOWN!

I'm going to have to remember that approach when I meet with my own mural boss on Wednesday. She apparently hired me to paint this mural based on examples of my work, discussions we had about my ideas, and my preliminary sketches. Somehow, those things add up in her mind to me being competent to design and paint this mural, which frankly, I think is a little presumptuous on her part.

So... one last thing... what the hell are the Tubes doing in this movie?

Star of the day. . .Busby Berkeley