Well, another birthday has come and gone. Thankfully, I was at home to enjoy it.

Having to figure out what to do and what not to do at my job and feeling nervous about a mistake I may have made on a regular day is fine, but to feel like that on my birthday is beyond the pale.

Still, here's hoping to at least another year of feeling things out. I have no problem saying, bluntly, I need the money.

Down Periscope (Randy Edelman)

Rebel naval commander Tom Dodge (Kelsey Grammer) is finally given command of a sub, but it's a rusted wreck left over from World War II. With this ship and a crew of oddballs, can he succeed at wargames and further his career? Nearly twenty years later, this comedy (a sort-of remake of Major League from that film's director, David S. Ward) holds up surprisingly well. There are many laughs among the talented ensemble and Grammer is good in a role quite unlike Dr. Frasier Crane ("Welcome aboard", indeed).

Randy Edelman's score is one of his better works, mostly eschewing the (somewhat distracting) synths that are his trademark and concentrating on orchestra, highlighted by a stirring main theme; almost like his take on the Police Academy march.

Down Periscope
composed and conducted
by
Randy Edelman
1. Main Titles 2.25
2. Returning to Base 0.14
3. Good News 0.54
4. "The USS Rustoleum" 0.40
5. Visiting Winslow 0.08
6. The Right Man?/"Crew from Hell" (Mark McKenzie) 4.23
7. Lt. Emily Lake 0.41
8. Cleaning up the Stingray 0.27
9. Relocation/Pascal Overboard 1.17
10. Laundry Duty 1.01
11. "Prepare for Dive" 2.29
12. "Down to 5-0-0" 3.46
13. Strategizing on the Orlando 0.31
14. "Prepare to Surface" 1.03
15. Running Lights 1.50
16. First Success 0.28
17. Showing Some Flare 0.49
18. Clumsy Kitchen/"Rig for silent running." 2.49
19. Silent Running 2.16
20. Gas Attack 1.25
21. "Course 0-2-7" 0.55
22. "Fight another day." 1.03
23. Sunrise 0.21
24. Captain Pascal? (Mark McKenzie) 1.13
25. "Attempted mutiny" 0.14
26. Walking the Plank 0.47
27. "Welcome aboard, Sir."/"Bizarre and risky." 9.29
28. The Stingray Surfaces/A Shooting Solution 7.52
29. Victory 1.36
30. Dodge's Promotion 2.30

That a specialty label (Quartet) recently - and finally - put out an Edelman score (Pontiac Moon), I think, augurs well for this one.

In time for the real show.

Given the raging nostalgia boner in current pop culture, I'm surprised that they haven't done movie recreations featuring the casts of 90s sitcoms. It'd get me to watch the show again. Anyway...

best on-screen duo:
Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley, Begin Again
Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy
Seth Rogen and James Franco, The Interview
Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson, Let's Be Cops
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, 22 Jump Street

best action sequence:
the elevator fight, Captain America: the Winter Soldier
fighting the Alphas, Edge of Tomorrow
the jailbreak, Guardians of the Galaxy
storming the nightclub, John Wick
the car chase, The Raid: Bernadal

best villain:
Mel Gibson, The Expendables 3
Eva Green, Sin City: a Dame to Kill For
Samuel L. Jackson, Kingsman: the Secret Service
Toby Kebbell, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Liam Neeson, A Million Ways to Die in the West

best breakthrough performance - male:
Rohan Chand, Bad Words
Taron Egerton, Kingsman: the Secret Service
Jaeden Lieberher, St. Vincent
Randall Park, The Interview
Tony Revolori, The Grand Budapest Hotel

best breakthrough performance - female:
Diana Bang, The Interview
Sofia Black-D'Elia, Project Almanac
Hong Chau, Inherent Vice
Charlotte Le Bon, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice

best male performance:
Chadwick Boseman, Get On Up
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice

best female performance:
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Scarlett Johansson, Lucy
Angelina Jolie, Maleficent
Melissa McCarthy, St. Vincent
Shailene Woodley, The Fault in Our Stars

best fight:
Colin Firth vs. the parishioners, Kingsman: the Secret Service
Uko Iwais vs. the prisoners, The Raid: Bernadal
the passengers vs. the soldiers, Snowpiercer
Jonah Hill vs. Jillian Bell, 22 Jump Street
the X-Men vs. the Sentinels, X-Men: Days of Future Past

best kiss:
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Edward Norton and Emma Stone, Birdman
Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, Captain America: the Winter Soldier
Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, The Fault in Our Stars
Will Smith and Margot Robbie, Focus

best movie:
Birdman
Captain America: the Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Snowpiercer

You may or may not notice that 'best comedic performance' is missing. I don't know. Nothing really stood out in the movies I've seen. That's the way it is.

Today was the last day of training at my new job. It's good to have a steady job again and this one will allow me to rebuild the finances that were eroded after the shaky period I've had over the last few months.

That's the good news. The less good news is that I'm still not 100% sure what the fudge I'm doing. It's a call center where calls come in and I help people understand what's up with their mortgages. At least, that's my incredibly vague understanding of it. It's still early in the process and people tell me not to worry about any mistakes (which I tend to fixate on), but I can't help but get the feeling I'll end up just like this guy:

BTW, I really (genuinely) thought that, when it came to "Kids in the Hall" sketches in conjunction with my work history, I'd be posting "I don't want it now!" about my last day at the grocery store. I even had a post planned and everything.

With a modern-day lineup including such home runs as "Teen Titans Go!", "The Amazing World of Gumball" and "Ben 10: Omniverse" (I don't care if it's off the air; it's a dead horse I will never tire of beating), it's hard to imagine anyone at Cartoon Network having the balls to air one Screwy Squirrel cartoon for twelve hours straight like they did on April Fools Day in 1997. I doubt if anyone at the network ever will.