Another Hot Day With Broken Aircon

By 10 am it was already 93F, it got up to 103°. It was 102° when I went to the cinema to see Aladdin. 1:30 show, I was in the theater by 1:15, and all the good seats were already taken. It looked like an entire middle school was on a field trip. Those kids were probably there an hour early. I did manage to find an aisle seat in the 2nd row above the divider.  2D show, so being in the middle wasn't critical.

Good air conditioning. Yay.

Audio for the previews was way too loud, but it got adjusted in time for the feature.

Review: While they kept all the important bits, and the general plot, there was a lot of rewriting. Will Smith got to be a much more human genie. They added an opening scene for him as just a guy with a boat, a wife and two kids. He sings the opening number in this persona, and thus starts the Arabian tale, where he eventually enters from the lamp as the blue genie.

Aladdin meets Jasmine in the market. She is disguised as a commoner, but Aladdin sees through the disguise - sort of - and decides she is the princess' handmaiden.

I loved Will Smith in this role, he sings well enough - better than Robin Williams - and they have him slow down the lyrics a bit, making him more understandable and more human. He doesn't try to be Robin.

Mena Massoud did not impress me at all as Aladdin, though his stunt doubles did. He looked completely lost in the palace trying to be Prince Ali, and I don't think that was a directing choice. His singing voice is mediocre, which probably accounts for the movie not giving him Proud Of Your Boy which was written for Adam Jacobs in the Broadway version. For your listening pleasure, here is composer Alan Menken on the piano, Adam Jacobs singing:

Massoud just barely faked A Whole New World, basically carried by the impressive pipes on Naomi Scott (Jasmine).

They added a song for her: Speechless.

They also added a pet for her - a very large tiger named Rajah. The animals in the movie were terrific. Abu got some CGI help here and there, as did Jafar's parrot Iago.

Marwan Kenzari's Jafar was inconsistent, penduluming from dark and quiet evil man of mystery to bold Svengali with a cobra staff, before the script puts him on massive doses of steroids.

The real handmaiden, Nasim Pedrad, plays second fiddle perfectly, but there's a leading lady in there.

Overactors Anonymous and Directing FAIL awards go to Billy Magnussen as the completely irrelevant Prince Anders, who is basically Frozen's Kristoff with Olaf's personality.

3:30, probably should have stayed for another movie but went to GO for milk & salad stuff, then home. 102°. After a while I drove to Baylands, set myself on a hill under a tree by the not-very wetlands. 20 mph wind, but 98F so I did not stay long.

Back home, watched PTI, TMZ and some Game 5 Warriors wrap ups. KD's injury probably means Toronto wins the series at Oracle. Sad, but blame the trainers. And the players not listening to them.

All the doors are open, many of the windows are cracked open but it's 91F in the office at 11 pm. Last night I couldn't sleep despite the overhead fan on #2 setting, watched Below Deck while sipping chocolate milk. Or maybe it was one of the Wives of shows. Or both. Spook is not enjoying the heat.

Lunch was a hot dog at the theater, for dinner I made a cold cut sandwich. Grapes, blueberries and strawberries in whipped cream for dessert. Popsicles chaser.

Emailed David in Houston, told him no thanks to staying over, he understands the medications/trips to the john thing. The plan is to explore Houston from the hotel Friday evening, drive to Austin Saturday, visit David Sunday, explore more Houston Monday before hopping an evening plane home.

Plans for tomorrow:
Looks like it will be cooler, high 80's