On Saturday morning, I awoke to a plumbing incident and an apparently Spainish film with English subtitles.  I chose the latter.  It was called “Don’t Tempt Me” and starred Penelope Cruz as an agent of the Devil competing for the soul of sleazy boxer with little moral fiber.  Now, the movie itself is not something I would recommend you rush out and rent, but, for me, seeing a woman represent God and having the soul of an unrepentant male be a pivotal plot point,  made me smile the smile of an author who knows something about the value of these characters.  After being led to this ego massaging temptation, I now had to deliver us from the evil drip.

I returned to reality and proceeded to make my first two of the six required trips to the Home Depot in search of plumbing supplies. Several “this isn’t going to work”s later, I found myself lowering my blood pressure by watching the end of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn.  The host of AMC came on and stated that Errol Flynn was not the studios first choice for this role.  It was supposed to be Jimmy Cagney.  Now I, truly enjoy Jimmy Cagney in most of his movies, but WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?   Fortunately for all of us, circumstances did not allow Yankee Doodle Dandy to stand on “top of the…trees”  in green tights and harass Prince John with arrows from a sapling gat.

I was about to set out on plumbing trips 3 and 4 when they announced that the original Mutiny On the Bounty would be shown next.  I have never seen, nor read Mutiny on the Bounty and this 1935 version contained three best actor nominations (Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, and Franchot Tone).  Apparently, they didn’t have a supporting actor category in those days.  BUT, most importantly, James Cagney was an uncredited extra in this film.  Coincidence?  You’ll never convince me.  Clearly, I was destined to stage a rebellion against the tyrannical waste water containment system and strike for more cerebral endeavors.  It was, indeed, time for “Mutiny”.

Here again, the soul(or absent soul) of an unrepentant male was a pivotal plot point, but this time, there was no female agent of God only two male agents of change.  One who longed for the utopia of Tahiti,  the other striving to, more pragmatically, alter the real world.   In the end, the bad guy received little come uppance, and the good guys were allowed to pursue their dreams.  Hmm, this sounds kind of familiar too.

Suddenly, the pipes cried out in enormous tears, and Iwas forced to pursue the requisite trips 3 through 6.  Late in the evening the plumbing incidents and associated rage that came with them had subsided. Naturally, the seemingly clairvoyant tube now displayed “The Incredible Hulk“.   Again, not something, I would recommend, but Ed Norton (not the sewer worker in the T-Shirt) a seemingly credible actor, said he wouldn’t have done this 3rd remake, if it hadn’t been for the excellent script.  Perhaps he was misquoted, or perhaps it was  the sewer worker in the T-shirt  that said this, but regardless I found myself looking for the flush handle, I designed for my remote control.   Coincidence?  I think not.

In conclusion, we have to deal with a lot of  waste in our lives and many times the bounty is not immediately apparent.  The trick is to know when it’s time for mutiny and when it’s better to just flush it away.