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Archive for December, 2006

It’s A Wonderful Question

December 31st, 2006

I realize this post is a few days late, but (a) it’s been a busy week for me, and (b) it’s the only blog idea I’ve had that’s just been gnawing away at me. Forgive me as I discuss one of my favorite topics…

As I have mentioned here previously, I am a certified fanatic of It’s A Wonderful Life. I will never tire of this film. It’s not as densely packed with rich layers as Casablanca, but there is enough there to allow me to find new nuances that I hadn’t noticed before. I love how dark it is, specifically for a 1940s film. I’m not a classic film expert, but I don’t really think too many movies or TV shows from that era (not counting mysteries, of course) are as dark. I mean, George Bailey yells at his children and makes them cry, angrily asks his wife, “why do we have to have so many kids?!?,” gets drunk alone on Christmas Eve, and then gets punched out by the husband of a woman he yelled at.

I realize not too many of you out there are familiar with IAWL. It was about 10 years or so ago that the world changed and you couldn’t find this movie spread across the dial at any time night or day. NBC bought the rights (not sure if this includes international rights) and airs it once or twice in December. Before then, since its rights had lapsed into the public domain (meaning that no one owned it), it could be aired for free. And it was. Oh boy, it was.

Here’s the question I alluded to in the title: what did George end up doing with all that money at the end? His Uncle Billy accidentally gave $8,000 to Mr. Potter (do we ever find out his first name?) at that bank on Christmas Eve and then Mary Bailey went around Bedford Falls alerting everyone that George was in trouble. She must have spoken to Uncle Billy, because there’s no other way she would have known that it was a money issue that got George so upset. So we see all of our favorite Bedford Falls residents pour into the Bailey home with money to help George and the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan.

It’s possible, but not probable that the town contributed the sum of $8,000 to get George off the hook. But then Ernie reads a telegram from Sam Wainright in London instructing his company to wire George “up to $25,000.” So, what happens if George ends up with $30,000 – $32,000. Does he get to keep the balance after paying back the $8,000 that Uncle Billy lost? When Harry Bailey toasts his brother as “the richest man in town” we’re sort of led to believe that George will get to keep all that money, right?

When I was younger, I never gave it a second thought that George would get to keep all that money and truly become rich. But now I’m not so sure. This will have to be added to my list of questions for the afterlife. Paging Frank Capra…

2 comments »

Posted in Holidays, Movies

Remembering New Years Past

December 31st, 2006

One of our favorite games to play each New Years Eve is to look back to recall the New Years celebrations of ‘ole. As I had mentioned in a post earlier this week, this is going to be the first time in several years that I will not be spending New Years with Mrs. Larby, et al.

So, let me take a moment and play the game.. taking a trip back through the years and recount my New Years festivities for as far back as I can remember. If I am forgetting anything, please chime in.
» Read more: Remembering New Years Past

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Posted in Friends, Holidays

Christmas with LTJ

December 30th, 2006

This was the first Christmas that LTJ and I spent together and I have to say, for someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, LTJ sure had some concerns about the lack of Christmas spirit in our house.

Christmas weekend LTJ complained to me that “it doesn’t really feel like Christmas.” We didn’t have any decorations out, because all of mine are for a Christmas tree which he is pretty opposed to. I was beginning to feel there was a double standard going on.

The next comment was that he wanted it to smell like Christmas in the house and wouldn’t it be great if we had some Christmas cookies. I made some yummy sugar cookies which helped fill the house with the holiday scents.

He also wanted Christmas music going. Now this was something that really blew me away, because so many Christmas songs have a direct religious tie to Christianity and as a Jew I wouldn’t think LTJ would want to listen to someone ringing the praises of the birth of Jesus. Of course, he believes Jesus was born and was a great leader, just not that he was the son of God. I think it’s a minor point of difference, but one that seems to have caused so much hoopla and conflict around the world.

LTJ found a special channel on TV that was just a burning log with Christmas music on. He was especially impressed by the fact that occasionally you would see a hand reach in and add a log or poke the fire. For the entire weekend, every time I switched the channel and came back into the living room, this log channel was back on again. LTJ was really psyched when he found a high-def version of the log, because what’s better than a burning yule log in HD? And I swear, the crystal clarity of the burning embers and flames really made it feel like there was a fireplace in our living room…

A persistent issue over the weekend was that I hadn’t wrapped his presents yet. I don’t know why it was of such concern to him as of course I was going to wrap them. But he was really concerned that I wouldn’t wrap them in time and he really wanted to open his presents. To be fair, I was dilly dallying on this, but there was a lot going on with our new puppy Bogart.

This hyper-concern over the holiday spirit and Christmas was all rather comical to me since he seemed to care more about celebrating Christmas than I did! Growing up LTJ and his family would go to their neighbors on Christmas eve and it was always filled with the scents, sights, and sounds of the holidays… I guess that’s where the holiday spirit got engrained into his psyche.

So while he doesn’t want us to get a Christmas tree, for all intents and purposes he is celebrating Christmas in every other way than the religious aspect. And really I don’t think a tree has any religious ties, so maybe next year I can convince him to get one and then it really will feel like Christmas in our house.

1 comment »

Posted in Holidays, Life

Christmas is Cancelled.

December 22nd, 2006

Christmas is Cancelled.
Originally uploaded by brandonjs.

I saw this sad looking tree last night while taking out the trash. I couldn’t help but think of the story behind it. The note reads:

Free Tree. Have a Merry Christmas.
(Written in Green and Red Marker)

I can remember the days of my childhood when my parents would threaten me about cancelling Christmas, if I did not behave. [Aside: Yes, I did celebrate Christmas even though I'm Jewish. And I still do.] I can only think that some poor kid misbehaved and his parents cancelled Christmas on him. His father swiftly un-decorating the holiday symbol and bringing it to the trash all the while the child screams incessantly.

The note is the only thing that throws me off, as it’s written in a very festive format. The handwriting does appear to be that of a child, but it alternates green and red lettering — something a child would typically do.

I guess I’ll never know the story of the Christmas Tree that didn’t even make it to the 23rd of December.

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Posted in Holidays

And I thought Cool Jesus was cool..

December 21st, 2006

During a recent discussion at my office someone was doing a Google search for the word “Jesus.”

In a tribute to the upcoming holiday that I do not celebrate, here are a few links to other Cool Jesus’ around the Internet:

Dancing Jesus
Big Butter Jesus
Cap’n Jesus (Maybe this is from the Bizzarro Diatribe).

Enjoy!

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Posted in Holidays, Nonsense

A big change

December 21st, 2006

So, for those of you that don’t know, MP and I have a new arrival coming this evening to our household. We’ve decided to get a new Shih Tzu pup that we’re picking up from a breeder out in Salinas, CA. I’ve got a few breeder photos of him, but I’ll wait to post something until we get him home.

In terms of names, we’re leaning towards Bogart. Again, we’re going to need to wait to see how things play out this weekend to see if this name is appropriate. The amount of preparation that we’ve had to do is a lot more than I recall.. but then again I was twelve the last time I had a puppy in the house. Also, there’s so much involved to actually raising it in order to ensure that it turns out correctly. So much more than feed it twice a day and take it for walks. It’ll be excellent practice for having kids, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.

I think the most amazing thing is that our lives, from this day forward, are going to completely change. We’re going to have someone else to think about whenever we decide to do something. Be it go to the movies or make a trip to the East Coast (EC) and even my morning routine. Better yet, when I think about the average life span of the typical Shih Tzu, it’s about 15 years or so.. tacking 15 years onto my life right now, knowing that this little guy is going to be here throughout this whole period is just mind-blowing.

In a nutshell, we’re so very excited about the new member of the family and I’ll be sure to post pics as soon as I get them. My digital camera is currently in the shop, but we bought a few disposables to captures the exciting moments of the next week or so.