Yesterday we put forth some songs for your melancholy Christmas Eve. After scrolling my Google Play, I found a few more to consider. Maybe with a little less to discuss.
The Walkmen: No Christmas While I'm Talking
No one is going to think this is a new Christmas standard, but it's a good way to get into the evening.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
For Your Christmas Eve Listening
Tomorrow night is Christmas Eve. As we head into the evening, when you've tucked the kids away (or the parents), and you've got the house lights turned low, with only the soft glow of the Christmas lights on the tree to carry you through (and maybe some Elijah Craig, neat) - and it's time for some music to take you through the evening.
I can't remember a Christmas Eve in the past 30 years when I wasn't the last one awake in the house, and so it comes that I think of the night as one of solitude and of waiting. In the morning, we'll have breakfast and coffee, then gifts and talking. In the afternoon, we'll head over to my folks for dinner.
But on Christmas Eve we watch our family and friends drift off to bed, one by one, and, as always, we know we'll never get any sleep. There's no use in watching a movie or opening a book. It's time for some music and quiet contemplation.
But what do you listen to in order to maintain the mood?
Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans: The Bells of St. Mary's
Originally written in 1917, most folks today know the song as a Bing Crosby crooned ballad from the 1945 movie of the same name. The Bells of St. Mary's gets the Phil Spector treatment, and the world is better for it.
Still, catch the movie sometime. It's a real tear-jerker and a fine Christmas film with Ingrid Bergman in angel mode.
I can't remember a Christmas Eve in the past 30 years when I wasn't the last one awake in the house, and so it comes that I think of the night as one of solitude and of waiting. In the morning, we'll have breakfast and coffee, then gifts and talking. In the afternoon, we'll head over to my folks for dinner.
But on Christmas Eve we watch our family and friends drift off to bed, one by one, and, as always, we know we'll never get any sleep. There's no use in watching a movie or opening a book. It's time for some music and quiet contemplation.
But what do you listen to in order to maintain the mood?
Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans: The Bells of St. Mary's
Originally written in 1917, most folks today know the song as a Bing Crosby crooned ballad from the 1945 movie of the same name. The Bells of St. Mary's gets the Phil Spector treatment, and the world is better for it.
Still, catch the movie sometime. It's a real tear-jerker and a fine Christmas film with Ingrid Bergman in angel mode.
Star Wars Watch: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Ah, Return of the Jedi (1983). The much-debated finale to the original trilogy, where people get mad that the Empire is defeated by a band of teddy bears.
Look, it doesn't bother me. In fact, I like it. The Emperor has "foreseen" how all will unfold. He's moved the pieces into place so that the Alliance will finally be crushed, caught in a Battle of the Bulge scenario as the Rebel Fleet is trapped between the fully-operational Death Star and some portion of the Imperial Fleet. But ol' Darth Sidious here did not account for the forest weirdos he considered so lowly they couldn't play a part in his schemes. And, not only do they show the Rebels a backdoor to the Imperial Base/ Generator - they take out local security in guerrilla warfare. So they were kinda cute mammal things. So what?
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
Holiday Watch: White Christmas (1954)
It seems like Holiday Inn (1942) used to be the Bing Crosby Christmas movie of choice for television, but the past few years, probably because it's in color and because they don't have to cut out any super-racist blackface scenes, White Christmas (1954) has been the Bing Crosby film that AMC has really been pushing.
In my book, White Christmas is the Pepsi to Holiday Inn's Coke - both are fine, but I'll usually start with Coke (well, Coke Zero or Diet Coke) and work my way backward to Pepsi. Again - I don't want to say Holiday Inn isn't hugely problematic by any standard after 1952 or so. It is. But when you cut out that President's Day sequence (shudder) the story just works better. For me, anyway. Plus, I like Fred Astaire a magnitude more than I'll ever like Danny Kaye.
But we don't have Holiday Inn, we have White Christmas.
Star Wars Watch: Star Wars Episode V -The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
This is the holy mother of Star Wars movies, and it's always a funny one to watch, because I don't disagree, but it's a movie that doesn't make a lot of sense. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) should be the measuring stick you're using when you start coming at me with plot holes in the new movie, because if you found a few there, this one is like the remains of a tattered sheet hanging on a laundry line after ten years in an Oklahoma back yard.
But I still love it.
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