When all is said and done, Chrismukah will have lasted about 18 days this year. Not too shabby. I started my little movie marathon yesterday and successfully managed to get to four films. In case you’ve been waiting, don’t you fear: I hope to have my own Top 10 movies of 2004 list coming in the next couple weeks. I just still have a bunch to see. (And Karen, no it is not OK to put a film on your list you think will end up there if you haven’t seen it. I’m sure I’ll be mentioning a film or two I haven’t seen and therefore didn’t consider, but it can’t make “the list.”)
Strangely enough, with the end of Chrismukah comes the end of presents, and I still haven’t received my Criterion Collection Holiday Gift Set. I can’t believe there’s not one measly person out there willing to spend $5K on me. Geesh.
OK, maybe I’m being a wee bit unrealistic. Oh well. Meanwhile, here are a couple notes for the holiday weekend:
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One of my favorite parts of The Week magazine is the “Briefing” section in which the editors play 20 questions (although it’s more like 5-10) with one issue. In the most recent “Briefing,” The Week tackles Santa Claus. For instance, did you know that St. Nicholas and Kris Kringle are actually completely different people whose identities in folklore have become merged? Or that the celebration of St. Nick was originally Dec. 6 and didn’t become merged with Christmas until the late 17th Century? Or that the current image of Santa Claus as a big fat jolly guy in a red and white suit with large beard developed over a long period of time but really became solidified by none other than Coca-Cola in the early 1930s? In fact, the red and white coat is specifically because Coke’s colors are red and white! And for most of history before then, he looked quite a bit different? Go read the article; it’s fascinating. The weirdest part is that Santa himself has obviously agreed to go along with all these changes over time. He must have, otherwise the alternative is that he’s … wait, no … I won’t believe you. Santa’s real. I know it! -
You want Christmas movies on Christmas? TCM obviously gets into the Christmas spirit starting tonight at 8 PM with Christmas in Connecticut, Meet Me in St. Louis, Holiday Inn, and The Shop Around the Corner. Are you a red-stater all upset about society having taken the “Christ” out of “Christmas”? You’ll want to watch TCM’s double-bill (starting at 10:30 AM) of Ben-Hur and The Greatest Story Ever Told. And while NBC owns the exclusive rights to It’s a Wonderful Life now, TCM decides to bring the non-Christmas Capra to our televisions with a night of classics including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe,, and It Happened One Night.
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By the way, if you happen to be home tonight and are flipping through the channels, you might run across the new A Christmas Carol: The Musical on NBC starring Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge, which originally premiered earlier this month. If I might make a suggestion, stay as far away from it as you can. This thing was absolutely terrible (yes, I watched it!). A smarter choice tonight might be the great A Christmas Story which TBS starts showing tonight at 8 PM and then continues repeating for the following 24 hours. No, I’m not kidding – 12 showings, with the last one starting at 6 PM tomorrow. That’s good timing because tomorrow at 8, NBC takes advantage of their exclusive rights and broadcasts It’s a Wonderful Life. I don’t quite get the backlash against this film over the past several years. I suppose so many other sappy, schmaltzy imitations have made this picture a little more quaint in its sensibility, but is there any film that treats sentiment and the holidays better? More importantly, just think what the world would be like if there had been no It’s a Wonderful Life! (Sorry, didn’t mean to get so meta there.)
Here’s hoping everyone has a great holiday weekend wherever you are. See you Monday with my Top 10 television series of 2004 and a report on movie movie-filled weekend.
Out of Focus 