holiday music - fiona apple - "frosty the snowman"

My kid loves Christmas. Local radio stations start playing holiday music the day after Thanksgiving, so these tines could get old for me fast. But luckily, when I bought my car last spring I got a free year of Sirius XM radio, and its holiday music stations have been playing some more eclectic choices, so we're both happy. I have always considered Willie Nelson's rendition of "Frosty the Snowman" as the ultimate version, but after hearing Fiona Apple's take on the song I'm not so sure.

favorite movie #98 - holiday edition: white christmas

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #96 - White Christmas! (1954) - There's so much I love about this film. The banter between Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye (I much prefer them as a duo to Bing and Bob Hope), the bright, splashy Irving Berlin musical numbers (except for the problematic minstrel number, but at least they left out the blackface that was in Holiday Inn), the amazing dance done by Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen, Bing's bluer-than-blue eyes, and his romancing Rosemary Clooney over a liverwurst sandwich. I could go on and on and watch it every year (probably more than once during December).

The best things, happen when you're dancing ...

Sisters, sisters ...

... There were never such devoted sisters ...

Danny cracks up Bing

"Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!"

Rosemary Clooney with a young George Chakiris

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas ...

Link to Christmas: The whole movie takes place during the holiday season

favorite movie #97 - holiday edition: planes, trains, and automobiles & only the lonely

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #96 - Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) & Only the Lonely (1991) - I really love these two John Candy films, which not only showcase his comedic talent, but how effecting he could be emotionally, too. In John Hughes's Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, one of the all-time greatest road pictures, he is the thorn on Steve Martin's side as the two try to make it home for Thanksgiving. There are many memorable moments — especially "Those aren't pillows!" Martin and Candy are great together, and Hughes takes his typical Chicago affluent suburb setting and character played by Martin and lets Candy disrupt him for both big comedic and emotional payoffs.

In Only the Lonely (produced by Hughes and again set in Chicago, but written and directed by Chris Columbus) Candy is a policeman who is torn between his loyalty to his overbearing mother (played by an amazing Maureen O'Hara) and a blossoming romance with a funeral home worker (Ally Sheedy). You really feel for Candy as he struggles to break away from his tough-as-nails mom and maybe, finally, live his own life. He and the film are truly wonderful.

Link to Christmas: The movies takes place during the holiday season

favorite movie #96 - holiday edition: how the grinch stole christmas!

Picking up with my favorite movies list, just in time for the holidays ... Let's see if I can come up with 25 ... I'm giving myself a little leeway here, as I'm allowing TV specials as well as feature-length films. It's my list, my rules, so there.

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #96 - How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) - This is the only Grinch as far as I'm concerned. The narration by Boris Karloff, the animation by Chuck Jones (inspired by its Dr. Seuss source), the vocals by Thurl Ravenscroft and songs by Albert Hague — all perfection.

You're a mean one, Mr Grinch
You really are a heel
You're as cuddly as a cactus
You're as charming as an eel
Mr. Grinch!
You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel!

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch!
Your heart's an empty hole
Your brain is full of spiders
You've got garlic in your soul
Mr. Grinch!
I wouldn't touch you
With a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

You're a vile one, Mr. Grinch!
You have termites in your smile
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile
Mr. Grinch!
Given the choice between the two of you
I'd take the seasick crocodile!

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch!
You're a nasty, wasty skunk!
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk
Mr. Grinch!
The three words that best describe you
Are as follows, and I quote
"Stink, stank, stunk!"

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch!
You're the king of sinful sots!
Your heart's a dead tomato
Splotched with moldy, purple spots
Mr. Grinch!
Your soul is an apalling dump-heap
Overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable
Mangled-up in tangled-up knots!

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch!
With a nauseous super naus!
You're a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked hoss
Mr. Grinch!
You're a three-decker sauerkraut
And toadstool sandwich
With arsenic sauce!

Lyrics by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, Music by Albert Hague

Link to Christmas: What's more Christmassy than the Grinch?