Tag Archives: Christmas

SANTA BLOGS XLIV

Dear Santa Blogs:      I have a niece who sends me entertaining emails and who really deserves to get a present this year in exchange for all the gloomy Goth humor she sends my way.  But I’ve never shopped for a Goth before and, anyway, I don’t have any idea what kids want for ChristmasContinue reading “SANTA BLOGS XLIV”

SANTA BLOGS XLIII

Dear Santa Blogs:      What are you doing this year to provide us with a really good Christmas cong controversy?  I rely on this every year as a chaser for all the good will and cheer being tossed at me, and so far, I haven’t heard a peep from you about it.                                                                                              Grumpy InContinue reading “SANTA BLOGS XLIII”

SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement 4

     Much as the previous silent Scrooges interested me, I am fascinated by the 1914 version.  It runs to 22 minutes (some cuts are abrupt enough to suggest something is missing) and although Charles Rock makes a lively Scrooge, this is decidedly a Cratchit movie.      We open with Bob Cratchit putting up holiday greeneryContinue reading “SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement 4”

SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement 3

     “Scrooge”, rereleased later as “Old Scrooge” for no apparent reason, appeared in 1913 and was the longest (known) version of the story up to that time, clocking in at some forty minutes.  It opens with a little pseudo-documentary beginning with shots of Charles Dickens’s birthplace (with people pointing at it in part so weContinue reading “SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement 3”

FICTION FRIDAY: Knit Wit

     “Who goes there?”      “A friend.  Winky sent me.”      “What’s the password?”      “More is more.”      “Enter, friend.  But remember, no telling people….”      “Oh, jingles!  Owwwww!”      “Winky should’ve warned you to put these dark glasses on.”      “The colors!  The….  Thank you, that’s better.”      “Yes, we wear ‘em allContinue reading “FICTION FRIDAY: Knit Wit”

SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement 2

     This is a supplement to the comparison of film versions of A Christmas Carol, taking a look at the surviving silent versions.  We considered the earliest surviving version, from 1901, last week.  After a lost version of A Christmas Carol made in Chicago in 1908, the next, and first American, Christmas Carol was releasedContinue reading “SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement 2”

SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement I

     A sorry spot in serializing some of my non-fiction works in this space is a nagging refrain of “Remember how hard this was to research?  Sure woulda been easier with the Interwebs”.  Take, for example, my comparison of screen versions of “A Christmas Carol”, serialized herein not so long ago.  It would easily haveContinue reading “SCREEN SCROOGES: Silent Supplement I”

SANTA BLOGS XLII

Dear Santa Flops:      Oh you darling fat fraud, there is only one thing I really want from you this Christmas, and that is that you keep far away from my holiday gift list.  How am I supposed to train my relatives to give me useful things, like an online subscription to the Screaming StreamingContinue reading “SANTA BLOGS XLII”

Larger Trivia Overdose

     Responses to my most recent column were evenly split, about half using the word “Scrooge” and the others using “Grinch.”  (There were a few other words which are new to me, but I got the general gist.)  It occurs to me that perhaps I was a little hard on those people who announce startlingContinue reading “Larger Trivia Overdose”