The World Around You

Break out the holiday movies! Most families have a film that is an essential part of their holiday tradition. Movies have a unique ability to bring people together. You can start quite a debate, even among virtual strangers, when you start discussing the best holiday movies. So, let’s generate a little discussion.

I appreciate the classics, It’s a Wonderful Life immediately leaps to mind, but number five on my list of all-time favorite holiday movies is the original Miracle on 34th Street. From Natalie Wood tugging on Edmund Gwenn’s beard to a parade of mailbags being emptied onto the judge’s bench, this movie contains an amazing array of memorable images.

Holiday images also come in the form of cartoons. Number four on my list belongs to the 1966 version of the Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, narrated by Boris Karloff. The story of the Whos down in Whoville has a catchy Christmas tune (”You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch…”) to go with a heartwarming story. The recent release of a truly awful live action version has made me appreciate this classic that much more.

A classic of more recent vintage is 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. This one is obviously for a more adult audience, but few pictures will make you laugh out loud as often as this one. Chevy Chase appears again as Clark Griswold. This time Clark is obsessed with achieving the perfect family Christmas. In the process, cats are electrocuted, turkeys are overcooked beyond belief and adventures with the Christmas tree abound.
Another family’s holiday is the focus of A Christmas Story, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of its release this year. The story is set before my time, but in a location that is very close to where I grew up in Indiana. Therefore, I share many of the childhood experiences of Ralphie Parker and his friends. You haven’t lived until you attempt to stick your tongue to a frozen flagpole or find yourself laying flat on your back in the snow, unable to get to your feet because of the many layers of clothing restricting your movement.

Number one on my list of all-time favorite holiday movies is a version of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’s masterwork about Mr. Scrooge and the three ghosts who change his life. The version I love is a modern retelling called Scrooged, from 1988, starring Bill Murray and Karen Allen. I particularly enjoy the visit from the Ghost of Christmas Present, played brilliantly by Carol Kane, who wields a toaster like a samurai warrior. The story is timeless and this particular update hits all the right notes, bringing out all the feelings that Dickens intended.

Motion pictures have a way of capturing the holidays in a way that is unmatched by other medium. If your family has a favorite holiday film, I wish you well as your enjoy it once again. If you do not, I urge you to give one of these a try and start your own family tradition.

The AP is reporting that the Expos and Yankees have reached a deal that will send Javier Vazquez to the Bronx. Being a Yankees fan means you never have to say, we’re just one piece away.

Voting Begins for the Weblog Awards at Wizbang on Friday.

Kevin has already closed the nominations on several categories.

Please consider voting for The World Around You for Best New Blog (Established in 2003).

If you can’t bring yourself to vote for me, I urge you to consider Steven and James.

Eugene Volokh is continuing to follow the story out of Louisiana that a second grader was disciplined for using the word “gay” while discussing his lesbian parents. The Superintendent has now issued a statement denying that this was the reason the child was disciplined.

I noted the story previously here.

Atrios points to another brilliant letter to the editor, this time from a doctor in Tuscson,

Executions would halt killings

We can stop the murders of American soldiers in Iraq by those who seek revenge or to regain their power. Whenever there is an assassination or another atrocity we should proceed to the closest mosque and execute five of the first Muslims we encounter.

After all this is a “Holy War” and although such a procedure is not fair or just, it might end the horror.

Machiavelli was correct. In war it is more effective to be feared than loved and the end result would be a more equitable solution for both giving us a chance to build a better Iraq for the Iraqis.

- EMORY METZ WRIGHT JR., M.D.

It might end the horror? How about escalating the horror to unimaginable heights?

You can get arrested for corruption in Cuba? Who knew? They must not have given Fidel his cut.