12 Days of Christmas: Day Ten: Christmas Movie Round-Up

What is Christmastime without Christmas movies? Well, it's still Christmastime, but it's slightly less awesome. This Christmas, as per tradition, I watched my two favorite Christmas movies for the umpteenth time AND I watched a film that, you will be surprised to learn, I'd never seen before. So now I'm going to talk about those three movies a little bit.

1. The Muppet Christmas Carol

There are so many things to love about this movie. So rather than writing a wordy paragraph about them, here's a list I've compiled:

• Charles Dickens
• The Muppets
• Charles Dickens + The Muppets
• Michael Caine
• Singing
• "Fozziwig" 
• Using actual lines from A Christmas Carol
• Bean Bunny
• Crying during the "Tiny Tim is dead" scene
• Crying during all of the songs
• Sam Eagle telling young Ebeneezer that hard work is "the American way" and then changing it to "the British way" after Gonzo whispers in his ear
• The rat clerks
• Waldorf and Statler as Marley and Marley

And that's just to name a few. This movie is so funny, so heartwarming, and so (strangely) faithful to the original that I can't bear not to watch it during the holidays. It's easily my favorite adaptation of A Christmas Carol and one of the best films in the Muppets' catalog.


2. It's a Wonderful Life

I hope no one could argue that this isn't a classic Christmas movie. I don't even really feel the need to explain my reasoning for having it in my top 2. It's all about one man making a major difference in the lives of his friends and neighbors even if he doesn't see it himself, and that's really beautiful. If you've never seen It's a Wonderful Life, you really need to. Not only because it's a great movie but so that you can understand this SNL parody.




3. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Ok, confession time. Before this year, I had never seen The Nightmare Before Christmas. Shocking, I know. I tried watching it a couple of times as a child, but it really creeped me out, so I stopped. Over the years, I heard most of the music from the movie, and I knew what it was about. I even beat the Halloweentown level on Kingdom Hearts. But I just couldn't bring myself to actually sit down and watch the movie. But this Christmas I discovered it on Netflix and I decided it was time. And you know what? It was just as creepy as it was when I was a kid. But it was also pretty funny. I especially enjoyed the scene where Jack is trying to figure out the science behind Christmas. This chalkboard is great. Science!

And I felt that as a person who grew up in the 90s, it was my duty and obligation to have watched this perennial Hallow-mas/Christma-ween classic. The ending was a bit abrupt, but that's fine. It was still a pretty solid film, and I'm glad I saw it. 

And you know, this movie isn't all that different from It's a Wonderful Life: man is dissatisfied with life, wishes for different life, realizes life was actually pretty good. And also there's skeletons. Yeah, that sounds about right. Merry Movie-Watching, everyone!

Dissertations are Hard Work

Above: the understatement of the year. Last week I finished my 14,000-word Master's dissertation on Toni Morrison and Dante Alighieri (yes, you read that correctly) entitled "'Bound and gathered in a single book': Reading Toni Morrison's Beloved, Jazz, and Paradise as a 'Dantesque' Trilogy." Very impressive-sounding, I know. It combines the medieval concentration of my undergrad years with the modern/postmodern study of my Master's degree, and this is super nerdy so I'm gonna stop. If you really want to know more, leave a comment or email me or whatever.

Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm finally finished with it, and now I can focus on other things, like blogging. I have a lot of great blog post ideas lined up, which I'm totally going to follow up on. Just you wait! I will!

Here's a sneak peak of what's to come: The jnd, Fringe Festival, moving back to the US, and more! Hey, I might even get around to blogging about Dublin some more. (Remember that? Yeah, me neither.) I'm sorry I've slacked the past couple months, but I'm back, dear readers, and it's going to be great!

For now, I leave you with this important Public Service Announcement*:



*Mommy, Etsy is an online store that sells cute handmade crafts, like those earrings I bought, and Manic Pixie Dream Girls are explained in this Wikipedia article.

Some music videos

I am totally digging on these music videos. The first is straight-up incredible, the second is a beautiful cover of an awesome song, and the last just makes me happy. So watch them, share them, and then write to NBC and tell them not to cancel Community. (I couldn't help throwing that in. That show is just too good.)







BONUS VIDEO:
I realize I have already shared all these videos on Facebook, so here's a bonus video for those of you who bothered to check out the post. Cheers!

In anticipation of next year's presidential election...

... here is one of my favorite commercials of all time, if only for the donkey's last line.

Because I felt like you should have a sense of closure

Marcel the Shell is my favorite!

My friend Sabrina showed me this a few days ago. I was immediately smitten.

Love is in the Air

October is 2/3 of the way done, and you know what that means, dear readers. That's right, love is in the air. To celebrate love today, here is a video I just found of Jim Carrey confessing his love for Emma Stone. Heart-warming. Happy Friday!

I think Gaga would be proud

Board Gaming

Over the past year, my comrades and I have become big fans of board games. I considered writing a blog post about that, but I figured it would be boring (there's a pun in there somewhere). Instead, I will share with you this video. Enjoy. And check out some of olilord's other videos on YouTube. He's pretty funny.

Your daily dose of awkward

There is a good reason not to film yourself doing karaoke.



"I make it rain on the horse."