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Friday, December 23, 2011

TGIF: How The Grinch Stole Christmas

So, how many of you have completely wrapped up your Christmas shopping for this year? Are you completely finished yet? Still have a few gifts to buy? Haven't even started yet?

Well, if you are a part of the group to which that last question is directed to, what the heck are you waiting for? With less than 48 hours before the big day, time is running out!

Of course, the holiday season shouldn't be completely devoted to how much money you spend. It really should be about spending time with your loved ones, and not about how much you buy them. Certainly purchasing gifts that were tailor made for the person receiving the gift can provide much joy for the giver, especially if the gift is one that brings much happiness to them. But gifts shouldn't be the sole focus of having a happy holiday.

It kind of annoys me ever so slightly how commercial the holidays seem to be. From cell phone ads proclaiming that you can walk in a 4G wonderland (which actually sounds kind of dirty if you say it fast enough) to Hershey proclaiming that on the holidays they can stop the world and melt with you.

News flash, Hershey...Modern English did it first, and did it best.

Even walking through the shopping malls and department stores, it almost seems that the main motivation is pushing freight and merchandise to shoppers because of the fact that if you don't buy your loved ones a gift, you don't really love them. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

What else I find ridiculous is whenever I walk by a cash register with a long line-up approximately two days before Christmas, and hearing some people in the line complaining about waiting in line, and all of that jazz...I mean, those people do realize that they had three hundred and sixty-four days to plan ahead for the holiday, right? Sometimes there are circumstances where people are left with no choice but to do their shopping last minute, but not even those people seem to be mean-spirited about it all. I tell you, the things that go through some people's minds during the Christmas season.

Why it doesn't seem to take long for even the most well-intentioned people in the world to become a real nasty piece of work. And for what? An iPad? An XBOX Kinect? A partridge in a pear tree?

Why...one could almost call them a Grinch!



You know the kinds of people that make up a Grinch...they're self-centered, they do dastardly things to get what they want, if their holiday gets ruined, then s/he'll do whatever it takes to ruin someone else's holiday. Yeah, you get the drill.

If you have any Grinches in your family or your inner circle of friends, then you know that sometimes they can be quite hard to deal with. Sometimes they can be so aggravating to deal with that you find yourself resisting the urge to take their head and dunk it repeatedly inside the bowl filled with eggnog.

There is good news though. The Grinches of the world can be rehabilitated and with a little tender loving care, they can reclaim their love for the holidays and become warm-hearted individuals.

Here's one case study that I think we can take a lot from.

In 1957, Theodor Seuss Geisel (better known to you and I as Dr. Seuss) wrote a book that dealt with the whole idea of holiday Grinches. In fact, the main character of the book was a Grinch!



'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' was Dr. Seuss' first attempt at a Christmas-themed story. Not only did Dr. Seuss write the book himself in rhyming verse, he drew all the pictures in the story as well.



The book was eventually made into an animated television special, and a live-action movie featuring Jim Carrey as the title character. (You knew I had to slip in a reference to the 6 Days Of Box Office Christmas week, didn't you?)

But for the sake of argument (and because I haven't seen the Jim Carrey adaptation of the show), we're going to focus on the animated special, which debuted on December 18, 1966 on CBS originally. Over the last few years, the show has been broadcast on ABC and ABC Family, and is traditionally one of the holiday specials that kicks off the holiday season. It is also one of only four television specials produced in the 1960s that still airs on a regular basis, right alongside A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty The Snowman, and Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer...all of which have entries already devoted to them on this blog!

The voice of the Grinch, as well as much of the narration of the special was done by actor Boris Karloff. The role was one of the last ones Karloff would end up doing before his death in 1969. And what a fine job he did with the voice of the Grinch at that.



The song 'You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch', as heard above, was also recorded by a familiar voice. Many of you may not recognize the name Thurl Ravenscroft at first glance, but those of you with keen ears may notice that for several years, he performed the voice of Tony the Tiger in the commercials for Frosted Flakes cereal.

He's just that grrrrrrrreat!

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Anyway, the television special was just like the book as it was written, which was perfect for children. They could read the book and follow along with it as the show aired. Of course, the television special was done in full colour, while the original book was done in a red and black colour scheme.



The first part of the show takes place in the fictional town of Whoville, a place where the citizens, known as Whos, are getting incredibly excited about Christmas. They've decorated their homes with lavish decorations, putting together all the fixings for a lovely roast beast dinner, and are hitting the stores for the latest toys, such as a 'bizzle-bink'.

Apparently, Whoville was a place where the really great gifts were ones that were nonexistent in the human world. But, no matter. Christmas was a great big deal to the townspeople of Whoville...they even had their own song welcoming Christmas Day.



But not everyone in the vicinity of Whoville was excited and happy about the holiday. There was one person nearby who hated everything about Christmas. I mean it, he was one miserable miser of a man, who chose to live alone, away from everyone.

This man was the Grinch.

And he was about to do something incredibly despicable.



Living in an out-of-the-way cave away from civilization with his faithful canine companion, Max, the Grinch was one who hated the people of Whoville and their Christmas celebrations. He has hated Christmas for fifty-three years. Why this was the case however wasn't shown in the original version though. I have heard that they go into further detail in the Jim Carrey version, but as I haven't seen that one yet, I can't really comment on that.

What I can tell you is that the Grinch is so against Christmas that he has a rather selfish wish in regards to the holiday. Though, I guess you can't really hold that against him, as he was born with a heart that was two sizes too small.

His dream on one particular Christmas Eve is to prevent Christmas from coming to Whoville. At any cost. After all, if he wasn't going to enjoy the holiday, why should anyone else, right?

It isn't until he sees his dog Max covered with snow in such a way that Max looks like Santa Claus, the Grinch comes up with an evil plan, complete with a grin so obnoxious, it would be almost creepy.

His plan was to dress up as Santa (with Max getting dressed up like a reindeer), and head to Whoville in a sleigh filled with bags. The difference? Instead of leaving toys and goodies behind at every house, he would instead take every holiday decoration away from the poor, unsuspecting citizens of Whoville.

That's right, folks. The Grinch was going to steal Christmas from everyone.

Isn't that a kick in the pants?

Making their way towards Whoville, the Grinch is ready to steal items quicker than a shoplifter at a Kwik-E-Mart, and he's thinking that nothing...nobody would dare stop him now.



Enter sweet little Cindy Lou Who, who awakens from her slumber in time to see the Grinch helping himself to the Christmas tree. I assume that had I come downstairs to see Santa stealing our tree, I would have been horrified. Heck, had my dad come downstairs to see Santa stealing our tree, he probably would have shot him!

Alas, the Grinch was prepared for the inquisitive nature of Cindy Lou, and he explained that her tree was broken, and that he needed to take the tree back to his workshop to fix it. He then dismisses Cindy Lou back to bed.



Now, if I were Cindy Lou, I probably wouldn't have bought that story. But she was young and impressionable, so I guess we can kind of overlook it. Too bad that Cindy Lou didn't scream out loud there and then...otherwise her house might have been the only casualty. Because she didn't, the Grinch wasted no time in stealing all the presents underneath every tree...and then the tree itself. He even raided pantries, cupboards, and storerooms to steal all the food necessary for making those delicious Christmas dinners. He even stole all the supply of roast beast! How inhuman!

To add insult to injury, he even takes the decorations off of the village storefronts, and even robs the village of the town Christmas tree in the middle of Whoville Square! It's a wonder that the Grinch and Max even made it back home after stealing what must have been several thousand pounds of Christmas themed merchandise and decorations!

But it would all be worth it. The Grinch had successfully stolen every trace of Christmas from Whoville. It would almost be worth it to the Grinch when the people of Whoville woke up Christmas morning without any Christmas celebrations at all. He had them right where he wanted them...vulnerable and miserable...just like himself.

But the citizens of Whoville DIDN'T cry. Instead, they sang.

Despite the fact that all of their decorations and presents were gone, the Whos decided to welcome Christmas in their own, happy manner. By singing Christmas carols, and loving each other, and spending time together.

It was a lovely sight to see. That the Whos didn't even need any decorations or presents to have a lovely Christmas. They were going to have that great Christmas anyway.

And that very visual made the Grinch feel quite small...at least at first. He sees the people of Whoville having fun despite all of his crimes against them, and he starts to realize that maybe the gifts and the decorations aren't all that important. And as he realizes this, his heart begins to swell.

And then he notices that the sleigh filled with the Whos Christmas celebrations is about to cascade down the cliffside, and he and Max rush to try and prevent a disaster from happening.

As he does this, his heart grows three sizes, and as a result of this phenomenon, he becomes incredibly strong. So strong that he has the strength of ten Grinches, plus two! That's quite impressive.

And what do you think he did with his newfound strength? That's right! He took that sleigh back to Whoville and gave them back their Christmas gifts, decorations, and yes, even the roast beast, and the citizens of Whoville happily welcome the Grinch into their homes and hearts for a good old-fashioned Whoville Christmas.

You know, I think that the Grinch can teach us a couple of life lessons here.

One...you don't need to have fancy bells and whistles, or even expensive gifts to simply have a wonderful Christmastime. All you really need is the Christmas spirit to guide you through. And the love of good friends and family.

But secondly, it doesn't pay to be miserable towards others who just want to celebrate the holiday. It's only when the Grinch saw what the real holiday spirit was all about that he started to get what the real meaning was.

And, hey...if the Grinch could get it...so can everyone else, as far as I'm concerned.



Thursday, December 22, 2011

Across The Pond and Beyond - A Christmas Carol

Hey, everyone.

Yesterday's entry was one that was a bit hard for me to write, but it was one that needed to be said. It helped get a lot of the feelings that I was feeling out there. It's never easy to say goodbye to someone who you have developed a close bond with, and just writing about how much that friendship meant to me, it really helped me cope a little better.

Today is a new day, and I'm sure that if I knew my friend as well as I did, she wouldn't want me to feel sad for very long, so today we're going right back into the original purpose of this blog, which is to have fun with it.

After a little bit of a hiatus yesterday, we're going to restart the 7...6 Days of Box Office Christmas. And today's entry was the one that I was going to originally be posted yesterday.

(I decided to forego the arcade Thursday post because the only example I could find takes place on Christmas and the game is a survival horror role playing game. Mmmmm...nothing says Merry Christmas quite like killing off mutated creatures, doesn't it?)

So, today will become Across The Pond and Beyond Thursday instead. Today's topic has been made and remade into various movies, television episodes, stage plays, and operas over the years, and is based on a book written by a prolific British author. The book has remained in circulation for well over a century and a half, and is widely considered to be one of the finest works that Charles Dickens ever wrote.

Keeping in mind that Charles Dickens wrote several books in his career.



That book is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

You ever have some sort of epiphany at some point in your life? One where you're sitting somewhere and you realize that the way that you may be living your life the completely wrong way? Then something just strikes you out of the blue, shows you what you're doing wrong, and then you make the changes necessary to improve things?

That's what this novella is about.

A Christmas Carol was written during the mid-19th century, and was first published by publishing company Chapman & Hall on December 19, 1843. Interestingly enough, the book was written at a time when Britain was experiencing a nostalgic interest in forgotten Christmas traditions. As well, it was written during a time when brand new traditions were being implemented, such as setting up Christmas trees and mailing Christmas cards. The book was also credited with restoring festivity and cheer to the holiday in Britian, in which before it was a period of sombreness.



The one thing I can note from reading and re-reading this book over the years is the amount of contrasting imagery within its pages. It's a very schizophrenic, manic-depressive sort of a book. While the book does a fantastic job of showcasing the joy and festiveness of the holiday season, it also provides darker imagery. Imagery filled with death, darkness, and despair.

What also makes the book a little more interesting is the fact that a lot of the book was influenced by the personal experiences of the author. A lot of these references admittedly were taken from Wikipedia (which I know gets a bad rap from people), but the books that the site cites (heh) are one hundred per cent real. So, you know what? I'm gonna go with it.

Dickens, who reportedly wrote the book in just six weeks, was influenced by a variety of sources. In fact, Dickens used some of his own humiliating childhood experiences as a template for the creation of the main character of the book, Ebenezer Scrooge. The depiction of Scrooge was more or less the conflicting feelings that Dickens had felt for his own father. What had happened was that when Dickens was twelve, his father was imprisoned, and he was forced to leave the life he knew behind for a much more depressing one. Back in the mid-19th century, there were no labour laws for children, and at twelve, he was forced to leave school to go and work at a blacking factory. He was forced to pawn all of his childhood possessions, including his collection of books, and he felt so uncomfortable at the factory that he began to develop nervous fits.

Although his father was eventually released from prison, Dickens was forced to continue working at the factory, his once happy childhood deemed a memory. As a result of this, Dickens' feelings for his father became conflicted. It was almost a split personality. He loved his father, yet hated him at the same time. For it was his father's imprisonment that changed his life forever. As a result of his experiences in the factory, it left him a changed person, and his writing work was ultimately affected in his work. Perhaps a better example of this in action would be Dickens' novel 'David Copperfield', but it also applies towards A Christmas Carol as well.

One has to wonder if Dickens' experiences at the factory, as well as his touring other factories in Britain where poor children often worked in disgusting and appaling conditions, was one of the catalysts towards reshaping the child labour laws in Britain. Regardless of which, Charles Dickens ended up writing a fund-raising speech for a charitable institution serving the poor in October 1843. The speech urged workers to fight ignorance with educational reform. That speech would later be the starting point towards the creation of A Christmas Carol.

Now that you know the story and the influences that went into creating A Christmas Carol, we can continue with the plot.

The tale begins on Christmas Eve, 1843...exactly seven years since the death of Jacob Marley, former business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. It becomes clear within the first few pages that Scrooge isn't a nice guy. He's stingy, selfish, and would rather end up cutting off a limb than give even a penny of his fortune away. He doesn't even know the meaning of the words kindness, generosity, charity, or compassion.

Of course, this could be because a lot of the reason why Scrooge got so wealthy was by letting other people do the back-breaking labour involved with running a business for him for very little pay.

Oh, he was a real Scrooge, all right.

One of his poor unfortunate victims? Bob Cratchit. Overworked and underpaid, Bob just seems to take the abuse in stride, for it really is the only job he can get. If Bob lost the job, his family would be on the streets, and he couldn't let that happen.

Of course, Scrooge seems to take great pleasure in the poor man's misfortune.

Oh, and one more thing. Scrooge hates Christmas. Scrooge only has two words for Christmas. Bah, humbug!

Not only does he hate Christmas, but it seems as though he wants everyone else to hate Christmas just as much as he does. He slams the door in the face of a couple of men seeking donations for a charity, and he turns down a dinner invitation from his nephew. He does allow his employee to have Christmas Day off with pay, though the only reason he does this is to follow social custom. If Scrooge had his way, Cratchit would work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

That night, Scrooge closes up the business for the holiday and heads back home. But as soon as he arrives at the front door, he is shocked by the appearance of the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley. The ghost of Marley practically begs Scrooge to change his ways, or else he'll be condemned to an afterlife filled with torment and pain. The chain that Marley is forced to carry around with him is the burden that he had to shoulder from his ruthless business practice when he was still living...the very same practices that Scrooge still committed on a daily basis.

That encounter would be scary enough, but then Scrooge is visited by three more ghosts. The Ghost Of Christmas Past, The Ghost Of Christmas Present, and The Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come.

The first spirit that Scrooge is visited by is the Ghost of Christmas Past, and this ghost takes Scrooge back in time to when he was still an innocent youth. It is here that we discover the reasons behind why Scrooge hated Christmas so much. We learn that Scrooge was a lonely child, who was left at the boarding school he attended by himself while his schoolmates returned home for the holidays. The fact that the story showed him being entertained by his books makes me wonder if Dickens didn't base this part of the book on his own life story. The ghost takes him on a journey through the past, which includes the time he worked as Mr. Fezziwig's apprentice, and how his fiancee, Belle, ended her relationship with him, due to the fact that he seemed to care more about money than her. We also see how Belle fell in love with another man and married him happily, which angers Scrooge.

Some variations of the story have slight additions to the Ghost Of Christmas Past arc of the story. In the 1984 film adaptation, starring George C. Scott as Scrooge, we see an additional scene where Scrooge's father arranged an apprenticeship for him, making his homecoming last mere days, and is suggested that the reason his father had such resentment for him was because of the fact that his wife died while giving birth.



(On a similar note, I highly recommend the 1984 version of the movie. Very well done.)

The next ghost to visit Scrooge is the Ghost of Christmas Present, and this ghost takes Scrooge on a different journey. He shows Scrooge through the city square, filled with dozens of joyful people picking up supplies for their Christmas celebrations, dinners, and parties.

After seeing a vision of Scrooge's nephew, they also drop in on the family feast of Bob Cratchit, where Scrooge gets his first glimpse of the Cratchit's youngest child, Tiny Tim. Tiny Tim is not a very well young boy. He walks with crutches, and while Tiny Tim's disease is curable, the Cratchit family lacks the money necessary to give Tim the medical treatment he needs...mainly because Scrooge doesn't pay much money.

Scrooge is shaken to the core by this image...not just because of the fact that he realizes that Tiny Tim is very sick, but because of the fact that despite this, the Cratchit family still manages to find joy and peace from the Christmas season.

Using the images of two young children who the ghost gives the names of Want and Ignorance, the ghost does a pretty convincing job of making Scrooge eat all of the unkind words he uttered beforehand, along with a nice slab of humble pie to make the taste seem even more unbearable. The more the Ghost of Christmas Present speaks, the worse Scrooge feels.

The proverbial cherry on top of Scrooge's dessert from hell comes courtesy of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, which paints a portrait of a rather gloomy Christmas, should Scrooge fail to change his ways.

People on the streets seem to be in celebration of the death of a known miser, and how they were making light of it...about how they would only go to the funeral if a free lunch was provided. Clearly not someone who was well-liked by the community.

Scrooge also watches in horror as the dead man's belongings are stolen and sold to Old Joe, a man who specializes in making money from stolen merchandise. Poor families are relieved and overjoyed that the man who they owed money to was no longer alive to collect it. It puzzled Scrooge in a rather sobering way. How could anyone treat anyone so cruelly and without dignity after they died?

But when the ghost shows Scrooge images of the funeral of young Tiny Tim, and the Cratchit family mourning his death, Scrooge suddenly gets a sickening feeling inside of him.

And when Scrooge gets a picture of the unkempt gravestone in the middle of a lonely graveyard, and sees that a newly dug up grave was meant for him, Scrooge realizes that the cruel man that everyone was talking about was him all along.

What a nightmare to experience. Imagine being so ruthless and cruel in your life, only to have nobody caring about you after you die. That would be the worst possible feeling in the world, right?

But, fear not. That was just one possibility that could arise. If Scrooge could only find it in himself to change his whole personality around, and become more kind and generous to those around him, then maybe a brighter future would come to him.

This is Scrooge's epiphany.

I suppose I don't need to tell you what happens next, except for the fact that the Cratchit family gets a Christmas miracle, courtesy of the once cold-hearted Scrooge.

Even though the story was written almost two centuries ago, it is still one of the most classic tales of Christmas ever written. As a result, several specials and movies have been made, each one with an ingenious method of storytelling.



I already talked about the 1984 George C. Scott movie, but if you get a chance to watch it, the Muppets did a version of the classic tale which is worth watching.



And of course, there's one of my own personal favourite versions...Mickey's Christmas Carol, from 1983. I mean, you have Scrooge McDuck playing Scrooge...what could be better?

Watch it below!


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

In Loving Memory Of A Beloved Friend...



There are some things that are more important than talking about pop culture tidbits. And today just happens to be one of those times in which I'll be putting the pop culture books and trivia knowledge on the backburner. Truth be told, I'm not exactly in the right frame of mind to be talking about lighthearted subjects today.

I know that we're supposed to be right smack dab in the middle of the 7 Days of Box Office Christmas, but truth be told, today I'm just not in the mood to say much about any sort of holiday movie today. I may just end up making it a six day event instead. It's probably for the best anyway, as my planned Thursday entry was sort of lame from the beginning.

So, what my new plan is for the next week is to take the entry that I was going to talk about today, push it to Thursday...cancel Thursday's entry altogether, and instead use today's entry to talk about somebody who really meant a lot to me over the last few years.

Keep in mind that this is probably a rarity at this time, as I usually try to aim to make this blog as fun and retrospective as possible. And those of you who are regular readers of this blog know that I try my best to make this site a fun place to be. So, I hope I can get back to that beginning tomorrow.  

This needs to be said today.

Growing up, I struggled with the whole process known as finding and keeping long-lasting friendships. It wasn't absolutely impossible to make friends with people, but I found it difficult to keep friendships going.

And, yes...I'll fully be the first one to admit that I am to blame for that in a lot of cases. I tended to build walls around myself, especially during those tumultuous teenage years. Which was fine in theory. My problem was that I made those walls a little too hard to break through. Whenever people would come up to me and try to initiate conversation with me, I'd look at them through guarded eyes.

Having been burned by quite a few people who I had deemed close, but later turned on me, I admit to being a little standoffish when it came to meeting new people. I always assumed that they would end up hurting me like everyone else.

And, we all know what happens when we assume things, right?

The point is that as a result of my putting up a wall around me, I ended up being a bit of a loner growing up. By the time I had entered my twenties, I was somewhat a bit on the lonely side. I didn't really have any close friends around me at the time to discuss things with, and I suppose that back in those days, my low self-esteem kept telling me that this was going to be the way that things were going to be, and I should just suck it up.

Yeah, remind me to put a sock in that one.

Back in those days, I had discovered the seemingly outdated method of communication known as the discussion board. Yes, before the days of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and MySpace, we used to do our web communication on web-based discussion forums. There was no like button, no tweeting, no Farmville...just us and our words.

It was sort of cool back in those days. We could choose a random screenname, log onto the boards, and post threads and topics about certain topics (provided they fit the criteria and guidelines of the discussion board). It was surprisingly addictive once you got into it.

(My screenname, for the record, was named after a character from Archie Comics, in case you were wondering.)

I joined a discussion group in the summer of 2001. Some of you may have already heard me bring this group up in a couple of other blog postings over the last few months, but this group was quite special to me, and it is where our story begins.



The place was called Yesterdayland. It was a board that much like this blog, focused on retro pop culture. I was immediately in heaven. Imagine a place where all of your childhood favourites were within a click of a mouse.

It took me a while to get into the swing of things, but once I did, I found that I could fit into most conversations quite easily. I found it easy to speak my piece and have opinions of my own. I also managed to develop quite a few close bonds with some of the people there.

I know what some of you must be saying. It's great to have online friends, but you're telling me that I'd probably get more out of friendships that are face-to-face. In some ways, yes. But in this case, no.

Sometimes having a friendship online is one of the best types of friendships one can possibly have. For online, you don't have to worry about people judging you for what you look like (unless you post a picture of yourself online), nor do you have to worry about what you're wearing, or how loud your voice is, or If you have bad breath, or anything trivial of that nature.

You see, when you present yourself in an online setting, unless you're one of those Internet trolls who just move from site to site creating havoc and unnecessary drama, you're basically showing people your own true self. People don't judge you by what you look like, or what labels you wear, or what kind of car you drive.

It was actually kind of nice to let go of that.

And during my time on Yesterdayland, I managed to make several friends...each of whom were special in their own way.

This blog entry is celebrating just one of these many friends.

Because I like to add a little bit of anonymity to this blog, I'll just refer to her by the screenname that she used on the board, as well as several others on the Internet.

Pierette.

You know, to this day, I'm not exactly sure what the meaning behind her screenname was. Nor did I ask, as I didn't think it was much business of mine. But Pierette was one of those special, special people. She always had a kind word for almost everyone who crossed her path. She was intelligent, she was strong-willed, she didn't let people walk all over her. She was one hundred per cent real as real could be.

I think it was those qualities that inspired me to form a friendship with her. At the time I joined Yesterdayland, I didn't really have many close friends in my own real world life. Not so online. In fact, in memory serves me, Pierette was one of my first friends that I made.

Also one of the longest that I had ever corresponded with online.

She was from the state of Texas. She was older than I was by approximately two and a half decades, but yet she and I clicked almost instantly. She had this wicked sense of humour that would become infectious. So many times, she would post something on Yesterdayland, and within moments, there would be dozens of responses to the thread, ranging from mild amusement to absolute hysterical laughter. I'm not afraid to admit that more often than not, I was reduced to tears over some of the things she posted online. You truly had to be there to experience it.

And during our time on Yesterdayland, we went through a lot as the world began to change around us. I joined the site in the summer of 2001, and two months later, 9/11 happened. I'll never forget how our little website soon became the source for the latest information regarding that day. How our little group of members were genuinely concerned for those living in New York and Washington D.C., hoping that they had gotten through safely. Then there was the uncertainty of 2002, where we weren't sure whether a war was going to break out or not. That whole year, everyone seemed to be on edge, and it seemed as though there was a lot of in-fighting between members. Most of us weathered the storm though, thinking that it would pass.

But then at the beginning of March, 2003, Yesterdayland was no more. The plug pulled. And all of us who were members of that community soon found ourselves without a home within the web. 


A couple of members of Yesterdayland soon got together to form one of the many spin-off groups of the board. One of which was called Memory Lane, and it was this group that Pierette and I really started to develop our close friendship.

On Memory Lane, as well as a couple of other board side projects that splintered from the ruins of Yesterdayland, Pierette and I would talk about everything and anything under the sun. I can remember more often than not coming to her with some of my problems. At the time, I was experiencing some hardships with finding a job, and I can remember her being so supportive while I was looking for work.

However, she also gave me a swift kick in the keester whenever I needed it as well. Back when I was in my early twenties, I have to say that I sort of needed an attitude check. I thought that I was the type of person who knew it all, and that I would get through it on my own. Thank goodness that attitude didn't last too long.

You want to know why? It was because of Pierette.

Pierette was the type of person who always listened to you speak without prejudice or judgment. She would let you have your say, really listen to what you were saying, and then help you with your problem as best she could. Sometimes she would be blunt (which was especially needed), while other times she would feel the same pain you felt. It didn't matter. Pierette was always there whenever you needed her.

I also have to credit Pierette as well for being a key influence in my life for helping me break out of my comfort zone. To tear down the walls that I had built around myself for years. She was so supportive and gave me so much encouragement that in a way, I believe it rubbed off on me.

That's how much of a positive influence she was in my life.

And Pierette and I went through a lot together. We both mourned the loss of a long standing member who passed away four years ago, and remembered her fondly. In fact, this sort of goes along with my earlier point about Pierette finding humour and joy in almost anything. I still remember the time when our friend who had passed on posted something about someone drinking floor wax, and for some reason Pierette just found that to be the funniest thing that she had ever heard. It was really cool to see someone who had so much laughter inside of her. While she did have her serious side at times, it was more fun to crack jokes with each other.



I mean, she was a huge fan of the LOLcats website.  I think that says it all right there just what kind of a sense of humour she had...a sense of humour that proved to be the perfect antidote to a bad day.

When the idea of a Christmas card exchange came about a few years ago, Pierette took it upon herself to organize all of the details behind it. We'd send her our addresses to her account (and believe me, for any of us to think of doing that on an online forum, you knew that she was awful trustworthy), and she'd send us all the master list, and within the Christmas season, we would all receive dozens of cards. Some cards were close to home. Others as far away as England. It really became a fun tradition for several years, and I really got joy out of getting cards from all over the world.

For the record, I have every single Christmas card that I ever received in these card exchanges. I even have about three or four cards from Pierette herself, thanking me for her friendship and love over the years.

Those are treasured memories that I will always keep inside of me.

I guess in some way, Pierette also inspired me to start up this blogging project.  Knowing that she had her own blog up and running for years, and meeting and befriending lots of people through that project, I knew that I wanted to at least attempt to start one on my own. And for the last seven months, I've managed to do exactly that. And, might I add that when I kicked off this blog, guess who was one of the biggest supporters?

You guessed it. Pierette.

So, let me say this. Anyone who tells you that an online friendship isn't real, and cannot be real is one hundred per cent dead wrong. You can have a deep and meaningful friendship with someone online, and have it last for many, many years. I know because I was lucky enough to have that true, genuine friendship with Pierette.

I was really lucky to have known Pierette. And for a while, it seemed as though that friendship would last for years to come.

So when she suddenly stopped posting one day in the fall of 2011, naturally we were all concerned. It wasn't like her to be so involved in the blogging and messageboard world, and then just cease all communications.

Sadly, we all learned that our Pierette was terminally ill, and that her prognosis wasn't good. That news hit all of us like a ton of bricks, and even a couple of days after the news broke, many of us were still trying to process what we had just heard. I know that I was one of those who tried to make sense of what had happened, and yet I just couldn't. I just couldn't.

And just two days ago, on December 19, 2011...our Pierette entered into rest. She was only fifty-three years old.

I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends that I had ever known.

And it hurt. More than anyone could ever know.

You know something? I never got the chance to meet Pierette face to face. I really wish I had gotten the opportunity to do so. I imagine that we probably would have gotten along great. We even talked about how much she loved Tim Horton's coffee when she went up North for a trip, and how we promised each other we'd meet up at a Tim Horton's one day. I even thought of the idea to send her a canister of Tim Horton's coffee to her through the mail one day. I really wish I had gone through with that plan...I think she would have gotten a kick out of it.

You know, people deal with grief their own ways...and I can't even imagine what Pierette's loved ones must be going through right now. My heart really goes out to them during this rough time. I hope that they are doing okay.

As for me, what I thought would be so difficult to put into words...ended up being a six-page tribute to a person that I called (and will always call) a friend.

Rest in peace, Pierette. I'll always miss you. I can only hope that you knew just how much of a positive influence you were to a lot of people that you never even got a chance to meet. You didn't just become a friend to me...you were beloved by an entire group of people who knew you from a variety of online communities.

For anybody who had the pleasure of knowing you...we are all better people for knowing you. And while it's too late for me to have gotten the chance to tell you this in person, I figure that the next best thing would be to dedicate today's blog post to you.



Until we meet again, Pierette...


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

The 7 Days of Box Office Christmas continues with a movie that was suggested to me by a reader of this blog, and as it turns out, there's quite a lot that I can do with this film.

In fact, it was probably this idea that inspired me to go ahead with the idea to come up with the '7 Days of Box Office Christmas' theme week.

For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you may remember the entry I did last week on the 1983 movie 'A Christmas Story'. In that blog entry, I talked about how some people want to do everything to come up with the perfect Christmas, but sometimes don't realize that they have had all the ingredients for a perfect Christmas all along.

It's absolutely true, you know. I don't really understand the obsessive-compulsive need that some people seem to bring out of their usually dormant personalities during the holidays. From getting the biggest turkey possible, to getting the best decorations possible for the huge tree, and basically doing everything to make sure that their home is decorated like a Christmas card picture.

But, when you look at it from a sane viewpoint, who exactly are you doing all this for?

If it's for your immediate family and you want to give them a memorable Christmas to remember for their own personal memory banks, that's fine and dandy. But if it's to show off to relatives and acquaintances that you really have no relationship with whatsoever, just for the sole purpose of proving a point to them, then that's kind of tacky.

So, sometimes when you watch the whole thing unravel at the seams, where every meticulous detail that went into planning the most perfect Christmas celebration all falls apart...if you were one of the ones who were only invited to the celebration just so the hosts can rub it in your face as to how much nicer their Christmas looked than yours, you'd probably see it as a sort of karmic retribution.

I shouldn't really admit this, but there's been some instances in which I've gone to holiday parties, and felt as if the hosts were trying way too hard to impress people. Sometimes, it's almost as if you WANT to find something that is imperfect, just so you can drive the party hosts right out of their gourds by pointing attention to it all night long.

Hmmm...maybe that's why I don't get invited to many Christmas parties. 
At any rate, this whole idea of trying way too hard to show everyone in the world what a perfect Christmas is ties in nicely with the movie I'm featuring in this spot for today.



National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

The film was released on time for the 1989 holiday season, and had quite a few heavyweights in the cast. Of course, you have Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo, reprising their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold, with this film being the third in the National Lampoon's Vacation series. But there's so many more actors that have made appearances in the movie that were either big stars or became big stars. Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki played the children of the Griswold family this time around (the kids were always recast in each installment). Doris Roberts, Diane Ladd, Randy Quaid, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus also had roles in the comedy.



The movie was based off of a short story written by the late John Hughes for National Lampoon magazine (a humour publication that was actually a spin-off of the Harvard Lampoon). The story was entitled “Christmas '59”.

The film did quite well at the box office, making over seventy million dollars worldwide, and is widely considered to be a Christmas classic.

And this movie depicts the Griswold family during the Christmas holidays, as Clark has gotten bitten by the Christmas bug this particular year. Clark has dreamed of having a good old-fashioned Christmas, and despite his family being a little less open to the idea as he is, Clark is determined to make this Christmas the best one ever.



But of course, everything seems to go wrong from the get-go...such as finding the Griswold Christmas Tree.



And, don't worry, the laughs just keep coming...

Really, this is one blog entry that could write itself just based on the assortment of movie clips that I found (courtesy of the Movie Clips account on YouTube, might I add) to supplement today's entry.

So, now that the Griswolds...uprooted their tree and trimmed it, then comes the next step. Getting everyone together to enjoy the festivities.



Clark has invited a ton of people to enjoy the holiday. Clark's parents, Ellen's parents, Clark's Aunt Bethany and Uncle Lewis...it was supposed to have been a wonderful Christmas celebration with loved ones at the Griswold family home in Chicago.

But things have a way of crashing down when things get a little too perfect.

For instance, how often have you planned a party for your closest friends and family, where all the guests are accounted for...only to find that there are some unexpected or uninvited guests who show up and wreak havoc.



Enter Cousin Catherine and her husband Eddie, and two of their children, pulling up with their RV.

Here's just one example of the...ahem...joy, they bring to the festivities.



That event right there is the beginning of the end for the Griswold family Christmas.

Certainly everyone has struggles with putting up and decorating the Christmas tree. Bulbs on light strings burn out and you have to replace them. Ornaments that have been in the family for decades can get broken.

Or, you can accidentally electrocute the family pet.



(DISCLAIMER: No real animals were harmed in the making of this film).

Or, in some cases, when you bring home the tree that you worked so hard to chop down uproot, you may find a surprise guest.



(On a lighter note, it's good to see the snobby lady neighbour get her comeuppance.)

Another sore spot to the holiday season can come from the dinner. Certainly one of the biggest disasters can can make or break a holiday season can come from the Christmas dinner. Burning the pumpkin pie. Giving people food poisoning accidentally.

Having the turkey be a little...dry.



Mmmmm...I can just taste that delicious turkey now.

There's lots of other Christmas traditions that can cause your holiday party to crash and burn if executed incorrectly. Like, for instance...going sliding down a hill on a toboggan...or a silly saucer.



Or, maybe doing something simple like putting up lights on the exterior of your home?



And, then there's the possibility of getting your hopes up for a big, fat Christmas bonus from your workplace as a reward for all the hard work you put in all year long...only to find that the Christmas bonus isn't exactly all that it is cracked up to be.

This situation has happened in my family a couple of times that I can recall, and for Clark Griswold, his Christmas bonus being a big disappointment leads to one of the most epic rants that has come out of a Christmas movie. 



Ever.



But somehow, everything does work out in the end. Eddie is grateful that Clark, despite all the mishaps and the stress that resulted in everything going wrong for Clark Griswold's perfect Christmas celebration, ended up giving his family a better Christmas than they would have had. He decides to give Clark a Christmas gift that only he could have thought of. Driving over to Clark's boss' house, literally kidnapping him, and bringing him to the Griswold home so that he could convince his boss that withholding the Christmas bonuses was the wrong thing to do.

Does it work? Well, I'm not going to tell.

But, I do have to post the epic last scene of the movie, just because you just have to see it.



Wasn't that a sweet moment? And, you know, I think that's what it's all about.

It doesn't matter if you have a Christmas that is perfect. It doesn't even matter if everything that goes into planning the Christmas party goes horribly wrong even. All that matters is that you're with your loved ones.

It may have been a long, frustrating lesson for Clark to learn, but I think in the end, he did end up having his perfect Griswold family Christmas after all.