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Monday, December 19, 2011

Monday Matinee - It's A Wonderful Life

Christmas is one of those holidays that could be one filled with the highest highs and lowest lows.

Think about it for a second. Christmas (and for that matter, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa if you celebrate those holidays) is supposed to be a holiday that is filled with happiness, joy, and euphoria. Or, at least that's what we're told we should feel.

And yes, for most of us, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year.  It's a time of year where we can be at our best, and treat others with kindness, warmness, and joy...

...well, provided you don't work in retail, as I do.

But sometimes, the Christmas season can cause feelings of a different sort. There's a whole lot of stress that can come from the holiday. Worrying about finding the perfect gift for your loved ones, worrying about affording said gift, and then there's all the stress that comes from preparing the holiday dinner, and making sure that the turkey is perfectly cooked. Yeah, I can see how some people might not find much joy in all that.

Then there are those in which the holidays might bring sadness rather than happiness for a variety of reasons. They might be missing a loved one, or they might be in financial difficulties, or they might be all alone for Christmas.

And for those people, sometimes the smiling elves, the Santa Claus in the middle of the mall, and the happy Christmas carols playing on the loudspeaker can be a bit overwhelming.

So, this blog entry sort of ties along with the idea that sometimes Christmas can make one reflect on their past lives. And not necessarily in a good way.

And since yesterday was the kickoff to the 7 Days Of Box Office Christmas week, where every day is a Monday Matinee, I figure that I have the best possible movie to best display this.



That movie is the 1946 cinema classic, “It's A Wonderful Life”, starring James Stewart and directed by legendary director Frank Capra.



Now, here's a little bit of trivia in regards to the film. The movie, which was released on December 20, 1946, was initially considered to be a flop at the box office when it was first shown in theaters. Why this was the case? There's a couple of theories. When the movie was released, there were quite a few other choices for people to choose from, and the stiff competition from other motion picture companies sort of hurt it. As well, the cost of filming the movie was quite high, with a production cost of $3.15 million, and when the film was released, it didn't even come close to breaking even at the box office upon the film's initial release.

The response to the movie was reportedly so lackluster that movie studios believed that Frank Capra had churned out a rare bomb in his stellar directing career. They had deemed the film a disappointment.

But that was back in 1946. Sixty-five years later, the film is talked about in a completely different fashion. It's now considered to be one of the most loved Christmas classics ever shown, and the movie is shown at least once during the month of December in the years and decades since its release.

The film managed to get five Academy Award nominations (although no wins), and it is widely considered to be one of the best holiday films ever made. In fact, the American Film Institute placed the film at the top spot on their list of most inspirational movies of all time.

So, I suppose in that sense, there's a lesson to be learned here. Things DO get better with age.

Or, maybe the lesson is that you don't have to necessarily make a lot of money in order to be a success?

Or, maybe the lesson is one that we haven't talked about yet, but will be getting to later on in this blog.



Now, the plot of It's A Wonderful Life is one that has been told and re-told in various spoofs of the movie through television and other film projects. But before we get into that, I have a question to ask of you...and keep in mind, it can be a bit of a tough question to ask and answer, but it goes with the theme.

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if you didn't exist?

I think at some point in our lives, we all have wondered what it would be life if we weren't born, if only for a microsecond. I know there have been times in which I myself have felt this way. Usually in a moment of frustration when it seems as though nothing ever went right. Those feelings didn't last very long though.



For George Bailey (played by Stewart), it seemed as though his life was a shambles as the holiday season was fast approaching. George had a dream of traveling the world, seeing everything that it had to offer. It has been his dream practically his whole life. His dream, however, remained unfulfilled because he almost always sacrifices his dream so that others can accomplish theirs.

It's been a pattern for George ever since he was a young boy. When George was twelve, he saved the life of his brother, Harry, who had fallen into a frozen pond.  However, in the struggle to save his brother's life, George ended up losing the hearing in one of his ears. He also managed to save the job of Mr. Gower, a pharmacist at the drug store where he worked as an errand boy by refusing to deliver an prescription to a sick child that was accidentally filled with poison.

By the time George reaches adulthood, his dream is nowhere near close to being achieved. His goal is for Harry to assume his position at the Bailey Building and Loan Association, an organization designed to provide affordable housing for the people of Bedford Falls. He even shares his dreams with a young woman named Mary Hatch (Donna Reed), who has harboured a crush on George ever since she was young.

But in the summer of 1928, it seemed as though everything was finally going his way. Harry graduated from high school, and all was set for George to be free to do what he wanted to do.

But then tragedy struck. George's father had passed away after suffering a stroke. Months later, a tyrannical man named Henry F. Potter arrives on the scene. His first order of business? Trying to persuade the board of directors of the Bailey Building and Loan Association to cease the activity of providing home loans for the poorest citizens of Bedford Falls. 



Knowing that Potter was a major stakeholder in the company, George knew that he couldn't let Potter have any more control in the company. George manages to convince the board members to turn down Potter's proposal, but the only way they'll agree to that deal is if George runs the business himself. George takes the money that he had saved up for college to Harry, with the understanding that once Harry returns, he will take over the business.

After some time passes, Harry comes back home, but this time around, he brings a surprise. He has gotten married and has brought his wife around. Even more good fortune comes Harry's way when he announces that he has gotten a good job offer at his new father-in-law's company. Harry is reluctant to take on the job, given that he had an arrangement with George, but George, not being one who wanted to see his brother turn down a good opportunity, told Harry to go ahead with what he wanted to do.

This basically is the theme for the whole first part of the movie. Whenever some good fortune seems to pass by George's way, George always seems to be out of reach, realizing that others needs came first.



When George and Mary get married and are about to embark on a honeymoon, George is forced to use the money they set aside for their trip to save the Building and Loan from going under. When George is offered a sweet business deal and a new job complete with business trips courtesy of Potter, he is somewhat tempted as this would make his lifelong dream come true...but knowing that his creation of Bailey Park (a housing project) would help more families overall, he has to turn it down. When World War II erupts, George wants to enlist, but due to his hearing loss sustained in rescuing Harry, he is denied. Yet, George's brother Harry is accepted in the forces, and immediately becomes a war hero, shooting down fifteen planes of the enemy and receiving the Medal of Honor.

This is all fine and good for everyone else, but by Christmas Eve, George Bailey's bitterness seems to grow with each passing day. Despite the fact that he has a wife, four children (one of whom has the ridiculous name of Zuzu), and a meaningful job, it's not enough for Bailey. His dreams of seeing the world were not going to happen. It made it even worse when he realized that his brother was essentially living the life that he wanted.

It all came to a head on Christmas Eve. George's Uncle Billy was to make a deposit of eight thousand dollars for the Building and Loan when he literally bumps into Potter. Billy proudly shows Potter the newspaper with the front page showing Harry receiving the Medal of Honor, but Potter is angry when he sees the paper, and immediately grabs it out of Billy's hands.

But when Potter sees that the newspaper contains an eight thousand dollar insert inside, he changes his tune, and heartlessly keeps the money for himself.  At this point, Billy realizes that the money has disappeared, and with a bank examiner set to inspect the books later that day, a desperate George tries everything in his power to get the money back. This includes trying to get a bank loan from Potter. 



Cruelly, Potter denies George the loan. Worse, he decides to get the police involved, claiming that George has committed bank fraud.

George is at this point incredibly upset, and after causing a scene a home where he vents out his frustrations on his poor family, he takes off, gets drunk at a local bar, and without any regard of any drinking and driving laws that may or may not have existed back then, he drives off in his car which crashes into a tree.

Somehow, George survives the crash, and stumbles over towards a bridge. George believes his life is in such a mess that there's only one way out for him. Suicide. After all, George has a life-insurance policy (which apparently covers suicide) worth thousands, and George had the self-depreciating idea that he was worth more to people dead than alive. So he makes the decision to end things once and for all...

...that is until he happens to see someone in the water, claiming that they're drowning. And George, who has always put other people's needs above his own, dives right in to save the man from certain death.



Of course, George didn't realize at the time that the man was incapable of dying. Turns out the man was Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers), Angel Second Class. He is assigned to the case of George Bailey, in the hopes of earning his wings by saving George's life and soul. But this was no easy task for Clarence, as George had such a low opinion of himself that he wished he had never been born.



Clarence tries to explain to George that he is his guardian angel assigned to watch out for him, but George (who may have still been under the influence of alcohol) doesn't buy his story. Instead, a bitter George moans on about how much of a failure he is, and makes the declaration that he wished he had never been born.

Clarence decides that now would be the time to take George on a little trip to an alternate reality, to show George that maybe things wouldn't be so good after all if he hadn't existed. And just like that, George's eyes are opened in a huge way.

First change? The name of the town. Instead of Bedford Falls, the name of the place now is Potterville, named after the most powerful man in town, Henry Potter.

Second change? The majority of businesses in town are now sleazy nightclubs and pawn shops.

Because George Bailey never existed, a lot of the things that George had accomplished never came to be. The Bailey Park project, for example, was never conceived. George's brother, Harry was now dead as there was nobody around to save his life. As a result, the people who he saved during World War II were also dead. The druggist that George helped back when he was a young man ended up going to jail because nobody was around to prevent the delivery of the poisoned prescription.



Worse were the fates of his loved ones. Uncle Billy ended up in a mental institution. His wife Mary ended up becoming a librarian who would never date. Worse still, none of his four children would exist.

These visions shake George to the core. He couldn't imagine seeing a world like that, where everyone seems so unhappy and lost in direction...he couldn't bear seeing what would have happened had he not existed at all. But now that he had seen what it was like, could he find it in himself to accept the way things were now?

He finds himself back at the bridge, and begs God to let him live again, and thankfully God hears his prayers.



Now, as I said before...I'm not one to spoil endings of films...I really don't like doing it. But there's one piece that I'll have to reveal in order to bring home the point of this whole blog.

The point is that sometimes we all feel as though we don't seem to accomplish anything in this world. In some cases, people are so blinded by the quest for material possessions and making sure that everything is bigger and better than everyone else that they sometimes lose focus on what's really important.

Sometimes it takes a disaster or something serious happening to someone for someone to realize that maybe they do have it good after all. And maybe, just maybe, they'll realize that while their lives haven't progressed as they like, maybe, just maybe, they'll find that they have a wonderful life after all.

At any rate, George Bailey learned that lesson. He had to learn it the hard way, mind you...but, by George I think George got it.


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sunday Jukebox - White Christmas by Bing Crosby




I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

...no, seriously, I am.

As I write today's entry, it is now the 18th of December. There's a light dusting of snow on the ground right now, but hardly anything that I would constitute as being a white Christmas.

Growing up in Canada, I've always been accustomed to having snow-filled Christmases. Some might even say that I've been spoiled by it, as I can't remember the last time that we DIDN'T have snow on Christmas.

Though, I do realize that when the 25th of December rolls around, that not every nation in the world welcomes snow on Christmas. Almost every nation south of the equator will likely never see a white Christmas, due to the fact that it's summer during the month of December.

And even so, depending on the nation, did you know that there are various conditions that have to be met before a Christmas is declared a white one?

For instance, take Canada, my country of birth. In order for a Christmas to be called a white Christmas, there has to be a snowfall of at least two centimeters (less than an inch) on the ground on Christmas Day (or so an article I read posted on CBC News stated).

In the United States, that amount is slightly more, with there having to be at least one inch of snow on the ground on Christmas morning for it to be called a white Christmas. That info courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In Britain, there doesn't even have to be snow on the ground...as long as there is snow falling on Christmas Day, then it can be called a white Christmas, or so the British Met Office's official definition states.

You know, just to do a little bit of research into the probability of having a white Christmas, I took the liberty of researching some cities all over the world to determine what the probability is for one. Judging by the list that I have comprised, there's about a four in five chance of my location having a white Christmas. But I think it's interesting to compare and contrast, and that's exactly what I have done.

This information comes from a couple of sources. The first is the Meteorological Service of Canada. The second is the National Climactic Data Center of the United States.

So, I chose thirty cities at random, and here are the results.



LOCATION PROBABILITY IN PERCENTAGE
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 11.00%
Calgary, Alberta, Canada 59.00%
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 88.00%
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada 98.00%
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 98.00%
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 37.00%
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 83.00%
Montreal, Quebec, Canada 80.00%
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada 99.00%
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 59.00%
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada 65.00%
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada 100.00%
Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A. 90.00%
Fairbanks, Alaska, U.S.A. 100.00%
Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. 1.00%
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. 1.00%
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. 50.00%
Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A. 13.00%
Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 5.00%
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. 0.00%
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. 40.00%
Topeka, Kansas, U.S.A. 23.00%
Portland, Maine, U.S.A. 83.00%
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 23.00%
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. 50.00%
Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.A. 97.00%
Reno, Nevada, U.S.A. 20.00%
New York City, New York, U.S.A. 22.00%
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. 10.00%
Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. 7.00%

Quite an interesting list to observe, isn't it?

And, look! All this talk about white Christmases leads to today's blog subject!



ARTIST: Bing Crosby
SONG: White Christmas
ALBUM: Merry Christmas
DATE RELEASED: July 30, 1942
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 11 weeks

Ah yes...the Christmas favourite for which inspired this posting. Bing Crosby's White Christmas. And, I know the release date seems rather...odd for a Christmas song, but I'll get to that one discrepancy farther down.

This song just also happens to be the kickoff to the special theme week of blog posts that I like to refer to as the 7 Days Of Box Office Christmas, where every subject is linked to a feature film in some form.



In this case, White Christmas was released as part of the soundtrack to the 1942 feature film musical, Holiday Inn, and its songwriter was Irving Berlin, a man who had penned some of the biggest hits of the late 1920s and 1930s. Although some of the stories behind the song's creation have varied over the years, one of the more common stories that has been told dates back to 1940. The story went that he stayed up all night in the city of Banning, California (a city that rarely, if ever, celebrated a white Christmas), and that the idea just came to him. It's also said that when he thought of the lyrics, he told his secretary “Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written – heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody's ever written!”



Although most reports state that the song was written sometime during 1940, the first public performance of the song was on December 25, 1941. Bing Crosby sang the song on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall. However, it is believed that the original recording of the song is lost. However, in May 1942, Crosby recorded the song with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers for Decca Records. Even more impressive? It took less than twenty minutes for the song to be recorded beginning to end.

The song became a part of the Holiday Inn soundtrack album, which would be released that summer. Although, it should be noted that at first, Crosby didn't seem to be all that enthused over the song 'White Christmas'. He had told Irving Berlin that he didn't see any problems with the recording of the song, but at the same time, didn't think it would become more than a novelty hit.

Boy was HE wrong!

But keep in mind that the Holiday Inn album was released during the summer of 1942. In summer, the furthest thing from our minds is the Christmas season, and I certainly don't think that a song like 'White Christmas' would be an appropriate song to play at a volleyball beach party, or selling lemonade on a corner. I'd think that people would look at you if you were the weirdest person in the world.

Hmmm...maybe I should try that one summer for the hell of it.

Anyway, because of the timing of the album's release, White Christmas performed poorly. In fact, another song off the same album, “Be Careful, It's My Heart”, seemed to overshadow “White Christmas” in popularity at first. It wasn't until 'White Christmas' was released as an official single that fall that its popularity began to kick off.

According to early records of the chart history of 1942, 'White Christmas' hit the top spot on, of all holidays, Halloween! And the song remained at the top of the charts straight through to January 1943, a total of eleven weeks at #1 during the song's first run, a record that stood for many years until Boyz II Men shattered that record in 1992 with a 13-week run with “End Of The Road”.

But that wasn't the ONLY time that the single topped the charts.

The single was re-released by Decca, and the song topped the charts twice more...once in 1945, and again in 1946. This made the single the only one to reach the top spot on three separate occasions. The song even won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942.



The song is still heard today, and is considered to be one of the perennial Christmas classics ever recorded. Although the Bing Crosby version that is commonly heard today is not the original 1942 recording. In March of 1947, Crosby re-recorded the single, as the original master tape had been played so much, it was starting to wear out!

And here's the kicker! Although “White Christmas” is arguably considered to be Bing Crosby's signature song, Crosby himself was dismissive of the song's success right up to the day he died in 1977. He was quoted as saying that “a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully.”

Wow.

If only Bing knew just how much success his song would end up having after his death, he might have changed his tune. Or, perhaps not.



The fact remains that “White Christmas” holds the record of having the best-selling single in the world. Ever. The Guinness Book Of World Records states that between 1942 and 2011, the single “White Christmas” has sold upwards of over fifty MILLION copies worldwide! It was ranked at the top spot of 'ItsRanked' top 40 Christmas songs of all time. Even more impressive is the song's inclusion on the list of the RIAA's Top 100 Songs of The Century list. It held the number two position on that list, just underneath Judy Garland's “Over The Rainbow” from the 1939 movie “The Wizard Of Oz”. The song also made a reappearance in the 1954 film musical of the same name, also starring Bing Crosby.

Another record the song can boast? It's considered to be the Christmas song with the most cover versions, having over 500 different interpretations of the classic hit. Clearly, Bing Crosby's version is the best known, but other versions that have been recorded over the past seventy years include ones recorded by The Drifters (1954), Elvis Presley (1957), Doris Day (1964), Michael Bolton (1992), Martina McBride (1998), Mannhein Steamroller (2001), Michael Bublé (2003), and Taylor Swift (2007).

So you can see how much power that song had in the world of Christmas music, as well as the world of pop music as we know it. Not bad for a song that the original artist didn't really believe in at first.

So, to end off this note, I just want to say this.

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white.



Well, unless you live in Hawaii, that is...

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Saturday Morning: Rugrats

Those of you who have been regular followers of A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life know that in most cases, I start off with a little bit of an anecdote in regards to my personal life, tie it to some sort of pop culture reference, and try to teach everyone what sort of lesson I've learned about myself that I can take with me to my grave.

Today, I'm going to do things a little bit differently. Today, I'm just going to launch into today's blog topic, and use this blog topic to talk about something that really has become a pet peeve of mine. Especially around this time of year.

But enough with the small talk. Let's begin.

Today's blog topic is about a television program that initially aired on the Nickelodeon cable channel.



Rugrats.

Now, Rugrats aired here in Canada on YTV, and that was the channel where I first started watching the show. And it was a great show. It was a show that showed the world through the eyes of a group of toddlers. What I found cool about it was that the show seemed to poke fun at those 1980s sitcoms that always portrayed the family unit as being wholesome and laced with perfection.  By seeing the world through the eyes of babes, we, the viewer, could see that perfection is a level never quite achieved.



Let's talk a bit about the staying power of Rugrats. The show debuted on Nickelodeon on August 11, 1991, and ran for thirteen years! A spin-off program, Rugrats: All Grown Up (which shows the Rugrats gang as teenagers), lasted an additional few years, wrapping up in 2008. That's a total of seventeen years, currently the longest running animated show that has aired on Nickelodeon. Only Spongebob Squarepants shows signs of lasting longer in the world of Nickelodeon. The show also had two feature films, stemming from the massive popularity of the show.

The show was created by the former husband-wife team of Arlene Klasky and Gábor Czupó, who had done animation work for The Simpsons. Together, along with animator Paul Germain, came up with the basic foundation for Rugrats. The characters were all based on the children of all three animators, and were designed and named after these characters.

And just who are the Rugrats? Let's see a picture of the main characters, shall we?



Okay...in the foreground of the picture, the bald kid in front is Tommy Pickles (E.G. Daily), son of Stu and Didi Pickles. Going clockwise, with the red-haired kid with glasses, we have Chuckie Finster (Christine Cavanaugh/Nancy Cartwright), son of single father Charles Finster. In the back row, you have fraternal twins Phil and Lil DeVille (Kath Soucie), who are the son and daughter of Howard and Betty DeVille. Finally, the little girl on the right with the pigtails is Angelica Pickles (Cheryl Chase), the spoiled daughter of Stu's brother Drew, and his wife, Charlotte.

Other characters that would be introduced later in the series are Susie Carmichael (Cree Summer), Tommy's little brother, Dil (Tara Strong), and Chuckie's stepsister Kimi (Dionne Quan). We also see a lot of Grandpa Pickles in the show as well as the Pickles family dog, Spike.

On the program, each of the main cast of Rugrats have their own distinct personalities. Tommy is the fearless leader of the group, and is most often the one who leads the group on the many adventures they have. Chuckie couldn't be further from Tommy in personality, with him being afraid of everything from green Jell-O to the man on the oatmeal box! Nevertheless, Chuckie and Tommy end up becoming best friends. Phil and Lil are typical twins, with lots of infighting between the two of them, but they end up having more Tommy-like qualities than Chuckie. And Angelica is such a complex character that I would need to devote a whole blog entry to her alone!

So, why would I decide to bring up the Rugrats in today's blog entry, and how does it relate to my pet peeve?

Well, it's like this.

Those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis have probably guessed by the theme of the entries this month that I celebrate Christmas. It's what I grew up with. It's what I know to be the holiday that my family and I celebrate. It's all I really know.

But there's lots of other holidays that are being celebrated as well this month that really shouldn't be overlooked.

One of those holidays is Hanukkah (or Chanukah in an alternate spelling).



Hanukkah (which is also known as the 'Festival Of Lights') is a holiday that people of the Jewish faith celebrate right around the same time that the Christian community celebrates Christmas (though the actual period can vary between late November and late December). Hanukkah lasts a total of eight days in length, and each day that passes, a candle is lit on the nine-branched candlestick known as a menorah. The final night of Hanukkah will show all the candles lit on the menorah.

The reason behind why Hanukkah is celebrated stems from religious faith, much the same way that Christians celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately, I don't know too much about the traditions and customs of Hanukkah, because I've never witnessed such a celebration to really go into it in detail. And because the last thing I want to do is provide erroneous information in this blog, I figure it's best if I post a link about the story of Hanukkah, so that those of you who are interested in the story behind it can read it if you wish.


I will say though that after reading that link that I posted up above, I was always fascinated by the celebration of Hanukkah. Reading about it in that article makes me want to experience Hanukkah festivities, even if it's just to sit in on one of the eight days of the celebration. I've always celebrated Christmas myself, but I wouldn't mind seeing how other cultures and religions celebrate their holidays. I think it would probably open my eyes up more to the world, and see bliss, peace, and joy in all holiday celebrations.

And, this leads to my pet peeve.

As some of you may know, I promote this blog in a variety of ways. Word of mouth, posting links on various forums I belong to (with permission from the moderators, of course)...

...and yes, I do use social networking sites such as Facebook to promote this blog. Everyone else does it, so why not me, right?

Now, as all of you know, on Facebook you can see a lot of things posted by a lot of people. You can see people sending out game requests, posting funny statuses, pasting hilarious pictures on people's walls, and other activities that the procrastinator in all of us take part in.

Fortunately, it takes a lot to offend me in real life, and I can pretty much ignore most of the really offensive things that some of the people post. I guess I could maybe attribute that to the thick skin that I have developed over the years.

But lately I've been seeing so many references to the so-called 'War Against Christmas' that I had no idea was even going on that I'm afraid that I can't let my feelings go blowing off in the wind.

I think the statuses that I've read that really got to me were those ones that state that they don't want to wish people Happy Holidays, they want to have a Merry Christmas, and that those who don't like it “can go back to the country they came from.”

Ain't that a way to kick off the old Christmas cheer. And yes, this is my best sarcastic voice talking here.

Are you kidding me here?  Seriously, go back to your own country if you don't like Christmas? What the hell is that? I'll tell you what it's not. It's not very Christmas like behaviour. That much I know. There isn't anything holly jolly about having those thoughts, and if you do feel that way, shame, shame, double shame!



I'll tell you something else. I don't agree that there even IS a war against Christmas. There's lots of people still around that say Merry Christmas. Heck, most of the cards I mailed out to people had 'Merry Christmas' on the front of it in big bold letters (and to those of you who didn't get that card, it's because I ran out...I only had ten). If there really was a war against Christmas, you'd think that cards that even said Merry Christmas on them would be banned from store shelves in favour of the more generic 'Happy Holidays'. But they aren't.  

I think what probably started this public outcry is that people see all these news stories about schools canceling Christmas celebrations, and school bus drivers being forced to remove Santa hats, and how stores are forced to put up Holiday signage instead of Christmas signage, or how Lowe's Hardware Stores offered up Holiday Trees for sale instead of Christmas trees.

That part I don't agree with. I don't like the idea of schools being forced to cancel their Christmas celebrations out of fear that someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas might get offended or feel left out. Some of my most favourite memories of Christmas stems from the holiday parties and Secret Santa exchanges we had in our school growing up. We'd go down to the school gym, sing a few Christmas carols, and I remember very fondly our old school janitor, Mr. McMillan playing the piano...and he was quite the piano player too, and such a nice guy. I actually shed a tear when I found out he passed away during my grade nine year.

But you know, instead of canceling Christmas celebrations out of fear of offending students or making them feel left out, why don't schools find a way to celebrate all the holidays?  Let schools have the option to learn about other holidays and traditions for other religious celebrations!

As much as I've ragged about elementary school, I remember one year in which we did something fairly cool. If memory serves me, it was grade five, and that was the year in which we had Christmas parties...but we also learned more about other holidays in the world, and I distinctly have this memory of making potato pancakes in class.  It almost kind of fit with the Hanukkah tradition, as they were one of the foods that people who celebrated Hanukkah would eat.  


(In fact, in the celebration of Hanukkah, these pancakes were given a special name.  Latkes.)


Now in retrospect I don't actually think that this was done to teach us about Hanukkah, as lots of people eat potato pancakes in various parts of the world around the holiday season.  But we didn't know that.  


To be honest, I actually would have appreciated knowing how Hanukkah celebrations worked in school so that I could have a better idea as to what went into the holiday preparations for a traditional Hanukkah celebration.  I bet I'd have even found it to have been a cool experience back then.  

Why can't we embrace each others holiday traditions?  Or at the very least, accept the fact that maybe we all celebrate in a variety of ways, and that we should all be left to our own devices as to what holiday we want to celebrate.  The world is made up of all kinds of people, and I believe that everyone deserves to be treated with respect.  And, some of these Facebook posts that I'm reading are anything but respectful, sorry to say.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I appreciate what is said about wanting to have the right to have whatever holiday celebrations you want to enjoy, and I'm very much on board with people who say that they don't want to be forced to downplay their celebrations because of the fear of offending someone.  


At the same time, is attacking other people's religious beliefs and telling them to leave the country if they don't like it really getting your point across in a healthy and joyous way?  I don't think so.  In fact, if anything, it's only intensifying the problem.  It's almost as if it's a huge slap in the face to the spirit of whatever holiday is being celebrated by having attitudes of that nature.


And this works BOTH ways, just so all of you know.

But I see what you're saying now. Why should we listen to you? It's impossible to celebrate both Christmas AND Hanukkah, so why should we even care?

I say try telling that to the Pickles family in Rugrats.

The Pickles family where Stu Pickles is Christian and Didi Pickles is Jewish.

The Pickles family that celebrates both Christmas AND Hanukkah!



Prior to 1995, the Rugrats show only celebrated Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter, and the 1992 episode 'The Santa Experience' is one of my all-time favourite Christmas themed cartoon specials of all time. Now, due to copyright laws, I have been unable to find a real copy of the special to post, but here's an altered one which you can watch here and here.

But, right around the time that 'The Santa Experience' was being developed, the production staff batted around the idea of filming a Jewish holiday special. After all, Tommy's maternal grandparents, Boris and Minka, were Jewish, and spoke in Yiddish accents to boot. In fact, Arlene Klasky herself was the product of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father, much like Tommy Pickles himself.



Although the staff was given the greenlight to go ahead with the special, the first special wasn't on Hanukkah. Paul Germain came up with the idea to release a special on Passover instead, stating that doing a Passover special would provide more humour while preserving the historical interest behind the holiday. Mind you, because the program had a target audience of young children, some aspects of the show had to make some aspects of the show suitable for children (especially regarding the part showing the portrayal of the Ten Plagues). I think also, the special was used as a testing ground so that when the time came to do a Hanukkah special, the staff could do it right.


After all, while Christmas specials had aired on television since the 1950s, television specials on Jewish holidays were hard to find.  Truth be told, the Rugrats Passover special was probably one of the first and only ones that I can remember that solely focused on a Jewish holiday.

So, A Rugrats Passover debuted on Nickelodeon on April 13, 1995, and when it first aired, the episode was given much praise by the Jewish community. Here's a link of the special, courtesy of Nickelodeon's website.

http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/NTV_rug_passover_full.html

The special ranked sixth in the listing of most watched American television programs the week it aired, scoring a Nielsen rating of 3.1. And actress Melanie Chartoff (who did the voice of Didi and Minka on the special) received dozens of fan letters praising the special for detailing Judaism in a sensitive fashion.



And on December 4, 1996, the Rugrats Chanukah special aired, and received an even larger audience than the Passover special. And once again, the episode can be viewed on Nickelodeon's site by clicking below.


So, now that you've watched all three holiday specials that the Rugrats produced, what do you think?

Do you now see that it's entirely possible for everyone to come together and celebrate holidays of different religions and faiths? I mean, the Pickles family is a prime example of this. Not everyone in the family celebrated Christmas, and not everyone in the family celebrated Hanukkah. But they attempted to enjoy the festivities anyway, and really were supportive of both celebrations. Why? Because they wanted Tommy (and later Dil) to be proud of his heritage...on both sides of the family.

And you know, I think Tommy ended up lucking out in this case. Not only did he get to enjoy the best part of both holidays, but he'll probably grow up having a keen understanding of both cultures, and it would be easy to picture a grown up Tommy sharing those same values with his own Rugrats one day.

And really, isn't that what we should be like during the holiday season? More understanding and tolerance of each other and our beliefs.

That's one thing that I noticed watching the Christmas and Hanukkah specials that Rugrats did. Each holiday had their own traditions and customs, but the message was all the same. It's about spending time with loved ones, friends, family, and having fun all at the same time.

So, I say, hang up your Christmas wreaths and light up your Christmas trees. Light your menorahs and dine on latkes proudly.

Don't become a casualty of a war that only exists in the minds of people who let it fester. Celebrate your holiday spirit and let it shine! And even better, share that spirit with everyone around you. You might be surprised at how far that cheer spreads...so to all of you, Merry Christmas...


...and Happy Hanukkah...



...and to everyone else who celebrates another holiday during this special time of year, I hope you celebrate it loud and proud.  

Friday, December 16, 2011

TGIF: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

I've always had some sort of soft spot for underdogs and misfits.

People who are expected to be a certain way, act a certain way, conform to a certain standard of living. And when they don't meet those expectations, they're deemed unworthy. A misfit.

Believe me when I tell you that I've been there. Many times.

It really bothered me when I was in school, and I couldn't seem to find anywhere where I could fit in. I certainly wasn't any good at sports, so that basically eliminated any chance I had with hanging around with the kids who were on the sports teams. I wasn't exactly the most fashion forward person at school, so I was deemed unworthy by those who were. I couldn't sing or dance, so it made it hard to form any sorts of bonds with the people who did acting and singing at school. And don't even get me started on high school, because we won't even go there.

It's hard enough being a kid who has difficulties finding their way through a crazy and confusing world. It's even worse when a kid has to do that feeling as though they don't have a place in the world to feel like they belong anywhere because everyone else seems to have judged them before they got to know them.

I guess because I've been in those shoes before, I know what it feels like to feel alone in the world. And, because I've been in those shoes before, I tend to have a lot of sympathy for these people who feel lost and alone and have trouble finding out what their purpose in life is.

And for what? Because they look differently? Because they have different interests? Because they believe certain things? Because they eat different things? Because they speak a different language?

Today's entry is a Christmas special that is filled with creatures much like the ones I described up above. Misfits. In fact, I think it's a safe bet to say that almost the entire cast of the special could easily be considered a misfit.

The beautiful part about this special is that these 'misfits' actually had a lot in common with each other. Even more beautiful? The misfits would eventually discover that they weren't really misfits after all.



Today's blog topic is the Rankin-Bass Christmas special, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Debuting on NBC on December 6, 1964 (or, 1164, if you translate the incorrect Roman Numeral date stamp) and airing on that channel until it was picked up by CBS eight years later (where it has aired ever since), Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer was based on a creation by department store Montgomery Ward. In 1939, Robert L. May, a staff copywriter for Montgomery Ward, created a booklet for the store as part of Christmas promotion that year for the chain. Initially, May had contemplated using several names for the reindeer, including Rollo and Reginald before settling on Rudolph. The idea came about as a way to save money. Prior to 1939, the retailer would buy a whole bunch of colouring books and give them out free to children, but considering that the 1930s was the period of 'The Great Depression', it soon became costly for the company to continue doing this. By creating their own book, the company saved money, and still had something unique and beautiful to give the children as free Christmas gifts, compliments of Montgomery Ward.

The promotion was a huge hit for the store, distributing over two million copies through the Montgomery Ward stores its first year. The character of Rudolph became so popular that May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, took the story and turned it into a song. Ten years after the creation of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, the song was released to the public. Although singer Harry Brannon was the first singer to sing the song, it wasn't until Gene Autry released the song in November 1949 that the song began to find a place in Christmas carol songbooks.

So, given the background information behind the song (with background information provided by snopes.com, which also includes a rather interesting urban legend surrounding this song), it's apparent that the creation of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was a popular one.



So, why is it that in the 1964 television special, Rudolph was treated as a misfit?

That was part of the storyline. In the special, a talking snowman named Sam (voiced by legendary singer Burl Ives) narrates the tale, which begins with Rudolph's birth. The son of one of Santa's head reindeer, Donner, Rudolph (voiced by Billie Mae Richards), is just as cute and alert as any other newly-born reindeer.



There's just one little thing that stands out on poor little Rudolph. His nose.

Rudolph's nose was something special. It was bright red in colour. Sometimes, it even glowed. As Donner would say, his beak blinked like a blinking beacon.

Now, Rudolph's mother loved her son, no matter what, and she had the attitude that they would find a way to get around it. But Donner somehow seemed a little more obsessed over it, and not in a good way. It almost seemed like he was ashamed that his own child could have some sort of deformity with a different coloured nose that would stand out amidst the sea of neon lights on the Las Vegas Strip. Donner was so ashamed by Rudolph's nose that for the first few months of his life forced him to wear a black nose cap to hide the eye...ahem...nosesore on Rudolph's face. It wasn't something that Rudolph liked wearing, but believing that it made his father happy, he begrudingly went along with it.

Some time later, Donner takes Rudolph to a take-off practice session. There's a couple of reasons why this was done. One, Donner wanted Rudolph to interact with other reindeer who were his age. Secondly, Donner wanted Rudolph to learn how to fly so that one day, Rudolph could end up pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve.



And Rudolph's personality was charming enough for him to make friends with a couple of the others, despite his fake nose. One was a young buck named Fireball, the other a beautiful doe named Clarice. Clarice and Rudolph really seem to hit it off, and when Clarice tells Rudolph that she thinks he's cute, he reaches a new high.

No, seriously, he jumps higher than any other reindeer at the practice session, earning him the respect of Clarice, Fireball, and Coach Comet.

That is, until Fireball accidentally knocks off Rudolph's fake nose, revealling the scarlet-hued glow beneath.

And boy did the other reindeer laugh and call him names. It was really horrible to witness. I actually remember watching Rudolph when I was a young boy and feeling so bad for him...mainly because I've been where he was in the school playground. It became even worse when Comet declared that Rudolph was unfit to play in any reindeer games just because he had a red nose. Even Santa was upset...but not at Rudolph. No, his dagger eyes went towards the face of the clearly ashamed Donner, who was appalled that he would go to such lengths.

But Rudolph was the big loser here. He lost all his fair-weather friends, was banned from competing in the Reindeer Games, and he was more or less the victim of discrimination.

Ah, but one friend managed to stand by his side. Enter Clarice with one of the most beautiful songs in the whole show.



Wasn't that a sweet moment? And for one brief, shining moment, Rudolph didn't feel like he was such a misfit. Well, until Clarice's father comes around, yells at Clarice, and cruelly tells Rudolph that no doe of his is going to hang out with a red-nosed reindeer. Rudolph is so hurt by this that he decides to run away from Christmas Town.

Can't Rudolph just catch a break?



Somewhere else in Christmas Town though, someone else was feeling Rudolph's pain. Hermey, an elf who worked at the North Pole painting and building toys has a rather different dream in mind. While all the other elves were content to making toys, singing Christmas songs, and being jolly about doing both, Hermey just wanted to be a dentist. He wanted to fill cavities, put veneers on people, clean teeth, freshen breath, give young children toothbrushes instead of tricycles.

Unfortunately, Hermey was the only elf who didn't like to make toys. And once the word got out, the other elves made Hermey miserable by chastising him and making him feel guilty for even feeling this way. Having a tyrannical boss like the head elf didn't help Hermey either, and after a confrontation with the head elf over his dream, Hermey decides to walk off the job and find fame and fortune somewhere else, away from Christmas Town.

But then, Hermey and Rudolph happen to cross paths, and after hearing each others stories, they decide that the best thing for misfits to do is stick together.



(Here's a bit of trivia for you in regards to the above scene. This scene features the song 'We're A Couple Of Misfits', but between 1965 and 1998, this scene instead featured the song 'Fame And Fortune'. Both versions of the special have aired on various cable channels since 1998 though.)



Sometime after Hermey and Rudolph become friends, they bump into another character who could also be described as a bit of a loner. Yukon Cornelius, a prospector who has dreams of silver and gold (and who attempts to find both by throwing his pick onto the ground and licking the end that falls in the snow), and who happens to tag along with Rudolph and Hermey on their journey.

(TRIVIA: There's actually a deleted scene that has never aired on the CBS network showings of the special which explains why Yukon looked for gold and silver the way he did. Turns out that he wasn't looking for silver and gold after all...instead, he was looking for peppermint! There was a scene at the end of the original airing of the special that goes into more detail. I tried looking for this scene on YouTube, but came up empty, so I'll have to go by what this link tells me.)



Not everyone that the trio happens to meet is a friend. For there is a scary, frightening beast that lurks near Christmas Town. A gigantic, mean-looking beast. A beast known as The Abominable Snow Monster (or 'Bumble', as Yukon Cornelius calls it). The Bumble hates everything associated with Christmas, and with his gigantic molars and bicuspids, he has a healthy appetite for anything alive. Luckily with quick thinking by Yukon Cornelius, the three manage to escape the clutches of the Bumble, but soon they find themselves floating aimlessly on an island of ice in the middle of a huge body of water.

Somehow, the three end up landing on an island in the middle of nowhere. Strangely enough, the group finds that the island is the home of several toys. One toy, a 'Charlie-In-The-Box', explains that they landed on the Island of Misfit Toys, a desolate place where all the unwanted toys with various flaws are sent to live out their lives.



Might I add that this song is probably my favourite song in the whole show.



Among the group of misfit toys are a cowboy riding an ostrich, a polka-dotted elephant, a bird that swims like a fish, and a 'Dolly For Sue'.

TRIVIA: Although I was left confused over why 'Dolly For Sue' was even considered a misfit toy in the first place, Arthur Rankin Jr. later explained that Dolly's problem was a psychological problem, likely triggered by being abandoned by her previous owner.

Surprisingly enough, for being misfit toys, the group seems really tight-knit, where everyone treats each other with respect for who they are, not what flaws they had. It would have made me feel right at home, even though I wasn't a toy.  Apparently, Rudolph and Hermey had the same idea as I, and they asked Charlie-In-The-Box if they could live on the island too. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to him. It was up to the ruler of the island, a winged lion named King Moonracer, to determine whether they were suitable enough to be able to set up a home there.

Sadly, it appears that even Moonracer has standards of his own. Because Rudolph and Hermey weren't toys, they weren't allowed to live there. However, as a consolation prize, Moonracer agreed to let them stay the night. Meanwhile, Rudolph and the others try to come up with a way to find homes for all the unwanted toys on the island.

But Rudolph knows that he can't stay with the others. Having a rather prominent nose that would alert the Bumble to their location like a state-of-the-art GPS device, the last thing he wanted to do was put his friends in harm's way.  So, Rudolph decides to leave his friends behind and set out on his own.

Over the next few months, Rudolph grows a little bit older and wiser, and comes to the conclusion (and blink-if-you-miss-it life lesson for today) that he can't run away from his problems. Instead, he needed to face them head on. Though when Rudolph finally arrives home, he finds that nobody is there with hugs, balloons, or even a welcome home cake. Santa explains that his mother and Clarice have been on a search party for months looking for him since he disappeared.

Rudolph sets out to locate his family and Clarice, and searches high and low in hopes of reuniting with them. But when Rudolph discovers that his family is being held captive by the Bumble, Rudolph knows that he has the fight of his life. Sure enough, when Rudolph stands up against the Bumble, the Bumble knocks him out cold. He fortunately isn't hurt too badly, but he's unable to take on the beast by himself.

But then Yukon Cornelius and Hermey come to the rescue. While Yukon lures the beast out of the cave, Hermey knocks the Bumble out with an avalanche, and while he's in a daze, puts his dentist skills to work by removing each and every one of his teeth! Though in one final twist, Yukon Cornelius seemingly sacrifices himself and his team of dogs as he sails off a cliff with the Bumble. But, don't worry...he and the Bumble both survive. The Bumble actually becomes a nice beast in the end.



And Rudolph and Hermey arrive home to a sea of applause and joy, as all the residents of Christmas Town realize that maybe they treated both of them unfairly. Fortunately, with it being Christmas Eve, and being a day which is all about love and being with your friends and family, Rudolph and Hermey forgive and forget. Rudolph is accepted back into the reindeer games, and the head elf allows Hermey to open up a dentist practice once Christmas is over.

But with the horrible weather and heavy snowfall putting all transportation at a standstill, there might not even BE a Christmas. Santa makes the terrible decsion to cancel Christmas as there was no way that he could make his way through the thick snowfall.

And then the glow of the red light coming from Rudolph's nose made Santa a bit annoyed at first, but then made him smile with glee. What if Rudolph lead his sleigh through the snow to deliver gifts for the good girls and boys of the world?  Oh, but with the way that Christmas Town treated him, Rudolph was sure to say no. Wouldn't he?

Actually, Rudolph was honoured to guide the sleigh. On one condition...



TRIVIA: Believe it or not, the ending that we associate with Rudolph now wasn't the original ending. The original ending just showed the elves delivering presents. And the viewing public did NOT like it. They didn't like the fact that after seeing Santa promise Rudolph that he would find homes for all the misfit toys, their fate in the original airing in 1964 was STILL unresolved. A second ending was filmed for air the following year, and that ending is the one that is still played.

My thoughts? I'm glad they changed it. Because as much of a unit the misfit toys seemed to be together, this way, they had their dreams of being loved again by children accomplished. And that way, everyone in the special got their happy ending. Rudolph was accepted by everyone and got a new girlfriend. Hermey got his dentist office. Yukon found what he was looking for (even though we viewers never saw it). The Bumble found himself being an ally instead of an enemy.

In short...all the misfits ended up finding a place where they belonged...because they all believed in each other enough to make that happen.

So you see, that's a life lesson that we all can take with us. Nobody in this world is a misfit. If you give them a fair shake, and really get to know them, you may find that they're a lot like you. More than you even know.