December 2008 - Posts
New Year’s Eve is the perfect time to hope that last year studio executives made resolutions to bring us some high quality, fun films for 2009. Fingers crossed.
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End of year lists have always fascinated me. Especially best film lists. Sometimes, I will be baffled about how a film made a certain critic’s list and sometimes I will cheer that one of my favorites, one that I thought I was alone in loving, actually made the list.
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How about one last Christmas-themed post? I've written about TV specials, goofy links, and annoying holiday commercials. Now let's tackle holiday music. No, not reviews or favorites or anything like that -- let's talk misheard lyrics (also known as "mondegreens").
Snopes.com has a great entry about misheard holiday lyrics. "Round John Virgin" is perhaps the most famous one. I can totally imagine kids mishearing that, because "yon" is just not a word we hear much these days.
Some of the Snopes entries seem like they might be made up, but they're so much fun I'm willing to go with it. No one could really have thought "deck the halls with boughs of holly" was "deck the halls with Buddy Holly," but imagining it is pretty funny.
I also love "Joy to the world! The Lord has gum!", "Get dressed, ye merry gentlemen," and "Police got my dad" (for "Feliz Navidad").
Another great misheard-lyrics site, Kiss This Guy, has holiday mondegreens mixed in with its regular lyrics, too, but I like how Snopes pulls out the holiday ones all on one page.
Am I Right.com has a lot of misheard holiday lyrics, usually tagged under "Traditional." ("On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me / a poached egg in a pear tree!")
Ever misheard a holiday lyric? If this conversation meanders over into non-holiday misheard lyrics, I'll let that go, too.
Now that we are in the holiday TV hiatus time, it’s a perfect time to reflect back on the season so far. Some shows have gone oh so right – the push and pull between Blair and Chuck on “Gossip Girl,” Barney’s oddball crush on Robin on “How I Met Your Mother,” Amanda and Betty as roommates on “Ugly Betty,” while other shows seem to have gone off the rails, and yes, “Grey’s Anatomy” with the relationship between the very dead Denny and the very troubled Izzie, I’m talking to you.
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Remember Santa sledding on a Norelco razor? Peter coming home for Christmas and coffee? Why are all the good holiday ads only memories, and now we're stuck with "He went to Jared!"
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In awards season, it’s easy to forget that there are actors who may never be nominated for Academy Awards simply because of the genre they work in. Let’s hope this is not the fate of the ultra-talented Paul Rudd. One of the most dependably funny actors in Hollywood, Rudd is the MVP of comedy films. And he’s not one of those “only a starring role, please” snobs; for his good buddies in the Judd Apatow gang, he’ll take a supporting part or even a cameo.
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Charlie Brown, Heat Miser and Snow Miser, Ralphie and the Old Man...it's as fun to rewatch Christmas specials as it is to unwrap gifts. Which ones are your favorites?
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How about another Multi-link Monday, holiday-themed this time? Feel free to use the comments section to send in your own suggested links. Thanks!
• Some people really go all out to turn their home into a spectacular holiday display. Others...well, thank you for playing. Ugly Christmas Lights features photos of those lightstravaganzas that didn't quite make the grade. A few examples: E for Effort, Suicidal Squarepants, and, my favorite, Christmas Hulk.
• Elf Yourself is back...take your favorite photo and turn that person into a dancing elf. Although I have to say, I kind of get more of a kick out of Yearbook Yourself, where you can see how you'd like in classic yearbook poses from the past. And I guess you can also Terminate Yourself.
• Ugly holiday sweater parties have become popular, although I think I donated or dumped my sure winners years ago. This site lets you make a tacky holiday sweater online and email it to a buddy.
• Not all my picks for holiday links are horrendous. Some are actually quite fun. Build your own snowman without getting your mittens dirty, with a little help from ice-cream icons Ben & Jerry. And I adore this classic online snowball-fight game, Snowcraft.
• Maybe you celebrate Festivus, the "Seinfeld" holiday "for the rest of us." Well, then you'll need a Festivus pole before you move on to the airing of grievances and the feats of strength.
