I still haven't seen this movie.  I will, though.

I do remember seeing the poster in the local mom and pop video rental shop back in the day.  The image of Santa descending into the chimney with an arm sticking out holding an axe will forever be burned into my mind.  It is for that reason that I must see this movie... and probably why I haven't to date.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 1984

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There was a 2nd decorating competition in the building.  This one was with Christmas trees.  Each dept. was issued a small tree that we could do decorate in any fashion we wished.

One of my co-workers decided to lead up the project.  She is competitive and was determined to not only win the Toys for Tots box, but this as well.

Her idea was to do a space-age/mod tree with a variation of the 12 days of Christmas thrown in.

Team members on both coasts were assigned numbers.  While we didn't have to bring in X number of ornaments or stick with the song lyrics, our contribution had to tie in to something about us and the number we were given.  At the same time, inside jokes were not permitted since having to explain something loses funny points.  I was given the number 5 which made my ornament extremely easy.

As for the space-age/mod theme, she had ideas for basic decor, but was struggling with something that really said "space-age".  I suggested spray painting the entire thing silver since nothing says 50's/60's Mod Christmas like an aluminum tree.  That can of paint brought her concept together.  Sort of.

Office Christmas Tree

When I saw the final tree with the pink feather boa, I didn't see "space-age" or "mod".  I saw drag queen.  That is what instantly popped into my mind and stuck.  I really like the tree, but I would have cut back on the fabulousness a little more and kept it more simple with clean lines and basic minimal decor that you would see in a Shag painting.

The tree won.  1st place in the non-company themed division.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  The tree looks damn good.  The group that won the company themed competition tore their tree apart and rebuilt it as a topiary in the form of this summer's CGI French rat.  It looked good, but there isn't anything Christmassy about a French rat.

As for my contribution for the number 5?  A fifth of bourbon (ornament sized).  I was sure that my ornament would get stolen, but so far it has remained.

Maker's Mark for the Holidays

And as for the Toys for Tots box?  2nd place.  Now this isn't as much due to another group having a better box as it was due to the judges feeling that they needed to spread the winning wealth around.

I say to hell with that.  There are winners and losers.  If one team is the best in everything and they win, then so be it.  We were robbed on that box and everyone knows it.  Sympathy wins get no respect.

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A little holiday cheer from Showcase Showdown

Merry Christmas I Fucked Your Snowman

Showcase Showdown

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For the past 60 some years, the company has been heavily involved with Toys for Tots.  In my building, each dept. is given a collection box to decorate and be judged.  Each year, our box is usually horrible because we do not have any time or resources to devote to decorating.

We had a bit more time this year.  Not as much as we would have liked, but 90 minutes is 90 minutes.  Disneyland's "Small World Holiday" was what we were going with.

I was volunteered to do the clock face.  I was told (or thought I was told) that judging would be on Mon.  I thought I had the weekend.  Come in this morning to find out that I was wrong... and had 20 min or less.

After a mad scramble of photocopying, scanning, outlining in Illustrator, and running into way too many "printer failed" errors for no reason, I got something together.  A co-worker taped the 2 halves together and was in the process of cutting it out when I heard voices coming down the hall.  It was the judges.  She ran out and slapped the face on to the the front of the main box just as they rounded the corner.

I think the group did a pretty good job with the limited time and resources we had.  There are several things that I would have done differently, but that type of stuff takes more time than any of us had.  I kind of like that it isn't a direct copy of the clock facade, but more of an interpretation or "inspired by" look.  That makes the odd scaling, and crooked lines look OK.

I'm actually happy that I didn't do much work on the face prior to this morning.  I was going with a 19" diameter.  That would have fit the main part of the box, but would have been totally out of scale with what they actually did with that part.  10" worked much better.

The thing lit up and someone hooked up their iPod with a loop of the Small World Holiday music in the background (alternates between the classic Small World song and Jingle Bells).  It is driving us a bit insane.

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

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One of my favorite Christmas James Brown songs.

Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto

James Brown

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What's your favorite holiday movie?

Here are 2 of my favorite Christmas movies that most people forget are Christmas movies:

Gremlins:

Gizmo

Die Hard

Die Hard

And I'm a fan of the horrendously fun "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (this one requires close friends and a lot of bourbon to enjoy):

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

The obvious ones I probably share with everyone (Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, etc.).

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This is just totally surreal

Creepy Xmas

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WDW didn't get the Christmas Special overlay this year (improvements were/are made to the costumes and lighting... hopefully the sound will be next) and Disneyland lost their show to Pooh.

Here is a pretty good video of the complete WDW show.

Country Bear Christmas Special

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Studio 60 has been getting a pretty bad beating from the critics since the season began.  I don't think that the criticisms have been totally off the mark, but it seems that any scripted television show has to get the expected ratings by mid-Oct (or earlier) or it is slated for cancellation.  Character driven shows like Studio 60 spend the first episodes introducing everyone to the characters before moving forward with all of the various stories and sub-plots.

The wife and I have enjoyed watching the show since it came on.  I can totally see where the critics are coming from because I had the same opinions.  I still gave the show a chance.

Last week's episode was the first one that I think they were really moving forward in exploring the characters and also moving forward for the various story lines.

One of the primary plots of this last episode dealt with unemployed musicians from New Orleans filling in for studio musicians who were intentionally calling in sick.  One of the producers of Studio 60 caught wind of this and featured some of the musicians in their own segment.  As they played "O Holy Night", images from around New Orleans were projected on a screen behind them.  It is one of the best versions of this song that I've heard.

The reason for my rambling post is just to inform those who are interested that NBC has made an MP3 of the song available for free on their site.  This surprises me to no end (free?  really?), but I see this as a good move by NBC to generate a little publicity for the show and also share a piece of music that otherwise would disappear.

It can be downloaded here:
http://www.nbc.com/Studio_60_on_the_Sunset_Strip/music/studio_60_o_holy_night.mp3

http://www.nbc.com/Studio_60_on_the_Sunset_Strip/

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