What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Why aren't these two together?  I love their chemistry.

Miracle On 42nd Street

I first saw this video two years ago.  Since then, it was removed from YouTube due to copyright infringement.

Looks like Alex Karigan and Zac Hammer recently uploaded it onto Vimeo...Just in time for Christmas.

To Kids From One To Ninety-Two....

I originally wrote this post four years ago.  Thought I might share it again....


Growing up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I didn't have much exposure to the holidays as a child. I never knew the joy of opening up a wrapped present. I never got to see a Christmas tree up close, in all of it's glory. I never heard any holiday song enough to learn the words to it. I didn't want to....except one.

I was very sheltered as a child. My parents tried to "protect" me from the dangers of this "worldly system of things" (yes, that was the language that was used in the house). What they failed to realize, was that you can't control what is being fed into your childrens' brains outside your home. You cannot control the music being played at the grocery store. You can't control what they play at Walmart or Sears.

As I said, for the most part it had no effect on me. I really had no idea what I was missing out on. But when I heard that raspy voice coming over the loud speaker, I knew that there was something important that I was missing out on. That one song - those three minutes - convinced me that Christmas didn't have to be a religious holiday.  It was a time to spend with family and friends. I've never forgotten that.

This was the first, and to my recollection, only Christmas song I learned by heart. It gives me a warm feeling inside every time I hear it, as I hope it does you.

"And so, I'm offering this simple phrase...
to kids from one to ninety two....
although it's been said many times many ways....
Merry Christmas to you....."

Have A Merry Christmas

Makes me smile every time I see it.....

Tweet Of The Day

This tweet, which was later deleted, was sent by Washington State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, shortly after the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Arizona Cardinals, 17-10.

He forgot to mention that Arizona is a white trash/Juggalo Mecca....

Things I Need To Remember After Leaving A Cult

My friend Catrina posted this on Facebook a couple of months ago.  She was kind enough to let me borrow it.  There are a couple of items on this list - particularly number four - that I have to force myself to acknowledge from time to time.

Things I Need to Remember After Leaving a Cult

1. It is a cult…regardless of the name it chooses; it is and will remain a cult.
   
2. You are no longer in the cult.
   
3. You can only control one outcome while being in and exiting a cult: your own.
   
4. You did not leave family behind- you left behind cult members.
   
5. You are free to choose a belief system or none at all.
   
6. No one will fully grasps what it was like in a cult; do not feel the need to make others understand.
   
7. Build a support system- create your idea of a family, and take control of who enters your inner circle.
   
8. It is okay to be confused. It is okay to be angry. It is okay to question everything.
   
9. Revisit the past, but do not live there.
   
10. Many things will trigger memories of your past cult life. Learn to spot these triggers and deal with them accordingly.
    
11. Needing mental help is optional. If you need it, then do so. It does not make you weak…it makes you battle ready for the next war over your mind in life.
    
12. We attract what we are. If you want good, positive people, be positive to counter the loneliness.
    
13. Forgive yourself. It is finished the past, and you paid your dues while in the cult.
    
14. Vent. Find safe places where you can release your anger and pain when you need to. You do not have to suffer alone.
    
15. Learn to let go. This is the hardest one. It takes time and lots of strength.  
    

2013 - The Web In Review

Humanity:  Two steps forward.  One step back.

It's still progress....

Mashup Monday - 2013 In Review

It's getting to be that time of the year, again.  Every year, in the last couple of weeks of December, YouTube is innundated with year-end mashups of the year's movies and music.  Most are mediocre.  Some really stand out.

I don't know what to call Gen Ip.  Is she an artist?  A master editor?  A filmmaker?  In any event, I desperately anticipate her filmography each year.  While, in my opinion, 'Filmography 2010' was far and away her best effort, her video for 2013 is quite remarkable.



When it comes to the end-of-the-year music mashups, DJ Earworm tends to have the best mix every year.  His mixes are always fluid, with the tunes that had the most radio airplay for the year.  I actually recognized most of the songs.



If you quote me on this, I'll deny it.  But....pop music this year was pretty darn good.  Between albums from Macklemore, Daft Punk, Justin Timberlake, Gaga, and Lorde, not to mention a couple of good singles from folks like Robin Thicke, radio was almost bearable in 2013.

I said almost.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Best Black Friday Deal Of 2013

There has been quite a bit of controversy this year, due to a large number of retailers starting their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving night.  Walmart, JC Penney, Best Buy, Target, Michaels, Macy's, and many other chains are opening their doors on Thanksgiving, and requiring their employees to work on a day that is meant to be spent with family.

I have found a way to not only avoid doing any shopping on the holiday, but avoid the stampedes on Friday morning, as well.  Best of all, I guarantee that you'll spend less than anyone else on the block.

Give the gift that keeps on giving.  Online piracy.

The Pirate Bay has all of the best deals this winter.  For example, the Elysium Blu-Ray (which isn't released in stores until December 17th) for free. A blu-ray of The Wolverine (releasing December 3rd) for practically absolutely nothing. And Despicable Me 2 in 3D for three easy installments of jack shit.

Prefer a classic?  How about Song of the South, the 1946 Disney movie that has been locked up in the vault longer than Charlie Manson?

Have books on your Christmas list?  Try a Kindle version of Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half.

Why wake yourself up at two in the morning, just to bludgen an old lady with no teeth, so that you come home with a waffle iron?  Let's face it.  How many times is Sally going to be making waffles, anyway?  Sleep in this year.  Let your modem do all of the work.  You won't regret it.

Tweet Of The Day

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging for a boycott of Hobby Lobby.  Personally, my family has been boycotting them since this entire contraception thing started.  We used to spend a lot of money there, between yarn and soapmaking supplies.

Headline Of The Day

Is it bad that I can't stop laughing?

One Million Moms Is Going To Ship Their Pants

In April, One Million Moms went into a full-scale tizzy over Kmart's "Ship My Pants" commercial. The ironically named OMM (they only have about 60,000 people following them on Facebook) is a offshoot of The American Family Association.  The AFA is, believe it or not, a hate group, which has been certified by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In any event, One Million Moms' campaign was unsuccessful, as Kmart continued to air the hilarious ad.  In addition, it has nearly 20 million views on YouTube.  A couple of weeks later, Kmart released an ad touting their "Big Gas Savings".  That commercial went on to get another six million views.

Kmart's 2013 ad campaign was so successful, that they renewed their contract with ad agency DraftFCB in August.  This is their first ad under the new contract.  Just in time for Christmas, it's Jingle Balls Bells.



The ship is about to hit the fan.....

Today In WTF

You know that really cool Volvo commercial with Jean Claude Van Damme that went viral last week? (27 million views in four days viral)

This isn't it...




That isn't really Toronto mayor Rob Ford.  It's the work of a visual effects company in New York City by the name of Artjail.

Hilarious and horrifying, all at the same time.

BTW, during the same city council meeting today, Ford was filmed mimicking drunk driving and knocking a female city councilwoman to the ground. He's a walking cringe factory.

If You Ever Want Some Honest Feedback

I haven't had my laptop available for the last two weeks, so all communication with the online world has been with my cell phone.

I use an app on my phone called SwiftKey. It learns my writing patterns by evaluating my texts, my tweets, and my status updates. From there, it makes an educated guess at what I'll type, based upon my history.  Many times, I only have to type in the first letter or two of a particular word, and it can guess the next three.  Helps out a lot when I'm having a bad day with the brain fog.

If you ever want to gauge on how things have been going for you, let your phone speak on your behalf. Let the auto fill option type out its best guess for what you want to say.  You might be better off than what you think.

I'm going to let my phone type out the first full sentence on its own, based upon the most common words I've typed into the keyboard recently. Here goes:

"Please contact us at the front of the year of the most expensive artwork ever sold at the Drake concert tickets so I know it's a good time."

So, evidently my phone thinks that I like expensive artwork and Drake.  Perhaps my theory is a little off on this one....