America's Top 40: Christmas

I promised, earlier in the week, that I was going to do a follow-up to my Top Twelve Days of Christmas Specials and List my favorite Christmas songs. I don't really have 40 but I have been working to narrow down the list to 10-12 for several days now and I just can't get there so I am going to go with my Top 14 Christmas Songs...

First the ground rules: All the songs are going to be Christmas songs. I'm as PC as the next guy but I wanted to pick my favorite holiday songs, I would. I celebrate Christmas, though, and I don't think Adam Sandler's, Hanukkah Song, would've broken the top 15, anyway, so I am going to stick with saying, "Merry Christmas". Note: I tried very, very hard to find some way to make the Counting Crow's, A Long December, a Christmas song but couldn't find even a remote reference to anything to do with the Winter Holiday so I had to leave it out which is a real shame because I love that tune.

Other ground rules include that we are not really judging the song, itself, but rather the specific performance of a song. Many of the entries are classic tunes that many artists have covered over the years and I am rating them on a single recorded version. In addition, to get the list down to a reasonable size, I had to eliminate songs that where written for a special Christmas program. Although many of the works have been included in Holiday TV shows or movies so this will eliminate some great classics like I'm Mister Heat Miser, Put One Foot in Front of the Other, and Christmastime Is Here or any of the other pieces composed by the great jazz musician, Vince Guaraldi.

Most of these songs also make this list of The Pop Top 100 Christmas Songs and you can see more detail and more fun stuff about this list at my Squidoo Lens: The Top 14 Pop Christmas Song Performances:

14. Wonderful Christmas Time- Paul McCartney (1979)- John Lennon was right when he said since McCartney went solo all that he does is silly love songs. That is, exactly, what this is but it made the list and Lennon's, Happy Christmas (War Is Over) didn't... What's wrong with that?

13. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)- U2 (1987)- This song was originally done by Darlene Love on the 1963 Album, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector and she provided backing vocals when U2 recorded it for the compilation album A Very Special Christmas. I really never knew it was Bono singing but, when I hear it, I always find myself singing along in a baritone voice... Christmas... Christmas...

12. Sleigh Ride- Ella Fitgerald (1960)- This is the first of a few classic Christmas songs that I could of pick one of many performances as over 65 artist have recorded it including the Spice Girls, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, the Muppets and Clay Aiken. I choose this version because it has gained popularity recently by being featured in the Will Ferrell, soon to be Holiday classic, Elf, and my dad always like Ella.

11. Merry Christmas Baby- Bruce Springsteen (1987)- Originally a Beach Boys release, the more popular Springsteen version was recorded live at an earlier Jersey Holiday Concert and also featured on the A Very Special Christmas album. The boss does it better than the even more popular, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, which I have mentioned before, no grown man should be recording.

10. It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas- Johnny Mathis (1986)- Written in 1951, I thought Mathis did his version way before '86 as I thought I remember hearing it as a kid. My mom loved Johnny Mathis and the Andrew Sisters- who also did this song and I could have just as easily included here but Johnny has an awesome voice. I do remember, however, singing this song and The Holly and the Ivory in a Junior High Choir Competition. I wonder, what ever happened to Ms. Davis?

9. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree- Brenda Lee (1958)- I find it interesting that over 30 artists have recorded this song but, still, the most air-play goes to this original. I remember doing a grade school program to this one! There are some really cool guitar licks in this song.

8. The Christmas Song- Nat King Cole (1946)- Written by Mel Torme, Cole recorded the tune four times between '46 and '61. It has been covered by other artists over 100 times-- none of them me, but it is my favorite classic.

7. Do They Know It's Christmas?- Band Aid (1984)- I think my dad camped out at a record store to get this for me for Christmas. Written by Bob Geldof the song was recorded by 40-some-odd 80s superstars on November 24, 1984 and released by Band Aid four-days later to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia.

6. Christmas Is A Time to Say I Love You- Billy Squire (1982)- MTV was young and rock singer Billy Squier was at his peak of popularity when this cheery holiday song was filmed as sort of an office party singalong. It is just plain fun.

5. Christmas Wrapping- The Waitresses (1981)- One of the best bass lines-- not only in a Christmas song, but in any song. Arguably, the obscure, Kent, Ohio, punk band's biggest hit, along with I Know What Boys Like and Square Pegs the theme song to the TV series of the same name starring a young Sarah Jessica Parker.

4. 2000 Miles- The Pretenders (1983)- This dark, seasonal song was released as a B-side to "Middle of the Road" and was a major hit in the UK. Although Crissie Hynde may be one of the least attractive women in music, she has a beautiful voice that resonates straight to your soul in this song.

3. All I Want for Christmas is You- Mariah Carey (1994)- You may think it a bit odd, with all of the rock-type music in my top-15, that I would include a Mariah Carey tune, consider that this original is the diva's most successful song worldwide and it is in the top ten most downloaded ring-tones of all time. I just like it because it reminds me of the music that the old Motown girl groups used to do.

2. Easier Said Than Done- Jon Anderson (1985)- This was the first and only single released from Yes front-man, Jon Anderson's solo Christmas album, Three Ships. It got a little air-time in the late 80s, but I haven't heard it in years and I have worn out my LP.

1. Celebrate Me Home- Kenny Loggins (1976)- Celebrate Me Home was on Kenny Loggins' debut solo album of the same name. Although not released as a single, it evolved into one of Loggins' better-known songs, especially as it became a popular staple of radio stations' play-lists during the holiday season. I don't know exactly why, but when I hear this song and I am alone, it touches me in a way that I have a heard time holding back my emotions. That is why I rank it as number one.

Have a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holiday. Read this. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

SkeetzTeez Holiday Special

I took a day of vacation on Monday to accompany MLW to her doctor appointment. I am in awe each time we have an ultrasound done. Just to see that little baby inside Mama's tummy is amazing! Not to get into this discussion right now but, the whole miracle of life thing is so... delicate, so precise and perfect, that I don't see how anyone can say that it is all just a freak accident, or nature taking it's course with evolution of the species and stuff. 

Anyway...

It's also amazing how you take one day off work and there is three days worth of work for you when you come back. I will have to post the Top Ten Amazing Things That I Don't Understand but Can Always Count On sometime after the holidays. I have been working on a few articles including a follow-up to last week's The Twelve Days of Christmas Specials, The Twelve Days of Christmas Songs, but haven't had the time to make them presentable. In addition, we are in the peak of the Shopping Season and I haven't done a lot to push my cafepress shop, SkeetzTeez, lately so I thought I would do a little update.

Sales have been much like other shopkeepers told me to expect and, to my delight and surprise, the hot items this month have been the cool designs that I thought would do well, but have not up to this point. Although the Big Brother and Big Sister kid's stuff is still going along at the same pace, their numbers have been dwarfed by other merchandise imprinted with other designs. 

Suck It Trebeck, Smallville Athletics Department and the Schweddy Balls art is flying off the shelves. It is not only T-shirts that are selling, either, as sweatshirts and hoodies are especially popular this time of year and the shop has also sold a BBQ apron and a notebook journal. The thing that is really cool though is I think I have sold at least one of every design except for Schmidts and I kind of thought that I might have a problem with that one.

Even obscure concepts like Airplane, MXC, Bunch of Carp, Man on First, Ta-Daaaaaa and All You Need is Love have sold, as well as the first shirt from my Old Time Sports Collection and a I Survived a Major Brain Injury and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt, of all things! In addition, the Charlestown Chiefs, Shermer High School, Land of the Lost, and several of the maternity ware are still moving and even a few of the newest addition, Cotton-headed Ninny-Muggins, from my favorite new Christmas Classic, Elf, starring Will Ferrell have been purchased.

All-in-all, I can't complain a bit on how, what started as an experiment and turned into a part-time job, has turned out. I mean-- I can always wish for more sales but, I think that will come with time. Already I have seen an increase in volume every month and, even more importantly, I have seen a larger percentage of sales coming directly from the shop instead of through the marketplace, as of late. In the first ten-days of December, I have already had more sales than in all of November, and about 20% of those have made the purchase through the shop-- which will lead to a bonus for me at the end of the month.

Another benefit to the increased exposure to SkeetzTeez is more exposure for my other projects including this blog and my Squidoo Lenses. This has become increasingly important to me as I have developed a lens to spread the word about my campaign to inform people about the risks of stroke from chiropractic treatment. 

Which, by the way, will not cost you a dime to contribute to this cause! If you would like to help me, please visit the sight. If you like it you can help further by linking and bookmarking to it and visiting frequently, favoriting it, giving it a high rating, leaving a comment on the message board and forwarding it to friends and asking them to do the same. You can go one more step by building your own lens for a cause that is important to you. (All the proceeds from my lens go to the Stroke Network and, yes-- even regular visits will contribute a small amount to the charity.) I know it is a lot to ask but it would really be appreciated! Do it on Friday... nobody really works on Friday afternoon.

Alright-- this was a really boring post, but it is something. I will try to do better later in the week. In the mean time... Read This. (The reason I started the campaign I talked about.) Buy T-shirts. (There are only a few more internet shopping days left until Christmas.) Peace.

Let's Roll! 1.08

I figured I would go ahead and do a special edition Let's Roll for the holidays now because there is so much cool stuff that I run across on the internet this time of year and I don't know if or when I'm going to have another shot to get it all in. I have included a wide variety of links with everything from ideas the get your shopping list going and tools to make shopping easier to places to shop online and fun stuff that is used to entice you to shop at a certain store. I'm sure glad that shopping... I mean Christmas, hasn't become commercialized. Let's Roll!

ElfYourself- If you have been sent this via email in the past, there is a good chance that you deleted it as spam, an e-chain letter or just another annoying e-greeting card that you wish no one would send because then you feel obligated to remember to send them one on their birthday. This one is actually pretty cool, however, and may be worth a few minutes of screwing with. It's free to elf yourself and send the short movie to your friends, though, it'll run you $4.99 to download the dance and more if you want to buy product with your elf pic imprinted on it.

PaperSnowflakes- Ever make paper snowflakes as a kid? This site is titled Paper Snowflakes for Children but I cut one for a project at work and it took me 45-minutes and I have take college courses on how to cut paper. It provides folding and cutting instructions as well as patterns to make about 600 different designs and tips and tricks from the pros (do you believe that there are professional snowflake cutters?) that will soon have you on the level of Will Ferrell in Elf.

2008 Christmas Specials TV Schedule- I made mention of this site in a posting earlier in the week, The Twelve Days of Christmas Specials: My Top Twelve Holiday Programs, but it is worth another plug. It has an extensive list of movies, special presentations and even regular programming holiday episodes by date with times and channels. Be sure to check out some of the old reruns of shows like Three's Company, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies, to name a few, Christmas shows on TVLand.

Amazon.com- is one of the biggest e-retailers in the world so it wouldn't be surprising if you had heard of them or even made a purchase from the Website in the past but, until I was laid up last year and did all my shopping online, I was unaware of the many member features that the industry leader offers. Gift and wish lists based on your buying and searching habits are pretty common now but Amazon takes it a step or two further with special Gold Box discounts on merchandise on your list in addition to the Deal of the Day and Lightening Deals up to 66% off regular pricing.

Also when you are shopping at Amazon or similar sites, check the More Buying Choices sections. You can often find the same item in a new or like-new condition for a fraction of the price. When purchasing merchandise with this option, though, be sure to look over reviews of the seller and read things like the shipping policies to make sure you know what your getting into.

SkeetzTeez- If you are reading this blog because you enjoy it and not just because you're my wife's second-cousin, you feel sorry for me, or you owe me money-- I absolutely, positively guarantee that there is something that you or someone on your holiday shopping list (probably someone that is usually very hard to buy a gift for) is going to really dig at SkeetzTeez! I am still adding new designs almost every day but there is a ton of cool stuff to choose from, including the new seasonal stuff featuring Will Ferrell's Elf- Cotton-Headed Ninny-Muggins and Pete Schweddy's Balls shirts. Other popular items this holiday season include TV's Smallville and Suck It Trebeck, movie's Shermer H.S. Bulldogs and Slapshot's Charlestown Chiefs, the Old Time sports collection as well as some really smart, cool fashion designs.

SkeetzTeez has all kinds of T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies, hats, office accessories, drinkware and other fun items for adults and kids, men and women, boys and girls, babies, expectant moms and even something for the dog. You certainly won't regret giving these unique, custom holiday gift items this year-- and if your are my wife's second cousin, you feel sorry for me or you owe me money... you might even find something you like.

Read this. Peace.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Specials

I haven't gone the way of Top 10 Lists of Whatever on this blog because I think it is way overdone. I don't know what makes those people who do post such lists an authority on the subject-- including even the "professional" critics who claim to be an authority so they can make a living from their lists of the best or worst, giving something a certain number of stars or a thumbs-up or or thumbs-down. I figure that I have been around for a pretty long time now, seen enough movies multiple times to make a fair judgement to give my opinion about them and have this blog as my vehicle to deliver my message. Besides, I couldn't think of anything else to write about.

Let me go over the ground rules. I only included Christmas movies and made-for-television programs in my list. Films that were set during the holidays but did not focus on Christmas were not included. This eliminated some decent flicks including Edward Scissorhands, Trading Places, Gremlins, Die Hard and Planes, Trains and Automobiles not to mention Home Alone, which was a huge hit but wouldn't be on my list anyway. 

It is a shame that I am not going to include any Music or Variety Specials on my list either because the Saturday Night Live skit featuring Alec Baldwin as Pete Schweddy and his Holiday Schweddy Balls would be near the top.  We'll have to save it for another list or two in the future.

Oh, and one more thing-- all of these specials have been on TV and are scheduled to be featured on TV this holiday season. If you would like details of when to catch your favorite Christmas Special, there is a pretty comprehensive list available on Wikipedia.

So without further ado, here is my list of the Top Twelve Christmas Specials:

12. Polar Express (2004)- Although the story's message is about how the wonder of life never fades for those who believe and the imagery of the train trip to the North Pole is remarkable, there were many parts of this film that reminded me of a nightmare-- dark and spooky. The computer generated animation techniques developed for this production are innovative, even by today's standards, and the way the digital characters movement and emotions are driven by real actors, mainly Tom Hanks, is pretty amazing in itself.

11. A Christmas Carol (1951)- Talk about Spooky? There are several dozen film adaptations of Charles Dickens' novel including everything from musicals to Muppets but the black-and-white English production with Alastair Sim playing Ebeneezer Scrooge is considered the definitive movie version. We pulled off a much smaller scaled translation for the CYC Christmas show in High School that wasn't too, too bad. I played Bob Cratchit and my sister was Tiny Tim because, if I remember correctly, she was on crutches at the time for a real injury. Brian Leriche beat me out of the part of Scrooge but he did a great job.

10. Scrooged (1988)- Based on the same story but different enough to earn it's own spot on the list. Bill Murray is Frank cross, the wealthy, cold-hearted TV executive Scrooge-like character in this modern-day edition. It delivers the same feel-good message, but the ghosts are not as scary as in the original and, although it's no Caddyshack, it's still pretty funny, so it settles one place higher on my list.

9. Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970)- This is one of my earliest Christmas memories-- watching this claymation classic on our plaid vinyl couch in our new 70s add-on family room. This special was way before it's time as it took the format of a psychedelic, Behind the Music 25-years before VH-1... if Santa was in a band. Love the story... hate the song. Why do grown musicians still try to record this thing?

8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)- Were all the kids-film-makers from the 60s and 70s on dope? All of the fine Dr. Seuss' stuff seems that way. Boris Karloff as the narrator gives this show a tone that no other voice man could ever pull off. You want to do something crazy? Wait until the hottest day of the year and pop this DVD in. I bet you shiver before you reach the halfway mark.

What? What's that you say? Jim Carrey who? Message to all directors and producers in Hollywood. Stop trying to re-make Dr. Suess movies!

7. Miracle on 34th Street (1947, 1994)- Unlike with A Christmas Carol, I am going to list both versions of this film together because they are basically the same but they have some merit of their own. The original, starring Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood was awarded three Oscars and the latter, with Elizabeth Perkins, Richard Attenborrough and Mara Wilson was just as charming. Out of all the feel-goods on my list, this is the one that oozes the most Christmas cheer.

6. The Year Without A Santa Claus (1974)- The second Rankin/Bass production on my list could have just about a dozen other similar animated specials including Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer or a Very Brady Christmas except for four-words that put this one over the top... I'm Mister Heat Miser...

OK, It's been easy up to this point but, to tell you the truth, I am having a hard time with the top five as any one of them could have been number one. Who decided that I should do this, anyway?

5. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)- What can I really say about this holiday standard? If The Polar Express is on the top of the technical effects pile Charlie Brown Christmas would be buried deep on the bottom. The first Peanuts program to make it to TV was done on a shoestring budget which resulted in a primitive, choppy animation style, poor sound quality and editing blunders but it has aired, unchanged, annually, every year since and, more recently several times a year. The first airing was a critical and commercial hit with half of all the TVs in the nation tuned in and it was honored with both an Emmy and Peabody award. The season was not quite complete for me as a kid until we plopped down in front of the tube to watch the Dolly Madison sponsored classic with the smooth jazz composition of Vince Guaraldi and Linus' reading of the Gospel of Luke 2:8-14 exclaiming the true meaning of Christmas to the gang.

4. A Christmas Story (1983)- This film makes it to number one on a lot of the lists that I have seen but, maybe because of overexposure, can only top out at four on my list. The low-budget flick, set in 1940 in a fictional Indiana town, follows nine-year-old Ralphie Parker and his family on his quest for the one thing he wants for Christmas-- an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle BB gun. Although it takes you back to a simpler time when Dad was "the Old Man", having your mouth washed out with soap and no red-blooded American Boy would turn down a Double-Dirty-Dog-Dare, it is really timeless in that I could relate to many of the characters and situations in the plot and multiple sub-plots. Overall a really fun and enjoyable way to spend 94-minutes during the holidays. I like to catch it as I help Santa assemble all the gifts during the 24-hour marathon on TNT.

3. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)- From a film set in the 40s to one that was made then. Frank Cappra's masterpiece based on the short story, The Greatest Gift, takes place in a fictional town called Bedford Falls shortly after WWII and features Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a man who is about to commit suicide when he is visited by his guardian angel, Clarence, shows him what the town, and all the people in it would be like without him. Feel-good, almost to the point of sappy, the film, because of production expense and competition at the box office, was originally considered a flop. It was nominated for five Academy Awards but won none, however it has been named as The American Film Institute's List of Top 100 movies at number 11 and AFI's List of Top 100 Inspirational Movies at number 1, as well as many other honors over the last 60-years. If you haven't seen any movies on the list, this is the one to rent this month.

2. Elf (2003)- I know! I didn't think that I could include this one but it cleared the ground rules. Then I thought I shouldn't include it because it was your traditional "classic" Christmas flick, but I think it is quickly becoming one. My wife and I happened to see this movie on opening night and, even with a broken nose that I got when she tried to pull a quick move and get her arm around me for some PDA and a sore neck because we arrived late and had to sit in the front row, we had the best time with this fun little film. Will Ferrell can make almost anything he does fun but his over-the-top, child-like, clumsy comedy is perfect for the part of Buddy-- the human raised by Santa's elves who travels from the North Pole, through the candy cane forest... to New York to find his Dad and gets into all kinds of hilarious mischief. All-in-all just good clean fun! Anyone that sincerely cannot say they had a good time watching this, must be a Cotton-Headed Ninny-Muggin!

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)- Second best in the vacation series and this is no Caddyshack either, but still enough to pull off the top spot on my list. Chevy Chase, as Clark, and the rest of the Griswald clan hit way to close to home when they explore the best and worst part of the holiday season-- the family gathering. Although there are better feel-gooders on the list, bigger productions on the list and funnier scripts on the list, Christmas Vacation is a good mix of all of all of those things and everyone can relate with the situations that come up when we celebrate with loved ones.

That's my list of The Twelve Days of Christmas Specials. We'll have to review again next year because I'm sure it will change by then. In the mean time... Merry Christmas. Read this. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

A Trip to the Land of the Lost

To be brutally honest, Land of the Lost didn't make that big of an impact on me. I was about ten-years old when the original series aired in 1974-1976 and I do remember the show. I guess it was pretty cool at the time as they were pretty progressive (for a Saturday morning show) with special effects and such. This would have been a big change from the regular cartoons at the time.

I also remember the sleestack. Not that I was afraid of them (and at 10 I wouldn't have admit it even if I was) but they did freak me out a little. Looking back it is really funny because they are not frightening at all. In fact, they are almost hokey with the really bad latex costumes and freakish masks. But again, at that time, they didn't have a lot of the special effects that they do now. We didn't expect more so it could be a little scary.

My memory of the sleestack is why I developed the design at: www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5662197

It had nothing to do with the upcoming film starring Will Ferrel and based on the original series, Land of the Lost. It is listed at the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) as a Adventure/Comedy/Sci-Fi.

According to the message board at IMDb, there are some problems with costs and such so production is shutting down. You would think fans of the show would be disappointed in this, but here is a quote from the board: "So we are in luck! They won't rape this childhood classic! We WIN!!!".

Apparently the original series did make a big impact on some people as there are a bunch of posts out there condemning the making of this movie. I think, mostly, because of Will Ferrel and the fact that it is a comedy (to at least some degree) but some want it be a great epic feature film.

I understand their point, but the producers of the film must think they are wrong or, at least, in the minority. A comedy with Will Ferrel is likely to make more money than an epic film with Orlando Bloom. Unfortunately, that's what it all comes down to-- money.

I'm not sure what side I'm on, but I would like to encourage both sides to check out the unique, custom Land of the Lost T-shirts and gifts at: www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5662197