For Auld Lang Syne?

Here I am, at the end of another year, still in this particular situation.

Fuck.

Maybe it's better not to say anything else. If I do succeed, I don't want to jinx it.

"Welcome to Idiotland!"

In case you remember (or, likely, don't), I wrote a little thing about Jingle All the Way. Surprisingly, some good has come from the holiday misfire:

a) Intrada got off their duffs and released David Newman's score. The run is a mere 1500 units...well, 1499 (I got my copy) and dwindling, so act now!

b) The Nostalgia Critic has given the film the review it sorely deserves.

How is the current situation, physician?

So I guess it's no longer news that Looney Tunes will be returning to Cartoon Network on New Year's Day.

Here's hoping that the Speedy Gonzales cartoons and the ending of "Drip-Along Daffy", among other things, are reinstated.

You might now be thinking, 'Isn't it enough that the cartoons are returning to television?'. So help me, two years ago, it would've been enough. But with all the live-action shinola that this network has been cramming in our throats (among other orifices), I'm well within my rights to make demands.

I mean, it's one thing for MTV to transmogrify into WTB (Whiny Teenage Bitches, in case you were wondering). It's been years since I watched that network with any regularity. On the other hand, I've watched Cartoon Network from its inception. I've always counted on it to deliver cartoons I love and cartoons I'm not that familiar with, but could grow to love. It's long been an unspoken agreement between channel and viewer, but when a network devoted to cartoons starts airing live-action product...I should probably point out that I spent six years of schooling in special education (mainly for emotional issues, but still...), so if I can figure it out, it speaks rather ill of the people who can't.

Because I can think of no other way to end the post, here's a few fond memories of WB cartoons:

"The yams did it!"
"Yoiks and away!"
"This time, we didn't forget the gravy."
"Well, now, I wouldn't say that."
"Oh, ho, he's hidin' in the stove, eh?"
"More briefing."
"Keep smiling."

"I'll smash it with a hammer!"

And just when I was hoping we could get through these last few days of the year without losing any more greats...

Eartha Kitt. Damn.

She was a fine voice actress (her delivery of the post title is one of several reasons why I love The Emperor's New Groove) and a terrific singer. Her rendition of "Santa Baby" is, by far, the best. The song sounds inconsequential and annoying when covered by others, but her version oozes seduction. Don't believe me? Listen for yourself:

One thing I have to say...

I fucking hate snow.

It's been a turbulent 24 hours around here.

As per usual at this time of year, buckets of snow were dumped on it and guess who had to shovel it up?. In spite of the inevitable aching, it was sort of fun...and a much sounder idea than digging out the snowblower (quick backstory: our garage is jam-packed with two and a half decades of crap that a person can barely make their way around, and getting out the snowblower would create a bigger mess than the one already in there). Just as I was about to finish up the driveway, a neighbor comes by with his snowblower and clears the rest of it away. Apparently, he and another guy had done some clearing for the surrounding houses. I couldn't help but be thankful.

Later on, I head to work. It was still snowing (though not as hard as before), so a lot of people got chased away. It was so dead, my supervisor allowed me to close early. I expressed concern for punching out early, so she recanted. 'Twas pretty tempting, though. Unfortunately, I found that a little snow would not drive away all the fruitcakes. These two guys came in with buckets of change to dump in the Coinstar machine. They'd been at it for a good 20-30 minutes, but then the machine stopped. It was full. One of them started to raise a big stink about not getting back some of his coins (Dumping a shitload of change into a Coinstar for 30 minutes and it fills up? The mind boggles.), but I was taking care of customers. What was I to do? The customers were gone and since I was never trained in handling the machine and my supervisor was on break, they had no choice but to wait. They drag over a manager on duty (who, it must be said, I don't particularly like, but that's for another time) who tells me to get my supervisor. I page her and she tells me that there's nothing that can be done right away. (If the machine fills up, the technician has to be called in, as is my understanding.) The guy mutters something about how I should be fired and I pretty much tell him (as I've always wanted to tell someone who lays the 'f'-bomb on me), "Greater people than you have tried to get me fired." The day went smoothly, if lethargically, after that, but that cock-gobbler cast a serious pall on the proceedings.

It's said that more snow is set to fall in the next couple of days. If it keeps away people like that, I'd call it a mixed blessing.

Good TIMEs.

Apparently, Richard Corliss of Time magazine has already made his top ten list of movies for the year:

1. Wall-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. My Winnipeg
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
5. Milk
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Iron Man
9. Speed Racer
10. Encounters at the End of the World

Of these movies, I'm still planning on seeing #5. #1, 8 and 9, I may as well tell you now, are on my top ten list for the year.

To perhaps the only major film critic who will place Speed Racer on their top 10 list, I salute you, Mr. Corliss, for having a sense of fun and wonderment.

I guess I was wrong...

...about there being a God and all.

Given that, you know, good scores like In Bruges, Wanted, WALL-E and Bolt will likely be deprived of nominations because of this, what other reaction is there?!

ABC...you and me!

Boredom strikes again, as it usually does on Sunday nights, so I'm digging out a post I was working on.

Someone at Blog Cabins (that's pretty clever, actually) came up with a meme where people had to name their favorite movies using the letters of the alphabet.

If you're a regular viewer of this blog, you'll know that I'm hardly what one would call a snob when it comes to movies. For everyone else, brace yourselves:

Animal House
Big Trouble
Capricorn One
Duck Soup
The Emperor's New Groove
Fatal Instinct
Ghostbusters
Hudson Hawk
The Incredibles
Josie and the Pussycats
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The Last Boy Scout
Mouse Hunt
North by Northwest
Outbreak
The Princess Bride
Quiz Show
The Road to El Dorado
Singin' in the Rain
Team America: World Police
Undercover Brother
V for Vendetta
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
X2: X-Men United
Young Frankenstein
Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Who to tag? Just about no one comes here and the ones that do don't really blog. This was just for curiosity's sake.