Pregaming Christmas (Getting On, Dinosaurs, Elf That Didn't, Kiss, Compton)

* TV




Getting On (S3 E5 Hulu))

Christmas card competition creates complications in this vaguely holiday-themed episode. Dreary UK dramedy set in an elder care ward. No doubt a critical smash. Not for me.

Dinosaurs - Happy Refrigerator Day (S2 E12 1991 Hulu)

Loved this series at first but, after a while the preachy messaging turned a goofy sitcom into a perpetual "very special episode."

Refrigerator Day is the Christmas surrogate with Earl not getting the holiday bonus he’s already overspent.

* TV Movies

The Elf Who Didn't Believe (1997 or 2000)

Elmer is a disgruntled elf, a malingerer, a lazy brat who only wants to be a '"real boy". And he's our hero in this community theater level production. I assume its' heart is in the right place so I hate to hate on it - and there are a couple of cute lines. I would have suggested it as a good fit for kids but once it moves out of the North Pole it throws in political corruption, a snarky valet, a small town where "the plant's closed down and everyone's out of work", and an ambitious young girl reporter. It tries too hard to do too much and does none of it well.

A Christmas Kiss (2011)

Holiday romance.Nothing special but, if you like this sort of thing, you'll like this sort of thing.

Christmas in Compton (2012)

Saw Eric Roberts in the credits thought, naw. Saw Keith David in the credits, thought maybe. Glad I stuck around because this was pretty good.

Pregaming Christmas (A Christmas Mystery, Christmas Road Trip, We Wish You a Merry Christmas +)

* TV Movies

A Christmas Mystery (2014 Amazon Prime)

Tepid holiday mystery / romance. Emphasis on the romance. I don't know if Secret Past was the original title and they re branded to make it seasonal ,where the bar for such things is so much lower, or if they re-christened it so folks wouldn't be put off the other eleven months of the year.

Holiday Road Trip (2013 Amazon Prime)

The name Fred Olen Ray in a film's credits fills me with the same brand of dread as David DeCoteau (Santas Summer House) . So imagine my shock when I sorta liked Holiday Road Trip.

A pair of feuding pet supply company execs take a last minute road trip with the firm's canine mascot. It's sitcom level stuff but that's better than a lot of these things. Perhaps not surprisingly the supporting cast is festooned with sentimental favorites like Shelly Long, Susan Olsen, Donna Pescow, Mindy Cohn and George Hamilton, among others.

Yeah, it's a bit long and, despite the plethora of decorations and non stop mediocre Christmas tunes in the soundtrack it never really felt all that Christmassy.


* Kid's Stuff



We Wish You a Merry Christmas  (1999 )

The town of harmony is too busy to have music… but they do love Christmas… and there’s an orphanage run by a clean freak… and the kids are so used to being given presents by the townsfolk that giving something back is an alien concept to them… and this leads to the invention of Christmas carols?

A human couldn't have written this nonsense, had to be some alpha version of a cheap holiday cartoon algorithm. Not absolutely terrible but totally unnecessary.

* Christmas Books

Christmas with Jinny Beyer (1996)

A terrific resource for a crafty Christmas, but as the only thing I’m remotely crafty about is hiding Christmas presents that I’ve bought for myself (and others),this will be thumbed through by my wife far more than me. I can look at all the pretty pictures though.

Thrift store find. Not a bad deal for a buck.

The Spirit of Christmas Four

Another thrift.

Before lifestyle blogs, Pinterest boards and socially media food and style influencers annual book series like this, from Leisure Arts in this case, was where, in concert with seasonal issues of your favorite magazines, where one might find all sorts of holiday inspiration back in the day. Crafts, projects recipes, it’s all here.

Pregaming Chrstmas - Christmas from the Archives, September 2008

My ne'er do well cousin Prof. Ravensdeath decided to copy my pre-gaming idea so in turn I'm going to steal his plan to plunder the archives. This blog started, as an offshoot to an earlier general interest one, in 2007. September posts didn't begin popping up until the next year and, predictably, there was not a lot of Christmas stuff going on. Here are some highlights of the slow season that year...

• A Christmas Yuleblog looks at celebrity impressionist Fred Travalena's 2000 holiday offering with loads of great background info and rare video clips.
• A Christmas Yuleblog looks back at the holiday sounds of Ferrante and Teicher 
• DVD Talk has a review of the new DVD The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet: Christmas with the Nelsons
• DVD Talk have posted a review of the Alvin and The Chipmunks: Classic Holiday Gift Set. The set contains Trick or Treason, Alvin's Thanksgiving Celebration, and A Chipmunk Christmas.
• DVD Talk has a review of "The Peanuts Holiday Collection: Deluxe Edition (It's The Great Pumpkin / A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving / A Charlie Brown Christmas)"

Plus the DVD releases of My Christmas Soldier, DiC Animated Christmas Blast and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet: Christmas with the Nelsons

SUPER FRIENDS #10

DCU HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2008

BATMAN: GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT #8