A Charlie Brown Christmas

I was sitting there in the kitchen with the laptop and I couldn't believe my eyes. I heard the piano chords and let out an ominous "oh no".

Deborah looked up and said "what? what's wrong?" And I said "Look!"

There on the TV was something that comes on every year but is always a surprise - and here, now in November (!) it was back - and it immediately takes me back laying on the rug in the family room in an old colonial house in New Jersey (or was that Baltimore?).

A Charlie Brown Christmas.

You should google the title to this wonderful animated cartoon special made back in 1965 (!) and learn how it almost did not get made. But it blows me away that it is now 41 years old and as Deborah says "makes me feel like a nine year old all over again". Because it really does. My saying "oh know" was to let her know I was going to let my mind (and hopfully my age) wander a bit as I escaped into Christmas Past.

Becasue during the '60's is when a lot of our overly nostolgic Christmass TV fare was first created (man don't even get me started on the puppet-animation of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer). A Charlie Brown Christmas was not only current popular comics turned into Xmas fare but it also breathed the innocence of a kid's early Christmas's with a decent flair of comedic and coloquial sarcasm that was just entering the TV media at the time. I get a kick that back then Lucy is trying to convince Charlie Brown that "Christmas is just a big commercial enterprise run by a major East Coast syndicate". Ah, those were the good old days.

Of course everyone remembers the school play (or should I say Christmas Pagent) scene where our hero is the director and struggles with keeping his, uh, er, cast's undivided attention. Seeing those little Peanut characters groove out to the fine piano styling's of Vince Guaraldi still makes my toe tap. And how Charlie Brown then struggles to figure out the true meaning of Christmas. And time just seems to stand still when Linus cues the lights and speaks.

Sigh.


That reminds me - need to go get a tree.

Bloggin' the Mid-Terms

I ran a long post during the night of the election coverage. Maybe you'll find it entertaining here.

Go Vote!

Tomorrow is Election Day – and while it is “only” a mid-term it is everyone’s responsibility to get your voice heard. No matter what you think, what you feel, this great country wants you to go to the polls and express your view. It is our right. And it always disappoints me how many people do not use that right.

I find myself in many discussions whether they be at work or at art house gatherings in lower San Pedro. People bitch about al sorts of stuff – but many of them do not vote. They think their vote doesn’t count and somehow remove themselves from the political process.

You can’t be part of it unless you are part of it. I love voting. I love the old high schools they are held in. I love the process with many retired folks helping out in the process. I love how generally gentile it is. Everywhere I have been there has not been much ruckus – fairly much respect. Don’t know about you guys – but everytime an election comes around I feel I’m part of a big collective of western civilization. And in our times of 24/7 news anarchy I feel the process somewhat settling and relaxing. People do vote – and make things happen.

For more excessive political ramblings go here.