http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Wed, 11 Jan 2006 13:01:32 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/01/11/130132.php Trish Doherty1. Stephen Colbert coined the American Dialect Society's 2005 Word of the Year: "Truthiness." Sublime, no?2. His "On Notice" board, which lists the recipients of his threatening warnings to shape up, includes Lutherans, Grizzly Bears, The Black Hole at the Center of the Galaxy, 'Business Casual,' Barbra Streisand and Faberge Eggs. The E Street Band just had a reprieve.3. His "Dead to Me" board, which is -- duh -- self explanatory, includes CNN En Espanol, Owls, Bowtie Pasta, New York Intellectuals and Men with Beards. Among others.4. This man, the recipient of a Peabody Award, uses questionable terms like "grippy" and "trustigious" with righteous conviction that makes one wish we could all make up words...for our own TV shows.5. Colbert actually referenced Soylent Green in tonight's 'The Word' segment. Stephen and I...we're simpatico.Funny as hell. If you're not yet watching The Colbert Report, you should. And if you are? Good on you.Trish Doherty muses, mocks and tosses around entertainment opinion as if it were confetti over yonder at and i was the echo. Video42125@blogcritics.org Wed, 11 Jan 2006 13:01:32 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/12/21/140105.php Trish DohertyThroughout my college years, whenever my friends and I would get together to celebrate Christmas festivities over hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps, talk would inevitably lead to our favorite holiday TV specials. We'd talk Rudolph and Frosty, A Charlie Brown Christmas and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.But there'd be mutterings about yet another special, one for which we could only remember bits and pieces, because unlike Rudolph and the other standards, this one hadn't aired in years. Bear in mind, this is before the Internet was widely available, which meant looking something up on IMDB and Amazon was impossible, what with neither of them existing. So the one bit of information - a song called "Heat Miser" sung by a flame-haired little man - was no help. We'd weep for the brilliant piece of children's television that we'd never see again. True, our emotions were likely heightened by all of the schnapps. But still. I never imagined these words would be typed by my fingers, but thank God for ABC Family, which has once again brought this long-lost holiday special - the Rankin Bass production of The Year Without a Santa Claus - back to the airwaves. It is our good fortune that in this age of 19,487 channels, most are desperate for programming. And the network's "25 Days of Christmas" is running a ton of all-time favorites (as well as that horrible live-action Grinch movie and a rather disturbing Tom Arnold vehicle, but let's not go there). For the uninitiated, The Year Without a Santa Claus (or TYWASC, as its known in freaky fan circles) tells the tale of a year, long ago, when Santa - convinced no one cares about Christmas anymore (and in bed with what appears to be either the flu or menstrual cramps) - decides to cancel Christmas. Mrs. Claus, along with head elves Jingle and Jangle, hatches a scheme to change Santa's mind, and as you might imagine, all hell breaks loose. In this scenario, hell includes baby reindeer Vixen being disguised as a dog (and humiliated) by having her antlers covered with Jangle's dirty socks, and then being abducted by the dog catcher in Southtown, USA. Trust me; it's not any less confusing on the screen.The plot, in a nutshell, is this: If it snows in Southtown (which appears to have a Miami-type climate), the mayor will proclaim Christmas a national holiday for Santa. And in trying to make this happen, Mrs. Claus brings us face to face with the showstopper of the hour. We are introduced to Snow Miser, a tall, thin, big-nosed icicle of a man who apparently runs the weather for all of the Northern Hemisphere. He (literally) does his song and dance ("I'm Mr. White Christmas, I'm Mr. Snow...."), and when Mrs. Claus asks him to bring a snowstorm to Southtown, he says he'd be happy to oblige, but she'd first need his brother's approval, since that city is in his territory. It was at this point where I started noticing the subtle similarities of the Miser brothers and pharmaceutical reps. But I digress.Heat Miser greets Mrs. Claus with his own production number ("I'm Mr. Green Christmas, I'm Mr. Sun..."), and while it's very similar to Snow Miser's in both melody and lyrics, this version has more oomph. It's jazzier, and it kind of makes you want to do a striptease. There's also something about Heat Miser's huge head of flaming hair - and that of his wee minions - which outdoes the Snow Miser's performance. Heat Miser, being the rotund hothead he is, stubbornly will not allow for snow in his area unless he gets a sunny day at the North Pole. Much name-calling ensues ("tooty-fruity brother" and "flaming fool" were bandied about, which is either playfully bold or bigoted, I'm not sure which, considering this show was produced in 1974). So Mrs. Claus is forced to pull off the gloves and go straight to their mom...Mother Nature, of course. After maternal chastising, lightning bolts being ominously thrown and dutiful sons becoming complete momma's boys, an agreement is negotiated. Several musical numbers are featured in TYWASC - so much so that it often feels like a community theater production. And as a fan of Waiting for Guffman, I mean that in the best possible way. But not surprisingly, besides the Miser numbers, most of the songs are forgettable. That is, until Santa reads a letter from a little girl who's crushed that he's cancelled Christmas. Her feelings are expressed in a truly lovely rendition of "Blue Christmas." There's something plaintive and touching about the drawing the little girl makes of her sad face gazing out the window of her two-dimensional house, with a fat blue tear on her cheek. Even the big man in red gets a little weepy.It's this letter that ultimately convinces dear old St. Nick that taking a holiday at Christmas would be nonsense. There's a montage of reindeer being prepped, toys being packed, and the sleigh gliding right down Santa Claus Lane in Southtown, USA (which is nicely timed with the next song of the show - "Here Comes Santa Claus"). Townspeople clap. Everyone smiles. All is well and good and happy.That's when things get a little strange. Suddenly there's a scene with Santa springing out of bed, singing about how he, "dreamed unhappy things." This is followed by the delivery of toys and kids opening gifts and freaking out over new bicycles. So, what I get from this last scene is that the rest of the show, much like that infamous season of Dallas, was all a dream. Whuh? O...kay. I completely missed that plot point as a kid. As an hour-long special, TYWASC doesn't quite hold up in terms of songs and story. It would be nice if the Miser brothers had a holiday special all to themselves - and there's no doubt it would be massively popular. But thanks to their few brilliant moments of hot- and cold-running silliness, not to mention a warm dose of nostalgia, The Year Without a Santa Claus still merits a pause.The Year Without a Santa Claus is scheduled to re-air December 24, 2005, on ABC Family. Check your local listings. Trish Doherty mocks, sasses and gives finger puppets the power of speech at and i was the echo. Video41261@blogcritics.org Wed, 21 Dec 2005 14:01:05 EST