Freakiest thing I've seen/heard in some time

So this morning at 5 AM I was startled awake by the loudest, scariest, ground-shakingest sound that I've ever heard. I quickly jumped out of bed as numerous car alarms in the neighborhood went off, put my glasses on and looked out my window to the snowy streets below.
I initially had 2 thoughts when the earthshakingly loud bang woke me - the first was that the new townhouses that are being built across the street from me somehow had some structural damage that caused them to collapse; the second thought was that a plane had crashed on the way to/from SeaTac.
But as I looked outside, besides from the heavy snow coming down and a few curtains being pulled back by neighbors to turn off car alarms and to check what the deal was, there wasn't anything amiss. I still had power so I knew it wasn't the transformer on the corner blowing out - what the hell had happened?!
I got my answer a couple of minutes later when, still looking out the window, I saw a bright flash of light hit the street shaking the ground, followed within seconds by the horrific booming clap of thunder. Thunder and lightning during a snow storm!!! The snow eerily made the lightning look like an alien space laser. I guess I've never been that close to lightning hitting the ground so I never knew how powerful and ground-shaking it could be. And as rare as thunder and lightning is out here in the Pacific NW, I've never heard of either happening during a snow storm or blizzard - that doesn't really make a lot of "Physics" sense to me, but oh well.

It scared my two pets enough for them to want to (temporarily) share the same sleeping space. I seriously think the dog thought the world was coming to an end.

Pet Peeve Commercial - "White Diamonds" Perfume

White Diamonds Commercial

Okay, this commercial was annoying back when it first premiered...in 1987! But's it's even more ridiculous to watch it now in present day.

It's so over the top and over dramatic. "These have always brought me luck." Uggh. And La Liz's hair! It's so tragically 80s. As cheesy as this ad is, it does have a pretty high production value. I've always wondered how much money was thrown down to make this schlock.

For whatever reason, this dated commercial is dusted off every year around the holidays. In the hopes that some sucker that doesn't know what to buy their grandma, mid-western mother, favorite drag queen, will be inspired to run down to the local drug store and buy a bottle of this crap. Let me tell you - it smells AWFUL. Like cat piss mixed with lemon Pledge.

Do yourself a favor folks, enjoy the commercial in an ironic way but do not waste your money on this stuff. Sorry Liz.

New York New York, a hell of a town...

After surviving one of the worse descents I've ever experienced on a plane, I arrived in NY's Penn Station yesterday evening, spit out of the NJ rail system with a mass of people. Some like me, coming from Newark Int'l airport; others on their way to the Rangers game at MSG; still others maybe on their way home from seeing relatives in Jersey.

I'm here at the start of my two week plan to "relax" and "do things for me". The plan was to go away for a week, and then spend a week at home doing a sort of stay-cation. So far I already feel more relaxed so maybe it's working. Looking forward to catching up with old friends and not having a schedule for once. Let's see if "not having a plan" works out, or drives me insane.

Danny Kaye and Fred Astaire are DIFFERENT PEOPLE

So in the past 6 hours I've experienced a very strange phenomenon -

People mistaking the movie "White Christmas" for the movie "Holiday Inn".

Now both movies star Bing Crosby; and "White Christmas" is based loosely on "Holiday Inn", but if you've seen either film it's impossible to mistake one for another.

Holiday Inn (1942) - is a black and white film that stars Fred Astaire (see: right) with Crosby and features the great music of Irving Berlin. It's basically about a famous song and dance team that breaks up when Bing's character decides to give up show business to move to a farm in Vermont and eventually comes up with an idea to open a nightclub at his farm that is only open on public holidays, hence "Holiday Inn". The movie features amazingly clever songs by Berlin for the popular holidays like Thanksgiving to the most obscure holidays like Lincoln's birthday (the performance of which in the movie, done in blackface, is considered today to be racist and un-PC).

Of course the most famous tune to come from this film is the classic, nostalgic "White Christmas" which became an enduring #1 song and propelled the film to great success. It even inspired the start of a national chain of hotels.

White Christmas (1954) - 12 years later still riding the immense success of the classic Christmas song, Paramount decided to do a full-blown technicolor musical with Crosby, Rosemary Clooney and Danny Kaye. Although featuring the titular song and also featuring a Vermont inn, that's basically where the similarities end.

That's why it's so strange that twice this evening I heard people talking about "White Christmas" the movie when they were really referencing "Holiday Inn". Once was by the emcee at a charity auction, who I sort of forgave because he was telling such a boring story about something that I just chalked it up to him being drunk and confused.

Then when I got home I turned on the tv to see an ad on NBC for an upcoming special called "The Greatest Holiday Moments" where they once again described the plot of "White Christmas" while showing clips from "Holiday Inn". Grrrrr...so frustrating.

Now I know that I'm probably the only one noticing this shit, and that it's really lame of me to get so worked up about it; but that's me. I like to keep my holiday movies separate.

Holiday Music

Happy December!

I traditionally wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start listening to my own holiday music collection. But pretty much from the day you start cooking your turkey and dressing you can count on hearing holiday music in all of the stores, malls, elevators etc. and everywhere you go you're subjected to this zombie-state inducing onslaught.
This year I inadvertently got an early start to the Christmas music exposure because the radio station that I wake up to every morning started playing holiday songs on November 13! Every year, Warm 106.9 exclusively plays only holiday songs (well they say "holiday" but it's really Christmas songs; I haven't heard a Channukah one yet) until the end of the year. In years past they've waited until a decent part of November to start this monotonous torture (I mean seriously they repeat the songs on a daily basis) but this year they turned the insanity up a notch starting so soon after Halloween.

My KRWM station has reminded me of the holiday songs that I love and the ones that I hate. And over the past few days as I've gone through my own holiday music collection I've weeded out songs that have lost the magic and encountered new music that are destined to be classics in my holiday library.

Classic Favorites:

• Pretty much anything by Andy Williams but especially "Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and "Do You Hear What I Hear" (Andy's is the only version of "Hear" that counts IMO).
• "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by Vince Guaraldi. Nothing better. Period. Guaraldi's "Greensleeves" reminds me of my mom so much that I get very verklempt listening to it.
• "Christmas Potrait" from the Carpenters. Reminds me so much of my childhood that for me it's the definition of "holiday nostaligia".
• "These Are The Special Times" by Celine Dion. I know I know...but seriously hear me out. This holiday album is amazing (except for the version of Feliz Navidad - see below). And don't give me grief for calling it a classic. It is.
• "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway. Only his version of this please.

New stuff and Uncommon oldies that I dig and can't do the season without:

• Any and all versions of the song "Christmas Waltz". I don't know what it is about this tune but as I hear the beginning "frosted window panes..." I am immediately in a better mood.
• In that same vain, I've never heard a version of "My Favorite Things" that I don't love. But damn Barbra Streisand for putting this on her Christmas album 3o years ago and turning it into a holiday song. What would Oscar Hammerstein think?
• James Taylor's versions of "Some Children See Him" and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". The first is a song that I only knew from Andy Williams but Taylor's version released a couple of years ago is so wonderful. The latter is a song that has generally worn out its welcome with me and jeezus have you ever really listened to the words? Very depressing. But Taylor's version (he changes the lyrics a little) manages to be poignant and hopeful.
• Kenny Loggins's "Celebrate Me Home" and Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne". I lump these together because, well because in many ways, Dan and Kenny are like the same 70s bearded sensitive songwriter dude. But also because these two songs remind me of my mother.
• "Last Christmas" by Wham! and "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses. 80s classics that if I don't hear? It ain't Christmas.
• "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey. So infectious and awesome.
• New millenium Folk girl holiday music from the likes of Mindy Smith, Brandi Carlile, Jessie Baylin, Sara Barleilles and the like.

And now a brief list of holiday songs that I can't stand and never have to hear again:

• Feliz Navidad - Makes me homicidal.
• Silent Night - so grating. No version sounds good to me.
• Little Drummer Boy - ditto. All versions make me want to "par rum papum pum" on somebody.
• Wonderful Christmastime. I used to love this McCartney tune and I never understood what people hated about it. I don't know when that changed; now I seriously can't hear more than one measure without getting a migraine.
• I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. Seriously? I wish I could go back in time to prevent this song from being written. See also: "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".
• Pretty much anything that I consider "kiddie Xmas". Like crap about Rudolph, Frosty, blah blah blah.
• Most Xmas "novelty" songs. I don't care to hear about grandmas getting run over by reindeer or chipmunks singing, or any of that other shit.

Now I'm off to listen to Lou Rawls's version of "Christmas Is". Have a great December!