From the memes that went around, I noted many of us like the movie A Christmas Story. Some of you may not be aware that the movie was based on the book written by Jean Shepherd "In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash." Shepherd wrote many humorous books and magazine articles in his day, and he was also a long time radio jockey. You might have fun checking out this website Flick Lives, and in particular enjoy listening to some of the archives from his shows. The Real Audio downloads work quite well for "real time" even with dial-up. For the rest of you...."Never mind."
14 comments:
Thanks Karen! It was listed as my favorite move :-) Glad to see others with good taste too ha ha ha.
You are such a font of knowledge.
Glad you guys liked the link. He was a real character. He did talk radio before there WAS talk radio from mid 50s until well in the 70s. The shows stay up for only so long. He and PJ O'Rourke make me laugh out loud.
Now I'll have to check into him! The Christmas Story is one of my favorite movies. It is the absolute best and a classic. I even bought it for my dad who used to howl with laughter when he watched it. The "Fra-gee-lay" part was almost as funny as mom having to put the lamp in the living room window!
Swiss, if you love PJO'Rourke, you'll love Jean Shepherd and his collected works there are about 4 of them. "Wandy Hicky" "Ferrari" "IN GOD WE TRUST" and others..
I was one of a relative few who actually saw it in the theatre it had a short run. I was shopping just before Thanksgiving or a little after, it was afternoon, I had nothing "To do" and said "Hey, what's playing in the little 5 plex at the mall?" Walked by and saw the poster of Ralphie in his pink bunny suit...knowing NOTHING about it but figured..."what the heck" I walked into what was to become one of my all time holiday favs. I immediate told my friend Jane and her two boys and I went and saw it again. Lord...it's really not so much about Christmas as just growing up PERIOD. Particularly in America...so much of that still resonates with kids today. "Go ahead, I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA...[stick your tongue to this frozen pole]" "Flick? Flick who?"
I loved the bit with the lamp and she went back to turn the lamp out to "save electricity: ....naturally EVERY OTHER LAMP in the house is On. And let's not forget the parental "where did you hear that language from?" [Uh, dad... everyday?]
There's some hysterically funny stuff about the Bumpus family in the other books. And of course, Ralphie's classic reaction to his first little Orphan Annie decoded message. Who DIDn'T send away for something like that in childhood? What school didn't have a Scott Farkus? He's got a ton of other stories in the other books...a great one about the Indy 500 et al. My parents howled too. Is there a mother alive who didn't have a "you'll shoot your eye out" reservation re: BB guns? My parents would have been about the same age as Ralphie.
I think I have a Church display which will make you gag more than your sea of red 2 weeks before Christmas, and it falls into being as kitchey as the lamp in your post. After a LOOOONG absence from my parish (for reasons best left to God, my confessor, and me) I went to Confession Saturday evening, and what should be present, to my horror, but a number of what can be best described as "Dreamcatcher Christmas Stars". (If you don't know what a dreamcatcher is go here:http://dreamcatcher.com/home.php?cat=1 They were some kind of circumscribed 5 pointed stars with a pair of dagling somethings off the bottom. They might have been palatable (and maybe even tasteful) if they hadn't been made of blinking, bulb type colored lights which reminded me of pictures of Indian Gaming Casinos! I tried to find pictures on the Internet so you could experience the full effect BUT NO ONE SEEMS TO BE SELLING THESE MONSTROCITIES (or at least has enough taste to admit to selling them!)
Oh, GOD, AA -- please dear God, let there be a digital camera in the works for this Christmas (are you listening Ms. Claus? -- you're getting a puppy) so you can take some pics and post them!!!!
I'd love to see an actual *catholic church* kitted out like this so I can show the Sainted Msgr. S. that there were worse things to suffer than we did!
Karen
I'll have to see if I can find my camera (I hope its not in storage). Unfortunately it doesn't take streaming pictures so you can have the full effect...
Just stopping by to wish you a WONDERFUL and blessed Christmas. I was going to wish you a nice white Christmas, but that would be kind of evil on a day like today ;}
It's sure white here!
Merry Christmas, Kar!
Oops, forgot to wish you a very blessed and Merry Christmas, Karen!!
Happy Christmas, Karen!
Karen, I got to tthe children's Mass this PM and our garish stars were gone, but I found out what they were doing there. Apparently the parish had a "Simbang Gabi" Mass Friday which is a Filipino custom. The stars apparently are called "Parol" and Wikipedia has an article about them here (with examples, but none as garish as the one's I saw) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parol
You'll also love what the pastor said during his homliy. He asked the kids who came tonite. Of course they said "Santa Claus" and he said "that's right". And nothing else.Excuuuuuuse me! Someone Else ALSO comes tonite!
I'm going to pour me a Big Baileys and drown my discust. I suggest you do the same!
Have yourself a Very Merry CHRISTmas, Karen!
AA: You and Digi HAVE to come down soon. Make sure it's for the 5:15 Sunday Mass and give me a heads up when you come!
Karen
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