Peace on Earth / Little Drumme Boy - David Bowie / Bing Crosby

David Bowie and Bing Crosby made a surprisingly compelling team when they performed the tender duet Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy, made especially poignant in light of Crosby's death shortly thereafter.

A Christmas Carol

It's hard to beat George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge and David Warner as Bob Cratchit in my dad's favorite version of A Christmas Carol.  (It's a close second for me; the Muppets still have to top my list.)

The Promise - Michael Card

Michael Card delivers an album full of reverent reflections on the birth of Christ with The Promise.  My favorite tracks explore the emotions of those directly involved: Mary (What Her Heart Remembered), Joseph (Joseph's Song), the shepherds (Shepherds' Watch) and the Magi (We Will Find Him).

An Irish Christmas - The Irish Rovers

The Irish Rovers is one of my absolute all-time favorite bands, so I really love An Irish Christmas, which ranges in tone from the reflective Bells Over Belfast and Down Among the Bushes of Jerusalem to the raucous Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake and Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.

Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid

Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? gathered some of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s to help relieve the effects of famine in Africa. A little cheesy, but well-intentioned and exuberant.

A Green and Red Christmas - The Muppets

Although I prefer the classic John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, A Red and Green Christmas is an upbeat holiday album that should please those who can't get enough of Jim Henson's brilliant creations.

Christmas Eve and Other Stories - Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Trans-Siberian Orchestra is associated almost exclusively with Christmas, and Christmas Eve and Other Stories is the album that started that association, particularly Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24. They're known for their electrified arrangements of traditional carols, though my favorite track on the album is the unplugged original, Old City Bar.

Christmas Like a Lullaby - John Denver

John Denver is pretty much my favorite solo artist ever, so it caught me by surprise to discover Christmas Like a Lullaby, an album whose existence had escaped my attention for well over a decade. Though I prefer his two other Christmas albums, A Christmas Together (with the Muppets) and Rocky Mountain Christmas, this one is good too, especially the title track and The Children of Bethlehem.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Of all the movies in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the one I most associate with Halloween.  Maybe because of all the spiders.  It's also perhaps the funniest, thanks in large part to Kenneth Branagh, and the only movie so far whose ending I actually prefer to the book's.

Straight Outta Lynwood - Weird Al Yankovic

I don't like most modern music much, but I love Weird Al's spoofing of it in Straight Outta Lynwood. Don't Download This Song and White and Nerdy are particularly brilliant tracks.

A Thousand Different Ways - Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken offers up an album full of romance with A Thousand Different Ways.

Beach Boys Concert

I've never seen as many people stuffed into one small space in Erie as when I attended the Beach Boys concert.

Peter Paul and Mary Concert

Peter, Paul & Mary is perhaps the most magical concert I've ever attended. And dude, I've seen Simon and Garfunkel.

Must Pigs Fly Before This Farmer's Wife Gets a Little Help?

When you're as accomplished an artist as Arnold Lobel, what reason would there be for not illustrating one of your own books? I contemplated this when I borrowed the book A Treeful of Pigs from the library. As the illustrator is Anita Lobel, his wife, my guess is that they either dreamed up the idea together or that he wanted the opportunity to give her career a boost by collaborating with him. When two people in the same family have such talent, it seems natural that they would eventually join forces. At any rate, she's up to the task, and her vibrant drawings have a lovely folksy quality about them that perfectly complements the straightforward but silly story.

A Treeful of Pigs is not an I CAN READ book. It is presented in a considerably larger format, with plenty of room for the pictures that fill the pages. Every other page is entirely devoted to a picture, most of which depict the pudgy farmer (bearing a mustache and head of black hair reminiscent of Mario of Nintendo fame) lazing about in bed or reacting to the unusual antics of the pigs he convinced his wife to take in. The text is cleverly framed by another illustration, and these are a bit more stylized, with creative borders on top rather like the ones Jan Brett uses in so many of her books.

The story reads like a folk tale, and there are hints of the classic The Little Red Hen. A farmer sees a dozen pigs for sale and is eager to purchase them. When his wife objects, citing all the hard work raising them will require, the farmer assures her that the job will be simple, especially since they will be working together. When it comes time to actually take care of his newly acquired livestock, however, the farmer makes like Toad in several of Lobel's Frog and Toad books and unequivocally states his intention to remain in bed.

There is an enjoyable cadence to this book as the wife goes to the husband with her request that he assist her in some caretaking task and he responds by promising to help her some other time, providing a highly unusual set of circumstances by which that time is defined. The wife, determined and self-sufficient, performs the necessary tasks but also manages cleverly to bring to fruition her husband's unlikely scenarios, causing the pigs to bloom like flowers, dangle from a tree and fall from the sky like rain. Each time, however, the farmer goes back on his promise, and she has little recourse but to grumble about what a lazy husband she has.

Finally, annoyed by all the interruptions in his napping, the farmer wishes the pigs would just disappear. But when they actually do, he begins to appreciate how much his wife has done for him up to this point. This is a sweet and funny story about equality in marital relationships and making good on your promises. Enjoyable as the book is likely to be for kids, I think married couples might get an even bigger kick out of this silly but ultimately touching tale of cooperation and compromise.

Everyone is Good for Something, Sunbathing Alligators (or Crocodiles) Included

James Marshall is probably best known for his books about George and Martha, a pair of hippos who are very good friends. But he wrote quite a few books about a variety of different creatures, and Willis contains quite an array of animals within its pages. The titular character is an alligator - or is it a crocodile? Marshall never identifies his species for us, so we’re left to our own familiarity with reptilian biology on that one. Suffice it to say that Willis is a large, unhappy, scaly creature. Rather than lurking in a swamp as most of his species might be content to do, Willis insists on lounging on the beach. Unfortunately, his eyes aren’t so good, and they are extremely irritated by the sunlight. So instead of enjoying his exotic surroundings, he spends his days moping, and as the book opens, we find him dampening the sand with his salty tears.

 

Happily for him and us, three kind-hearted strangers happen upon him in his misery. The ring-leader is a large pink bird on a bicycle, and riding in baskets on either end are a snake and lobster, both green. Lobster doesn’t have much to say, fond as he is of going to sleep. Snake is a bit more talkative, and he’s very eager to help Willis purchase a pair of sunglasses for 29 cents so he can enjoy the beach like everyone else. But Bird is the real go-getter, and he has the logical idea that they should work to earn the remaining 19 cents, after the dime the snake has agreed to contribute.

What follows is a series of ridiculous mishaps as the new friends attempt several jobs, finding themselves hopelessly inept when it comes to each of them. Their disastrous efforts are amusing, as is the notion of buying something for 29 cents or being paid 19 cents for a grueling task. The illustrations are simplistic, flat and mostly limited to the same shades of pink, yellow and green. There is great whimsy in their lack of frills. I’m especially fond of one picture, in which we see Bird glaring disapprovingly down at Snake, who, with a pink ribbon around his neck, innocently hold a dime in his mouth as an offering to Willis to buy himself the comfort he seeks.

After all their misadventures, the friends wise up a bit by deciding to figure out just what it is that they are particularly good at. Unsurprisingly, Lobster announces that he excels at sleeping, and it’s rather logical that the Snake happens to be a good hypnotist. Willis and Bird have more unexpected talents, but each has something impressive to share, so they finally decide to earn the sunglasses by putting on a talent show (for which they build a stage, with no explanation as to where they found the money to do that…).

Willis is a story about perseverance and about making good use of your talents. But mostly, it’s the tale of four mismatched creatures who do a lot of silly things, and Marshall’s desire for kids to “laugh uncontrollably” when they read his books is likely to come to fruition as youngsters peruse the pages.

The Family Stone

In The Family Stone, a dysfunctional family convenes for Christmas, where a dark secret ultimately brings them closer together.

Paul Simon - Surprise

Paul Simon's Surprise is great, but that's no surprise, is it?

James Taylor Concert

James Taylor gives a warm and wonderful concert. Just wish our seats had been a little closer!

Emma's Revolution Concert

Emma's Revolution demonstrates that the folk movement is alive and well.

Running With Scissors - Weird Al Yankovic

The Saga Begins and Albuquerque make fantastic bookends for Weird Al's loony Running With Scissors.

LOST Season One

I saw the first season of LOST on DVD.  Pretty intense way to throw yourself into the experience.  I highly recommend it!

Probably Not the Pride and Joy of Austen Devotees

A few years back, I was introduced to the Jane Austen classic Sense and Sensibility. It quickly became one of my favorite books, and Emma Thompson's masterful adaptation one of my favorite movies. My experience with Austen has been limited otherwise, so when I heard about the new version of Pride and Prejudice hitting movie theaters, I was sufficiently intrigued to want to see it. I finally got a chance last week, and while I know enough Austen devotees to know that I should probably be head over heels for the story, this particular version failed to grab me. It was enjoyable enough but didn't impress me nearly as much as Sense and Sensibility. I think it's time I tried my luck with the mini-series.

This latest version of Pride and Prejudice stars Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennett, a feisty young woman in no hurry to be married off. Her mother (Brenda Blethyn) has other ideas. Elizabeth is one of five daughters, and Mrs. Bennett would like nothing better than to see them all settled with rich and well-respected husbands. She's the right mix of irritating and well-intentioned to be comical but not repugnant. She's annoying, to be sure, but there's little doubt that she cares about her daughters. Still, Mr. Bennett (Donald Sutherland) is a much more sympathetic figure. We get the sense he's spent his life being bullied by his wife, and he mostly tries to keep a low profile and not stir up her anger, though he is willing to step out of his submissive role when the subject calls for it. He and Elizabeth have an especially close relationship, so he is unwilling to let his wife force their daughter into a decision that would make her miserable.

Over the course of the film, Elizabeth has three potential suitors. The first is the laughably unsuitable Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander), a short, nervous preacher desperate for a wife, though it doesn't much matter who. Then there is Mr. Wickham (Rupert Friend), a dashing guardsman who Elizabeth rather likes until his actions betray him as a libertine. The third and most important is Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), whose dour demeanor and insulting remarks upon their first meeting cause Elizabeth to loathe him for life, or so she swears. Yet for all her indignation, there is an undeniable attraction and the lingering possibility that she has misjudged his character.

Secondary to Elizabeth's romantic trials are those of her sister Jane (Rosamund Pike), who is certain she has found instant love with Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods), an affable and clumsy redhead who is a good friend of Mr. Darcy. Their relationship progresses smoothly, despite the disapproval of Mr. Bingley's sister Caroline (Kelly Reilly) - a character every bit as aggravating as Sense and Sensibility's Fanny Dashwood but not as funny - until he suddenly backs off, leaving Jane distraught and Elizabeth furious. It's perhaps a fault of this movie that I am fonder of Mr. Bingley, who strikes me as a bit of a cross between Fred of A Christmas Carol as well as Edward of Sense and Sensibility, than I am of Mr. Darcy, who is supposed to be one of the most compelling romantic characters in all of literature. My favorite character, though, is the beleaguered Mr. Bennett, and truth be told I'm more moved by his relationship with Elizabeth than Mr. Darcy's.

The film is pretty-looking, though again, I prefer the cinematography in Sense and Sensibility and the sense of intimacy that is achieved there. Here, we spend more time in settings in which there are many people, and as a result I found it harder to connect to individuals. Additionally, while I usually have no difficulty understanding British accents, even in period pieces, I caught myself having to strain here. I know that Pride and Prejudice is considered one of the great works of literature, British or otherwise, and I know that adaptations often fall short, so I'm not going to judge the book on the movie. But in the immortal words of Randy Jackson, "It was just a-ight for me."

Here's Looking At Me! - Alvin and the Chipmunks

Here's Looking at Me! is not my favorite album by Alvin and the Chipmunks, but it's still pretty decent.

The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree - VeggieTales

Bob, Larry, Junior Asparagus and the whole gang gather for The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree, an album that spoofs American Idol and ultimately emphasizes the importance of keeping Christ in Christmas.