Day 13) M is for Merry Christmas: Choose a Christmas themed book you have to read every year
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
As you know I have loved to read since an early age
And one book I have been reading since a child, and every year around the holidays is How the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
I know I have gone on and on about this book in the past, so I’m sure you think that the post will be done quickly, with just these few words…
Majorly
You all know how obsessed I was with the book; from watching the animated film:
To the live action film:
To eating boxes of cereal to send away enough proofs of purchase to get a Grinch keychain.
But why am I obsessed with it?
The reason why I love this story, read it over and over; is that I just can not get enough of the message behind it.
The moral of the Grinch is that all can be touched by the true spirit of Christmas. Christmas is more than ribbons, tags, packages, boxes or bags. It is more than the presents, trees, the dinner you feast on, candy, etc. It is about love:
And that love surpasses all and can change any old Scrooge or Grinch into a better person.
I have also just discovered that December 25th marks the 60th anniversary of this story. Happy Anniversary Grinch pal!
Out of all the Dr. Seuss books, this was the one I used to read over and over and over again. I just couldn’t get enough of that grumpy grinch.
Or 10th, 50th, 100th….
One year I even ate a ton of a certain type of cereal just to send away for a special Grinch keychain.
So of course one of my all-time holiday favorites is to watch the How the Grinch Stole Christmas the 1960s version.
It was a great animated feature with Boris Karloff narrating. Besides just fantastically bringing to life the Seussian story, it has one fantastic song.
This song was written by Dr. Seuss, composed by Albert Hague, and sung by Thurl Ravenscroft.
So much awesome. This song just embodies who he is.
I’m so glad they brought back for the live action film, which I also went to see as soon as it was out in theaters, this version being covered by Jim Carrey.
Say what you want about that movie but man was the makeup fantastic! He looks just like the illustration!
We had to take a break with the 30 Day Challenge of August, but now that it has ended, every Sunday with be a fangirl countdown post. At least for September, when October comes it is all about the Horror films, so we will have to take a break once again.
Dr. Seuss
Ah Dr. Seuss. There is so much to say, but no words exist to describe how much I love you Dr. Seuss and all your works. You were such an amazing writer and such a HUGE part of my childhood.
I’m not going to write about every book, as that would be too much, but instead going to talk about my three favorite books.
The Cat in the Hat– Too iconic to pass by. Such a cute book about the consequences of our actions, and who can’t love that adorable Cat?
Bartholomew and the Oobleck– In this book, the sequel to Bartholomew and His 500 Hats, Barthlomew is living in the castle and life is doing good. That is until the King wants something different from the sky. He’s tired of rain, snow, sunshine, etc. He gets his magic men to create something new, Oobleck. It is kind of a Frankenstein of the sky, a story on how you should never try to be “bigger than your britches”, and absolutely adorable.
The Sneetches & Other Tales-Some of the Sneetches have stars on their bellies and some do not. Those with Stars think they are better than all the others. When a man comes to town who promises that for a great deal, he can give the starless Sneetches stars; they pay up. Now the orginals are upset and pay to get their’s removed. This becomes an endless cycle until all the Sneetches’ money is gone and no one knows who was orginally born first stars and who wasn’t. A great tale about being happy being you, and that no one is better than others because of their looks.
And my all time favorite!!!! The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. I used to read this story over and over and over again, as I just loved that grumpy grinch. One year I ate a ton of a certain type of cereal just to send away for a special Grinch keychain. Sadly, I lost it though in one of my moves. The Grinch hates Christmas and decides to destroy and end the holiday, ruining the holiday for all the Whos. However, the Grinch finds out what the true spirit of christmas is, whether he wants to or not.
What can I say? I’m a Bond girl (fan not film star). Aw James Bond. Where to start?
Whenever I think of Bond the first thing that comes to mind is my brother. He was a HUGE James Bond fan and we used to watch the movies together when I was younger. Of course I could only watch them on TV and had to leave at certain points, (when he began to get it on with a lady). I remain a fan today and have seen every single film with Bond, James Bond.
My favorite Bonds are without a doubt Sean Connery (the first and the all-time best), Timothy Dalton (the handsomest of them all), and Pierce Brosnan (cool and elegant).
Jimmy Stewart
Aw James “Jimmy” Stewart. One of my all-time favorite actors. It started with a few movies, then I read a biography, and before you knew it: I WAS Obsessed.
Let’s start with the fact that he is tall, dark, and handsome.
The kindest and most adorable man ever!
Not to mention being the first actor to sign up for WWII, choosing to fight for his country rather than live in privilege as other suffered.
He’s perfect!
I love all his work, but if I talked about them all it would take way, way, way too long. Now which one should I pick? I mean he was in Westerns, Comedies, Drama, Alfred Hitchcock films, Mysteries: his screenography is a little bit of everything. How can I pick a favorite out of so many, many cinematic masterpieces? I can’t it’s too hard. So I’m going to pick a few, and I promise just a few.
After the Thin Man
This sequel to The Thin Man is the only film Jimmy Stewart was in that was radically different from any role he has ever played. After the Thin Man has Detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora, back in her home town of San Francisco. There they stumble onto a murder and try to save their friend from going to jail, believing in her innocence. Jimmy Stewart plays a secondary character, but steals the scene in one of his earliest roles
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
This film was supposed to be a sequel to Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, but when Gary Cooper was unable to reprise his role; it became a film about an ordinary, sweet, guy being chosen as a senator and going to capital hill to shake up the greed and corruption. This film is the essence of Stewart’s own beliefs and one incredibly powerful film.
It’s A Wonderful Life
I’ve already written on this film three times- twice for my Valentine’s Day posts and for one of my Christmas countdowns. This film is just amazing as it shows the complete stretch of Stewart’s talent. A man who has only ever wanted to leave his town, but finds himself constantly being stuck there. He goes through incredible obstacles, with one ultimately bad day causing him to wish he had never been born. When his wish is granted, he discovers that everyone’s life would be way worse without him. Let me tell you, there is a reason why this film has been parodied, remade, and referenced in film and television.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Probably one of the best Westerns of all time, it stars John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Jimmy Stewart is Ransom, a lawyer from the East intent on bringing justice and civility to the West. He encounters Liberty Valence, a horrible outlaw, and has to contend with his own morals on whether he should continue the lawful way, or follow the way of the territories, taking justice into his own hands. He is just amazing in it!
Those are all I’m going to pick as it was hard enough choosing those four, and I don’t want to be writing for the next year on why he is so amazing.
I was watching Monk at the time and dabbled in a few TheDead Zone episodes, but this new show Psych? I just wasn’t sure. Then one day it was re-airing that week’s episode Shawn (and Gus) of the Dead (season 2 episode 16). In this a supposed Mummy comes back to life. I found the show absolutely hilarious and started watching it all the time. That is until they mentioned the last season. I stopped watching as I didn’t want it to end right away.
Last year, I decided it was time and completely went on a spree watching every episode ever, through my computer and Netflix.
I just love this show so much. Why did it have to end? I mean it just gets me. From the love of ’80s, film references, music, comedy: ah I just adore it so, so, so darn much. *sigh* WHY, WHY, WHY did it have to go?
Why? Why!
So the show is about Shawn Spencer (James Roday) who is just your average guy, except for one thing. He has a photographic memory. His father was a cop and honed a thousand such skills, like psychology of body language, how to detect liars, etc in him. He rebelled from his father and left his home of Santa Barbara, CA to travel all over. When he returns, he is able to solve tons of crimes just from watching the news reports. When the cops get suspicious on how he is doing it, thinking he is actually committing some of these crimes, he lies and says he is a psychic. Soon he has roped his best friend since childhood, Burton “Gus” Guster into being a part of his crime solving crew, and the duo become consultants for the SBPD (Santa Barbara Police Department). Now a lot of my favorite characters I have actually posted about in my 2014 Saint Patrick’s Day post, At the End of the Rainbow: 17 More Irish Heroes, but I’m still going over my favorite characters anyway.
Shawn Spencer
Shawn can be a jerk, childish, selfish, and a bit whiney at times; but all in all he is one pretty cool guy. He may be a goofball, but he is also highly intelligent, passing the detective test 100% at age 15, often feeling that things are too easy for him. He has great taste in films and music, making all these references that I absolutely adore. While he often uses Gus; his money, car, etc; he cares for his friend and would do anything for him. As the series progresses, Shawn matures; refraining from his previous extreme narcissistic tendencies. He and Juliet start dating in the last few seasons, this relationship really changing his childish ways, but not too much, as Juliet’s level-head and stable life works really well with Shawn.
Burton “Gus” Guster
Gus and Shawn have been best friends forever. He is smart, intelligent, and typically the saneer one of the two. After high school he went to college and became a pharmaceuticals rep, doing quite well for himself. When Shawn returned from his adventures, Gus was quickly swept up into his quirky ways. Out of the two, Gus is the researcher, planner, bill payer: i.e. responsible. While Shawn solves the crimes, Gus is the one who typically comes up with the information that is key to solving it. He is hilarious and adorable, the perfect balance in all that is Shawn and Gus.
Juliet “Jules” O’Hara
Jules is the young police officer who moves from Miami to Santa Barbara when Carlton Lassitar’s old partner is transferred. Jules may be a very pretty, bubbly, sweet, rainbow-sunshine kind of girl; but she is not just bubbles and fizz, but also a very deep and intelligent person.
She has scored the highest on the detective test (second to photographic memory Shawn), beating Carlton Lassitar. She also is fluent in Spanish, due to her time in Miami. While she is gentle and sweet, she can be gruff and unmoving when she needs to be; holding her own and not allowing anyone to walk over her. She and Shawn Spencer end up getting together and her stability and his goofiness work well together.
Carlton Lassiter
Now I have a huge TV crush on Carlton Lassiter, its a little hard not to. He is pretty awesome and handsome (played by Timothy Omundson). Carlton is a strictly by the book kind of guy; SB law, the Constitution, NRA, etc. He is a great cop, a bit old fashioned, but stubborn, persistent, etc. He is a huge Clint Eastwood fan, wishing he could be Dirty Harry or Tom Highway. He also loves Westerns and wants to be a modern day cowboy. He is a huge Civil War history buff and takes part in reenactments. He knows how to shoot like every type of gun and has built up a immunity to chloroform.
However, the best thing about him is how strongly he throws himself into relationships. He does everything he can to try and work things out with his ex-wife (really not wanting to get a divorce). True he did cheat on her with his old partner, but they had been separated for quite some time and she was porking around with someone else. (Doesn’t make it right but it is understandable). However, the best thing was when his girlfriend was arrested and imprisoned (she stole blood from a blood bank for her sick brother), he went and visited her every time he was allowed to. Nothing kept him from being there or true to her. He also did everything he could to free her from the jail. So sweet! 🙂
And who can forget the amazing singing done on this program?
I love Ray Bradbury. He is one of my all-time favorite writers. He is just so amazing and his work unbelievable.
So I first was introduced to him through the film Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian future film.
It’s a powerful film and when my mother told me it was based on a book, I was like I HAVE to read that. I did, and I loved it!
The story is set in the future. All people are really concentrated are on reality shows, entertainment that mean nothing, and no one reads (sound familiar?). In fact the firemen jobs are not to put out fires, but to burn books and libraries. Guy Montag is a fireman that has started to wonder about the books. He picks one and starts reading it.
And before you know it he is hooked. Stealing books and hiding them all over his house.
His neighbor also gets him interested in thinking outside the box and about real things. However, it’s not long before he is found out and has to go on the run, hoping to find the place where people become books. That is they have memorized one book completely and recite it, so that it may never be lost. Oh I love this book so much and read it over and over and over.
Or 10th, 50th, 100th….
He wrote many other novels and short stories, some of which were turned into episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. Out of his other books, my favorites are The Illustrated Man, in which a man is covered in tattoos, each telling a story. They range from funny, thoughtful, and downright creepy. Children talking to aliens and planning on taking over the world, a man getting a copy of himself so he “can have fun” only for the marionette to want to completely take over his life, and more. The Machineries of Joy, mushrooms really being alien spores trying to take over you, priests going to space, etc. And The Martian Chronicles, a collection about the colonization of Mars. They are just amazing.
And these are just a few, there are a ton more of his stories and novels, I haven’t been able to even read them all yet.
This quote is from the western film The Shootist, the last film John Wayne ever made. In it a dying gunslinger, Wayne, is looking for a way to spend his last days in the most dignified and the least painful way. He stars opposite Lauren Bacall, boarding house owner, and Ron Howard, her son. John Wayne also chose Jimmy Stewart to star opposite of him in this film as the doctor. It’s an awesome film, check it out!
Anyways, the motto of John Wayne’s character is:
And I quickly adopted it myself.
As a kid I was bullied a lot, and when I was able to overcome that I swore I would never let anyone make me feel horrible again. I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t treat others that way and I expect the same from all.
I know this was probably not what you were expecting at all. I bet you all where expecting Eleanor Roosevelt or Dr. Seuss; but no. When I saw this film, those lines just resonated in me. After all, no one says it better than the Duke.
To start the 30 Day Challenge from the beginning, go to Musical Madness
janeaustenrunsmylife 