Some impressive stuff, that Syriana. Top-notch acting all around, especially by my main man George Clooney and most notably by Jeffrey Wright, an actor-chameleon if ever there was one.
A chunk of the movie went over my head (chalk that up to fatigue after a long day of work), but despite that, it registered loud and clear. Syriana, a searing indictment of the worldwide oil industry, is one of the most intelligent movies I’ve seen all year. A–
Over the past two weeks or so I’ve had quite a few discussions about the Very Marty Christmas CDs and all the work that goes into making the disc every year (this is year six). I’ve been joking that when put together, the CDs would make one hell of a boxed set. I mean, really: considering that each disc is nearly 80 minutes of music, you could start playing them all (in sequence) at noon on Christmas Day and have enough music to last until almost 7:30 p.m. That would be one holly, jolly Christmas!
Anyway, so it’s led me to consider compiling a “best of the box” CD for those who have not been a part of the fun for all these years. However, until that day arrives when I actually burn this “best of” CD, here is a list of what I would consider to be the 20 essential holiday tunes that would be on my Ultimate Very Marty Christmas CD, in no particular order:
1. Darlene Love, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” — The best Christmas record of all time, in my humble opinion. Not even U2’s cover can touch Darlene Love’s original. She sings it every year on Late Show with David Letterman and will be doing so this Friday night. Set your DVR.
2. Donny Hathaway, “This Christmas” — Simply, a soulful classic.
3. Mariah Carey, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” — A good, old fashioned Mariah Carey tune that totally puts you in the holiday mood. This is an irresistible confection; it’s undeniably catchy and hard to dislike.
4. Stevie Wonder, “That’s What Christmas Means to Me” — It’s hard to choose between this song and Stevie’s “Someday at Christmas,” but like Mariah Carey’s track, this song is also irresistibly upbeat and catchy.
5. John Lennon, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” — Of course. The Corrs’ cover of this song is also quite good.
6. Band Aid, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” — Untouchable. As last year’s remake proved, it’s hard to improve upon the original, though Barenaked Ladies do a really fun cover of this song live.
7. Andy Williams, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” — Duh. Like there was any question about including this one.
8. Harry Connick, Jr., “Sleigh Ride” — Had to make a tough choice here. A song by Harry has been on every one of my mixes because his two Christmas CDs are my two favorites of all-time. If they’re not in your collection, buy them now.
9. Jose Feliciano, “Feliz Navidad” — Why not?
10. NSync, “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” — What? It’s Christmas, cut me some slack.
11. Ray Charles, “Winter Wonderland” — The gold standard rendition of one of the most popular Christmas songs.
12. Bruce Springsteen, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” — A big, boisterous cover.
13. The Eagles, “Please Come Home for Christmas” — Not a happy song, but an essential nevertheless.
14. Tom Petty, “It’s Christmas All Over Again” — Yeah, again.
15. John Williams, “Carol of the Bells” — Sure, this song will stick out on the mix, but it’s one I just love listening to.
16. Britney Spears, “My Only Wish (This Year)” — You’ve gotta hear it to know what I’m talking about. This is old school Britney, the sweet, pop music kind.
17. James Taylor, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” — A gentle voice makes this song even warmer.
18. Ron Sexsmith, “Maybe This Christmas” — Short, sweet, and to the point.
19. Jimmy Buffett, “Mele Kalikimaka” — This one’s pure novelty. It’s a dose of summer at the coldest time of year.
20. Rufus Wainwright, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” — A song of longing, one that ends any mix with a cliffhanger. I also love Vonda Shepard’s version.
Alright, there are plenty, plenty more great holiday songs, but as I’m going through the first five mixes, those are the ones that stand out. And hey, I’m the one making the mix here. You want to suggest a “best of” mix? Go right ahead.
And of course, perhaps this raises a question for you: What’s on this year’s mix? Well, I think it may just be a perfect mix of classic, contemporary, jolly, rocking, upbeat, downbeat, and bittersweet tunes. And, there’s a Hanukkah song on it! I can’t wait for people to finally hear it. I’m putting them in the mail on Tuesday, so midweek, I’ll post the final list. Stay tuned.
Wow. Is King Kong ever a cool movie. It’s three hours long, and every consecutive hour is better than the last. In fact, when Kong battles not one, not two, but three T. Rexes midway through the movie, you’ve already forgotten how endlessly long the first hour felt. And, just when you think you’ve seen the money scene, Peter Jackson shows you another. And another. And another. And then he leaves you in awe with the truly awesome climax atop the Empire State Building. Naomi Watts’ performance breaks your heart because she makes you really care for Kong — particularly in a scene where they watch a sunset together. I loved how cool New York circa 1933 looked, and I also got a big kick out of the fact that Andy Serkis served as the model for Kong’s movements and also plays one of the ship’s crew members (actually, he also gets the film’s goriest death at the hands — or rather, the mouths of some giant-sized slugs). So there you go: no surprise, King Kong gets high marks from me: an A–.
Ladies and gentlemen, after enduring four days of a cold, I have found the miracle cure. Believe it or not, it’s chocolate. Yes, chocolate. I’m not sure if it’s the sugar rush or the cacao or what, but ever since the early afternoon when I started breaking off pieces of a chocolate moose we had sitting around near the office kitchen (yes, that kind of moose), I have felt significantly better.
I started with just a shaving from the ear. And then I went back and had a little chunk. Later, I was slicing into the nose. This was good chocolate. And it certainly did the trick.
In previous years when I’ve had a cold, I’ve credited my miracle (eventually) speedy recovery to all manner of sweets — cake, for example. So in all seriousness, I think it may just be that my body was in some form of withdrawl and needed a taste of what it’s used to. Is that crazy? I mean, I know for a fact that my body was rundown and that’s largely to blame for why I had the cold to begin with. And in the past few days, I haven’t been eating much of anything. So even though I did have a runny, stuffy nose and a cough and aches, etc., my body was out of sorts in other ways. Now granted, I don’t think that if I went on a diet and stopped eating cake and candy, that my body wouldn’t be able to handle it. On the other hand, I’m sure that if I did some digging around medical web sites, I could find something to back up my claim.
I’ve asked multiple people — pharmacists at CVS, friends, my mother — and everyone always has a different answer for what to take for a cold. In the past week, I’ve tried Sudafed, Cold-EEZE, Nyquil, and plenty of orange juice. While I was starting to feel a little bit better this morning, none of those things had the effect on me that the chocolate has had. No kidding.
Granted, I am still coughing intermittently, and I don’t feel perfect, but my breathing seems to have returned to normal and I’m hoping that after a good night’s sleep tonight (God willing), I should be raring to go tomorrow. Woo hoo!
All I really have to say about The Family Stone is that it probably could have used a bit more Sly. But seriously, yeah, it was fine. Not the wacky family comedy the trailer and ads make it out to be. If you’re iffy about seeing it, here are two reasons: Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton. Still not convinced? Claire Danes is much better here than she was in Shopgirl. Other than that, eh. I give it a B-.
Do medicate yourself. Do be smart about what medications you take and when. For example, don’t take non-drowsy Sudafed at 9 p.m., an hour or so before you plan to go to bed, and expect to sleep well through the night. Also, don’t switch medications mid-stream through a cold because you think doing so will have “shock value” for your body and will speed up the recovery time.
Lessons learned. I hate having a cold.
(But seriously, is there a proven cold remedy?)
i have a cold. it’s that beginning of december, change of seasons, no flu shot would save me from this, inevitable, winter’s actually here cold. you know the one. it has all the usual symptoms: stuffy/runny nose, cough, sore throat, general congestion, clogged ears, tiredness … yuck. and i’m not the only one here in my office who has it: one person has called in sick and stayed home, one other person has similar symptoms and is here, there’s coughing and sneezing elsewhere in the office, and a general sense that everyone’s going to get it sooner or later “so stay away from me.”
admittedly, i feel better today than i did yesterday (thank you, Cold-EEZE and O.J.), but that could be because i didn’t sleep well saturday night and i was just exhausted driving back from another weekend in new york. then again, i did write all of this in lower case without even realizing it until a second ago, i’m putting the wrong revision date on printouts i’m circulating (10/12 instead of 12/12), and someone here just commented on how well i had coordinated my sweater and scarf today, which i swear i didn’t do on purpose, so maybe i’m less here than i thought. thankfully, i drove in today, so not only can i spare my fellow T passengers from getting what i have, but i can also get home in 15 minutes should things get worse.
ugh. it’s going to be a long day.
In 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by a Palestinian terrorist group known as “Black September.”
What happened next is told in Steven Spielberg’s new film Munich, which I saw earlier today (it hits theaters on Dec. 23).
Simply put, it’s great — one of the best films I’ve seen all year. I had the emotional reaction to it that was missing from Brokeback Mountain earlier this week — no surprise, really, since I can more easily identify with the plight of Jewish people than I can with the plight of repressed gay cowboys (which I hope doesn’t sound too easily dismissive). Continue reading
The Krispy Kreme stores in Medford and Saugus have closed. This comes just a few months after the store downtown at the Pru shut its doors. As a big fan of the Original Glazed (as my belly will attest), I couldn’t help but feel a little bit upset by this news. But I also feel partly responsible. I mean, when was the last time I made the trek to Medford for a hot donut (or two … or three)? In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I had a hot Krispy Kreme. I just always counted on the store to be there to satisfy my sugar fix whenever I needed it to be. I guess I didn’t count on my conscience (and my sister) to keep telling me that I didn’t really need the hot donut (or two or three). And now look what’s happpend! Oh well.
But I can’t take full blame, of course. It’s you, my easily-pleased friends, who are also to blame. It’s you who buy the Krispy Kremes at the supermarket, who are content to have cold donuts, who have helped to put these fine institutions out of business. Yes, I know you can just take the donuts home and heat them up, but please — anyone who has ever had a hot Krispy Kreme will agree that there’s nothing like getting them fresh at the store. There’s nothing at all like seeing the hot glaze ooze out of the machine and onto the baked goodies as they go by on the conveyor belt. Mmmmmmmmmmmm…
At least there’s still a store open in Dedham (one I never knew about until today). That one’s closer to where I live than the Medford one, and I will now consider it my civic duty to keep it in business. My belly will be so happy.
A couple months ago, I interviewed William Moseley, one of the young stars of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Admittedly, for reasons I won’t get into, I did it under duress, so I went to see the movie itself out of obligation. It’s also worth noting that I didn’t like the Lord of the Rings movies (I fell asleep during the first one and never saw the other two) and have only seen the first and third Harry Potter films.
So what a pleasant surprise that I generally liked Narnia. The first third or so is quite magical, as each child discovers the world waiting through the wardrobe. You discover it as a viewer right along with them, and that’s great fun. The middle third is a bit much, the effects aren’t so great (all those talking animals look really fake), it’s dark (because it’s taking place at night), and really, you’re just waiting for the big battle to happen. Fortunately, when it does, it’s pretty cool. So in brief, I’m giving Narnia a B.
Martin's Musings 