Tag: christmas

The Catechism of a Christmas Carol Revisited

Humbugs and humble remembrances

In the run up to the Christmas holiday I revisit this piece I wrote for Ellemeno called The Catechism of A Christmas Carol. It makes sense because for most of my life I revisited or restaged A Christmas Carol, or some other Christmas themed show each and every holiday season.

I revisit the piece hoping that things might have changed for the better and that the hard hearted might have taken some of Dickens’ message to heart. Sadly, this year I knew that wasn’t going to be the case. But as I suggest in the piece, that’s true every year. This year it is just more openly apparent. As ingrained as it is in most of Western culture, A Christmas Carol doesn’t seem to have the same power to change hearts that the ghosts Dickens conjured did with old Ebenezer.

In fact these days, I’m slightly surprised that the folks in charge of banning books haven’t focused on this one yet, given how contradictory it is to their aims and careless heartlessness.

I write this a week before Christmas Day, 2025, in what has been a frightening year that presages more frights to come. I imagine this weekend will see theatre’s filled watching A Christmas Carol, A Wonderful Life, A Miracle on 34th Street, etc… etc…. We can hope some in those audiences will take home a moment taken to heart, if only momentarily.

Perhaps one day we’ll return to a place where the momentary touching of hearts and salving of souls means something for at least the length of the  drive home from a Christmas Eve matinee. There is always hope. And that’s what Christmas is about.

As Scrooge’s nephew Fred says:

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew. “Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round — apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that — as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, Uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”

I hope you’ll read the piece. Merry Christmas to all of those who celebrate.

(image from Plateresca on Shutterstock.)

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Apple Features Puppet Forest Critters In Christmas Ad

The making of video is actually a better advertisement

Apple has released its annual Christmas ad, this one called A Critter Carol and featuring a puppet potpourri of forest creatures singing about friendship in a sort of weird twist that combines the spirt of being friends along with lyrics about roadkill and being hunted. Oh, it also highlights the new iPhone 17 Pro. 

 Intriguingly I find the behind the scenes video of the making of the ad is actually a better advertisement for the iPhone, than the finished product. It also highlights the puppeteers and their art and craftsmanship.

Sunday Morning Reading

What do ugly Christmas sweaters, physics, the post office and pernicketies have in common? Check out this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

Here we are with the last edition Sunday Morning Reading for 2024. As usual there’s links to subjects and writing I’ve found particularly interesting. I hope you do as well. Enjoy this week’s edition and see you next year.

 Christmas has come and gone, and it’s time for the decorations to come down and the ugly Christmas sweaters to be put away. Jennifer Ouellette takes a look at The Physics of Ugly Christmas Sweaters. You may want to consider how you fold yours up for seasonal storage after reading this.

I’ve laid off politics during most of this year’s holiday season, but I’ve been peripherally aware that apparently a Civil War has broken out between the tech bros and the MAGAts over immigration. Not to worry, Heather Cox Richardson has a running account of the blows and counter blows in her Letters From An American for December 27. 

One of the numerous things many are worried we might actually lose during the next administration is the troubled U.S. Postal Service. Steve Herman gives a nice rundown of some history, context, and what we might lose in Going Postal. As the son of a former post master, I appreciate Steve’s efforts here.

Thinking about how big projects get started, Joan Westenberg takes on The Ego-Legacy Complex: On Ancient Monuments and Modern Malaise. 

ProPublica writers Asia Fields, Nicole Santa Cruz, Ruth Talbot, and Maya Miller conducted a series of interviews with homeless individuals. A feature of the article is the re-printing of the notecards some of the interviewees wrote describing their losses. Check out I Have Lost Everything to see what they have lost.

Most folks have a love/hate relationship with services they subscribe to and of course that includes streaming video services like Netflix. If you subscribe to Netflix and you’ve ever wondered why Netflix gets on your nerves, check out Will Tavlin’s Casual Viewing. You’ll never stream it the same way again.

You have to love the title, but you’ll also love the article. Check out Pet Peeves and Other Pernicketies from NatashaMH.

Have a Happy New Year! 

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

Sunday Morning Reading

Some festive fare, and some not quite so for this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

Christmas and Hanukkah are almost upon us. There’s that traditional feeling of magic in the air, but it’s tempered a bit by apprehension about what may come in the New Year. But it’s Sunday and it’s before all of that, so it’s time to share some Sunday Morning Reading.

First up are a couple of Christmas gifts that seem appropriate both for their historical holiday context and in today’s current one. Shannon Cudd takes on The Surprisingly Corporate Retail Origin Story Behind ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ Feels appropriate in this approaching age of oligarchy even if that age seemed a bit more innocent.

Follow that up with Olivia Jordan’s A Christmas Carol in Context: Dickens’ Beloved Festive Fable. Having directed many a production of ‘The Carol,’ I’m always amazed that its story of goodwill and redemption is at once so popular, yet always so quickly forgotten. It’s a puzzler. But then the great messages told around Christmas typically lose their resonance once we move away from the season.

Speaking of puzzlers, Generative AI is still on everyone’s mind and Gary Marcus thinks Generative AI Still Needs To Prove It’s Usefulness. Yes, he means beyond the hype it’s generated that has made some fabulously wealthy.

Journalism is having a moment and not a good one in today’s political climate. Most of that is of its own making and a good deal of it is by the owners. Podcaster and tech journalist Kara Swisher might be fed up enough to try and do something about it. She is seeking to round up investors to fund a bid to buy The Washington Post, after Jeff Bezo’s weak capitulation to the incoming Trump regime. I hope she succeeds. Meanwhile, John Gruber has written a terrific piece on this titled Journalism Requires Owners Committed To The Cause. He’s spot on.

Meanwhile Om Malik takes a look at the just how dark things may be for traditional media in these dark days in Musings On Media In The Age of AI. Here’s a quote:

None of the media business models will work in the future — neither advertising nor paywalls. Today’s content deals, like the one The Atlantic signed with OpenAI, are akin to the sugar high you get from soda. The sugar high is followed by the inevitable crash.

Jennifer Berry Hawes, Nat Lash, and Mollie Simon for ProPublica take a look at The Story Of One Mississippi County Shows How Private Schools Are Exacerbating Segregation. Good reporting on a story that somehow feels more than a little Dickensian.

Folks seek validation in many ways. Climbing mountains and overcoming obstacles can be a part of that game. So too is recognizing that “not everything in life needs to be conquered.” Check out Ain’t No Mountain High Enough from NatashaMH.

And to close out this week’s Sunday Morning Reading with a bit of grace, check out The Laundromat On Sixth Avenue by Grace 🎶 @notesofgrace

May whatever holiday you celebrate this time of the year bring you some peace and perhaps some joy. Here’s hoping we all can find that comfort surrounded by the company of family and good friends.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

Black Doves Makes A Play To Be A Deadly Christmas Movie

It’s no Die Hard, but Black Doves does make a play to be a deadly holiday thriller.

There’s a long standing debate that rolls around this time every year about whether or not the classic Bruce Willis film, Die Hard, is a Christmas movie or not. I happen to think it is, so there’s my $.02 on that. Netflix is making a play to join the violent Christmas movie genre with its recently released spy/gangster thriller Black Doves.

BlackDoves FirstLook Image 1-H-2024.

Does Black Doves stack up as a Christmas movie? For some probably so, for most I’m guessing not. It has a great sense of comedy amongst the dire circumstances, and almost enough holiday charm and romance to qualify it as a Hallmark holiday movie. Semi-stuffed with holiday trappings and none of the ticking clock pressure of trying to solve it by Christmas Day it sorta works.  That’s not to its detriment.

Black Doves does stack up as a decent spy/gangster tale with very good performances from Keira Knightly and Ben Whishaw, and it’s the spy game/gangster game plotting and sub-plotting that makes it work, though not necessarily with edge of your seat suspense. Which at times seems strange since  World War III keeps threatening to break out.

In any case, it’s not perfect, but it’s fun. I’d recommend Black Doves as a good stream if you’re looking for good entertainment over the holidays, whether you want things wrapped up with a pretty bow or not.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Decorate Your Mac For The Holidays with Festivitas

Decorate your Mac for the holidays with Festivitas.

In case you hadn’t noticed, ’tis the season for holiday decorations. (Although we’ve put up our tree without decorating it yet.) For those who might feel a bit grumpy after staring at their screens all day and want a little holiday distraction on their Macs, Simon B. Støvring has created a clever little app that allows you to bring a little holiday cheer to your Mac. It’s called Festivitas.

CleanShot 2024-12-04 at 10.07.37@2x.

Festivitas allows you to string some lights on your screen by adding strings of blinking lights along your Menu Bar and/or dock. You can configure various settings including the size of the lights, the cable thickness, the distance between lights, and the patterns and speed that the lights do their blinking, as well as the colors. You can hang the lights from your Menu Bar and have them float above your Dock, or choose one or the other.

Festivis Mac App displaying lights on your Mac task bar and dock

You can check out the App at this link and pick it up for a song.

Clever stuff from Simon and a nice little holiday treat, because we could all use a little whimsy and a bit of delightful distraction this holiday season.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Happy Christmas Eve! Sitting here away from and missing home, waiting for the clock to run out on my COVID quarantine (so far a very mild case). Life hits. You take the punch. You move on. So moving on, here’s some Christmas Eve Sunday Morning Reading to share.

Kicking off with a couple of pieces from one of my favorite writers, David Todd McCarty. First up for those into the holiday gift giving thing he offers The Ol’ Bowling Ball Bag Gift. 

Following that with another holiday themed piece about how small moments with a family can turn into life long touchstones in We’re All Tired, Dear.

Keeping in the holiday vein, Megan Angelo gives us My Selfish Christmas Tradition—And How You Can Do It Too.

Christmas is a time for new smartphones. NatashaMH takes on what happens if you lose your new precious in A Slave to The Machine.

Stepping away from the holidays for a bit, David Pierce has an excellent piece on The Fediverse entitled 2023 in Social Media: The Case for the Fediverse.

And just to keep things real amidst the holiday hoopla, Rogé Karma takes on Private Equity, one of the several unseen dangers lurking in our midst in The Secretive Industry Devouring the U.S. Economy. 

To close out back to the holidays spotllighting an Icelandic folk tale of Jólakötturinn, The Yule Cat that eats children who don’t wear the new clothes they received on Christmas. Guess you better don those new socks tomorrow morning.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.