Since I couldn't find the WKRP clip, let's watch Jed Bartlet:

I'm working a 6-10 today, then hitting the road back to the loving arms of The Redhead and Darling Daughter. I walked into the lobby of the building and was struck by how dark and quiet the place was--except for the giant, lit-up Christmas Tree in the atrium.

It hit me then just how many of my memories of Christmas as a kid were like this--at night/early morning, perfectly quiet. I remember one year when we were at my Grandmother's for the holiday. She lived in a small Illinois town, her house right on a state highway. You could hear the trucks rumbling and shifting gears as they went by. I woke up once from a particularly loud one and crept to the window of the living room (where I got stuck sleeping because Grandma's place was beyond tiny) and looking out. There was a pile of snow on the ground and the holiday streetlight decorations were lit, even at that late hour. That image has stayed with me all these years.

And there was the one year in Quincy when I just couldn't go to sleep and so I slipped out to the living room. Santa had shown up and the loot was considerable (I think that was the year I got the Captain Action set or my first two GI Joes, not sure). My parents kept the tree lit all night, and I remember finding a small space by the tree and settling down to sleep for a little while, surrounded by the prezzies.

Even now, my favorite part of decorating the tree is standing back when it's done, turning out all the lights and just looking at it all lit up. That's when the magic begins. Always has, always will.

Caught this from Rich Johnston's Bleeding Cool. For this year's Children in Need, they got OVER 100 ANIMATED CHARACTERS, from the Thunderbirds to Bob the Builder and Spongebob Squarepants, to do a six-minute medley of songs. Took them over eight months to produce but the end result is incredible.

I'm not going to embed it, so go out to here to watch it and read the story behind it.

Bully has a bit of fun mixing a certain Monty Python bit with an old comic...

So...we had plans this weekend to visit UMSL and do some informational gathering. Unfortunately, the Webster Groves Football Statesmen, undefeated thus far, had a divisional playoff game at home against Chaminade, and Darling Daughter had to play in the band.

It was a hard fought battle. Webster led 28-26 until the very last minute, when Chaminade kicked a field goal to make it 29-28 with about 6.9 seconds left. There was time for one last play:



Unfortunately, between Red's cough and Daughter's relapse from the virus that hit her this week, we were further unable to go to the SLCG meeting that evening. Now Webster plays at Parkway North this Friday--the winner goes to the state championships.

It's been fun so far, though. GO STATESMEN!

So the high school did a production of "The Wizard of Oz", and Darling Daughter was chosen as part of the mini-orchestra. Have flute, will travel, so to speak. The final performance was Saturday night, and come hell or high water I was going to be there. Red was down for the count with the Cough From Hell, though, so this was a solo act.

So it's about fifteen minutes before showtime, and I notice that Daughter is fooling around on the piano. Doing a credible job, too, given that she just started taking lessons in September. But there's something oddly familiar about the tune she's playing, and suddenly I realize where I've heard it:

It was "Ailes Grises" from Haibane Renmei.

Now I would hazard a guess that out of that considerable crowd in the theater, there would be maybe...one person who would recognize that tune. And I knew that she was doing it solely for me.

And you wonder why I think the sun rises and sets on her...

My daughter has officially been accepted to the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

RAWK.

Remember the snarky post I made about the Syfy remake of being human?

Gentlemen, BEHOLD!

I don't know what would be worse, that someone read the post and it somehow got around big circles as fact...or that I was more dead-on about it than I thought.

Either way...I'm kind of freaked at the moment. :)

SyFy has greenlit an American version of the BBC's Being Human.

Best quote is from SyFy president David Howe: Howe said the Syfy version will not just "slavishly replicate the British version."

Because the American takes on Red Dwarf, Doctor Who and practically every other British SF show have just gone over so well.

For those who haven't heard about this six-episode series, well...a vampire (Mitchell, played by Aiden Turner), a werewolf (George, Russell Tovey) and a ghost (Annie, Lenora Crichlow) live in a small flat in Bristol, trying to lead "normal" lives. "Try" being the operative word here. Six episodes so far (you can see edited versions on BBC America, unedited in dark places that nice people don't go).

It's an incredibly well done production. The emotional resonance in the show is so raw and so strong you can't help but be moved. And while Crichlow takes my breath away every time she smiles and The Redhead starts drooling whenever Turner starts talking, the true star of this show far and away is Tovey. He plays George with such an incredible mix of feelings--he's terrified, he panics, he's incredibly bumbling at personal interactions, but there is a good, courageous man deep inside trying to come to terms with what's happened to him and trying to make an impossible situation that can't possibly end well...work.

Now, I have a pretty good idea how the American version will be set up:

The vampire will be a beautiful young woman (Hispanic or Asian) to snag the fanboy and saphhic-oriented audiences. She'll be a model or actress. The werewolf will be a large, handsome black ex-football player with a surprising gentle side. The ghost will be a tortured white male artistic type; the three of them will live in the ghost's stylish brownstone in New York or San Francisco, conveniently placed near a large park (to make the wolf's prowling more easily accessible).

I want to add "together they solve crimes". I'm not sure I shouldn't.

Sigh. This will not go well. Fortunately the Beeb has ordered eight more episodes of the original. Eight more episodes of Annie's smile...

I was shocked to realize that my father would have turned 77 today. I'm not sure why. But I miss him.

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~Clarence Budington Kelland

Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master. --Jean Shepherd