Snow Flurries

1. I was home sick with some sort of flu like illness. Spring 1957? My parents had bought 2nd hand, an Admiral telly which we were only allowed to watch on the weekends after we had finished our home work. Of course if they went out, rules were meant to be broken...like turning on the tube, or letting the dog into the house to roam from room to room. Home alone and feeling crappy, I turned the telly on chugging through the 7 channel offerings and stumbling upon the 1944 movie,'Meet Me in St. Louis,' starring the great Judy Garland. Was this my first musical? No. But there was something magical about Garland's voice as she carried the film's story line from scene to scene. And then a strange unfamiliar thing happened to me. It was in the middle of, 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas', and it came from a place deep within me evoking feelings I'd never associated with movies or music or any sort of audio visual stimulation (yeah in the 60's we got a lot of help from our friends) and I was so overwhelmed by the emotional ping ponging of the lyrics and the music tugging at my heart (??), that I started to cry. It was a profound childhood moment. My first. Something other than disappointment, hurt or anger had moved me to tears. And it was stunning. Thank you Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.

2. SNL. Jimmy Fallon hosting, scored on 2 skits...'Michael Buble Duets,' and the 'Tebow/Jesus'sketch. Instant classics.

3. Guns and riots over the release of the new retro Air Jordans yesterday. Come on, man. WTF?

4. Rooney Mara and Fincher. Fincher got a great performance from Mara in the American
version of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.'It is darker, and edgier.Great sound track by NIN Trent Reznor.

5. According to noradsanta.org, next stop is Mount Everest, Nepal. Lumps of coal or not, warmest wishes and happy holidays to all.