Schmaltz is good sometimes...

1. Just ran one last errand. It's crazy out on the streets. Cars hunting for parking; kids in tow behind fatigued parents. Some men looking rather dazed and confused, unfortunately not from mugs of ye olde merry ale. It's all rather, um, traditional. Appalling, by foot. Mail order on the other hand, is da shizzle. Packages via drone? Bring it on.  Life imitating 'The Hunger Games' culture.

2. Billie Jean is going to Putinville. Can't wait for the pictures at 11.
Sochi could be pink by the time the powder settles on the alpine. Billie Jean getting down with the Pussy Riot girls. Yow! Stay tuned. Check out SNL's BJK skit on last week's Christmas show hosted by Jimmy Fallon. Instant classic.

3. My favorite Christmas movie. It's not 'A Wonderful Life. Or 'A Christmas Carol.' Nope. Not 'Miracle on 34th St.' The movie I love, steeped in drama, nuclear family, fake snow, and hetro boy/girl next door desires (schmaltzy as hell) filmed on a back lot in Culver City is 'Meet me in St. Louis' with the great Judy Garland, who at the time was 21, and a major star in the MGM stable. I first saw the film in black and white ( we did not own a color set) on an Admiral telly when I was 12? The music, the melodic Garland voice burrowed deep into my gelatinous psyche and I have never forgotten. To this day, when I hear Hugh Martin's song, 'Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas' sung only by the great Garland, I am emotionally rendered. It is one of those beautiful mysteries of life.

4. Mele Kalikimaka, all.