The longest undefended border in the world 8





So that’s about it for now. I have just come onto a lead I want to follow up on and I’ll continue to keep you posted. Hope the Christmas season was a good one for you and yours.
Anyway… Humouroceros
Yuck!
Scrooge (AKA: A Christmas Carol) (1951) – The only version of Dicken’s short-story A Christmas Carol that’s really worth watching. Alistar Sim is the only guy who has ever nailed the part of Ebenezar Scrooge and for some reason the English are the only ones who can really catch a true feel for Victorian London. My favorite scene is when Scrooge wakes up and realizes that he has not missed Christmas and then capers around like a total loony. Excellent. Twenty stars out of ten! The movie is best viewed in black and white even though some creep colourized it a few years back. Now there’s someone who should be, in a totally festive and Christmassy sort of way, boiled in oil and fed to ugly dogs. Ho ho ho.
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) – I don’t know if this was the first Christmas cartoon produced for TV, but it should be. A Bible reading, dancing, jazz, an ugly tree and Snoopy. What more do you need?
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) – Based on the Dr Seuss children’s book and directed by Chuck Jones (of the Warner Brothers Chuck Joneses), how can you go wrong? Actually I guess they could have pretty easily, but they didn’t. Chuck brought along his usual manic style, and tossed in some Boris Karloff and a totally cool song, “You’re A Mean One, Mister Grinch”. Stylin’.
Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special (AKA: Dear Santa Claus; Go F*** Yourself) (2005) – Good clean fun with lots of liquor, dope, stealing stuff and a little bit of swearing. Typically Canadian, eh.
Anyway… Humouroceros
The conservative folks at dictionary publisher Mirriam-Webster have seen the error of the ways and once again democracy was won out over traditional beliefs. Via an online survey the word “truthiness” has been chosen as word of the year for 2006 and Mirriam-Webster has had no choice but to finally admit that yes, truthiness is a word. “Truthiness” was credited to Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, who defined it as “truth that comes from the gut, not books”
Colbert, who once derided the folks at Mirriam-Webster as the “word police” and a bunch of “wordinistas”, was pleased. “Though I’m no fan of reference books and their fact-based agendas, I am a fan of anyone who chooses to honour me”, he said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Well I should guess to hell so.
Anyway… Humouroceros
PS: in 2005 “truthiness” was chosen as word of the year by the American Dialect Society. Nice of Mirriam-Webster to finally catch up.
I was talking to a mid-echelon union-buddy who used to work locally but has since been called on to bigger and better things out of the Vancouver office. He’s telling me and another guy about how his fellow walks into his office recently. “Can I help you?” asks union-buddy but it turns out that his visitor has, at best, absolutely no ability to speak English. They make noises and faces at one another for a solid forty-five minutes before it gradually becomes clear that his visitor it trying to arrange for some labour to build a house and has somehow got the wrong end of the stick by coming to a union office. Things became even less clear after that and the visitor eventually leaves in disgust. “Forty-five minutes?” I asked. “You’re exaggerating, right?”
“Nope,” answers union-buddy, obviously proud of the zaniness of the whole situation. “It was at least forty-five minutes.”
On the other hand…
I went to a manager’s office and after the usual hey how are you you’re looking good what’s up, we were down to business. Fifteen minutes later we’re done so it’s a hearty see you later and that’s all she wrote.
I’m not suggesting or insinuating anything. It’s just an observation
Anyway… Humouroceros