Happy December!
As we dive deeper into the holiday season, I hope you have a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule or whatever you celebrate (even if it’s just the weekends)!
Thank you for taking the time to check out my only random thoughts of the final month of the year.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2024
This Thanksgiving was a great one!
Last year, my sister, Tammy, suffered a stroke in the summer and was hospitalized again in the days before Thanksgiving. So, while we celebrated, it wasn’t that festive.
While struggling most of this year, she finally lost a lot of the “water weight” flooding her lungs and keeping her from recovering.
Tammy was able to help with preparing the feast this year and it was nice hanging out with her and her loving daughter-in-law.
For me, I got to spend it with the ones I wanted to and the ones I didn’t want to be around weren’t there!
And, at Christmas, there WILL BE a separate kid’s table like we had growing up! (Shaming me won’t work, it is what it is!)
FOOD WASTE
While we’re talking Thanksgiving, I hope you had all you wanted to eat on that day and everyday.
As we head into the heart of the holiday season, take some time to think about just how much food we Americans waste.
Patrick Symmes reported in the May 2021 “Bon Appetit” magazine that Americans throw away about 1.3 BILLION TONS of food each year — which is about one-third of the food in the world! One of the biggest reasons is food abundance (paired with food anxiety.)
He also reports that commercial and institutional kitchens are big time offenders, too. They waste about 30 to 40 billions of pounds of food annually with much of it going into landfills!
I know some places do this, but we need to open many “Äss Bar” locations. Get your mind out of the gutter! I visited one in Lucerne, Switzerland last April.
Äss Bar is a play on the Swiss-German word for “essbar” — meaning “edible”.
So, Äss Bar goes to restaurants and bakeries collecting leftover desserts and sandwiches and sells them at highly reduced prices. This cuts back on waste!
I came out of Äss Bar with these desserts on my two visits within an hour. (Yes, they added more treats between visits!)
KYLIE’S (MACY’S) THANKSGIVING PARADE
Before I move on and suggest a few things for you to watch and some to avoid as it gets colder and winter settles in, I have one final Thanksgiving thought.
I finally watched part of The 98th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. (The last time was when New Kids on the Block lip-synced “This One’s For the Children” in 1989!)
The reason — the iconic Kylie Minogue was performing!!! And, boy did she deliver and got the internet world talking by actually singing “live” in the rain — no lip-syncing for this professional!
She performed a medley of her 2023 worldwide smash, “Padam Padam”, a sped-up interlude of 2003’s “Slow”, and closed with the biggest hit of her career, 2001’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”!
The only thing that could’ve sent me over the edge was if she had ended her performance by exclaiming, “Lights Camera Action, That’s It!”
“THE DIPLOMAT”
If you haven’t watched this political thriller and you want something smart and intriguing, this is the show for you.
Emmy nominee Keri Russell is fantastic and Allison Janney joins the second season as the American Vice President.
“The Diplomat” is coming back for a third season.
Spoiler Alert: This trailer includes spoilers from season one if you haven’t watched it yet.
GRADE: B+
“THE RECRUIT”
Another political thriller I highly recommend is 2022’s eight-episode series, “The Recruit”.
Noah Centineo (“To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” series) stars as a young lawyer that just started working for the CIA.
He’s a free spirit that doesn’t think of consequences making him the perfect person to get involved in an international crime caper.
A shorter second season (six episodes) hits Netflix January 30, 2025.
GRADE: A-
CHRISTMAS MOVIES
For the first time ever, I’ve been binging on Christmas and holiday movies. Before this year, I usually just watch the same ones over and over.
Two that I enjoy are “Home Alone” and “Christmas With The Kranks”. (Yes, even that one.)
But, two of my favorites are “Make The Yuletide Gay”…
and “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale”, which is a dark movie about Santa Claus.
“OUR LITTLE SECRET”
Of the holiday and Christmas movies this year, all of them are so cookie cutter and predictable. And, many are so bad. Hello, “Hot Frosty”!
I really enjoyed the new Netflix movie with Lindsay Lohan and Kristin Chenoweth.
Avery (Lohan) and Logan (sexy Ian Harding) are childhood friends that eventually start dating.
They have a falling out when she accepts a job in London and they don’t keep in touch over the next ten years. But, they run into each other again at a family Christmas gathering with the people they’re now dating.
GRADE: A-
“HOLIDATE”
The funniest movie I watched recently was from 2020, the comedy, “Holidate”, with Emma Roberts and the very sexy Australian Luke Bracey.
Roberts’ Sloane is a 30-something that doesn’t have much going on in her life and Bracey’s Jackson is coming out a toxic relationship.
They meet returning Christmas presents and make plans for a New Year’s Eve party. They then agree to be each other’s date on the holidays — get it “Holidate”.
GRADE: B+
“THE HOLIDAY EXCHANGE”
This new LGBTQ movie from Taylor Frey follows a similar premise to other movies. Two people decide to switch homes for the holidays. In this one — one place is in Los Angeles and the other is in snowy and scenic Europe.
Again, like most holiday movies, you know how it’s going to go when you start watching it — each guy meets someone, they fall for them, there’s some drama, and they end up together.
But, watching four sexy guys fall in love makes its watchable (especially Rick Cosnett and Daniel Garcia!)
GRADE: B-
“THE MERRY GENTLEMEN”
I wanted to like this Netflix movie, but it was so predictable and unrealistic.
A “Rockettes-like” dancer is forced out of the show in New York City and goes home for the holidays and tries to save her parents’ bar from closing. Her idea is a Christmas revue with male strippers.
There’s no need for the trailer. The male dancers are the sell of the movie! The rest is basic and boring.
Afterthought: At $30 dollars a person, there’s no way they raised the $30,000 needed because the bar was never that busy! But, I’m overthinking it. 🙂
GRADE: C
WHO WROTE THIS?
Now that some stations are playing Christmas tunes 24 hours a day and others are sprinkling in a holiday song here and there, I have these questions for the writers of some of the classics:
“I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” — Wanting one this Christmas? Um, no, they can be mean.
However, look at Thailand’s adorable “little” Moo Deng!
And, Fiona at the Cincinnati Zoo is cute (this was on her first birthday)!
“Do You Hear What I Hear?” — So “a child shivers in the cold, let us bring him silver and gold”. Why not bring him a blanket or clothes?
“Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer” — “Do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?” Um, if he’s the most famous of all, of course we remember his name. But, can we name the other eight without singing the song?
“Home for the Holidays” — When I hear Karen Carpenter sing, “From Atlantic to Pacific/Gee, the traffic is terrific.” I think, who’s ever thought traffic is terrific when traveling, even it’s home for the holidays?
CHER DOESN’T NEED HELP
I love Kelly Clarkson as a singer.
However, while it might have been a dream come true for her or it might have been Cher’s idea, I didn’t really need a remake of Cher’s “DJ Play a Christmas Song” from last year.
It was pop and dance perfection the first time around!
CHER: THE MEMOIR
Music icon and actress Cher is a genius.
She finally released her memoirs, sort of. She didn’t just release the story of her life, she’s doing it in two volumes — the first is out now and I’m reading it. (That means you have to buy two books — that’s why she’s a genius!)
The second arrives next fall.
Other icons finally released their memoirs over the past few years that I highly recommend. Barbra Streisand “My Name is Barbra” is amazing at almost a thousand pages.
And, a smaller, but stunning book is “The Meaning of Mariah Carey” by Mariah, of course!
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
Anthony
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