Wednesday, November 30, 2005

CC Discovers Gene Kelly; Jack Discovers Squirrels; Cities Discover Christmas

Just Finished Reading: Loop by Koji Suzuki

CC has discovered Gene Kelly. She's seen him before of course but it wasn't until yesterday that she REALLY decided that she liked him a lot. She was home for lunch and Turner Classic was showing the That's Entertainment series. We tuned in somewhere in the middle of the first one and they were focusing at that point on Gene Kelly.

She kept saying how amazed she was that he could dance so well and still manage to look . . . masculine. Well you have to admit, the way people dance these days, especially your Broadway-style dancing, the men tend to look a bit gay. Ok, maybe more than a BIT. But back in those days, it wasn't like that. Watch the old MGM musicals and you'll have no problems believing that these very male characters can really dance.

What changed along the way? I have no idea. I was telling CC that part of the reason the men didn't look gay while dancing was that their steps were slightly different from their female partners. If you watch them, the men take more butch stances and strike stronger poses. The women tend to move more gracefully and elegantly, adding a touch of the feminine. When they dance alone it's not as noticable but when they dance together, there's no doubt.

So if you're looking for last-minute gift ideas for CC, you can't go wrong with Gene Kelly movies. Anything but Singing In The Rain, which we already have. :-)

-----

There are squirrels out there. Oh yes, there really are. Up until this morning you only ever saw a lone squirrel in the distance or maybe just a tail scurrying up a tree. Not so today. Today there were squirrels and they were out in force.

I suppose it's due to the weather. This time of year they must be finalizing their nests and filling them up with nuts and things. They were certainly out in force. I was walking the dogs along the usual route when they suddenly stopped and assumed the "I see something" position. Ears up, nose twitching. Then Jack started barking and attempted to take off on his own. Katya naturally followed and since they were properly leashed, I went with them. When they both take off at once, you really have to plant your feet solid to slow them down.

Anyway, it didn't take long to discover what set Jack off. Squirrels. I saw two of them myself, dashing across the street in front of us.

The funny thing is that there is NO way Jack could ever catch one of those things. They're so FAST and they move in 3 dimensions. That's something that would really mess him up. When they come to a wall, they don't stop and turn around, they go UP.

I hope those squirrels take to their nests soon though. Walking the dogs this morning was a little too much like exercise :-)

-----

Talk about your Christmas miracles, it appears that some cities out there have discovered that the "Winter Holiday" we celebrate every December 25th is actually called Christmas! Can you believe it? After all these years they finally remember the name.

It started back in the 90's, city governments were getting sued or swamped by protesters complaining that they DARED to say Merry Christmas on a sign or had a Christmas tree on city properly. The whole business was rubbish really. A bunch of holiday Grinches trying to ruin it for the rest of us. Each year it got progressivly worse until it reached it's peak where school districts no longer gave time off for Christmas and instead had scheduled a "winter holiday." How lame is THAT?

Well Christmas is back and with a vengeance and it's about damn time if you ask me. This nonsense about not being able to publicly name any religious holidays is just too tiring. Having a Christmas tree on city property does NOT force Muslims to be Christian any more than coloring a manorah in elementary school made me Jewish.

So let's knock all this foolishness and get back to what this holiday is all about: presents, football, and eating LOTS of cookies :-)

Ok, ok, and Jesus' birthday too. :-)

.

No comments: