Thursday, December 25, 2014

I Want A Red Ryder Carbine Action Two-hundred Shot Range Model Air Rifle



The last movie for this holiday season is Christmas Story.  Mmmmmm! 24 hours non-stop on Christmas day.  Channel TNT.

When the movie first came out, everyone jumped on the tag lines.

“You’ll shoot your eye out.”

“Oooooh, fudge!” (Only I didn’t say “fudge.” I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!

“Ho, ho, ho!” (You must say it with the same emphasis as the Bad Santa does. See clip below.)

“He looks like a deranged Easter Bunny.” (Ralphie wearing the Aunt Clara’s bunny suit gift.)

“Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. My personal preference was for Lux, but I found Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor - heady, but with just a touch of mellow smoothness.” (Ralphie getting his mouth washed out with soap after saying the “fudge” word.

For your enjoyment, here is the Evil Santa scene from You Tube.



And Merry Christmas to all!

Ron D. Voigts is the author of dark mysteries and the Penelope Mystery Series.  His novel Strigoi, The Blood Bond is available on Kindle, and for the holidays check out Penelope and The Christmas Spirit.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Kevin Will Come Out and Play

The count down to Christmas continues. Today is wrapping day.  My wife applies the paper and bags them. I'm the bow and tag man. This is my favorite part of Christmas.  NOT! Hours and hours we labor.  Long into the night. Bleary eyed we retire hoping something did not get missed, mis-tagged, and everyone is covered.  Then in a blink on the morning of Dec 25, the paper comes off and the gifts are revealed. Poof! Days of work gone in a heart beat.

For the Holidays, Strigoi, The Blood Bond is on a Kindle Countdown Deal.  Stop by and check it out.

I offer yet another movie--Home Alone.  I found this trailer for the movie with a new spin on the old flick.  Happy watching!





Ron D. Voigts is the author of dark mysteries and the Penelope Mystery Series.  His novel Strigoi, The Blood Bond is available on Kindle, and for the holidays check out Penelope and The Christmas Spirit.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

What a splendid idea! This Christmas sounds like fun. I fully endorse it.

My third offering of a a movie for the holiday season is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.  It's a delightful tale of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, a skeleton character dressed in a black pin striped suit.  His love interest is Sally, a rag doll who frequently falls apart and must sow herself back together. Her creator is Dr. Finkelstein, a mad scientist with a hinged skull that can open to reveal his brain.

Yeah, your saying (unless you've seen the movie) so what does this all have to do with Christmas?  Well Jack and the other characters of Halloween Town decide to invade Christmas Town, kidnap Santa Claus  and make Christmas their own. Jack drives Santa's sleigh with his dog Zero, whose nose glows, leading the reindeer. Shades of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer! Of course, the grass is always greener in someone else's holiday as Jack soon learns.

Danny Elfman did the music score; of course Elfman's music credits include myriad of movies and TV shows, including Edward Scissorhands, Charlie Brown and the Chocolate Factory, American Hustle and Frankenweenie.

The concept for Nightmare came to Burton while still working for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Here is the poem on YouTube.


So, Happy Halloween, er, Merry Christmas, I mean.

Ron D. Voigts is the author of dark mysteries and the Penelope Mystery Series.  His novel Strigoi, The Blood Bond is available on Kindle, and for the holidays check out Penelope and The Christmas Spirit.


Saturday, December 6, 2014

Do you honestly think I'd check thousands of tiny little lights if I wasn't sure the extension cord was plugged in?

In my family if you took a vote for favorite Christmas movie, the tally would be unanimous.  Without a doubt it would be National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  At least once during the season we all gather around the TV, pop the DVD in the player, and watch the familiar scenes of a man and his family trying to have a traditional family Christmas.

The fascination here is identifying with the scenes and the characters. Who has not had Christmas lights go out or fail to light?  Annoying family over for the holidays? Disappointing gifts? Disastrous turkey dinners? The quest for the perfect tree?

Some have said the movie was Chevy Chase's greatest comedic role, playing Clark Griswold, a man struggling for a merry Christmas. Here is a cut from YouTube of the tree lighting. The first attempt was a disaster as family looked on at the failure of 25,000 lights to burn.  Only his wife, Ellen, remains behind to offer advice and understanding.


Hope your holiday is as bright!

Ron D. Voigts is the author of dark mysteries and the Penelope Mystery Series.  His novel Strigoi, The Blood Bond is available on Kindle, and for the holidays check out Penelope and The Christmas Spirit.