Pet Photos With Santa

Posted Dec 6, 2007 by Corrie Benfield

Updated Dec 6, 2007 at 12:32 PM

The Humane Society of Tampa Bay is offering pet photos with Santa at various locations. Go ahead, let Fido unleash his wish list on the big guy.

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Amusing Holiday Videos From YouTube

Posted Dec 5, 2007 by Corrie Benfield

Updated Dec 5, 2007 at 01:32 PM

A spoof on MTV’s “Cribs” show, this video shows off Santa’s pad (including his massive closet of designer red and white suits).
Santa’s Crib

Sometimes you feel like watching foreign children do funny dances to Christmas carols.
Christmas Dance

Two guys. One New Kids On The Block song. Can you say dance-off? (At least watch it until Santa shows up.)
NKOTB Dance-Off

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Unsolved Mysteries of the “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” TV Special

Posted Dec 2, 2007 by Tim Chong

Updated Dec 2, 2007 at 03:04 AM

I’ve always liked “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” but there are parts of it that mystify me. For instance:

1. What kind of genetic defect causes a glowing nose?
2. Would a glowing nose really honk?
3. How did we all miss the massive weather system that caused the entire world to be socked in by fog?
4. What happened to King Moonracer after all the toys left the Island of Misfit Toys? It’s kind of sad to think of that poor lion all alone on that island without any subjects.
5. When did Aslan change his name to King Moonracer anyway?
6. Just what made the doll in the checkered dress a misfit anyway? Was she really a boy doll?
7. For once and for all, is the elf’s name Hermie or Herbie?
8. Would you really let a guy work on your teeth after all the dental training he’s had is reading one book?

Just wondering.

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Stocking Stuffer: New Book Includes Winning Story By Lakeland Writer

Posted Dec 1, 2007 by Ted Hoffman

Updated Dec 3, 2007 at 07:36 PM

Don’t you hate it when you’re pumped about, say, a thrilling sporting event—but you can’t see it because your cable carrier isn’t offering it? Or when you’re told about a terrific movie or book (“Oh man, you have GOT to check this out!”)—and no local cinema or bookstore stocks it? Or some friend rhapsodizes about the best restaurant he’s ever been to—and the closest franchise is a dozen states away?

Well, here’s one winner you don’t have to miss.

A couple of weeks ago, I reported the impressive literary honor won by Lakeland’s Jeff McCormick. He’s the writer whose “Nothing At All Is More Than Enough” won the prestigious 2007 Writer’s Digest competition in the literary/mainstream short story category. His story beat out thousands of entries from around the world. I teased you with a description of the story: A fugitive hiding out at a trailer park in Tampa warily gets to know some of his neighbors, one of whom seems even more secretive than he is, and one day the cops come a’calling…

It’s a story both quiet and disquieting, a little masterwork of description and mood. Best of all, it’s available.

Writer’s Digest is publishing a booklet with Jeff’s story and the manuscripts of all the contest’s winners. The categories, in addition to Jeff’s, were: Children’s Fiction, Feature Article, Genre Short Story (mystery, science fiction, horror and the like), Inspirational, Non-Rhyming Poetry, Rhyming Poetry, Memoir/Personal Essay, Stageplay and Screenplay.

To get a copy, send a check or money order for $10 to: The 2007 WD Contest Booklet, 4700 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236.

Get it for the literary lover on your Christmas list. Maybe you can even track down Mr. McCormick at the Ledger, where he’s a copy editor, and get him to sign your copy. Awards this illustrious are rare. Support local talent!

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Still Wondering

Posted Nov 30, 2007 by Amy Eisenman

Updated Dec 3, 2007 at 07:29 PM

When I was a little girl growing up in Wisconsin, I sang the song “Jingle Bells,” like every kid growing up in Wisconsin.

There was a lyric that confused me, though, when I was five or six. It wasn’t confusing like “ha’ penny” or “figgy pudding,” because those were British expressions, which were tantamount to a foreign language. I felt like this was something I should know, somehow.

“Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way,
Oh what fun
It is to ride
In a one-horse soap and sleigh.”

Every Christmas I wondered, what was horse soap? And why was there an apparent shortage of it? Why was it on sleighs? Very, very perplexing.

I’ve brought this up with my friends, and I have yet to obtain a satisfactory answer. Just laughter.

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