THE BEST CHRISTMAS MUSIC EVER (Says I.) Part Four

Here we are in Dave Letterman territory, beginning our top ten Christmas songs of all time, according to me and my personal preference. It should be said, of course, that you will probably disagree with me.  If you do, please let me know what an ass I am in the comments.  But you never know, your favorite still might be somewhere on this list.

Today we have booze, sugar, and Dean Martin, not necessarily in that order.  See more after the jump:

THE BEST CHISTMAS SONGS EVER! (Says I.) Part 3

The Choir of Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, AZ.

We're in the middle of the pack for our list of the 25 best Christmas songs, which means there's only 3 shopping days left until Christmas.  Get on it procrastinators!  If you need help, there are some handy tips for last-minute shoppers here.

This edition of the list is heavy on angels and bells, for some reason, and features the second appearance of Bing Crosby.  Let's get straight to it.  To see the first two installments in this list, click here and here.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS SONGS EVER! (Says I). Part Two

The 1000 Voices Choir of Parkville, Missouri, via the Parkville High School View.

And we're back with day two of my list of the Best Christmas Songs ever as chosen by me using whatever methods I just made up! (Actually, I did use a rubric for the ranking process that was fairly time consuming and very boring, but I'll spare you those details.)  Click through to see the next five songs in our countdown, and if you missed the first day and want to start at the beginning, click here.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS SONGS EVER! (So says I.) Part One.

That's the Berthoud High School Show Choir from Berthoud, CO.  Ain't they cute?
The picture, BTW, belongs to the Berthoud Recorder.  I own nothing.

In the spirit of the season, and as a counter-balance to recent awfulness (which I'm not even going to link to because who needs to subject themselves to that anymore?).  I have instead to offer my 25 favorite Christmas songs, in order of my personal preference.  First five will be today, with follow up posts every day until the big reveal on Christmas Eve.

So come along and we'll sing a chorus or two (ouch, sorry).  You might learn a thing or two.  Or not.  Either way, it'll be more fun than eleven ladies dancin'... or lads a-leapin', if that's your bag.

By the way, The Twelve Days do not appear anywhere on this list.  If you think you can still handle that, click on...





I’ve been feeling in a rut lately. Work is less interesting to me than it once was, and I find myself drifting off for long periods. Did you know that some psychologists consider daydreaming a mild and relatively harmless form of dissociation? Kind of cool, no? Anyway, I’ve been dissociating more frequently than is really productive, and I’m afraid it’s starting to be noticeable. It might be encroaching depression, but then it doesn’t really feel like I expect depression to feel (Nobody expects the encroaching depression!).

Worst of all is that I haven’t been writing. Except this blog, occasionally, which doesn’t really count. Other stuff, which I will now attempt to explicate and justify, in the hope that it will provide some kind of jolt of inspiration. Bear with me. Hidden in here is a badly framed (even Byzantine) request for the advice of my trusted friends.

The Web Across the Void

This Essay had been floating around my hard drive for a while, looking for an appropriate home.  Short of starting a third blog (thanks, no) I've decided to put it here.  Any concept or unifying theme for this blog is now officially dead.

Warning: kinda heavy in places.  By which I mean, like, really heavy.

The worst insult known to man (real men, anyway)

Last week I was listening to Science Friday on NPR, where they were interviewing the totally amazing Maria Popova.  I had no idea who Maria Popova was at the time, nor why she is so amazing, but was quickly convinced.  (The interview is available here, Ms Popova's site is brainpickings.org, and if you never return to this blog after clicking that second link, I will understand.)  For the uninitiated, Maria Popova could be described as a super-blogger, though she calls herself an "arbiter of interestingness", and the important takeaway from the interview, for me, was that she posts on her blog three times per day, not pictures of kittens, either, as you'll see if you click through.  It's insane.

Now, spite and envy have always had a place in my toolbox of motivations, so I was inspired to start posting to my blog again, in hopes of emulating Maria's success.  I may, however already be behind, given that it's taken me five days to write this one post.

Whatever, click through to find out what the worst insult known to man is.