Merry Xmas Adverts in November

Yes, it's the beginning of November so it's the Great Game of Ads in the UK.

In 1st place is John Lewis

   

 I'm not crying - you're crying! Disney you Mother Truckers! 

   

Seriously, I'm not crying. Much.... 

 Now this one, from Boots, was a bit odd. But enjoyable... 

 

kthanxbai! 

Jumblerant

SkyMall is dead. Long live Skymall

To misquote the late, great, Mark Twain "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated". 

Happily this isn't in connection to me, but about the beloved and adored, if not respected, SkyMall catalogue.

Whenever I have gotten onto an internal flight in the beautiful US of A, I have always searched for the SkyMall catalogue. It fills me with wonder at the ludicrousness of the items in it. 

Do you want a Bigfoot garden ornament? They have it.

Or a glow in the dark toilet seat? They have it.

Whats that? I didn't quite hear you. You want a Bigfoot garden ornament for Christmas? They have it.

In light of all of the above, do you know anyone who would appreciate, let alone pay for, an Armadillo Beverage Holder? Well, they've got that too.

Thanks SkyMall. 

http://www.skymall.com/

You rock. 

kthanxbai!

Jumblerant

Christmas Cycling Videos

Actually, its one video about Christmas and another about cycling, both of which made me say 'wow' at least 3 times each.

So here we go:


Christmas




Cycling



kthanxbai!

Jumblerant

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The Digital Story of the Nativity

Just a quickie that'll explain the nativity to anyone who is technologically addicted this season.



kthanxbai!

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Christmas and the Cabbage Patch Kid

I heard a lovely story the other day and just knew that I had to share it with you.

My co-worker and friend... let's call her 'Shmirene'... grew up in the snowy baseball cap of the USA, which we know and love as 'Canada'. 

She grew up in the 80's and like every other 5 year old girl in the developed world at the time she wanted nothing more than a Cabbage Patch Kid to be waiting for her come Christmas morning, under the Christmas tree. 

These were dolls who would come with their own birth certificates, with fancy names like Geneva Gena, April Lynn, Marcelle Elizabeth and Jaedyn Denise.

And 'Shmirene' really wanted one. 

But really wanted one. 

What's a parent to do? There were literally fights in toy stores over the Cabbage Patch Kids. In the end her Dad got so fed up with her pleading and begging that he finally gave in and brought home a present for her that would hopefully bring a smile to her family as a whole.

But her Dad was no ordinary chap. 

Yes, he bought her a head of cabbage and told her that there was a doll in the middle. 

I respect and admire that man! 

kthanxbai!

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The Real King

At this time of year we begin to hear songs about the King and his coming.

As someone who'll be working on December 25th, I can assure you that I will be thinking of the King on that day.










kthanxbai!

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Even if you hate Christmas music, you’re going to love this

Sean Quigley is quite the enterprising young man. An 11th grade student, Quigley arranged and composed this version of Little Drummer Boy, then starred in the video that he also edited and directed.

Oh yes, and he also played all the instruments.

And sang it.

The energy and emotion in this video is really rather surprising, especially for such a young and unknown musician.

Hat tip to TheNextWeb Shareables

kthanxbai!

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Christmas is around the corner!

Yeah - until you saw the title you had forgotten - right?

So here are a few things I want for Christmas, after World Peace and an end to poverty...

kthanxbai!

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Dolly & Elvis at Xmas

Oh Jumblerant you silly sausage, how did you get all discombobulated like this?

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

It started off all simple and easy. I thought I'd segway nicely from the Hanukkah post to a Christmas post leaving everyone feeling warm and fuzzy.

First step was to link to Now That's Nifty and his post called 'Your Own Personal Holiday Juke Box'. Over 40 of the top Christmas songs around. Simple enough. I made the mistake of choosing Dolly Parton's rendition of Hard Rock Candy Christmas. I was very disappointed in my beautiful singer's dulcet tones.

Fine. I'll listen to The King whilst surfing the interweb. No-one can beat The King, right? DOH!! As I glide through Google Reader I start reading Mental_Floss (where knowledge junkies get their fix) and they're knocking the very album I'm listening to!

Their number 1 Controversial Christmas Carol is Elvis Presley's Christmas Carol. Luckily not because becasue of the singing or a re-do of the words but because in 1957 DJs were still 'challenged' by Rock 'n' Roll.

So here we are, back to the 'reason d'etre' of this blog;

Listen to your favorite Christmas Songs here;

Your Own Personal Holiday Juke Box

kthanxbai!

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the authoritative world factbook

Did you know;

People in The Netherlands traditionally celebrate Christmas by gathering around a festively decorated wheel of cheese, and smoking hashish out of lacquered wooden pipes.

Every English person alive has met HRH The Queen. Also, because of their stubborn insistence on driving on the wrong side of the road, the Earth’s spin rate is slowed there to the point that English hours have 62 minutes.

“Australia” is actually a giant theme park run by New Zealand, and staffed with New Zealander college kids in costumes. Income from tourists visiting “Australia” accounts for 93% of the New Zealand GDP.

For more interesting facts please read Marko, the munchkin wrangler's blog.

kthanxbai!

For my (big) sister

As you can imagine from reading my post 'I beat my wife to get healthy', my one and only sister, who happens to be older than me, was not the happiest, fluffiest bunny on the planet. In fact she handed me my ass on a plate.

SORRY FOR CALLING YOU OBESE!!

Image via Wikipedia

Map showing prevalence of obesity in the United States. Rates are according to the CDC.

I would also like to apologize to myself for that posting as I thought I'd be getting more comments with a title that starts 'I beat my wife'.




I recently read a blog posting by The Old Plod of Plympton about religious tolerance. In the posting the blogger had an article by Ben Stein in December 2005 which I found very interesting. In an apology to my delightful, feather-like sister who is a mere wisp of an essence where 'ere she goes... here it is:

Image via Wikipedia

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

Direct copy and paste from Ben Stein's website, www.benstein.com/121805xmas.html

I'm off to start buying presents for my family for Hanukah - enjoy your shopping too.

kthanxbai!