I went by Northgate yesterday to pick up my makeup and gift. Lancome Liz wasn't there; in fact there was no one at the Lancome counter or any of the surrounding counters. I circled the Lancome counter a few times until finally Clarins Wanda came over and rang me up. Like all makeup counter women, she was wearing a scary amount of makeup. I don't get why saleswomen wearing ten times too much makeup is supposed to help sell makeup. Where is the makeup counter for women who want to look like normal people? It was kind of a bummer to have had to wait for my makeup, but the gift was pretty nice I must admit. It included enough stuff that the original purchase felt less exhorbitant.
Yesterday we started hanging art in the living room. The house is turning into a regular David Terry art gallery because of the art-for-web-design trading we've done. I had bought a couple of painting spotlights from Ikea but had never gotten around to using them before. They look pretty good I think! Brighten up the room. The electric cord hanging out the bottom isn't so nice, but at least it's white so it's not too obtrusive. And over the mantel I put the tallest picture right in front of the cord, to better disguise it.
Well it's December, time to be inundated with holiday cheer. Most importantly, it's time for non-stop Rankin-Bass animated specials on ABC Family channel. The best one is on right now: "The Year Without a Santa Claus." Heat Miser's doing his song at this very moment. Georg tells me that the voice of Cold Miser was provided by the guy who played the terrible actor playing Hitler in The Producers. I also like "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," the one with the misfit toys and Fred Astaire as the narrator/postman.
For sheer weirdness you can't beat "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus," based on a Frank Baum story in all its freaky pagan-fairy glory. I think in that one, Santa is a foundling who ends up being adopted by a wood nymph and a horned stag god. And instead of the Burgermeister Meisterburger, the villains are malevolant animal spirits. I guess Rankin and Bass must have been seriously running out of ideas by that point. And I have to say, with TV shows like that out there, it's no wonder fundamentalist Christians get a bee in their bonnet about Santa.
Lina goes to the veterinary teaching hospital in the morning. They called me this afternoon to confirm, so I took the opportunity to ask them exactly how much time we're going to be spending there over the next couple of days. They said that tomorrow is the consultation. If she's cleared for surgery they'll keep her tomorrow night and do the surgery on Thursday. I wish she could come home with me tomorrow night, but on the other hand I'll be spending less time driving back and forth to Raleigh. Poor dog, she has no idea what she's in for.
4 Comments
I know that there are also misfit toys in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", which has burl ives as the snowman and narrator, and is also my favorite christmas special!
I'm bummed that I missed "The year without a santa claus" because it does have the best music. Ooh, i should plug it into Tivo anyway-- maybe it'll come on again!
If it helps, when my stepfather's dog had to spend a lot of time at the veterinary hospital, he loved it. of course, the stuff he had to go through there wasn't fun, but he loved the people-- mom said he'd perk up and wag his tail every time they pulled into the lot, even if he was feeling really bad.
I think you're right -- the misfit toys are in the Rudolph special. I got confused. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" has the romance with young red haired Santa and sexy future Mrs. Claus.
Definitely check your Tivo. ABC Family is running these specials almost every night this month, so it's reruns aplenty. I think we counted two more showings of "Year Without a Santa Claus" this week alone.
According to the IMDB, Dick Shawn--who played Lorenzo S. DuBois in The Producers--was the voice of Cold Miser. Heat Miser was played by George S. Irving, about whom I know nothing except that he was apparently an animation voice actor for many years, including on Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo.
The IMDB is far from omniscient, and might have gotten them swapped.