John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Drool time

It's impossible to miss the pre-Christmas advertising that's everywhere; I just spent more minutes than I probably should have drooling over some lovely items I will never buy, all contained in the New York Times' gift guide.

Eartha Kitt and Christmas

On Christmas Eve, I posted a video of Eartha Kitt and a rendition of Santa Baby. Kitt died the next day. It's kind of fitting that Kitt passed away on Christmas Day; apart from Santa Baby, she also recorded another holiday favourite - a version of (I'm Getting) Nuttin' For Christmas that was just a little saucy and suggestive. Not sure if there's a video out there for it, but I did find this slideshow on YouTube.

Eartha Kitt, Santa Baby

The best version, for my money ... although this TV version is a bit different from her recording.

How your printer can help get that literally last-minute shopping done

Print some gift certificates, a la this advice from CNET.

Don't like wrap music?

Apologies to MC Hammer ... who, I bet, doesn't get many apologies.

The ultimate Christmas song

Fairytale of New York is - hard to believe - more than two decades old. The 1987 collaboration between the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl has come a Christmas classic, in spite of itself. It's dark, serious material (the famous opening lines of the lyrics, after all, are "It was Christmas Eve babe/ In the drunk tank"), yet I'd put it up as an ultimate Christmas song: it's full of emotion, and isn't Christmas sometimes also about wistful thoughts of ruined, piercing self-reflection as anything else? 

I'm not alone. In 2004, the song topped a British poll of favourite Christmas songs. The Wikipedia entry notes that the song has come out on top on other surveys, and has been identified as a Christmas favourite of everyone from Cliff Richard (!) to Ricky Gervais.

The song has been re-released in recent years, largely to draw attention to MacColl's family's campaign to investigate her 2000 death in Mexico.

I think the song has become evergreen because it's kind of timeless; it's clearly set in the past (the reference to Sinatra has sparked at least two debates I've been privy to, pertaining to the era in which the song is set), but that doesn't really matter too much.

Here's an excerpt from a piece Alan Connor wrote for the BBC Magazine last year, on the history of the song:

The songs of the Pogues are populated by incorrigible rakes and ne'er-do-wells with bad language and worse behaviour who are more celebrated than condemned. In a smaller way, when Christmas gets a little intense, there may be a comfort in hearing Fairytale Of New York and thinking: at least everyone else is rowing as well.

The video, which features Matt Dillon in a cameo in its opening moments, is a gem. Here it is. 

Purty lights

Nice pic. Found it stuffed in this Australian photos site.

A tree that really stuffs the house

We've certainly had trees over the years that seemed to overwhelm the room. This report from the BBC, though, is on another level altogether.

Bruce Springsteen; Merry Christmas, Baby

From a Late Night with Conan O'Brien show last year, a new take on a Boss chestnut.

Yep, his lights are cooler than your lights

Carol of the Bells - Computer Controlled Christmas Lights from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.