Sure, when you think Christmas Movies, you think…Miracle on 34th Street or It’s a Wonderful Life. Well, I’ll tell you right now. Those didn’t make my list. LOL. My tastes are a bit more unconventional than that.

My Christmas movies are not necessarily heartwarming, in fact, the only requirement is that they take place at Christmas and either the storyline or the atmosphere of the movie heavily feature Christmas.

So, without further ado, here they are – in no particular order:

A Christmas Story – come on, you knew this was coming. Fra-gee-lay. You’ll shoot your eye out. Fa ra ra ra ra. It’s a classic.

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The Family Stone – I loved this movie. The writing, the casting, the dialogue, the unexpected poignancy. SO great.

US $20.43 End Date: Friday Mar-09-2012 12:35:22 PST Buy It Now for only: US $20.43 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Die Hard – Yes, this movie takes place at Christmas, and, in fact, even has a line which makes the assertion that Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” is a Christmas Carol.

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Lethal Weapon – After four of these, they seem a little tired, but at the time, it was a pretty great movie. I watched it all the time on VHS as a teenager, and it takes place over the holidays – in fact, the scene which introduces Mel Gibson’s character is a drug deal in a Christmas Tree lot.

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Prancer – This is about as schmaltzy as I go. A little girl who won’t stop believing in the spirit of Christmas despite the fact that her Grinch of a Dad is totally curmudgeon-y finds and hides a reindeer she believes is Prancer. How great is Sam Elliott?

US $2.00 End Date: Friday Mar-09-2012 4:27:50 PST Buy It Now for only: US $2.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – This has got to be in the Top 5. Everyone thinks the impoverished and crass Herdmans will ruin a small town, conservative church’s Christmas pageant, but instead they end up casting a new and touching perspective on the Christmas story.

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Christmas Vacation - Another that would definitely be in the Top 5, were I numbering. The Griswold family’s Christmas adventure, including Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie. Oh my GOD, hilarious!!!

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The Preacher’s Wife – The acting in this movie is nothing compared to the music. SO great!!!!

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Scrooged – My favorite of all the Christmas Carol remakes that have been done, this one features Bill Murray, Alfre Woodard, Carol Kane, Karen Allen, and full cast rendition of “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” What’s not to love?

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The Ref – As much as I love Kevin Spacey, this is a Dennis Leary vehicle all the way – and it’s great.

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The Nightmare Before Christmas – Is it a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie? I don’t know. It’s both, I guess. Either way, it’s brilliant!

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Go – This is a great little under-known movie that covers three inter-twining perspectives of a night not long before Christmas.

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Love, Actually – Not really your standard Rom Com, because it covers so many storylines, it is still more mainstream than my tastes tend to run. Still, I like it. It has some very cute and clever moments.

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This Christmas – Although I was distracted by the LA-area innacuracies (oh, hi, hello, the El Rey IS NOT A CLUB!), I have to say I was won over by this cute, character-driven comedy. Sure, it’s cliche (big family full of quirky characters start out with issues and grow to understand each other better by the end ), but the performances (particularly by Loretta Devine and Regina King) are so much fun, you don’t really mind. You realize you’re being taken on a ride, but you’ll happily go along!

US $13.86 End Date: Friday Mar-09-2012 13:42:23 PST Buy It Now for only: US $13.86 Buy it now | Add to watch list

While You Were Sleeping – Often credited with launching Sandra Bullock’s career, although I will always maintain that was Speed , this cute little Chicago-centric story focuses on a series of misunderstandings that lead the family of a man in a coma to believe that the lonely train station token-taker who saved his life is actually his fiance. Hilarity ensues. Or, at least amusement and sweetness. And John Cusack’s dad is in it.

US $2.89 End Date: Friday Mar-09-2012 15:42:35 PST Buy It Now for only: US $2.89 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Did I leave out your favorite? Berate me in the comments! I can take it!

*melanie

MUSIC I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO: I have a cool story. It’s been so long since I updated my blog, that I can’t believe I haven’t posted it here yet, but I haven’t, so HERE GOES!!!!!

In 1998, I bought a brilliant CD by a girl named Rebekah called “Remember to Breathe.” It never left my player for more than a day for over a year, to this day I still listen to it at least once a month.

The problem is, she never put out anything new and I could never find out anything about her aside from the fact that she did some acting (she played Sylvia in Barry Levinson’s Liberty Heights). Years of googling and asking around on message boards, etc. yielded nothing.

Then, in December I went to see David Ryan Harris at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica. I picked up all the postcards of the upcoming artists like I always do. One was for a girl named Rebekah Jordan. When I went to her website and listened to her songs, I realized her voice was very familiar. It was Rebekah, who I’d spent so long trying to look up!

I’ve seen her twice now, at Room 5 and at Little Temple. I talked to her briefly at Room 5, but got a chance to talk to her more extensively at Little Temple. Brandy snapped a picture of us, but it came out very dark because I was too nervous to remember which button is the flash on my own damn camera! LOL

Anyway, CHECK HER OUT, she’s amazing:

http://www.rebekahjordanmusic.com

BEST SHOW ON TELEVISION, WHICH IS ABOUT TO GET CANCELLED BECAUSE IT’S TOO SMART FOR NETWORK TV: Arrested Development. If you don’t watch Arrested Development, please start immediately. Particularly if you are a Nielson family. This show is so clever, so smart, so subtle yet simultaneously broad (yeah, I know, I wouldn’t have said it was possible either) that I honestly believe that if you don’t love it it’s only because you don’t get it. LOL. If you miss the boat now, and the show gets cancelled before you have a chance to become a rabid fan (as I know anyone who is smart enough to be reading my blog certainly would *smile*), then you will definitely be saying to yourself later, in true Gob style, “I think I’ve made a huge mistake.”

In fact, it’s gotten to the point where it scares me to bring up Arrested Development to new people. I know that if they don’t like it, I will lose all respect for them, not to mention any interest in pursuing the relationship further. Case in point, the following exerpt from an IM conversation between myself and a guy from myspace.com that was trying to chat me up:

BTW, the screenames have been changed to protect the innocent (me) and the idiot (him).

GUY: what are you up to?
ME: i’m watching the second season of arrested development on my computer again. god, i love that show
GUY: never seen it
ME: are you serious? you need to. it’s the smartest show on TV.
GUY: i watch joey
ME: yeah….they’re not really comparable
GUY: i like it
ME: ok

LATER IN THE EXCHANGE:

GUY: so what do you look for in a guy? tall?
ME: i’m not a very externally-focused person. looks are not very interesting to me. i’m more excited by ideas and passion than looks. i suppose i’m somewhat of a neo-hippie in that way.
GUY: oh, cool. yeah. me too.
(FIVE MINUTE PAUSE)
GUY: so what do you look like?
ME: was that subtle irony?
GUY: was that what?
ME: subtle irony.
GUY: i guess i don’t know what that is.
ME: which explains why you prefer Joey to AD.
GUY: AD?
ME: Nevermind.

Needless to say, he’s getting nowhere with me.

WORST DAMN MOVIE IN RECENT HISTORY: Abandon. Katie Holmes elects to play the exact same character as she played in Dawson’s Creek, except this time she’s a killer. I mean, come on…she’s “smart” (whatever), studious, comes from a disadvantaged background, guys are drawn to her, she has Daddy issues…damn, people. That is Joey Potter. Joey Potter with a big damn rock. Not to mention the fact that the male lead looks exactly like Cabrera and it distracted me.

FUNNIEST BLOOPER IN A CHRISTIAN PSUEDO-NEWS PROFILE: My mom and I were watching the 700 Club the other night (shut up!) and they did an expose…er…I mean, a profile on this youth ministry in Connecticut called “Frontline Ministries.” So when the founder is camera-talking about the origin of the name, he says (with a completely straight face), “When David wanted to get rid of Uriah, he sent him out to the frontline of the battle, where the most intense fighting was.”

Um…???? WTF? Yes, that’s the way that David ASSASSINATED Uriah, you moron! What does that have to do with your youth ministry? So unless your motto is: “Frontline Ministries – Killing Kids for Christ since 1987,” you may wanna rethink that, turbo.

But the most intensely frightening aspect of this whole anecdote, for me at least, is how many people must have seen that segment and approved it before it made air. YIKES!

BEST FREEWARE AVAILABLE TO LOAD ONTO A TREO 600: Verichat, a Trillian-like program for handhelds. The upshot? I can now IM from anywhere, my friends. Look out. Particularly ATBers, as I believe it has chat room capabilities. What what!

WHAT’S BEEN GOING ON: Oh, hell, I’m sick of typing. LOL I’ll check in again with real news about my life, as opposed to random pop culture observations. Like anyone cares.