Thankschristmas eve eve
A riddle for you: When does a Tuesday feel like a Friday? Why, when its the last day of school before a holiday break of course! I had forgotten the electric energy that pervades the school halls before Thanksgiving and Christmas...its kinda fun actually. I wish I had planned more to be done today in class, but the kids don't really care one way or another. It eases the pain a bit that today is an early release...we all are done at 1:45...less than an hour after lunch. I'll get to Athens by 3 I imagine...if not earlier. I'll have time to go running...but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
I'm excited for the week, I've said that already I know...but I'll say it again anyway. I love Thanksgiving because a) I get to stuff my face and b) its the official start of the Christmas holiday and I LOVE Christmas. I love the music, the decor, the food, the shopping, and the unwrapping of presents on Christmas morning. It all makes me feel like a kid again. Sometimes I wish I still believed in Santa Claus just so that the season could be magical to me again. Christmas was certainly more fun when I was a believer...it had a quality of mystery and joy that was almost tangible...like a blanket.
Speaking of Christmas, starting on December 1st I begin burning through all the films I have that are Christmas related, so expect a lot of yuletide film reviews and comments in the coming weeks as I go through the classic, the sappy, the hilarious, and the macabre of my Christmas collection. For those who are squeamish, I suggest you steer clear of the days I discuss Silent Night, Deadly Night and Black Christmas. Likewise to those who avoid sappy like the plague, ignore my posts on It's a Wonderful Life and Santa Claus: The Movie. Yes friends, there is a Christmas movie for everyone it seems.
Today I want to give a shout out to a film that not only fed my love of horror/comedies in my youth, but which also spawned an accidental gay icon in the guise of a black widow nanny. The film I refer to is Addams Family Values. My appreciation goes out to the first Addams Family film of course, but my heart lies with the second film mainly due to Joan Cusack's scene stealing turn as Debbie Jellinsky, the psychotic golddigger who traps Uncle Fester into a loveless marriage so she can kill him and collect the cash...of course, she doesn't count on the Addams man being as resilient as he is. Debbie elevates the Addams sequel to a level equal to or even greater than the original film because she is such a wonderfully funny and quotable villain. Tully and Dr. Penderschloss/Craven from the first film were rather forgettable villains and no one remembers much about them in the long run (and for those of you who do and I have just offended, I am sorry) but Joan makes her character one to remember. Also, while we're on the subject of quoting her, can I mention how many auditions I have heard (male and female alike) who have used Debbie's closing monologue and how many gay men I know who can quote her word for word? Debbie has almost become bigger than the Addams Family themselves. Who doesn't remember "Do you know what they got me? MAL-I-BU BAR-BIE!....They had to go." or "Sorry Debbie, no Mercedes this year, we have to set a good example....SET THIS!" Of course, lets not forget the great moments that the actual family has. Don't we just love the Thanksgiving Play at the summer camp ("Eat me!") and little Pubert? ("Pubert...I like it...its filthy). Christina Ricci herself has some of the best moments out of the entire family. Oh, and watch for a pre-Sex and the City Cynthia Nixon as a rejected hippie nanny and Nathan Lane as a cop!
I'm excited for the week, I've said that already I know...but I'll say it again anyway. I love Thanksgiving because a) I get to stuff my face and b) its the official start of the Christmas holiday and I LOVE Christmas. I love the music, the decor, the food, the shopping, and the unwrapping of presents on Christmas morning. It all makes me feel like a kid again. Sometimes I wish I still believed in Santa Claus just so that the season could be magical to me again. Christmas was certainly more fun when I was a believer...it had a quality of mystery and joy that was almost tangible...like a blanket.
Speaking of Christmas, starting on December 1st I begin burning through all the films I have that are Christmas related, so expect a lot of yuletide film reviews and comments in the coming weeks as I go through the classic, the sappy, the hilarious, and the macabre of my Christmas collection. For those who are squeamish, I suggest you steer clear of the days I discuss Silent Night, Deadly Night and Black Christmas. Likewise to those who avoid sappy like the plague, ignore my posts on It's a Wonderful Life and Santa Claus: The Movie. Yes friends, there is a Christmas movie for everyone it seems.
Today I want to give a shout out to a film that not only fed my love of horror/comedies in my youth, but which also spawned an accidental gay icon in the guise of a black widow nanny. The film I refer to is Addams Family Values. My appreciation goes out to the first Addams Family film of course, but my heart lies with the second film mainly due to Joan Cusack's scene stealing turn as Debbie Jellinsky, the psychotic golddigger who traps Uncle Fester into a loveless marriage so she can kill him and collect the cash...of course, she doesn't count on the Addams man being as resilient as he is. Debbie elevates the Addams sequel to a level equal to or even greater than the original film because she is such a wonderfully funny and quotable villain. Tully and Dr. Penderschloss/Craven from the first film were rather forgettable villains and no one remembers much about them in the long run (and for those of you who do and I have just offended, I am sorry) but Joan makes her character one to remember. Also, while we're on the subject of quoting her, can I mention how many auditions I have heard (male and female alike) who have used Debbie's closing monologue and how many gay men I know who can quote her word for word? Debbie has almost become bigger than the Addams Family themselves. Who doesn't remember "Do you know what they got me? MAL-I-BU BAR-BIE!....They had to go." or "Sorry Debbie, no Mercedes this year, we have to set a good example....SET THIS!" Of course, lets not forget the great moments that the actual family has. Don't we just love the Thanksgiving Play at the summer camp ("Eat me!") and little Pubert? ("Pubert...I like it...its filthy). Christina Ricci herself has some of the best moments out of the entire family. Oh, and watch for a pre-Sex and the City Cynthia Nixon as a rejected hippie nanny and Nathan Lane as a cop!
Comments