Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Sneaky Dragon, the internet’s favourite fun machine!
This week: roofies; con job; model marriage; six side characters in search of a Spiderman; good credit; rhinoceros; Dave answers where is Here; meteor role; the British invasion; Christmas movies; pirate vampires; speakers coroner; an enormous organ; reap the Wurlitzer wind; strong silents types; unstructured structure; Ian has notes; this note’s for you; serving notes; note, note Nanette; a fan’s notes; note a second time; wild about Harry; expert vs. enthusiast; Wong turn; disorganized; falling flat; theatre buffs; up in smoke; when bad is good; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; commercial art; man up; me and my arrow; hot licks; Disney bland; and, finally, catastrophe.
Question of the Week: What’s your favourite Christmas song? Least favourite?
Sub-question of the Week: What’s your favourite Christmas baked good?
Thanks for listening.
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I don’t mind a novelty song such as “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” or “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” but I’m not a fan of “The Chipmunk Song” or “All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.” For a secular holiday song, I like “Jingle Bell Rock” with its cool guitar and sleigh bell intro, and the part where they sing, “Giddy-up, jingle horse.” In our square dance unit in gym class, we did a circle dance to it. A favourite religious song is “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.” As a kid I thought it was “God Rest You (comma) Merry Gentlemen” which didn’t make sense. If they were already merry, why would you tell them, “Let nothing you dismay?” Apparently “Rest you merry” was an Elizabethan way of saying “Don’t worry, be happy.” The song is in a minor key which is odd for a song about joy. It mentions “Satan’s power” a couple of times which is chilling. The refrain starts to sound majorly hopeful during the second “comfort and joy” but then it modulates back to its ominous tone for the third “comfort and joy.” When played on an organ such as the one you heard at the Orpheum, its like the penny dreadful of Christmas carols.
I make a chocolate yule log, sometimes with meringue mushrooms, for our Christmas dessert. It’s a sweet taste of the holidays. A Sneaky Christmas to all!
Happy festive season, Ian and David! Thanks for another year of Sneaky Dragon. Hope you and your families both have fantastic Christmaseseses.
For me, I can’t go past the ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ soundtrack and specifically the track ‘Linus and Lucy.’ It’s so evocative of the era the film was made and has a sound that would never get past the movie-making-by-corporate-committee that movies go through today. Love it.
David! Have you read any of the reports that Tintin will enter public domain in 2025? Would love to hear you discuss it. Maybe there is even a new episode of Totally Tintin that digs into all the implications. Here is an excerpt from an article from the ABC here in Australia which leads with news that Popeye and a Hemingway novel will enter public domain next year:
“…Also included in next year’s line-up is Belgian artist Hergé’s creation Tintin, which followed the adventures of a young reporter and his wire fox terrier Snowy. The comics were among the most popular in Europe for much of the 20th century and first appeared in the US in 1929. But its signature bright colours — including Tintin’s red hair — did not appear until years later and could be the subject of legal disputes. And in much of the world, Tintin will not become public property until 70 years after the 1983 death of his creator…”
Maybe there is a new graphic Tintin graphic novel from the Sneaky Dragon team? Would love to see Nina’s take on the first version of Herge’s art with story by Ian and David…
I am however more excited by the morsel you have tantalisingly hinted at for 2025… the possibility of more Compleatly Beatles(!) Is it true? Please don’t torture us Beatles devotees. There has been so much happening in Beatles land since your final episode, I have no doubt that you could produce a whole new series of episodes. Get Back, Beatles 64, Now and Then, McCartney solo tours, even throw backs to the Anthology albums, the Beatles LOVE Cirque De Soleil album. So much to discuss.
Just saying…
As we grow closer to the end of 2024, thanks for bringing us all our weekly dose of Sneaky Dragon for another year!
I guess I’d better choose a favorite Christmas song since I initiated the question…
It’s safe to say that all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials hold a huge place in my heart and the music is a huge part of it. “I Believe in Santa Claus” sung by Mickey Rooney, “Put One Foot in Front of the Other” also by Mickey Rooney and Keenan Wynn and of course the classic for all seasons, “Snow Miser and Heat Miser” by the GREAT Dick Shawn and George S. Irving.
These are all beloved to me as a collection but my favorite Christmas song hands down will always be “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” by the legendary Thurl Ravenscroft, I even have a Spotify playlist of all the covers that have been recorded over the years. That song has the most descriptive lyrics ever written explaining how evil someone can be, I love every word.
I used to like him more but the Springsteen’s Christmas songs have run their course for me. I saw Bruce in concert here in Dallas about 35 years ago around this time of year and he encored with “Santa Claus is Coming’ to Town”, the Cotton Bowl went insane! Just not my Go-To Christmas Pop Rock song these days….
One of the things I’ve looked forward to every Christmas are my Mom’s iced Christmas cut-out cookies! Mom got the recipe from a friend who had a ceramics shop where they painted and fired ceramics in the 70’s and it’s a pretty simple cookie to make with almond flavored icing and sprinkles. These cookies are my Kryptonite and even though I can’t have many, I still look forward to one or two. Being the first Christmas without Mom, Dad has kept the tradition alive and made the cookies just like Mom has all these years. What’s even more important is the tradition of decorating these cookies every year. My brother and I used to handle that when we were kids but that duty has been handed down to my kids who helped their Grandpa this past weekend ice and sprinkle all the cookies along with their spouses.
They iced the cookies, not their spouses.
Two more days of work and I’m off for the year with a new Superman trailer to watch tomorrow. We’ll have to discuss that next time.
Glad tidings to Ian and David and all my fellow Sneakers!!
Season’s Sneakings!
As is traditional I will be concentrating and salivating during the recital of the recipe for Eggs Dedrick, but will completely forget to take a note of the process, so looking forward to next year already…
A few more favourite Christmas songs:
– I think we covered this last year, but Santa Baby (and the follow-up This Year’s Santa Baby) deserves praise for the acid wit of the lyrics and their lip smacking delivery by the goddess Ertha Kitt:
– An Icelandic carol that makes my spine tingle: Ian (or Jason should you be delegated email reader) I wish you the best of luck with the pronunciation of this one: ‘Nóttin var sú ágæt ein’. The linked recording is utterly magical, and I can’t understand a word of it.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kCgo900pQKCYI7eNw6yJ8
Favourite Christmas-Song-fact is that when she recorded ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’, gravelly voiced Brenda Lee was a mere 13 years old. Nod to the brilliant ‘A History of Rock in 500 Songs’ for that one.
Least favourite Christmas songs are those strident overproduced late ’70s offerings from Slade, Wizzard, and Macca. You know the ones. The soundtrack to a party that you’ve been at too long, even though you’ve only just arrived.
Favourite baked goods are hard to choose between… I’ll happily pig out on cherry lebkuchen, mince pies, and gingerbread… but the cornerstone of Christmas is the pudding, drenched in brandy, set aflame, and served with dollops of brandy butter. For some reason not so many people are that keen on a cannonball of steamed stodge at the end of a big meal, so this year we’re having a Christmas Pudding Ice Cream Bombe instead. All the flavour, all the calories, just not so hard on the digestive tract.
Recipe!
Line a pudding bowl with cling film, line that with a layer of brioche bread, then fill it up with a mixture of vanilla ice cream, pulverised Christmas pudding, and some booze-soaked dried fruit. Freeze it, pop it out onto a plate, cover it with melted chocolate, freeze it again, and serve it with berries. YUM!
Have a cool Yule y’all,