All the best to my fellow Chicagoboyz contributors and readers! I hope that the coming year leaves you healthy and happy or at least prosperous and contented. Feliz año nuevo, as they say in Japan.
Holidays
Christmas 4: War Toys
One of life’s many disappointments is that my son has no interest in war toys. So, I did not get to relive my childhood vicariously, with green tanks assaulting lincoln-log forts and swarms of plastic green army men pushing the grey plastic Germans back all the way to their doomed last stand in front of the fireplace. Nope.
Hence I had no one to buy these incredibly cool toy gurkhas for.
Oscar Wilde said youth is wasted on the young. Toys are similarly, to a great extent, wasted on children.
(I recently read this awesome book about the real gurkhas, which I heartily recommend.)
Christmas 3: Merry Christmas from the Queen, 1957
The embed does not work, but you can click here. Very nice message from a then-young Queen. She looks a little nervous in her first televised Christmas message, but her impeccable enunciation never fails.
Season’s Greetings
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and may 2008 be a good year for all Chicagoboyz, girlz, commenters, and lurkers.
Christmas 2: Kim Shattuck’s Holiday Podcast
I have said it before, the greatest rock group of our era is The Muffs. Their lead singer, guitarist and songwriter is the wonderful Kim Shattuck. She has had a series of ultra-groovy holiday podcasts.
Dig this totally groovy 2007 Christmas podcast. Good music to wrap presents by.
Her 2006 podcast, part 1 is here, and part 2 is here. The 2005 podcast is here.