Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

The other day I awoke to the news that pianist Dave Brubeck had passed away at age 91, one day short of his birthday, December 6. To say he was a jazz giant is only to illustrate the weakness of the written word, compared to his chosen language, music. I first got turned onto him as a twenty-something who had grown bored with his dorm roon collection of rock and roll. KERA (local public radio station) at the time played classical during the day, and jazz at night. My first purchase was a double LP called The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall . To say it knocked my socks off is to further illustrate the weakness of the written word. He was born in the San Francisco Bay area. After graduating from the College of the Pacific (where his inability to read music created a bit of a scandal), he was drafted and served in George Patton's Third Army. While in the army he formed one of the army's first multi-racial bands. It was then that he first met his long-time collaborato...

Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Cozy Kwanzaa/Saturnalia/Solstice to all who put up with my nonsense and lunatic prattling. It's been an interesting year, eh? A holiday shout out to several of my blogging buddies, who, though I don't always agree with, have become good friends. This includes the Whited Sepulchre , TarrantLibertyGuy, Browncoat Libertarian and Stephen Smith . Proof you can disagree without being disagreeable. A special shout as well to my old friend Dan , who I've known since 5th grade and who writes much better than I and has led a much more interesting life as well.

For some years I worked in advertising. Among the many blots on my soul was the fact that I pimped Christmas and the Baby Jesus to sell worthless shit. Now I discover, thanks to Bill O'Reilly, I was doing the Lord's Work. Now that it's December, Fox News and its various reptilian talking heads are once again hard at work promoting the War On Christmas . Bill O'Reilly kicked off this holiday tradition a few years back. It's like the Right Wing's Charlie Brown Christmas -- they trot it out every year since they know it's a surefire ratings booster. It's most visible form is flogging various retailers who choose to say "Holiday Sale" instead of "Christmas Sale." This strikes me as odd. I have a hard time seeing how using the label "Christmas" as a marketing tie-in is promoting the beliefs of Christendom. If anything, it serves to further secularize a Holiday/HolyDay already weighted down with a vast collection of warmed over ...

Teenagers are so hard to shop for. Not sure what to get for that thumb-twitching, over-caffeinated gamer in your life? Commonsense Media has helpfully compiled a list of the top ten games to avoid (because of " excessive violence , negative role models, extreme gore, sociopathic behavior") this holiday shopping season. Of course, these are exactly the games your little sociopath is asking for, assuming he/she hasn't already bit-torrented them. Now you know what to ask for at GameStop. The list: Assassin's Creed II Borderlands Brutal Legend Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Dead Space: Extraction Dragon Age: Origins Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony Demon's Souls Left 4 Dead 2 Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Remember, nothing says love like automatic weapons fire. Merry Christmas!

The holidays are upon us. Actually they were upon us sometime before Halloween: Santa now mingles freely with Dracula and Naughty Nurse, and visions of sugar plums are replaced by 20 count bags of mini-Snickers bars. I'm bracing myself for our latest holiday tradition, the bombastic pronouncements about the " War on Christmas ." For the past several years, self-anointed protectors of Christmas  have been creating lists of which retailers are naughty or nice. This seems to boil down to who says "Holiday" in their advertising instead of "Christmas." On the Naughty list have been such Satanic organizations as Sears, Wal-Mart, Target, The Gap, Banana Republic, Home Depot. This year's Naughty and Nice list has been helpfully compiled by the American Family Association of Tupelo, Mississippi. You may recall the American Family Association , led by the Reverand Donald Wildmon, from their previous name, the National Federation for Decency . The...

Thanksgiving has nudged out Christmas as my favorite holiday. Maybe it has something to do with the Christmas displays appearing in stores before Halloween. Just to make it a Triple Colbert week, here's the cast of the Colbert Christmas Special singing Elvis Costello's (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding -- that's Elvis in the bear suit. I can't think of a better holiday message. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c A Colbert Christmas: Peace, Love and Understanding Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview

If you've not seen the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special yet (shown on Comedy Central) you owe it to yourself to catch it next time it's shown. Or pony up $19.99 and buy the DVD (a portion of the proceeds benefit Feeding America ). Brilliantly cynical and cheery all at the same time. Here's a preview! The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c A Colbert Christmas: Another Christmas Song Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview