Day: December 30, 2014

I’m a horrible blogger. Christmas and its associated activities got me well behind in sharing links. So not only do I have a general glut, but I also have a few that should have been shared before Christmas. I’m going to knock out those holiday-related ones today and attempt to get the rest of the queue cleaned out on Friday.

I suppose some of you still watch Christmas movies after Christmas. Heathens. So these first two should be of use to you wack jobs. The rest of you, who are ladies and gentlemen, can tuck them into your Instapaper/Evernote silos until next December.

I learned a ton from this Rolling Stone oral history of Christmas Vacation. The mountains in the background of the opening scene always bugged me. There aren’t mountains in Chicago! Good to finally learn where those scenes were shot.

Xmas or Bust: The Untold Story of ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’

The New York Times looked at the Christmas movies of the past couple decades and tried to determine which ones will stand the test of time. I agree with their choices, although I’ve never seen The Santa Clause. I recorded it this year but never got around to watching it.[1]

Entries in the Silver Bell Sweepstakes

Finally, tech writer Steven Levy somehow got his name attached to an email he never wrote, and credit for a TV rant he never gave, about the alleged War on Christmas. And so each year at this time he gets many interesting emails from people who believe he is responsible for the originals. It’s a funny example of how the Internet makes it both easy to share information and spread misinformation.

A Holiday Confession