Over at CityRag I found a link to the 50 greatest cartoons as voted upon by the animation industry in 1994. It includes links to videos of most of them. Here are a couple of my favorites:
Archives for December 2006
Chanukah is About to End
And so here we are at the tail end of another chag. Chanukah is about to end. It makes me a little bit sad, always does. The end of summer does the same thing to me.
It is not the idea that there are no more presents. That doesn’t really make much of an impact upon me. Sure, I love to see the look on the faces of my kids as they unwrap their gifts, but this is different.
One of the things that I love best about this holiday is watching the kids as we light candles. There is this indescribable look on their faces. I love watching the reflections of the candlelight dance in their eyes. I love to hear my baby girl say the blessings. She stomps her little feet and marches in circles with this huge smile on her face.
And then just as we are about to finish she grabs my hand and raises her arms so that I can pick her up. For a moment we stare at the lights while she absentmindedly strokes my face. It is moments like this that make me want to stop time.
My son stands up so very straight. He knows the blessings inside and out. He likes to correct my Hebrew. The way that I pronounce the words doesn’t sound as authentic as the manner of his Israeli Hebrew teachers, nor does it sound like his own pronunciation. The advantage of learning at such a young age is that he doesn’t speak with such a thick American accent.
Every now and then I intentionally use Ashkenazic pronunciations like she’asah nisim la’avoseinu it throws him off a bit. He is not used to it. It is how the older generation of the family speaks and it helps me remember family that has passed on and past chagim.
PostSecret
How many people here read PostSecret? It is kind of a cool site. You know you head over there and read the postcards people send in with their deepest and darkest secrets.
Here is my confession. For the past six months I have been part of a team of people scattered around the country that send in fake secrets.
You’d be surprised how hard it is to write these cards. I have developed a formula that seems to work. I’d share it but it wouldn’t be a secret any longer.
Shh……
Children of the ’70s Raise Your Hands
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjloX_EvYiI
My Theme Song
You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
You really are a heel.
You’re as cuddly as a cactus,
You’re as charming as an eel.
Mr. Grinch.You’re a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.You’re a monster, Mr. Grinch.
Your heart’s an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You’ve got garlic in your soul.
Mr. Grinch.I wouldn’t touch you, with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.You’re a vile one, Mr. Grinch.
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile.
Mr. Grinch.Given the choice between the two of you
I’d take the seasick crockodile.You’re a foul one, Mr. Grinch.
You’re a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr. Grinch.The three words that best describe you,
are, and I quote: “Stink. Stank. Stunk.”You’re a rotter, Mr. Grinch.
You’re the king of sinful sots.
Your heart’s a dead tomato splot
With moldy purple spots,
Mr. Grinch.Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch.
With a nauseaus super-naus.
You’re a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked horse.
Mr. Grinch.You’re a three decker saurkraut and toadstool
sandwich
With arsenic sauce.Copyright © 1957, Dr. Seuss.
Chanukah- Too Many Presents!!!!!!!
My house is overflowing in presents. Too many presents. Too many gifts that beep, whistle, scream, shriek and geshrei.
There are worse problems to have, I know. Believe me, I am quite thankful for what I have. I am especially thankful for our good health. Today I learned that an acquaintance was in a major auto accident and is now paralyzed.
I have few real problems and for that I count my blessings. But that only goes so far. I still have to deal with the problem of too many gifts. It is the blessing and the curse of a large family. Everyone gives the kids something.
Having dealt with this before I made a point of going through old and unused toys with the kids. We gave away a bunch. We got rid of all sorts of stuff and like the cat in the hat it has come back.
I am tempted to try and set a moratorium on gift giving, but the question is how to make it happen. Who do I tell not to give the kids anything. Who won’t be offended. Who won’t ignore my wishes.
See, I can ask the familia for their cooperation and they’ll give it, but it will be adapted. And the truth is that it is not like they are giving outlandish gifts. The haul includes books, clothes and toys.
Truth is, I won’t set a limit on books. I will do everything in my power to foster a love of reading and that means that I never set a limit on books. Thus far it is working, they love to read.
Clothes are a necessary evil. The funny thing about kids is that they grow. My son just got three new pairs of jeans because the old ones magically shrunk. No sense having him look like he is ready for the next flood.
Educational toys were part of the big haul. I have to say that I let things go there. If that beeping noise helps them learn how to become mathematicians I have to say that there is some value to it.
Still I think that this weekend the kids and I are going to spend some more time talking again about being appreciative of our good fortune and why it is important to give back.
In the meantime I am going to get the hell off this thing. I have to kill that blasted whistling toy. If I hear it go off one more time I am going to lose the last few shreds of my mind.