“A Charlie Brown Christmas” Loved by Almost Everyone

Posted on by

A Charlie Brown Christmas is considered a classic.  And rightly so.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is the second longest-running animated Christmas special in television history.  It won a Emmy and a Peabody award.  The night it premiered on December 9, 1965, 50% of the viewing audience tuned in to CBS to check out Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the gang.

Everyone loved A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Everyone except the executives at CBS.

They hated it.  Let me rephrase that.  They hated everything about it.  They didn’t like the kids’ voices.  They didn’t like that there was no laugh track.  They didn’t like the jazz score.  They didn’t like Linus’ speech at the end about the true meaning of Christmas.

About the only thing that they did like is the fact after they aired A Charlie Brown Christmas, they weren’t obligated to order any more Charlie Brown specials.

Check out this post at Neatorama by Eddie Deezen and you’ll see how everything the CBS execs hated, helped to give A Charlie Brown Christmas it’s charm.

Of course, after the ratings, positive reviews and awards started rolling in, the execs at CBS probably started to like A Charlie Brown Christmas just a little bit more… as evidenced by the more than 30 animated Charlie Brown specials that have been produced over the years.

New “Good Day to Die Hard” Poster & Featurette

Posted on by

I don’t know about you, but I’m digging this latest A Good Day to Die Hard poster.  Maybe that’s because I’m a huge fan of the Die Hard series.

If you’re a Die Hard fan, you’ll probably want to check out this featurette presented by Jai Courtney who plays Bruce Willis’ son in the movie.

Thanks and a Yippe Ki-yay to the fine folks at Coming Soon.

Buy Art & Help a Child Get a Christmas Toy

Posted on by

About a year and a half ago, I did a post about Kyle Hilton‘s cool Breaking Bad paper dolls art.

Then about six months ago I did a post about his Pulp Fiction paper doll art.  As I said then, I’m not a fan of paper dolls, but when they’re as cool as the ones that Kyle does, they deserve to be mentioned. 

Until December 18th, all proceeds from any paper doll prints sold at Kyle’s Society 6 shop will go directly to giving a child in need a toy this holiday season!  

Her Dad Fought in the American Civil War

Posted on by

If you met a woman and she told you that her dad fought in the war, what war would come to mind?  

Depending on her age, you might think Viet Nam, Korea, or World War II.  If she was really old, you might even think that perhaps her dad fought in World War I.  Of course that would be pushing it a bit since World War I started nearly 99 years ago.

But what if she told you that her dad fought in the Civil War?  The American Civil War.  You know, North vs South, Grant vs Lee, Abraham Lincoln ending slavery.  THAT Civil War.

No way, you’d think.  You wouldn’t even need to do the math to figure out that the Civil War started over 150 years ago.  There’s no way that her dad could have fought in the Civil War, right?

Wrong.

If the woman is Juanita Tudor Lowery, her dad did fight in the American Civil War.  Once you get over that mind-blowing fact, consider this: there are a few others like her.  I found that pretty hard to believe until I read this.

Hanging with Olympic Medalists

Posted on by

That’s me, Ato Bolden, Allyson Felix, Joanna Hayes and Aries Merritt.  I’m in some pretty fast company, folks.  In case you didn’t know it, they’re all Olympic Track and Field Medalists.

  • Ato Bolden: 4-time Olympic medalist [two bronze 1996; bronze & silver in 2000]
  • Allyson Felix: 6-time Olympic medalist [silver 2004; bronze & silver 2008; 4 gold in 2012]
  • Joanna Hayes: Gold medal winner 2004
  • Aries Merritt: Gold medal winner 2012

These Olympians were in town for the USA Track and Field annual meeting and are all part of the “Win with Integrity” program sponsored by USATF.  They came to our school and spoke with our 8th grade honor roll students.  Their message focused on students staying in school, getting a good education and living life with integrity.  Our students were able to ask them questions, hold a real gold medal and get photos and autographs.

It was truly a pleasure to have these Olympic heroes on campus to speak to our students.

Mike Henderson Gets Carter

Posted on by

This week we have Mike Henderson and his take on Sly as Jack Carter. Mike is a freelance artist who has worked for DC, IDW, Marvel, and Nike to name just a few. I saw Mike would be a guest at Heroes Con and really liked his art [especially a Conan piece that he drew following Frank Frazetta’s death].

I met Mike at Heroes and set up a commission for the Jack Carter sketch posted today. My son, [also named] Mike, was with me at Heroes and knew how much I liked the Conan piece. Heroes was in June. In October, my son gave me a birthday gift — yep, the Conan piece by Mike Henderson!

UFC on FOX 5 Results and Thoughts

Posted on by

Dana White, like most MMA fans (I say most, because if your fighter lost you might feel differently), must have loved the fights Saturday night.  We were presented with an action-packed card that started at 5pm, with the preliminary matches airing on FX, and the main card on FOX immediately following at 8pm.  

The FX fights included: 

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 5 pm ET)

  • Yves Edwards winning by TKO in the first over Jeremy Stephens
  • Raphael Assuncao winning by unanimous decision over Mike Easton
  • Ramsey Nijem earning a unanimous decision win over  Joe Proctor
  • Daron Cruickshank won by KO over Henry Martinez in round 2
  • Abel Trujillo won by TKO over Marcus LeVesseur in round 2
  • Dennis Siver won by unanimous decision over Nam Phan

Then the main event UFC on FOX 5.  Here’s the results with my predictions:

  • Matt Brown vs. Mike Swick
    Prediction: Swick takes the decision.
    Result: Matt Brown won     by 2nd round KO making me 0-1 for the night. 


  • Rory MacDonald vs. B.J. Penn
    Prediction: Penn loses steam and the fight.
    Result: Penn lost by unanimous decision making me 1-1 for the night. 


  •  Alexander Gustafsson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
    Prediction: If Gustafsson can weather the storm, he should earn the decision.
    Result: Gustafsson won     by unanimous decision making me 2-1 for the night. 


  •  Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz for the title!
    Prediction: Henderson by decision.
    Results: Henderson won     by unanimous decision making me 3-1 for the night. 


Final Thoughts:

Abel Trujillo is a beast.  He repeatedly stuffed takedowns by an undefeated Olympic Gold medal winning wrestler.  His punches could take down walls and he never tired.  This is a kid to watch.

Daron Cruickshank  has skills. He was throwing punches with evil intentions, but also brutal kicks and spinning backfists.  I look to see him on the main card and fighting tougher competition soon.

Mike Swick didn’t look healthy.  He still has ground skills, but looked like he had a ways to go to be back to his former self.’

Matt Brown’s win streak continues.  He displayed a nice mix of punches and grappling in earning the win over Mike Swick.

BJ Penn needs to either get serious and go back down to 155 or retire.  No more announcing he’s retired and then taking months off only to say, he wants to be considered the best pound-for-pound fighter and is coming back to show the world… only to lose.

Rory MacDonald owned BJ Penn last night.  MacDonald has a bright future.  I would caution him against showboating.  Not only is it foolish, it will quickly turn the fans against him.  MacDonald has a bright career ahead of him.  After his total destruction of BJ Penn, MacDonald called out Carlos Condit [the only person to ever beat MacDonald].  Dana, make the fight!  

Man, did Benson Henderson look great!  He dominated every aspect of his fight against Nate Diaz last night, easily winning every round.  That’s not to say that Diaz was not in competitive.  He was.  Diaz is always dangerous.  A couple of times Diaz was able to lure Henderson into a bad position, but each time Henderson found a way out and continued to dominate the round.  Big Congrats to Ben Henderson! 


Detailed Walking Dead Infographic

Posted on by

Here’s something cool that every Walking Dead fan will want to check out.  It’s an infographic created by Andrew Barr and Richard Johnson showing:

  • On-Screen Zombie Kills for Seasons One, Two and Three
  • Main Characters Who Have Become “Zombiefied”
  • Chronological List of On-Screen Zombie Kills, Who Killed Them & Weapon Used
  • The Tools used to Dispatch Zombies
  • The Top Ten Zombie Killers Who are Still Breathing

UFC Fights on FX and FOX Saturday

Posted on by

If you like MMA, then you’re going to love Saturday night.  Starting at 5pm, the UFC has preliminary matches airing on FX, and the main card on FOX starting at 8pm.  

The FX fights include: 

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 5 pm ET)

  • Yves Edwards vs. Jeremy Stephens
  • Raphael Assuncao vs. Mike Easton
  • Ramsey Nijem vs. Joe Proctor
  • Daron Cruickshank vs. Henry Martinez
  • Marcus LeVesseur vs. Abel Trujillo
  • Nam Phan vs. Dennis Siver


Then at 8pm we have UFC on FOX 5 with one of the best fight cards of the year [and it’s on free-tv!].  Here’s the line up with my predictions:

  • Matt Brown vs. Mike Swick
    Thoughts: Both of these guys come to fight.  Brown swings for the fences with each punch and Swick doesn’t mind a slugfest.  Could be the best fight of the night.
    Prediction: Swick takes the decision.


  •  Rory MacDonald vs. B.J. Penn
    Thoughts: Penn is back again with his same old, “I took this fight seriously and am in the best shape of my life” spiel.
    Prediction: Penn loses steam and the fight.


  •  Alexander Gustafsson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
    Thoughts: Do not miss the first round.  Rua will come out blazing.
    Prediction: If Gustafsson can weather the storm, he should earn the decision. 


  •  Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz for the title!
    Thoughts: I am a Ben Henderson fan, but not so much for Diaz.  However, I do respect the fighting ability of Diaz. Both Henderson and Diaz are warriors.  This is gong to be the fight of the night.
    Prediction: Henderson by decision [but I wouldn’t bet the house on it].