December 2017 in "Older"

Dateline: 31 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Misfits, celebrate!

Down memory lane sometime after 1976, Makati. Can't let this season pass without remembering one of my all-time favorite Christmas Eve TV shows (or passing time while waiting for noche buena and the giving and opening of Christmas gifts). Amazes me that this classic is actually a Rankin/Bass pioneering stop-motion animation production in 1964.

I love this segment where Rudolph and Hermey the Elf acquaint, unite and celebrate as a couple of misfits. (Cracks me up now to realize the "humor" behind an elf wanting to become a dentist.)

Dateline: 29 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Mother, Daughter

Facebook's "On This Day" reminded I and some 14,000 others shared this post from Madonna:

"Sweetest picture ever of Carrie Fisher watching her mother Debbie Reynolds on stage! Hug Your mother today! Then hug your daughter!"

Refers to a very heartbreaking story just before 2016 ended -- actress Carrie Fisher passed away on December 27, then a day after, her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds followed.

Dateline: 26 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Picture book drama

Down memory lane, sometime between 1983 and 1986. The Hans Christian Andersen Christmas classic story made vivid by staged doll figure photography was one of the early favorites when I began to hang out in my grade school library in St. Mary's Academy, Pasay City.

Search over the internet informed me that this board book publication series is called "Living Story Book" by Shiba Productions. (Chose this image from this Google Image Search.)

Dateline: 24 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

John with Jim's

Down memory lane, beginning 1979. Opening salvo of John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, a holiday TV special. As a kid, I found singing "Twelve Days of Christmas" tedious and tiring. But watching the many charming Jim Henson's muppets sing it didn't bore me.

Dateline: 22 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Christmas chipmunked

Down memory lane (a little earlier), beginning 1975 or 1976. Christmas with the Chipmunks could be the earliest holiday long-playing album we had at home, or at least, the earliest one that was significant to me. "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" made me pine for a hula hoop (whatever that was)... and when finally my sister got one, tried it and realized I couldn't sync my hips with it. But I was fine with the neck and the arms.

Dateline: 20 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Christmassing with Carpenters

Down memory lane beginning 1979 or 1980. My parents are big on the Carpenters, and the album A Christmas Portrait was one of the Christmas fixtures in our household. I can't remember when exactly I watched the Carpenters' Christmas TV special, but this video feels nostalgic.

Dateline: 17 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Kiss of redemption

One of Facebook's "On this Day," I don't remember what conversation with a friend this was referring to, a detail from the mural to end all murals, "Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel. (But if I am to guess, it must be related to some lawmaker's homophobia.)

Dateline: 15 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Looney

Down memory lane sometime after 1980. Episodes will run over and over, and for us kids Looney Tunes didn't get old. I was searching for one particular segment of Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales -- their spin on the "Christmas Carol" was most memorable for me (Bugs Bunny: "No! The OTHER man in the red suit!"). This contains only the interstitial segments... good sample of Looney Tunes humor all the same.

Dateline: 12 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Agencies of choice

Facebook reminded that "on this day" in 2015, I liked and shared this from the "National Commission for Culture and the Arts." If Liwaliw is in the business of endorsing, these will be its first and enduring set of government agencies to follow and support. (Wait, I think I just did.)

Outside Facebook, the official websites:

• Cultural Center of the Philippines
• Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
• National Commission for Culture and the Arts
• National Historical Commission of the Philippines
• National Library of the Philippines
• National Museum of the Philippines

Dateline: 08 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Happy, sad tale of charity

Down memory lane sometime before 1980. There was a time when Reader's Digest also distributed film, or full animated feature. This is one of two that I have fondest memory watching, The Happy Prince, a 1974 adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story, narrated by Christopher Plummer.

Runtime: 24 minutes

Dateline: 03 December 2017, Davao City, PHL

Roswellian for Yuletide cheer

On this day in 2015, had a bit of playtime in my desk with an authentic Roswellian, a pasalubong gift from my office mate, who just returned from a vacation with relatives in Roswell, New Mexico in the US. Before going on vacation, my office mate asked me what I wanted as pasalubong, this was a no-brainer. Turned out, it was hard to look for alien-inspired bric-a-brac in Roswell. Go figure.