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Merry Warfare!

During one of the last few days before winter break, my friend Justin wanted to bid me goodbye because he was going to go away or something. Of course, a Season’s Greeting would be appropriate for the occasion. He wanted to wish me a merry Christmas, but he made out like there was someone aiming to shoot him down if he actually uttered the words “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy holidays.” Whoa, wait a minute. Just because you say “Happy Holidays” to general groups of people you don’t know means that you can’t say “Merry Christmas” to a single person whom you know celebrates Christmas? How come nobody forwards these memos to me?

Some other people I know seem to have this same idea that saying “Happy Holidays” is equivalent to waging a “War on Christmas.” One person in particular (my sister) says that I’m “on the wrong side”! Sure, there can be commercials that say “Merry Christmas” just like there are ones that say “Happy Hanukkah.” But it’s a mistake to think that replacing “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” is somehow anti-Christmas. According to that logic, combining all holiday greetings into one would also be anti-Hanukkah, anti-Kwanzaa, and anti-New-Year’s. Seeing signs saying “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” certainly won’t stop those who celebrate Christmas from doing so. The so-called War on Christmas is an illogical and paranoid notion that exists only in the minds of those who assume that the effects of religious tolerance are working against their own religious beliefs.

I saw Jim Carrey’s new movie Fun with Dick and Jane today with some friends. It was okay. Well, I liked it. But I like practically every movie I see, so that’s not saying much.

Wikipedia has a list of common phrases in various languages.

Time Magazine has released their list of All-Time 100 Movies. I’d assume that, like their list of novels I mentioned, it only covers the movies produced since Time was first published in 1923. Of the 100, I’ve only seen 6 in their entirety: E.T., Finding Nemo, A Hard Day’s Night, It’s a Wonderful Life, Lawrence of Arabia, and Pinocchio.

One year ago: “If you like Jim Carrey, you’ll enjoy it. Despite what the trailers would have you think, Carrey gets a chance to play not one but three wacky personae.”