25 Random Christmas Facts

Merry Christmas! In the spirit of the holidays I’ve decided to give you all a gift. You get another post on my wonderful blog! Anyway here for your viewing pleasure are 25 Random facts about Christmas.

1. 1 in 3 men wait until Christmas Eve to finish their shopping.

2. During the Christmas season, Visa cards are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the United States.

3. The average American takes six months to pay off the holiday credit card bills.

4. When Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, died on Dec. 4,1894, he willed his Nov. 13 birthday to a friend who disliked her own Christmas birthday.

5. December 25th has been an official holiday in the United States since 1870.

6. There is a very widespread theory that Christmas began in Rome as a response to pagan festivities centering around the winter solstice, which was locally considered to be 25 December. The pagan celebration, which was first established by the Roman emperor Aurelian in AD 274, was called The Birth of the Invincible Sun. However, there is evidence that, some years earlier, Christians had made a sincere attempt to calculate the actual date of Jesus’ birthday. People commonly believe that Christmas was instituted on the date of a pagan holiday to supplant it, but it was actually the other way around. Christmas was there first. In AD 354, Philocalus wrote a Christian martyrology that dates the nativity of Jesus Christ on December 25, and cites an earlier work as backup. From this we can deduce that Christmas was celebrated on the present date at least as early as AD 335 in Rome.

7. In some Protestant-dominated areas, such as the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the celebration of Christmas was even legally banned, probably as part of their rejection of those parts of the traditional liturgical calendar that have no apparent foundation in Scripture.

8. According to a 1995 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts from their doting owners.

9. “Hot cockles” was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times. It was a game in which the other players took turns striking the blindfolded player, who had to guess the name of the person delivering each blow. “Hot cockles” was still a Christmas pastime until the Victorian era.

10. A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

11.According to the National Christmas Tree Association, Americans buy 37.1 million real Christmas trees each year; 25 percent of them are from the nation’s 5,000 choose-and-cut farms.

12. According to historical accounts, the first Christmas in the Philippines was celebrated 200 years before Ferdinand Magellan discovered the country for the western world, likely between the years 1280 and 1320 AD.

13. After “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens wrote several other Christmas stories, one each year, but none was as successful as the original.

14. Before settling on the name of Tiny Tim for his character in “A Christmas Carol,” three other alliterative names were considered by Charles Dickens. They were Little Larry, Puny Pete, and Small Sam

15. Charles Dickens’ initial choice for Scrooge’s statement “Bah Humbug” was “Bah Christmas.

16. Although many believe the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is not. It is the fifth to tenth busiest day. The Friday and Saturday before Christmas are the two busiest shopping days of the year.

17. In 1843, England was the country that first produced the Christmas card and soon its popularity skyrocketed as the very next year more than 30,000 cards were sold.

18. The average American household sends out 28 Christmas cards and receives 28 Christmas cards.

19. One Werner Erhard of San Francisco sent 62,824 cards in a single year. This is believed to be the largest outpouring of Christmas card generosity in history.

20. As early as 1822, the postmaster in Washington, D.C. was worried by the amount of extra mail at Christmas time. His preferred solution to the problem was to limit by law the number of cards a person could send. Even though commercial cards were not available at that time, people were already sending so many home-made cards that sixteen extra postmen had to be hired in the city.

21. Candy canes began as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorated the Christmas trees. A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided have the ends bent to depict a shepherd’s crook and he would pass them out to the children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn’t until about the 20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes.

22. During the Christmas season, more than 1.76 billion candy canes will be made.

23. During World War II it was necessary for Americans to mail Christmas gifts early for the troops in Europe to receive them in time. Merchants joined in the effort to remind the public to shop and mail early and the protracted shopping season was born.

24. In 1752, 11 days were dropped from the year when the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar was made. The December 25, date was effectively moved 11 days backwards. Some Christian church sects, called old calendarists, still celebrate Christmas on January 7 (previously December 25 of the Julian calendar).

25. In 1907, Oklahoma became the last US state to declare Christmas a legal holiday.

Mike Pence: President or Governor?

According to Politco.com, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence will make a decision before the end of January on whether he will run for the Presidency of the United States or the Governorship of Indiana. Either option holds an interesting opportunity. Pence has been on the national stage for a while without ever receiving the recognition that usually accompanies potential presidential candidates. However this could actually work out to his advantage. How many people outside of political insiders saw Barack Obama coming? Meanwhile the current governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, has also been rumored to be a presidential candidate. He can’t run for governor of Indiana again because he’s already served two terms. The idea is that Daniels would run for President while Pence runs for Governor of Indiana. Since former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh has said that he will not be running, Pence looks to be a lock for Governor. Then in 2016, after Obama is out of office,(at this point predictions state that Obama would win the 2012 election) Pence could run and be a much stronger candidate. Either way I thought that I’d summarize Pence’s current voting record on several issues.

Abortion

This issue is actually easy to summarize: Pence is as strongly pro-life as you can get. He’s opposed to government funded abortion, against transporting minors across state lines for abortions, and supports granting the pre-born equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

Civil Rights

Civil Rights has come to mean the issue of homosexuality as well as minority rights. Pence is against allowing homosexuals the right to marriage. He also supported a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. He’s also voted to make the Patriot Act permanent, and he voted against requiring businesses to hire more minorities and women.

Crime and Drugs

Pence voted against increasing enforcement of anti-gay hate crimes. He did vote for increasing services that allow offenders back into society. When it comes to drugs, Pence is against illegal drug use, supporting funding to Mexico to help them fight the flow of illegal drugs from that country as well as increasing border protection to fight drugs and terrorism.

Education

When it comes to education, most of Pence’s votes of note have been votes on allowing prayer in schools and keeping God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Another vote of note is that Pence voted against requiring states to test students.

Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy is always tricky to summarize because it’s so vast and complicated. I’ll try to hit some of the high points. Pence is in favor of an unbreakable alliance with Israel. He is highly opposed to Iran and the threat of nuclear weapons. He also supports cutting back US funding to the UN. Pence voted to support cooperation with India as a nuclear state.

Gun Control and Health Care

Pence is easy to sum up in these two areas. He supports the gun rights and opposes a national health care system.

Homeland Security and Immigration

Pence is very supportive of the military and is also very strong on Homeland Security. When it comes to immigration, Pence supported the border fence on the Mexican border and he’s extremly opposed to illegal immigration. He’s also opposed to granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. He’s supported legislation to make English the official language of the United States.

Other

A few miscellaneous facts. Pence supports the Tea Party Movement. He’s opposed to the separation of church and state, as it is currently defined. He also opposed the various stimulus plans.

Well that’s my breakdown of Mike Pence’s voting record. I feel that regardless of your party or political affiliations, you should be informed about the votes you are making. Hopefully this little breakdown will help you make an informed decision when it comes to voting with Mike Pence on the ballot.

What Do You Think: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Welcome to another edition of What Do You Think. Basically the way this works is that I’ll talk about something that’s been on my mind, throw out a bunch of questions, and you think about it and tell me what you think about the topic and the questions. Ready?

On Saturday the Senate voted to repeal the military’s controversial Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Thanks to this historic legislation gays will be able to openly serve in the military. Obama has said that he will sign it as early as Wednesday. I realize that many people on both sides of the aisle blindly support or oppose this legislation without actually thinking about it. I personally oppose it. I do think that gays should be allowed to serve in the military but the reason I oppose the legislations is that I think the impact it could have on troop morale is astronomical. The first question I thought of is what do they do for the showers? Obviously the gay members can’t shower with the straight members for the same reason that the males can’t shower with the females. But the gay military members can’t shower with the females because of fears of a straight person pretending they’re gay. So what about setting aside separate units for gay soldiers? To me this sounds like the best answer but something tells me that gays will not be satisfied with this solution. So what do you think? Should gays be allowed to serve in the military? What could it do to troop morale? Should this decision have waited till we are not in the middle of a war? Best case scenario how does the introduction of gays into the military occur? Worst case scenario? What do you think about a separate unit? Are people right in comparing it to allowing African-Americans to serve in the military? If not, how is it different?

I look forward to hearing from you guys in the comments.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader: A Movie Review

After Disney dropped the Chronicles of Narnia series, I was unsure about the quality of the upcoming movies. After the Voyage of the Dawn Treader my fears aren’t quite put to rest. While the movie looks good on paper, the actual execution is very spotty. An inconsistent pace and mediocre plot sideline this movie tremendously.

We’ll start with the story. The script writers felt that the book lacked a solid plot and was very episodic in nature. To fix this problem they attempted to combine several of the islands that are visited in the book and add a plot about finding 7 swords to free Narnia. In theory this works, and I do applaud the filmmakers for realizing the shortcomings in converting the book to a movie, but in actuality the new plot is very average at best. The big threat is something called The Mist. Basically everything that goes into the Mist disappears, never to be seen again. Apparently the 7 swords were wielded by 7 Telmarine lords who were loyal to Caspian’s father. The lords disappeared after heading east to stop the Mist. The problem with the Mist angle is that the cheap greenish smoke effect is used anytime one of the characters on screen is tested. It doesn’t add anything to the story and takes away from any character development that may have occurred during these sequences.

The acting is much like the rest of the movie, very average. Ben Barnes is consistent with his performance as King Caspian. He dropped the annoying fake Spanish accent and it really helps his performance. In addition he appears to be much more comfortable with his role. Skander Keynes and Georgie Henley (as Edmond and Lucy) give ok performances. They don’t exactly pop off the screen and at times the delivery is forced but it’s still adequate. The shocking thing is that with the cameos that Anna Poppwell and William Mosely (playing Peter and Susan) receive, they highlight the problems in acting in the movie. They are so natural and so smooth it makes the rest of the movie look inadequate by comparison. Thankfully Will Poulter gives a fantastic performance as Eustace Scrubb. Given the fact that Scrubb is the main character in the sixth and seventh books, this makes sense. Unfortunately the script calls for Scrubb to be off screen for almost half the movie.

If a movie consisted solely of story and acting, Narnia would have been a better movie. The smaller budget is painfully apparent while watching the special effects and CGI. The minotaurs, characters that looked great in the first two movies, look very fake. Aslan doesn’t look as crisp as the previous films as well. While many of the backgrounds and islands are decent, at times they tend to look like a movie set. The dragon and sea serpent look cheap as well. The one character that does look good is Reepicheep. The character is very solid from a visual standpoint. Another weakness in the movie is the pace of the movie. Somehow it manages to feel rushed and drawn out at the same time.

In conclusion this movie is very average. If you’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this movie, go see it, just don’t expect much. Otherwise I’d suggest waiting till it’s out on DVD and renting it.

Rating: 5 (Out of 10)

New Movie Trailer Rundown!

FYI: I’ll probably be giving away all my money to the movie theatre next year. That’s because trailers for next year’s summer releases are beginning to hit the web and I’m sitting at my computer and drooling all over them! So with your permission (if you keep reading you acknowledge that you are giving me permission) I’d like to run through several new trailers and give my thoughts and point out a few things you may have missed when/if you’ve seen them. So here we go!

Thor-Release Date May 6, 2011

Thor is a movie set in the Marvel Universe about the Marvel superhero Thor. The trailer starts with Agent Coulson (seen in both Iron Man films and played by Clark Gregg) interrogating Thor about his training. Switch to a montage of Thor beating up SHIELD agents. We get some shots of Asgard. The main distinction between the Marvel hero and the Thor of Norse mythology is that the Asgardians are aliens. We get some great shots of Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins) including a fantastic shot of him casting Thor to Earth. We got shots of the power of Thor and his hammer. Eventually we get to see the Destroyer armor, an invincible robot that can be worn by a person’s soul. All in all this looks like a fantastic film and I can’t wait to see it. The only worry is that it will be shown in 3D and that’s a very risky move.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides-Release Date: May 20, 2011

Unlike many of you I did enjoy the Pirates movies. Not just the first one, all three. With that disclaimer out of the way let’s get into the trailer. Basically some rich dude in London wants Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) to find the Fountain of Youth. Also questing for the Fountain are Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush) and Blackbeard (played by Ian McShane). It all looks to be a lot of classic Pirate fun and I’d suggest watching the trailer immediately. Johnny Depp looks great as Jack, Penelope Cruz seems capable as a Kiera Knightly replacement (meaning I think their characters will be similar)/Jack Sparrow love interest. Geoffery Rush seems a lot older than before but still looking good. Add in mermaids that eat their victims, zombies, and much more this looks to be a good fun film. All in all I’m really excited for this movie.

Green Lantern-Release Date: June 17, 2011

For those of you who don’t know, Green Lantern is a DC Comics Superhero who wields a ring that is powered by will. The ring allows him to create  hard energy manifestations of whatever he can imagine, as long as he has the willpower to do so. With that out of the way let’s talk about the trailer. The trailer opens with Hal Jordan (played by Ryan Reynolds) waking up to his alarm. He’s late so he leaves his “date” in bed and rushes off in his fast and dangerous bad-boy car. Hey Hal! Usually you set an alarm for when you want to wake up, not for when you need to be at an appointment. We then get a shot of Carol Ferris (played by Blake Lively), Hal’s boss, telling him off for being late.  I have no idea why Lively was cast for the role, she comes off looking like a robot! Anyway we then get some inner monologue then a shot of a downed alien spacecraft, and an alien inside. The alien, known to Green Lantern fans as Abin-Sur, is the best part of this trailer so far! While looking a bit CG, it still looks better than everything else so far. Abin Sur gives Hal his power ring and sends him to Oa, homeworld of the Green Lantern Corps. The Green Lantern Corps are basically space cops/peacekeeping forces. Each Lantern is given a ring and a sector to defend. The shots of the different Green Lanterns are all money shots! These sell the movie. Unfortunately you have to suffer through some cheesy CG montage of Hal’s flight to Oa before you get to the gold. The next important shot is one of Hal getting using his ring to defend himself against some would-be muggers. Let’s just say that I hated the shots of his ring. The hard energy looks more like some weird green smoke. It’s sad really. We then get Hal questioning himself (which goes completly against the character), a shot of the villain Hector Hammond, random explosions, then we get a good look at Hal’s costume. I’m still torn about it. The first shot looks fine, but the closeups look like garbage. All in all I’ll probably go watch this movie, but reluctantly.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon-Release Date: July 1st 2011

Ugh! Another Transformers movie?!?! Anyway this trailer is interesting because it doesn’t tell us anything about the plot or even feature any of the main characters. Basically the movie starts with a montage of the first moon landing. Then Walter Cronkite informs the audience that they have lost connection with the Apollo astronauts and it is revealed that the real reason the astronauts are on the moon is to investigate a downed spacecraft there. Apparently this spacecraft will be what the Autobots and Decipticons will be fighting over in the new movie. All in all not a bad trailer but really says nothing about the movie. I probably won’t see the movie because the previous two movies were disappointing but it was a good trailer.

Well there you go. Hope it wasn’t too long for you. Have fun at the movies next year!

LeBron James is this year’s Time’s Person of the Year?

Did you hear about this? LeBron James is a nominee for Time’s Person of the Year! Did you hear about this? (Ok enough of my lame Jay Leno impression.) Apparently infuriating an entire state is good enough to win you a nomination for Person of the Year. If he wins will the people of Ohio burn Time magazine along with their LeBron jerseys? Other finalists this year include President Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, Sarah Palin, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, Glenn Beck, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mark Zuckerburg, the Chilean miners, the unemployed American, and Steve Jobs.

Personally I don’t agree with sports figures or celebrities winning person of the year unless they’ve really done something worthwhile. Can you tell me something that Lady Gaga of Lebron James has done that would make them the Person of the Year? Even Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are somewhat worthy just because of the sheer numbers of people who watch their show and the fact that many of these people go on to score well when it comes to knowledge and awareness of global and political issues. To LeBron’s credit he acknowledges that he isn’t worthy of the award. According to the AP, “That’s just crazy,” James said. “What those guys did, the courage and what they stood for, I should be nowhere near that list. Nowhere near it.” For once I agree whole heartedly with Mr. James.

So out of this list, who do you think should be Time’s Person of the Year? You can head over to Time’s website for a full list as well as vote for your choice. The voting has no effect on the outcome but LeBron is currently 22nd out of 25.

Megamind!!!: A Review

I have to admit that I walked into this movie with a bias. Megamind is a Dreamworks movie and while Dreamworks can make some good movies (How to Train a Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, and a few others), for the most part their movies are recycled plot threads, pop culture references, and crude humor. Imagine my surprise to find that Megamind is an excellent movie that is definitely worth watching.

The story starts out with a plot that many will recognize. Megamind’s parents tell their son he is destined for something, then send him to Earth in a rocket ship. However another family on another planet had the same idea and thus a rivalry is born. Megamind grows up to be an evil genius and his nemesis is Metroman, a Superman like hero who constantly saves the people of Metro City from Megamind’s evil. I’d love to say more but I really don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say that eventually our lovable super villain must learn how to be a hero.

The animation in the film is excellent. There’s plenty to enjoy here as the entire world is rendered beautifully. It won’t blow your mind away, but the animation definitely a big plus. The voice acting is also superb. Will Ferrel does a fantastic job as Megamind, Brad Pitt is adequate as Metroman, and Tina Fey infuses her character, a Lois Lane type person, with a lot of spunk that is the driving force of her character. Still while doing an excellent job, the voice acting doesn’t get in the way of the characters or the story.

As far as cleanliness goes, this movie stays away from the crude humor that usually characterizes Dreamworks’ films.  Unless you have a problem with cartoon violence or animated characters kissing you’ll have no problems watching this film.

While the plot is unoriginal and the last battle is predictable, Megamind is an enjoyable movie that brings plenty of laughs, leading to a movie that is a must see for almost every viewer. Bottom line: Go watch Megamind.

Rating: 9.5 (Out of 10)

Random Times Call for Very Random News

Well it’s been a while so I’ll not bore you with some  clever (in my mind anyway) introduction and we’ll just jump straight into recent random news.

• For those of you who haven’t heard, there is a new application for Firefox that intends to make the web a safer place. The app blocks all mention of Justin Bieber from the web. The developer of the app has reported on his Twitter that he has received death threats from outraged fans who have been blocked from access to Justin Bieber because their parents have installed the add on.
• The Canadian government has recently attempted to scale back their health care program. The weird part of this? It’s almost the exact opposite of talks in the United States.
• On June 10th the Pittsburgh Penguins were looking for 250 students to help with an important task and there was only one major requirement: How to flush a toilet Construction is near completion on the Penguins’ new arena, the Consol Energy Center and the Penguins needed to test the plumbing in the building. The Penguins called the event the “Student Flush,” a spinoff of their popular ticketing program known as “Student Rush.” (Wow Hockey, Canada, and Justin Bieber. I guess this article is not looking good for Canadians and their interests)
• Police in India have recently arrested an alleged spy from Pakistan. The strange part? The spy is a pigeon. The pigeon had a ring around its foot and a Pakistani telephone number and address stamped on its body in red ink. Cop Ramdas Jagjit Singh Chahal said he suspected the pigeon had landed on Indian soil from Pakistan with a message, but no note has been found. Cops believe the pigeon may have been on a “special mission of spying” and officials have banned anyone from visiting the bird. It has been medically examined and is being kept in an air-conditioned room under police guard. Senior officers have asked to be kept updated on the situation three times a day, according to reports in India.
• Some scientists have suggested using a nuclear missile to stop the BP oil spill. While the plan would theoretically work, it’s only being considered as a last resort.
• And finally, in a piece of news that’s as disturbing as it is weird, the Times of London recently reported on several designers who are promoting the man-heel or meel. Styles range from stilettos to other less feminine styles.

Robin Hood Movie Review

So recently a friend and I went to go see Robin Hood. I really didn’t care to go and after watching the movie, I’d say that I didn’t really gain much from watching it. While the begining and ending are good, the movie suffers from a very slow middle and not really having a sense of where it wants to go.

The story is pretty basic. Robin Longstride is an archer in Richard the Lionheart’s army. When he returns home he is forced into pretending to be Sir Robin Locksley. Richard dies, John takes over as king. However John has no money. So he disbatches a friend to collect money from the northern barons any way possible. Come to think of it, maybe the story is not all that simple. Basically it feels like a “historical” telling of the Robin Hood story, while trying to be a prequel to the Robin Hood story, while also being a Braveheart-like action film.

The acting is probably the best part of the movie. Russel Crowe is very beleivable as an old Robin Longstride, Cate Blanchette does a good job as Lady Marion. However it is Mark Strong who steals the show. The Sherlock Holmes villain is quite possibly the best part of this movie.  Kevin Durand also does a very good job as Prince John, however the character suffers from an identity complex so while the acting is good, the character is very poorly written.

The visuals in the battle sequences are quite amazing, and the scenes inside of Nottingham are very well filmed. However the film suffers from some shaky camera work and an obvious mistake in the final battle. (I’m not going to say what the mistake is, let’s just say that oars going straight up and down will not cause a boat to move)

All in all Robin Hood is a very average movie. For every advantage, it seems that there is an equal and opposite disadvantage. From a moral standpoint the film has a good message, however a gratuitous not-quite-a-sex scene in the beginning and sevrael other sexual references help to spoil that message. The acting is good, but poorly written characters help spoil the acting. The story is good, but horrible pacing helps spoil that.  All in all, if you really want to see it, wait for it to come out on DVD and rent it. Otherwise, this is a movie that you’ll be fine not watching.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

What Do You Think?:Alcohol Needs to Cost More!

Recently our neighbors across the pond, (in England for those of you unfamiliar with the term) have been attempting to bring forward a plan that would put a minimum price on alcohol. Basically the idea is this: Alcohol hurts communities in general. Now the very young, and those who like to drink in large quantities, always buy the cheaper alcohol. Often times the more alcoholic a beverage, the cheaper it is. Now what this does is ensure that people who don’t drink responsibly would be more drunk than those who do. So some Brits are urging for a minimum price to be put on alcohol to encourage responsible drinking. Others say this would hurt the average drinker more than anyone else.

So what do you think? Should the Brits put a minimum price on alcoholic beverages? Should this be implemented in America? Would this help encourage responsible drinking or just hurt anyone who wanted to drink? Let me know in the comments!