Mike's Archive

Category: Holidays

  • Fever Pitch, The Movie

    I watched Fever Pitch this week, in honor of Patriot’s Day. Amazingly, it was better than expected. As a die hard Sox fan, I worried that it would make a mockery of the whole thing, but it was pretty well done. (Perhaps, of course, this is because I was expecting a disaster). The one thing it did, however, make me, was depressed that I wasn’t in Boston in October of ’04 — simply a time that will never, ever be duplicated.

    While we’re here, there are two technical gripes I need to get off my chest (partial spoilers):

    Today, April 17, 2006, is Patriot’s Day, the New England-only holiday that centers around the Boston Marathon and an early Sox game. It also kicks off “Spring Break” for all Boston area elementary, middle and high schools. However, in the movie, Ben is a middle school teacher who goes to Sox Spring Training every year during “Spring Break”, in March. While I understand how important this event is for the story — it is when Barrymore’s character finds out how psycho Ben is about the Sox — how could they let that go? Knowing this movie would be heavily watched by the Nation, how could they have “Spring Break” in Boston occur in March? It just doesn’t happen!

    On Ben’s first trip to Fenway (in ’80), he walks in and sees Big Jim Ed and The Eck shooting the bull by the batting cages during BP. A few moments later, however, as the game starts, the second baseman is wearing #14. And, he’s a white guy! Now, any die-hard Sox fan from the 80’s, which the Farrelly brothers are — should know that Rice wore #14.

    There, I feel better now.

  • National High Five Day

    4/20 is “National High Five Day”. From the official website:

    “Imagine that while on your way to class, you pass a dignified looking middle-aged man in a suit. You, of course, are wearing the same underwear as yesterday, a pair of pants off your floor, and a T-shirt with something ironic printed on it. Instead of noticing this respectable pillar of society fifteen seconds or so before your interaction is fated to occur, and lowering your head to avoid his disapproving scowl, you take another course of action. You confidently walk forward, and at the moment of passing, you and the businessman simultaneously raise your hands and wordlessly high-five. The sound of the perfect high five resonates, causing those nearby to silently and enviously take notice. You both walk on, and likely relate the story to whomever you eat dinner with that night. There is no reason why this should not happen with alarming frequency.”

    So get out there and celebrate National High, um, Five Day!

  • Happy Patriot’s Day ’06

    Monday is Patriot’s Day, the wonderful holiday that only New England celebrates. Last year I gave a little more info about this great day.

    This year, I give you a really stupid video of three dorks celebrating Paul Revere in Boston. Don’t worry, it’s short.

  • Good Friday 2006

    I’m busting Jerry, I’m busting!

    This might not resonate with readers outside of the Philly area, but I must share this extraordinary news nonetheless.

    This morning I drove down Lancaster Ave. (Rt. 30), from the junction of Rt. 252 in Paoli all the way to Radnor-Chester Rd. in St. Davids, without hitting any red lights. If my calculations are correct, that is 18 lights without stopping! The perfect trip! How preposterous is that?

    If you’re not familiar with the area, Lancaster Ave. is the most direct (but hardly the fastest) route from Philadelphia to the western ‘burbs, signifying the famous Main Line. (It is also part of the famous Lincoln Highway.) It’s a four lane (two in each direction) road that goes through many towns and has many lights, simlilar to a Commenwealth Ave. in Boston or Broad St. in Richmond.

    …now that’s what I call a Good Friday.

  • Happy April 1!

    Why not celebrate by revisiting the greatest April Fools Day hoax of all time? Sidd Finch.

  • Happy Groundhog Day!

    One of my favorite obscure holidays, if only for the sheer absurdity of it. Check out some history. With the Stillers in the Big Game (starts with “S”, ends with “uper Bowl”, can’t say specifically for licensing reasons), Punxy, PA must be one hell of a place to be this morning. (Not that it wasn’t already.) Imagine if the Iggles didn’t self destruct and got there too!

    I was also thinking about what a great but underappreciated movie Groundhog Day is. It really is one of the finest comedies of our generation… containing a nice balance of optimism and cynicism. It ends in a happy, romantic comedy way, but without being overly sentimental. Throughout the movie, however, Phil reaches depths of despair rarely seen in a Meg Ryan – Tom Hanks flick. I also like the way it leaves so much to the imagination — why did Phil end up in this situation? How? How long was he there? Most Hollywood movies must explain all this, but Ramis’ genius left it all ambiguous. Lastly, its one of few movies that gets better the more you watch it. Each viewing adds another layer to the puzzle. I’ll be screening it tonight!

  • Happy Festivus from Songoose

    I’ve got a lot of problems with you people, but enjoy the holidays nonetheless…

  • (Xmas) Cover Songs

    So my hombre Gordo requested that I name my 5 favorite “cover” songs as part of a little multi-blog list collaboration. Because I’m currently swept up in the many joys of working in the retail industry during the holidays, I decided to modify this assignment and name my favorite Xmas song covers. So here goes…

    “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
    Um, the definitive version of perhaps the definitive Xmas song. Along with Father Christmas by the Kinks, set the standard for rock n’ roll Christmas songs before they were big business. Perfect.

    Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), U2
    Darlene Love’s original version is perhaps one of the finest pop vocal performances of all time, Xmas or not, but U2 amazingly creates a version that is, arguably, as good if not better.

    I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, John Mellencamp
    I’ve always loved 12-year old Jimmy Boyd’s (who later appeared on PBS’s The Electric Company) poignant original, but I definitely prefer this cover. In perhaps the most drastic re-working of a Christmas classic, Mellencamp turns a ballad into an alt-country rave up, fiddle and all.

    Last Christmas, Jimmy Eat World
    I never would have expected to like a cover of Wham!’s admittedly guilty pleasure cheesefest, but they managed to infuse just enough modern rock to make it listenable again.

    Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jack Johnson
    Johnson’s laid back style doesn’t seem condusive to a quality Christmas tune, but he manages to mele kalikimaka the crap out of it. With the all the stress of the holidays, this mellow alternative to a classic story is just what the doctor ordered.

  • Talk Like A Pirate Day

    Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19th. Arrrr!

    http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

  • Happy Patriot’s Day

    As a kid growing up in the Boston area, we always looked forward to Patriot’s Day, a New England-only holiday that occurs on the third Monday in April. Most importantly, this day represented the beginning of “April Vacation”, a week off from school. (In New England, schools have a week-long “February Vacation” and a week-long “April Vacation”. After moving out of the area and realizing that the rest of the country has one week off before or after Easter Sunday, I never did understand the N.E. rules, although perhaps it was to encourage parents not to take their children out of school to go skiing.)

    Patriot’s Day, however is much more than just the start of Spring Break in Boston… It’s also the day that they run the Boston Marathon and the day of the only Major League Baseball game that starts before Noon (first pitch at Fenway Park is always at 11:05). So, all over the city, people take the day off and, weather permitting, get drunk while watching sports. It’s no wonder this is such a popular holiday (and why I miss it so much now that I don’t live in the area).

    The hilarious thing about all this is that, although I grew up in the Boston area, to this day I had no idea what Patriot’s Day actually celebrated (no, it’s not the football team). So I did some research: It commemerates April 19, 1775 — the battle of Lexington and Concord, the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and Paul Revere’s legendary ride. In fact, re-enacting Revere’s ride is a far longer-standing tradition than the marathon or the Sox game.

    Perhaps we should all be celebrating Patriot’s Day after all… (nice spring day, off work… any takers?)