Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Christmas Things

 

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #5 (Items 41- 50)

Top Ten Things I Love About Christmas

	10. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - A Rankin and Bass claymation Christmas special based on the L. Frank Baum’s Ozian story of the same name. Klaus was a babe left in the woods of the immortals. An imp adopted him and has he aged, she remained the same. Klaus sets out on his own and begins to make toys for the needy children, however the Og-wa have other ideas and kidnap him. The Great Ak and the other immortals fight the Og-was and win. Klaus is getting old and dieing so The Great Ak has called all the immortals together to decide if Klaus should receive the Mantle of Immortality. They do.
	9. Love Actually - I came to it much later than I should have, but I’ve made up for it. I love this movie, it’s such a feel good movie!
	8. Decorating the Christmas Tree – I love putting up the Christmas tree. I mostly love seeing how it has evolved over the years. When I first started with my own tree (probably 16 -17 years ago) it looked exactly like my mom’s. Now it’s barely resembles my mother’s (except for ONE ornament that I took from her tree.
	7. Christmas Songs – They are either campy and happy or sad and depressing, never in-between. Either way, they rock.
	6. Poppy (the puppy) – There is an old Christmas song about a puppy that helps Santa. I received this dog on my first Christmas, so he became Poppy based on the song. He used to have felt eyes, which have since fallen off.
	5. Snow – If it snows on Christmas, it’s truly is a wonderful day.
	4. The reason for the season – You know what I’m talking about, the whole reason for celebrating Christmas: presents.
	3. Garfield Christmas Special - Garfield joins John and Odie at John’s family farm for Christmas. I still cry when Grandma tells about her husband and their past Christmas’ together.
	2. Festivus – Back in undergad we started calling our holiday celebration Festivus (the holiday for the rest-of-us [thank you Seinfeld]). We do something holiday-like and just have a good old fashion Christmas.
	1. Muppet Family Christmas - A mid 80’s Christmas special, where the Muppets, Sesame Street characters and the Fraggles all meet at Fozzy’s mom’s house for Christmas. They sing a LOT of songs and make me feel good about family. I think one of the best thing about this special, is that many of my closest friends also love this special.

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Happy 100th Post: Top 10: iTunes Songs on Shuffle

 

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #4 (Items 31- 10)

Top Ten Songs on my iPhone when I hit “Shuffle”

	10. You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want When You’re Making Love – from Avenue Q I first saw this musical with two blind friends and their dogs. We had asked for accessible seating, the theatre gave us the last row in the theatre with no leg room for the dogs!
	9. Secrets – by Anastacia I downloaded this song as part of the Freak of Nature album, that includes “One Day in Your Life.” I had forgotten about Anastacia for years, then fell back in love with her just a few months ago.
	8. Love Will Turn Back the Hands of Time – from Grease 2 I love this movie. It is possibly one of my favorite movies! I know that this is supposed to be a bad movie, but I enjoy it. I enjoy the retelling of the original; and the updated rock music. This song also rocks because it’s sung by Michele Pfeiffer while wearing a Christmas Tree!
	7. Be A Clown – from De-Lovely An awkwardly placed song in an generally good movie. I wasn’t a big Cole Porter fan before watching this movie, and since, I can usually enjoy his music in revivals, not originals.
	6. Straitjacket – by Alanis Morissette Alanis rocks. No more to say.
	5. Beautiful, Dirty, Rich – by Lady Gaga I was late to the Gaga table, but once I sat down to eat, I’ve gorged myself on all things Gaga. Gaga got me in drag for the first time!
	4. Let’s Light the Christmas Tree – artist unknown I have a LOT of Christmas music (so much so that I’m surprised it only made one appearance on this list). I also have a lot of Christmas music from my mom’s 45s (the single version of a record). One Christmas I recorded these 45s into Garage Band and digitized them; so most of them remain without an artist.
	3. I’ll Cover You – from Rent (Broadway) Such an amazing song. I’ve had this soundtrack since the mid-90’s. (Over a decade before I actually got to see the show).
	2. Self Inflicted – by Katy Perry I got caught up in Perry right about the time “Hot and Cold” came out as a single. She has such great songs, but is a bit too socially conservative and Transphobie. I wish another artist would release her songs.
	1. Straight To…Number One – from Queer as Folk (Season 1) QuaF makes a third appearance on this list. I started watching QuaF with the first episode. I had just been permitted to have a cable box in my bedroom, and I would keep it really low so the man-on-man sex wouldn’t wake up my parents.

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Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Walt Disney World Attractions

 

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #3 (Items 21- 30)

Top Ten Walt Disney World Attractions

View from Hollywood Blvd.	10. Tower of Terror – Free fall for 13 stories, Twilight Zone overlay, creepy trackless elevator cars. This ride has it all for a thrill seeker.
Inside the cue	9. Dinosaur! – Disney’s Animal Kingdom doesn’t have much going for it, but one reason to visit is Dinosaur!. It has great animatronics a wonderful story and pretty good scares.
Exterior to "The Land" which houses "Soarin'"	8. Soarin’ – This would have been higher on the list had Disney Imagineers actually changed the movie, it just doesn’t make sense for an Orlando attraction to be “Soaring over California.”
Exterior to "Universe of Energy"	7. Universe of Energy – Ellen’s making a second appearance in this series. I think Ellen’s humor is timeless and despite the ride needing major updates on the feasibility on alternate fuel sources, it remains one of my “Must Dos.”
Eric in cue at "Haunted Mansion"	6. Haunted Mansion – When I first rode this (when I was 13), I couldn’t believe the omni-movers. This technology was so foreign to me. Add into that the wonderful story and great sight gags (despite watching a “how’d they do that” on the dancing ghosts I’m still not 100% clear on the workings of it).
Not my photo	5. Carousel of Progress – This is another ride in need of an update. (Either scrap it all and start it from the 1980’s or revert back to Walt’s original and have it as an homage to times gone by – possibly move it to Main Street then). It’s slow but the tells an interesting story and the animatronics were amazing for the time!
View of "TTA" and "Space Mountain" from "Astro Orbiters."	4. TTA/Wedway People Mover – The best attraction in Magic Kingdom because: bird’s-eye-view of Tomorrowland; inside view of Space Mountain; scale model of EPCOT City; and once again great ride vehicle technology.
Inside pre-show area.	3. Voyage of the Little Mermaid – The props have seen better days, as have the technology used to make this show in the early 90’s, but nothing is better than a 20 minute show with the musical highlights of my favorite Disney movie and all under some funky black lights!
Pre-show screen.	2. Finding Nemo: The Musical – Once again, Animal Kingdom leaves me wanting never to return, but this musical is great. It quickly retells the story of the movie, but with new songs and great puppets.
Eric and I in front of "Spaceship Earth."	1. Spaceship Earth – This is omni-mover technology at its best. The tales of communication from cave drawings to the Internet! How amazing! Throw in Dame Judy Dench and we have a winner!

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Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Gay Character in Television

List Number 2: The Top Ten Gay Characters in Television (or widely thought to be gay)

 10. Will Truman from Will & Grace – One of the first gay men I saw on television, holding a steady job and has a “normal” life that mimics other sit-coms.

9. Willow Rosenberg from Buffy The Vampire Slayer – Last I had left Willow she was still wearing Sears’ overalls, when I returned she was a full blown lesbian! I miss Oz, but am totally happy with Tara and evil Willow!




8. Andew Va De Kamp from Desperate Housewives - When Andrew came out, it was as revenge against his mom, but he quickly became a staple in my gay character love. He’s now relegated to one off, bit scenes but I still get excited to see him on the screen.



7. Ellen Morgan from Ellen - She came out and it seemed so natural to me. I was too young at the time to truly understand it, but I loved Ellen before and even more after.



6. Stewie Griffin from Family Guy - I’m not sure if he’s completely out , but he continues to play with audiences and making side comments (usually breaking the fourth wall) about his infatuation with men.



 5. Brian Kinney from Queer As Folk - He exudes sexiness. He lingers in awesomeness. He is exponentially hot. However, his bitchiness wasn’t always welcome. His cold heart kept him away from mine.



4. Kurt Hummel from Glee - He’s so adorable. I love that he loves musical theatre. I wasn’t as flamboyant as him in high school, but he reminds me so much of myself.



3. Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru from Sailor Moon - I don’t think these two ever appeared without each other for more than a few moments. They rocked my world and when they died instead of fighting death, they reached for each other and talked about how much they love each other.

 


2. Michael Novotny from Queer as Folk - Adorable to Brian’s hot. Ying to Brian’s Yang. Michael kept me coming back to QuaF, he is relationship minded, trying to fit in while being completely different. I saw a lot of myself in him (other than being short and cute).


 

1. Scotty Wendell-Walker from Brothers and Sisters - I love how he started as a one off character, and just continued to make appearances. I love how he hasn’t allowed himself to be wrapped up in the Walker world, while still being just off to the sidelines if we need him. I love his face and body. Period.

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Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Power Rangers

In order to celebrate my 100^th blog post, and in honor of the time honored traditions of New Year Top 10 Lists, my next ten posts will be Top Ten Lists

Top Ten Mighty Morphing Power Rangers

10. Trini – Lack of characterization and centralized plot AND the fact that Yellow was a man in the Japanese version, leaves Trini with a lot to be desired. I wasn’t upset when she left the show.

9. Aisha – Replacement for Trini, Aisha might have had more character, but still so far removed from the central plot, that the only reason she remained interesting was because of her friendship with Kimberly.

8. Zack – Here’s where the list is kind of ‘eh. I have no opinion either way with Zach. However, I’m always excited when I see Walter Jones in anything.

7. Rocky – Middle of the list again. I was happy when he was demoted to Blue Zeo Ranger (although I was sad when Billy was no longer the Blue Ranger).

6. Adam – To quote Adam himself “I’m a Frog.” Actually he’s quite an attractive man and one of my crushes as a child.

5. Kat – Kat to over for Kimberly as the Pink Ranger, and really got my blood boiling because she was so good at being bad (under Rita’s control) and was Australian!

4. Jason – swoon. His macho muscles and monosyllabic retorts have made him what I think when I hear someone say “masculine.” When he returned in Zeo Rangers as the Gold Ranger I probably creamed myself.

3. Kimberly – God, I wanted to be Kim. She was a gymnast (my secret desire). And she dated Tommy. She was one of the first original characters to stop being a caricature.

2. Tommy – His hair, his earring, swoon. Everything I found attractive in a male as a child (before I knew men where attractive).

1. Billy – I felt the most like Billy; a nerd and outcast who was more interested in books and learning than most anything else.

I loved the Power Rangers.

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