Asymmetrical Information

From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:

North Pole cited as hostile workplace

I watched Rudolph with the kids tonight as the official kick-off of the Christmas season. Burl Ives, clumsy stop-action, reindeer fur that looks like Dr. Scholl's moleskin, the whole bit. When I translated the production date from Roman numerals, my eldest pointed out that this production is "almost as old as me". From now on, Son, you won't be allowed to watch any of my antique TV shows.

What's the best line in Rudolph? Put me in for "Your beak is blinkin' like a blinkin' beacon". Runners up: "You don't mind my red nose?".."not if you don't mind my being a dentist" and the classic "even among misfits you're misfits". That North Pole. Not friendly to nonconformists.

A few questions have always irked me: If you can fly, why run from the abominable snowman? And how, exactly, did the Island of misfit toys escape Santa's notice? Why does Fireball (remember him - the young reindeer whose pupils constrict like he's on speed) have a patch of blond hair? Finally, why doesn't Yukon Cornelius' tongue stick to his pickaxe when he licks it? These are important unresolved issues.

Speaking of Christmas, I recommend Flanders & Swann recordings and Eddie Izzard videotapes as gifts. I absolutely treasure mine. The Izzard link preceding is to "Glorious". If you can get your hands on "Dress to Kill" it's far better - the best stand-up ever, in my opinion. I taped it off HBO, but purchase availability of the videotape is spotty to (now) nonexistent for some reason. His site offers a US-compatible ("NTSC") version, but we are warned it is not the same as the incredible HBO special. Same tour, different show. Izzard improvises a lot, so it could be quite different. I may buy it and see.

For classical music buffs, check out recordings on the Hyperion and Chandos' labels. For Jazz, try Bill Charlap. Charlap is the best jazz pianist since Bill Evans. And I'm saying that even though his sister Cathy repeatedly broke my besotted heart in my younger, more vulnerable years. I bet a few representative tracks, such as The Heather on the Hill or My Shining Hour from the Album Distant Star, can be obtained through Gnutella-based sharing, but I wouldn't know such things.

Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at November 24, 2001 09:50 PM | Technorati inbound links