Since the second Wicked movie is around now, albeit heading for online streaming, it seems appropriate to feature this video shot in a synagogue that converts one of its songs for Hanukkah usage. The singers are Cantors Mira Davis and Azi Schwartz and we shall hear Mr. Schwartz again before our we reach the end of our Top Eight…
Because there are some things you just need to see once in a while even if you've seen them many times before…
Fans of our past Christmas Video Cavalcades loved this rendition of a song made famous by Ross Bagdasarian under his nom de chipmunks, David Seville. The group doing this reimagining of the tune calls itself Voiceplay…
And new to this blog for this year, we have Voiceplay putting their a cappella spin on "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," complete with Who-like nose appliances…
Trump just gave a speech making all sorts of outrageous claims about how wonderful and fantastic all the things he's done have been and how we never had it better but will. Needless to say, the fact-checkers could barely keep up with him. Here, pointing out some of the lies are Daniel Dale of CNN and Jen Psaki of MSNOW, the channel formerly known as MSNBC.
Went to lunch today at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. The side of the Castle facing the street was draped with a huge banner that read "Happy 100th Birthday, Dick Van Dyke. We love you!" Dick doesn't stray much from his home in Malibu these days but I'll bet he sees photos of it online at least. And there ain't nothing wrong with telling the world that you love someone.
I've heard from a couple different acquaintances who claim to have inside information from some source they can't name about what went on in the Reiner home. The stories do not match up and if A is true, B is not or if B is true, A is not. I am reminded of a brief time decades ago when I associated with folks who claimed to know the truth about who killed John F. Kennedy. They all had different, mutually-exclusive theories which to them were irrefutable. After hearing five of them at an event one day, I thought, "Well, at least four of those guys are absolutely wrong and probably all five."
The Reiner case will be tried and reported on up the ying-yang. If and when there is an irrefutable account that rises above all the refutable ones, we will know it. I've decided to wait for that and ignore the kind that fall into the category of Unsourced Gossip. You should too. Most of how it happened doesn't matter. What matters is that two good people suffered horrible, gruesome deaths and are no longer around.
You've seen this one here before. Josh Turner's band and two young ladies who call themselves The Ladybugs do their version of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," made famous by the great Brenda Lee…
It's a great song but I wonder if it wouldn't make a greater exercise video…
What would happen if someone wrote and performed a Hanukkah song in the tradition of the Jackson 5? You've probably spent every making moment wondering about that so I have good news. A group named Y-Studs A Cappella is here to give you the answer. Now you'll only have to ponder what it would be like if someone turned "Bohemian Rhapsody" into a Hanukkah song — and you won't have to wait long for the answer to that. Maybe three days or so. Meanwhile…
ABC News has hastily assembled (obviously) a special about Rob Reiner. It airs tonight at 10 PM.
TCM remembers Rob Reiner…
They haven't posted their 2025 remembrance video yet. Given the way this year has been for movie stars, they may be holding it until the last minute.
During the half-hour a day that I allow myself to acknowledge the presence of that Trump guy in all our lives, I sometimes feel a bit (just a bit) sorry for his supporters. I don't agree with their view of how the world should work or what would make America better but I can understand some of their concerns and ideas. I don't think they're all in bad faith as some of the louder ones might lead us to believe.
Whether you're Liberal or Conservative — or even pro- or anti-Trump, which lately doesn't seem like quite the same division of camps — it helps to remember that neither side is wholly represented by their loudest voices, especially when those loud voices have career and financial reasons for yelling so loudly.
And I'm thinking how disappointing it must be — to say nothing of fatiguing — to have to keep defending and making excuses for Donald Trump's behavior when he's as big a self-absorbed asshole as he's been about the murder of the Reiners. Or when he insists "affordability" is a hoax Democrats came up with and his handling of the economy merits an A+++++++++ grade. Seems to me the drop we've seen in his MAGA support is just followers of his getting exhausted pretending he's the president they thought they were voting for.
My closest Trump-supporting friend has given up trying to explain why Joe Biden's apparent senility was utterly disqualifying and Trump's isn't as bad. He won't even try to explain away the Reiner posts or the possibility that the U.S. is murdering people on fishing boats who have zero to do with drug trafficking. And I suspect he dreads the possibility that what's revealed of The Epstein Files will put him in the position of defending pedophilia.
I'd list more things that must cause Trump backers discomfort but my half-hour is just about up. There are folks out there who'll support this man even when he gets around to murdering people on Third Street, as he once claimed he could. But for another chunk of his 42% approval rating, I think their time is just about up too.
Making its first appearance on a newsfromme.com Christmas Countdown, we have Postmodern Juke Box with "All I Want for Christmas is You!" There have been an infinite number of covers of this song since Mariah Carey recorded it and I like this one the best…
There have also been an awful lot of stagings of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, some of them even authorized by whoever owns it these days. This one, which you've seen before here, was surely authorized. It was done for the Actors Fund to raise money and to show what can happen to you if, like Scrooge, you refuse to contribute to a charity — like, say, the Actors Fund…
Here's Elliot Dvorin and the Key Tov Orchestra offering us a mashup of some songs about Hanukkah and some that aren't, along with some pretty impressive dancing…
I used to think there was a lot of porn on the Internet until I saw how many people today reposted Trump's vile message about Rob Reiner…and yes, I know: Any posting by Trump qualifies as porn of some sort. That one certainly did. So I went and posted on Facebook…
Folks who are understandably outraged at Donald Trump's post about Rob Reiner keep reposting it and reposting it and reposting it…and I can't help but think this is exactly what Trump wants.
That brought lots of replies, mostly agreeing with me, one or two defending Trump. Then I came across a reply by someone I don't think I know named Ed Alexander…
You might be right, and a few years ago I would've been pretty sure you were, but now I think that Trump's current deteriorating mental state is such that he no longer is calculating as much as being purely reactive. However, if one of his slimy cronies actually wrote this for him, then you're probably right.
And I thought, "That guy's probably right." I'd go into greater detail why but I'm already way over the thirty minute daily limit I'm trying to enforce in my life as to thinking, writing or talking about Donald Trump.
The Daily Show is on hiatus until Monday, January 5, 2026. but here are its hosts (minus Jon Stewart) discussing the year gone by…
Meanwhile, John Oliver's show is on hiatus until, apparently, February of 2026. No specific date has been mentioned but in the past, he's usually come back around Valentine's Day so that would suggest 2/15/26.
In last eight years, every time the show has gone on hiatus, they've released another year's worth of old episodes to YouTube and you can still watch (and if you know how to do so) download Seasons 1-8 here. But they've apparently stopped doing that since Season 9 has not been posted. I know not why.