Hanging with Rich

My Favorite Christmas Movies..... Regular readers knew that this was coming Last week I made a list of my favorite Christmas songs, and now the movies. I think a good Christmas movie is hard to make. I don't think there's a simple formula for making a successful Christmas movie. Mix in some family values, some Christmas legends, and some colorful characters, and it should work. Right? Not so fast. Take How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The older animated version of the Dr. Seuss classic I love. The newer Ron Howard directed version with Jim Carey leaves me cold. Same story. Great director. Trying to make a live action movie look animated sorta defeats the purpose. It certainly doesn't touch my heart. So with no real criteria, Here's my Top 9 Christmas Movies . (Why 9? Because 10,11,12 are all about the same. So I got 9.: 9.  Joyeux Noel -  This movie is supposedly about a real event that happened during World War I.  On Christmas Eve the German and Allied troops s

My Favorite Christmas Songs.... . The arrival of Thanksgiving this week marks the beginning of the traditional Christmas season for most people. I'm a little ahead of the game this year. Most of my outdoor holiday lights are up, and I even got a artificial Christmas tree. But don't worry folks. This is to be a supplemental tree for my family room. The Grand live tree (formerly), will arrive later in December with much effort and probably arguing. Soon almost every radio station will be playing Christmas songs all day and night. Unfortunately, we will all be sick of hearing them long before Christmas week arrives. Also every television network will be playing Christmas movies and specials. I might write a blog about the movies, but not today. Today is about my 5 favorite Christmas songs. To me, a good song, Christmas or otherwise, evokes a feeling about someone, some place, somewhere, or some story. These songs do that for me. Before I begin this list, I have two disclaime

Thanksgiving - Man Do We Need It..... All you have to do is visit a store these days, and you realize the holiday season has arrived. I actually saw a Christmas display in a store before Halloween. That's crazy. But now the leaves are off the trees and my back yard looks like crap. In my part of the world, that means get ready for about 5 months of misery. At least we have the holidays. Love old school Norman Rockwell paintings. Thanksgiving is first up, and it's certainly in my top 2 favorite holidays. All you have to do is run around, clean the house, get and prepare the food. You don't have to shop for presents. At least I don't remember ever getting a Thanksgiving present. There also seems to be less pressure than with Christmas. People worry too much about the perfect present, wrapping, and hurting somebody's feelings if you don't send a "heartwarming" Christmas card. To me, Thanksgiving is about one thing - family . There is nothing mor

I'm a Proud Member of Wine and Gold United..... As long as I can remember I've been a fan of the local sports teams here in Cleveland. Actually one of my earliest memories is walking into old Cleveland Municipal Stadium for an Indians game. I can remember walking through a cold urban landscape, and into the old dusty and cavernous stadium. I remember walking through the dark bowels of that place, taking in all the sights, sounds, and of course smells. Then you walk up a ramp and a beautiful green and sunny playing field unfolds. There's your childhood hero's warming up. It's a little magical. I've enjoyed almost all the venues my teams have played at. The Cavs first home was the old Cleveland Arena. This was a rundown place that even used chicken wire in place of plexiglass for hockey games. But if you wanted to watch Wilt Chamberlain, or a young Austin Carr that's where you went. That was replaced with the Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio. It was in the midd

A List of My Favorite Toys..... I open my Sunday Plain Dealer today and what falls out, a huge holiday toy catalog from Target and one from Toys R Us too. I guess nothing gets you in the mood for holiday shopping like eating leftover Halloween candy. But it got me thinking about toys. Since a reader challenged me to write about it, here it is. One problem I had with writing this is the definition of what is a toy. In the end, I decided if I had fun with it as a kid; it's a toy. Besides, it's my blog. One thing you won't find on the list are video games. I guess I'm too old. Obviously, I have played them and enjoy them. Two of my older favorites include Leisure Suit Larry and Crazy Taxi. I found games where you try to improve your high score but loose in the end, sort of frustrating. I mean those Space Invaders can't be beat. So here we go (in reverse order to build suspense). Built with an Erector Set. Why it's a,a,,,,, you know. 10. Erector Sets: A