Merry Christmas

Well another week has snuck up on me and caught me completely flat footed with regards to my Thursday Thirteen, so none this week. With work and the multiple crises on the home front I may not get a chance to blog until 2007. If you don’t hear from me until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Thursday Thirteen #23

13 things about Dane Bramage

Christmas Carols Edition
I am absolutely buried at work and Thursday snuck up on me. I was going to blow it off completely but as I sat here listening to Christmas music, I thought it would be nice for me (and quick too!) to list My 13 Favorite Christmas songs. So in no particular order:

1. O Holy Night. My absolute favorite. I have about six or seven versions including Jewel, Tracey Chapman, Patti LaBelle and a mens choir whose name escapes me.


2. Carol of the Bells. Instrumental or vocal I love this classic. I have the Veinna Boys Choir and Manheim Steamroller to name a few.


3. I Wonder as I Wander I have to sing this solo in front of the Church on Christmas Eve


4. Beautiful Star of Bethlehem I have to sing this with the men's quintet on Sunday


5. Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant C'est Magnifique! Dr. John has a version. Must be the Creole in him.


6. Hark The Harold Angels Sing A favorite since I was a kid.


7. Sleigh Ride Okay lets start with Authur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, and then there's Harry Connick Jr., Manhattan Transfer, The Salsoul Orchestra, Billy Gilman with Charlotte Church, and the Spice Girls. You think I might be fond of this one?


8. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen It just wouldn't be Christmas without hearing this song.


9. Silver Bells Another one that I have a bunch of versions of including Diana Ross and the Supremes


10. This Christmas A great song by the late Donny Hathaway. There are several other versions out too but his is best.


11. Christmas Time is Here A classic by the late Vince Guaraldi from 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'. If you do not have the soundtrack go get it now. Every tune on it is a treasure.


12. Merry Christmas From the Family I laugh every time I hear this song and shudder at how close it gets to how some family Christmases go. I recommend the Robert Earl Keen version and NOT the Dixie Chicks/Rosie O'Donnell version


13. Christmas Wrappings A guilty pleasure but I have to hear this song by the Waitresses at least once during the Christmas season.

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1. my 2 cents 2. Becky 3. JAM 4. rashenbo 5. Lindsey 6. Chickadee

7. Kukka-Maria 8. amy 9. KarenW 10. Tink 11. ali 12. Susan Helene Gottfried

13. Tug 14. dawn 15. Dani 16. Norma 17. Maniyak

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Green Lantern Creator Nodell Dies at 91

Another comic hero creator has died.

MIAMI - Martin Nodell, the creator of Green Lantern, the comic book superhero who uses his magical ring to help him fight crime, has died. He was 91.

Nodell died at a nursing home in Muskego, Wis., on Saturday of natural causes, his son Spencer Nodell told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He previously lived in West Palm Beach.

Nodell was looking for a new idea for a comic book in 1940 when he was waiting for a New York subway and saw a train operator waving a lantern displaying a green light, said Maggie Thompson, senior editor of Comics Buyer's Guide.

The rest, they say is history. I had read the Hal Jordon Green Lantern for years before I learned of the original GL. Today there are more GLs than you can shake a stick at. But they all started with this one.

"There were myriad of fans who would come up to my dad and would say `Green Lantern got me to read' or `Green Lantern got me to do something in my life,'" [son] Spencer Nodell said.

Nodell helped create another world famous character. He was part of the team that invented the Pillsbury Doughboy.

So which Green Lantern is your favorite? Alan Scott? Hal Jordon? John Stewart? Guy Gardner? Kyle Rayner? Katma Tui? That funky squirrel looking one?

Can Such a Thing Even Be?

I love quizzes. Especially the ones that report interesting findings.


Wow! A Master of seduction and morality. I think I will rename my blog to Gigolo Saint. Sounds cool. It rolls off the tongue way to easily. I am both frightened and intrigued by this new view into the Dane Bramage psyche. Watch out world! The Gigolo Saint is on the loose.

Bah Humbug

Well not like Ebenezer Scrooge but I have found that 12 days into December I have developed some holiday pet peeves.

1. All Christmas Music All The Time-   We have a local radio station that started playing Christmas music 24 hours a day on December 1^st.  You may find that a wonderful thing but I might enjoy it more if they played different songs every now and again. 24 hours of the same songs really grates on my last nerve. This leads into my second peeve.
2. Somebody shoot Mariah Carey. If I scan the radio dial at any given hour, somebody is playing “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and if it is a peak hour, then at least two stations have it going at one time. (You have to understand that I live in N. E. Ohio and I get radio stations from Akron, Cleveland, Canton, and Youngstown. That’s a lot of stations and unfortunately many of them like Mariah’s song.)  Then they play it again in the following hour! Mariah’s little ditty is a good example of my next peeve.
3. Secular Christmas Songs. Our little 24 hour Christmas music station can go for long periods of times playing music that never once mentions Jesus. Oh they’ll rock around a Christmas tree, or Jingle Bell Rock or run over Grandma with Reindeer but they are very reluctant to mention Jesus. Yeah eventually they have to play O Holy Night and Hark the Harold Angels Sing, but these times are few and far between. This brings me to my last peeve.
4. Somebody Shoot Barbara Streisand.  Correct me if I am wrong. Isn’t Babs a Jew? Maybe she’s not a good Jew but she certainly isn’t a Christian. So why would she record a Christmas album? I mean she sings all the classic Christ praising carols but she doesn’t believe them. So again why? And the reason I ask is because when the radio stations do play a song that mentions Christ, it’s usually one of Babs.

There I have laid bare my soul concerning Christmas music.  It won’t dampen my spirit though. I have recordings of all my favorite Christmas music and listen to them when I am at work or home.  It is only when I am in the car that I have to deal the radio.

I invite you to go to the comments and list your favorite Christmas song ( a “traditional” one that deals with Christ’s birth, and a secular one.) By far my favorite song is “O Holy Night”. It has been for decades.  A secular favorite is Sleigh Ride.

 If you have a Christmas peeve leave it in the comments as well.

Cynthia McKinney's Last Stand

From the FOX NEWS website:

In what was likely her final legislative act in Congress, outgoing Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney announced a bill Friday to impeach President Bush.

The legislation has no chance of passing and serves as a symbolic parting shot not only at Bush but also at Democratic leaders. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has made clear that she will not entertain proposals to sanction Bush and has warned the liberal wing of her party against making political hay of impeachment

Apparently Cynthia didn't get the memo. But I expected nothing less from such a fount of moral strength and character. She embarrassed herself and her constituency several times with her actions and her moonbat theories. Hey Cyndi! Hows the Tupac probe going?

McKinney, who has not discussed her future plans, has increasingly embraced her image as a controversial figure.

She has hosted numerous panels on Sept. 11 conspiracy theories and suggested that Bush had prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks but kept quiet about it to allow friends to profit from the aftermath. She introduced legislation to establish a permanent collection of rapper Tupac Shakur's recordings at the National Archives and calling for a federal investigation into his killing.

Whatever was in the water in Georgia that allowed this woman to be a duly elected official hopefully has been removed. Wait! I see in my crystal ball, a trash TV show hosted by Cynthia! It wouldn't surprise me if she went the Rikki Lake route. I'm sure her former voters would tune daily to commiserate with her on how unfair life is.

Thursday Thirteen #22

13 things about Dane Bramage

The Hat Tip EditionHere is a double treat. Why? Because we are all about value. I am going to list 13 sites that I have visited. I discovered these sites while reading other blogs. So I will give credit (A "Hat Tip" if you will) to the referring site. So you get two sites to visit! That's 26 links! But wait, there's more! Okay not really I figure 26 give or take a couple is enough.

1. Origami Boulder You go there. You buy wadded paper from real internet artist.
   HAT TIP: The Random Yak


2. Blue Ball Factory One of my favorite YTMNDs
   HAT TIP: My good bloggin buddy David Drake


3. Hot Air A great site to catch videos of news and some T.V. clips like this South Park one.
   HAT TIP: Darth Apathy


4. The Official Weird Al Website Al's "Stright Outta Lynwood" is his first top 10 album and "White and Nerdy" is his first top 10 hit.
   HAT TIP: To of all places A Hamburger Today thanks to a photo of Al's Hamburger Birthday Cake


5. lulu.TV Which is now home to the "Pepsi Girl" video. Nuthin' like watching people explode!
   HAT TIP: Pirates! Man Your Women


6. The Platypus Society I especially like their "Old Proverbs Explained" feature.
   HAT TIP: And Then I Woke Up


7. Nehring The Edge My favorite movie review blog
   HAT TIP: Cutting Edge Of Ecstasy


The rest of the post is below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"


8. The Sneeze! Half zine. Half blog. Half not good with fractions. You will bust a gut reading Steve! Don't Eat It!
   HAT TIP: I Blog The Body Electric (They steal all my best stuff)


9. Chester Street Serious about the Word and applications to today's society.
   HAT TIP: EddieButler.com Glad to know I am not the only conservative brother in cyberspace.


10. East of Oregon Great photos and totally unrelated to...
    HAT TIP: West of Mars Just like the East-West thing. Green Hair Week is still going on!


11. Army Images Pictures from the army that never make it to MSM.
    HAT TIP: Pettifog (is it still Jots and Tittles chrys?)


12. Generation X-Pose Dani in Denver, another Conservative Christian!
    HAT TIP: Perspectives in Motion Pastor D.L. Foster has Bible messages for today that people would rather he not share! Preach on Brother!


13. World in a Satin bag Shaun's blog has a great fantasy novel going on in weekly installments.
    HAT TIP: Advice From A Single Girl Everybody needs advice now and then.

Okay before I get any email, I will say that not all the Hat tips were where I first heard of the listed site/blog. I honestly forgot where I did learn of some of them, some no longer exist, and a bunch I came across due to Thursday Thirteen or some other blog alliance. So sue me. Truth is all these links are great so check them out and then leave a comment.

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1. Cindy Swanson 2. my 2 cents 3. Starrlight 4. JAM 5. Susan Helene Gottfried 6. Colleen Gleason

7. Kukka-Maria 8. Becky 9. KarenW 10. Skittles 11. Norma 12. Smurf

13. My Twenty Cents Keeps Moving 14. Barbara 15.SciFiChick

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

And Yet They Ran For Their Lives

Jay at Stop The ACLU emailed me this link. It is rather amusing. I for one wish that those freaks would stop calling themselves Baptists. Their sick approach to opposing "sin" is not scriptural. Check out Westboro Baptist Church Freaks Chased Away (VIDEO)

Those religious nut bags at the Westboro Baptist Church were not welcome at this funeral for a soldier who died in Iraq. They are pretty much running for their lives and trying to drive away as fast as possible. This crowd would have torn them limb from limb.