Lord, deliver me from some of your believers.

Earlier this week I realized that there seemed to be far less nonsense about a "war on Christmas" this year than there was last year or the year before that. I'd started to hope that people had come to their senses, and stopped thinking that their faith's holidays were less meaningful unless validated by mighty institutions like department stores. Turns out, though, that while there's less chatter about it, the fear of a war on Christmas -- you know, the one that doesn't actually exist -- is a good way to make money from gullible saps.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

A little merry

Entertainment Weekly's look back at the history of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is interesting reading in and of itself. Suffice to say that while I'm far from the biggest fan of Christmas, this is one of a handful of Christmas songs that I genuinely like, in large part because of how it captures the melancholic ambivalence of the holiday rather than sweeping it under the rug like most holiday songs, and also because I have some fond memories associated with the song.

But the article also reminded me of something I tracked down a few weeks ago and then forgot to link to. In December of 2001, Hugh Jackman hosted Saturday Night Live and, in lieu of the traditional opening monologue, simply sang this song, with backup provided by the show's female cast members. What made the performance memorable was the context -- to sing that particular song, in New York City, just three months and a few blocks from September 11, gave it a resonance that made it genuinely unforgettable.

I scoured YouTube and peer-to-peer networks with no luck trying to find a copy to link to. But eventually I did find a Hugh Jackman fanpage that featured an abbreviated version of the audio from that performance. It's not perfect, but then, Christmas never is, is it? If you'd like to hear it, go here and scroll down past the abundant pictures of Mr. Jackman in various hair styles for a link to the mp3.

UPDATE: A more dedicated commenter than I -- or perhaps one with a higher tolerance for Hugh Jackman fan sites -- posted a link to the video of the performance in question. Not long after that, a video of it was posted to Google. Enjoy!

Metaphor of the day

From George Will's column arguing why Brack Obama should run for president in 2008 rather than waiting:

"...if you get the girl up on her tiptoes, you should kiss her."

Will goes on to say:

The electorate is on its tiptoes because Obama has collaborated with the creation of a tsunami of excitement about him. He is nearing the point when a decision against running would brand him as a tease who ungallantly toyed with the electorate's affections.

It's like every cheesy late-70s science fiction show in a minute and six seconds. In cartoon form. Starring Cartman.

I. Am. BULLETPROOF.

According to science, I will never die.

A study in contrasts

Things that are worth mutiple posts in the span of a few days: The secret origin of Frasier, via guest-postings at Ken Levine's magnificent blog.

Things that are not: Hyping the new Justice Society comic. I don't think a comic exists that's worth six puff pieces in the space of a week, even at a comics news/press-release-regurgitation site.

90210 flashback

Slate argues that the release of the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 on DVD presents an opportunity to remember how good the show was. I never actually watched a complete episode, so I can't respond to that claim. But the article made me remember how, when I arrived at college at the height of the show's popularity, you could pretty easily tell who the biggest twits were, since they all had Luke Perry's haircut and sideburns.

Crazy to the last drop

It's nice to be reminded why it's such a good thing that Rick Santorum went down in flames of humiliation last month. We are an immeasurably better, stronger, and more decent -- not to mention less embarassed -- nation now that he's on his way out of office.

Fortunately/unfortunately

Fortunately, I found an action figure of the Demon as he appeared on Justice League Unlimited while shopping for more essential goods at Target last night.

Unfortunately, the damn thing refuses to stand up. In fact, I'm rather certain that it's physically impossible for this figure to stand up.

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

What an odd, odd artifact. Fans of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies have heard for years about all of the footage Richard Donner shot for the sequel to his original Superman film that was cut from the film when the producers brought in Richard Lester to finish the film. Thanks to lobbying by fans and the release of Superman Returns earlier this year, Warner Brothers has done something unprecedented: They've let Donner and one of his producers put together a rough cut of the footage that was shot. The result is not quite a finished film but gives you a sense of the sequel we could have had -- essentially, it's Superman II with all of the campiness and stupid beaten out of it. And even with rough transitions, missing pickup shots and closeups, and screen test footage, it's an improvement over the version that was released; like Superman: The Movie, and unlike Lester's Superman II, the Donner cut works from within the material, rather than "above" it, and the central conceit of the Donner films -- that the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane is a tragedy, not a romance -- is much clearer here than in the released version.

It's amazing that this thing has been released -- it's not often that a piece of secret history escapes into the open.