Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...My husband thinks this Hallmark Robby the Robot ornament is just about the coolest ornament ever. It appears others feel the same... I like the glass Turner Classic Movies 15th Anniversary ornament I bought on sale this year. :)

...Thanks to Missy who answered my query last weekend about recordings of "Christmas Island." Today I downloaded Ella Fitzgerald's recording of the song, so I've now got three versions in my collection. Curiously, I own the CD of the album the song is supposed to come from, but it's not one of the tracks. (P.S. Check out Missy's nifty Christmas light photos.)

...Speaking of Christmas music, here's Jacqueline's favorite Christmas music scenes from movies.

...Motion Picture Gems shares thoughts on CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY (1944), a film noir starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly (how's that for an interesting combination?). Tom's post includes artwork and a YouTube video. I hope to watch this before year's end thanks to recently acquiring a Region 2 DVD of this hard-to-find title.

...Another study shows that homeschoolers are more "socially engaged" as adults -- and far less likely to end up on welfare -- than their public school counterparts. It's far past time for the "lack of socialization" myth about homeschoolers to be permanently put to rest. Over the years my kids have had more social opportunities than we can keep up with -- and with more diverse age groupings than is experienced in a class with all same-age peers -- and my children are hardly unique.

...Fans of THE VIRGINIAN may want to fire up their DVRS for New Year's Day, when the Encore Westerns Channel presents a 24-hour marathon of the show. A DVD release of Season 1 of the show was recently confirmed for March 9, 2010.

...Politico just did a nice profile of Bret Baier of Fox News Channel's SPECIAL REPORT.

...We were extremely impressed with our Eurostar experience last May...we're sure glad we didn't experience this. Being stuck in a dark, unheated train under the English Channel for as long as 16 hours sounds like a pretty unpleasant experience, to put it mildly.

..."Scholars" are criticizing the decades-old voice track by Royal Dano for Disney's newly reopened Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln? Give me a break...no one living today has ever heard President Lincoln speak.

...Here's a Wall Street Journal interview with lovely Leslie Caron.

...Here's another plug for Maud Hart Lovelace's BETSY-TACY books, mentioned frequently here in recent months due to their republication: "Lovelace's Books Remain Relevant for Today's Girls." They'd make great Christmas gifts for a girl in your life -- start with BETSY-TACY for elementary age and HEAVEN TO BETSY for the older set.

...Glenn Erickson presents a thoughtful summary of the past year in the DVD business and lists his 10 Most Impressive DVDS of 2009. His list includes WAGON MASTER (1950).

...The L.A. Times and Washington Post were among the very enthusiastic reviews for THE YOUNG VICTORIA (2009). The Times calls the film "a terrific period piece" starring "transcendent" Emily Blunt, while the Post says the film is "a heady, thoroughly transporting plunge." Leonard Maltin termed it "a solid piece of entertainment." For those who didn't catch them the first time around, my reviews of May and July are here and here.

Have a great weekend, and Merry Christmas!