It was another one of those what time is it mornings when I first woke up. It was still dark, but when I looked out the window, I saw three houses ablaze with light. It being Sunday and all I figured it was late at night, but I was wrong. It was 4:45. Knowing I was done with sleep, I came downstairs, cranked up the heat and made coffee. It’s far too early for the papers.

Television is interesting this time of the morning. Infomercials rule the air waves. I think my favorite title was Holiday Hair Gain. I watched a bit of The Thing From Another Planet, but I’ve seen that so many times I know a lot of the dialogue. James Arness, though, does make a great Thing or Mr. Thing, I’m not sure of the protocol when it comes to flesh eating aliens. Dante’s Peak is on now. It is one movie which proves the rule that you can kill people but never a dog. The grandmother gets it, but the dog finds refuge and is saved. Obviously I’ve seen this too many times as well. A main character is now talking about how wonderful a town it is for raising children. Good luck with that.

Vampires are out. Their blood sucking days are over. Zombies are in though they are far uglier and tend to be less discriminatory about which parts of the body they enjoy. Zombie actors also come a bit more cheaply: no speaking parts. I think the only directions they get are to drag their feet and try not to drop dangling body parts.

I watch all sorts of Christmas programs. Yesterday I saw a movie I’ve never seen before, Carol for Another Christmas from 1964. It has quite the pedigree as it was written by Rod Serling and has a Henry Mancini score. The movie was made for TV and is a dark version of A Christmas Carol. Peter Sellers appears in a strange role in Christmas future, a devastating future. When I looked up the movie on IMDB, I found out, “Presented without commercial interruptions, this “United Nations Special” was sponsored by the Xerox Corporation, the first of a series of Xerox specials promoting the UN.” I watched all of it without enjoying it much. I was just curious as to how Mr. Grudge would find redemption. Now I don’t need ever to see it again. Give me Alastair Sim every time.

No white Christmas this year. Rain is forecasted. Good think Santa is magical.