Glenn Perrett

Chimps & Chipmunks!

If you are looking for some entertaining DVDs that your family can enjoy during the holidays you might want to check out Space Chimps as well as Alvin and the Chipmunks. And, if you your children want a fun CD to listen to the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie soundtrack is available.

Space Chimps
Space Chimps is a fun computer-animated comedy from Fox Home Entertainment. The main character in this film is Ham III, the grandson of a legendary NASA chimpanzee astronaut. Ham III is recruited to join two other chimpanzee astronauts, Lieutenant Luna and Titan. Their mission is to rescue a wayward craft. Unfortunately, their space ship crashes on another planet. Ham III becomes the reluctant hero when he is able to get his crew back to Earth - but not before the space chimps save the peaceful beings of the planet where they crash from an evil dictator. Space Chimps is a fun family movie.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Special Edition
Another entertaining movie from Fox Home Entertainment is Alvin and the Chipmunks. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Special Edition sees songwriter Dave Seville (Jason Lee) offering his home to three talented, but homeless, chipmunks. The chipmunks - Alvin, Simon and Theodore - become overnight music sensations who are exploited by a ruthless record producer (David Cross). Fortunately, the exploited tiny musicians are saved by Seville.

The 2-disc set contains lots of bonus features including deleted scenes, music videos ("Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)"), several featurettes and a "Behind the Nuts Munkumentary". Disc two is a digital copy of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

This is another good movie for the family.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (CD)
If you like the music from the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks, you may want to get the CD Alvin and the Chipmunks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The entertaining album features Alvin, Simon and Theodore singing numerous songs including two bonus tracks which are "classic versions" of the songs "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)".

Song List:
1. Bad Day
2. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
3. Follow Me Now
4. How We Roll
5. Witch Doctor
6. Come Get It
7. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
8. Funkytown
9. Get You Goin'
10. Coast 2 Coast
11. Mess Around
12. Only You (And You Alone)
13. Ain't No Party
14. Get Munk'd
15. Witch Doctor
16. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)

More Entertaining Christmas Books - Ho Ho Ho!

Under the Tree: The Toys and Treats That Made Christmas Special, 1930-1970
Susan Waggoner
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
2007, 112 pages
ISBN: 9781584796411

I cherish childhood memories of Christmases spent with family. And I fondly remember some of the toys that I received. Perusing Under the Tree: The Toys and Treats That Made Christmas Special, 1930-1970 brings back memories of many toys from past decades including model trains, toy trucks and games. Some of the toys of long ago featured in Under the Tree that I recall are: Hot Wheels, Electric Football, G.I. Joe, Mr. potato Head and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.

Under the Tree is an entertaining book about special gifts from special times.

Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas
John Grossman
Stewart, Tabori & Chang
2008, 224 pages
ISBN: 9781584796992

Christmas in the 19th Century wasn't like it is today. Gluttony, drunkenness (actually these are still commonly practiced) and threatening spirits were common. Through his collection of antique postcards, greeting cards and similar items, John Grossman provides the reader with a glimpse into Christmases Past. Christmas in the 1800s was considerably different, and a lot darker, than it is today. The cards and other artifacts presented in the book are interesting as is the text. Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas is a fascinating look at Christmas of long ago.

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Jingle Bell Christmas
Portable Press
2008, 180 pages
ISBN: 9781592239146

If you like Christmas and you like to read about little known facts and figures then chances are you will like Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Jingle Bell Christmas. As the staff at the Bathroom Readers' Institute mention at the beginning of the book, "This year at the Bathroom Readers' Institute, our stockings have been hung by the chimney with care and stuffed with hundreds of new weird and wonderful facts about Christmas."

The amount of information contained in the book about Christmas is impressive. There truly is a plethora of festive facts and figures contained between the book's covers. There is interesting information about Ebenezer Scrooge, Victorian Christmas party games, eggnog, secret Santa, holiday jokes, legends, lore - and more!

The section on "Christmas by the Numbers" is fun and includes,

"25 Number of years a fruitcake can age and still be OK to eat."

"364 Number of presents you would receive if you got every gift mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

"500 Average number of fires caused by Christmas trees each year in the United States."

"569 Average number of kids hospitalized annually for eating a Christmas ornament."

"300 million+ The number of homes Santa visits on Christmas Eve."

Christmas Books for All Ages

Christmas is Coming! A Pop-up Celebration
A. J. Wood, Stephen Lambert and Jonathan Lambert
Scholastic Canada Ltd.
2008, 11 pages (5 pop-ups)
ISBN: 9780545990370
ages 3+

It's Christmas and Mrs. Mouse is gathering treats, decorations and gifts for her two children. Through the snow she goes and up onto the roof (where she sees reindeer footprints), down the chimney and into the house where she finds the items that she needs for her family before returning home just in time to enjoy Christmas.

Children will enjoy the story and the five entertaining pop-ups in this festive book.

An Old-Fashioned Christmas
Patrick Regan
Andrews McMeel
2008, 71 pages
ISBN: 9780740773846

If you are looking for a fun, festive book that you can leave around for your adult guests to peruse there is An Old-Fashioned Christmas by Patrick Regan. Regan has compiled numerous vintage Christmas photographs from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and set them to humorous captions. The result is a book that contains photographs from cherished times and which will provide you with a festive chuckle or two.

 

The Odd Couple & the Bee Gees

With Christmas less than a month away some will begin to get anxious if they can't think of what to get someone on their Christmas list. Many people, particularly some of the baby boomers, grew up watching Tony Randall and Jack Klugman on The Odd Couple and listening to Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The following CDs and DVD might make a nice gift someone on your list.

The Odd Couple: The Final Season
The Odd Couple was a very good sitcom that ran on ABC from 1970 to 1975 (114 episodes). Based on the Neil Simon play,  this show featured Felix Unger (Tony Randall), a neat-freak photographer living in an apartment with his very sloppy  sportswriter friend, Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman). Al Molinaro, who played Murray Greshler, a police officer, also was part of the show for its five seasons.

The hilarious show had 22 episodes in its final season and these are contained in the 3-disc set The Odd Couple: The Final Season (Paramount Home Entertainment). The guest stars in the show's final season include Rob Reiner, Bob Hope, Scatman Crothers, Paul Williams, John Byner, Howard Cosell, Dick Cavett, Roy Clark and Richard Dawson. Penny Marshall, who plays Myrna Turner, Oscar's secretary, is also in the final season.

The show's final episode (spoiler alert!) "Felix Remarries" has Oscar convincing Felix's former wife Gloria (Janis Hansen) that Felix has changed and that they should get married again. In order to convince Oscar that he has changed his fastidious ways, Felix sleeps in Oscar's bed and even eats a dinner that Oscar has made!

Jack Klugman and Tony Randall were an exceptional team in TV comedy history and The Odd Couple: The Final Season is good television.

Best of Bee Gees (CD - Reprise)
Those who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s regularly heard the Bee Gees on the radio. Barry, Robin and Maurice had numerous hits. While I didn't buy any of their albums, I enjoy their hits and many of their most popular songs are on Best of Bee Gees including "Holiday", "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", "Words", "I Started a Joke" and "Massachusetts". The 12 tracks on this CD are very good and will bring back memories of a special time for many people.

Song List:
1. Holiday
2. I've Gotta Get a Message to You
3. I Can't See Nobody
4. Words
5. I Started a Joke
6. Tomorrow, Tomorrow
7. First of May
8. World
9. Massachusetts
10. To Love Somebody
11. Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You
12. New York Mining Disaster 1941

Best of Bee Gees Vol. 2 (CD - Reprise)
While Best of Bee Gees Vol. 2 doesn't have as many hits as Best of Bee Gees, it is still a good CD for Bee Gees fans and it does contain the big hits "Lonely Days" and "Run to Me". In all there are 14 songs on the album.

Song List:
1. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
2. I.O.I.O.
3. Don't Want to Live Inside Myself
4. Melody Fair
5. My World
6. Let There Be Love
7. Saved By the Bell
8. Lonely Days
9. Morning of My Life
10. Don't Forget to Remember
11. And the Sun Will Shine
12. Run to Me
13. Man For All Seasons
14. Alive

More Christmas Books for Kids

Reading with your children is fun - particularly during the holidays. There are lots of good Christmas books including the three below.

Wenceslas: The Eternal Christmas Story
Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Christian Birmingham
Picture Corgi
2007, 32 pages
ISBN: 9780552549097
ages 4+

Wenceslas: The Eternal Christmas Story is a nice story about how a King and a boy named Peter walk through a blizzard to share Christmas with a peasant and his family at their cottage. Peter and the King take food with them to share. They also take tools and they help the poor family by repairing their cottage and putting rugs on the floor.

The festive story is an entertaining one with a positive message and the illustrations are very good too.

Deck the Halls
Norman Rockwell
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
2008, 32 pages
ISBN: 9781416917717
all ages

Deck the Halls is a nice holiday book that features 14 Norman Rockwell festive images set to the words of the song "Deck the Halls" which was written in the sixteenth century. Norman Rockwell's grandson, John Rockwell, wrote the Foreword.

The Dinosaurs' Night Before Christmas
by Anne Muecke and Nathan Hale
Chronicle Books
2008, 30 pages
ISBN: 9780811863223
ages 4+

Children like dinosaurs and Christmas so they'll enjoy The Dinosaurs' Night Before Christmas which sees dinosaur fossils in the museum come to life on Christmas Eve and have a party. The dinosaurs are joined by a small boy who is eventually returned home by Santasaurus whose sleigh is pulled by eight dino-deer. The fun book includes a CD which features the story read aloud and "dinosaur-themed Christmas party music" including such songs as "Hark! The Pterodactyls Sing" and "Deck the Halls with Stegosaurus" not too mention "The Dinosaurs' Night Before Christmas."

Christmas DVDs

Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1 DVD, approx. 48 minutes)

Pee-wee Herman and the Playhouse gang enjoy Christmas with many guests in Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (Image Entertainment). Pee-wee's Playhouse was a bizarre and funny children's Saturday morning TV series that aired from 1986 to 1991 and starred Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman.

In this special Pee-wee's list for Santa Claus is so long that if he gets everything that he is asking for then there won't be enough gifts for the other children in the world. Pee-wee does receive lots of Christmas cakes from his friends.

Joining Pee-wee's Christmas celebrations is an impressive list of special guest stars that includes Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Charo, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Del Rubiio Triplets, Whoopi Goldberg, Magic Johnson, Grace Jones, k.d. Lang, Little Richard, Joan Rivers, Dinah Shore and Oprah Winfrey.

The Night Before Christmas...and more classic holiday tales

The Night Before Christmas...and more classic holiday tales (Scholastic Storybook Treasures, 1 DVD, approx. 73 minutes) contains numerous holiday stories recommended for ages 3 to 9. Children can read along on the screen while watching the seven stories on the DVD: "The Night Before Christmas", "Seven Candles for Kwanzaa", "In the Month of Kislev", "Too Many Tamales", "Max's Christmas", "Morris's Disappearing Bag" and "The Little Drummer Boy". This read-along DVD will entertain children and help them with their reading.

The Nutcracker On Ice

The Nutcracker On Ice (S'More Entertainment) features World Skating Champions and two-time Olympians, Tai Babilonia (Clara) and Randy Gardner (Nutcracker Prince) as they perform The Nutcracker ballet on ice. The approximately 60 minute performance aired in 1998 and was filmed at the Auditorio Theatre in Mexico City.

Two Christmas Books

Sacred Christmas Music: The Stories Behind the Most Beloved Songs of Devotion
Ronald M. Clancy
Sterling Publishing
2008, 112 pages and CD
ISBN: 9781402758119

If you like sacred Christmas music or you want to learn more about the history of Christmas you will enjoy Sacred Christmas Music: The Stories Behind the Most Beloved Songs of Devotion. Written by Ronald M. Clancy, Sacred Christmas music looks at Christmas music "strictly dedicated to sacred themes" providing interesting information about the songs. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on "Stille nacht, heilige nacht" (Silent Night).

The beautifully illustrated book also includes a CD of Christmas music including hymns, carols as well as Gregorian chant. There are 16 tracks performed by the Vienna Boys Choir, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Trappist Monks of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani and others.

The True Meaning of Christmas
Santa Claus as told to Mitch Finley
The Crossroad Publishing Company
2008, 100 pages
ISBN: 0824524993

In The True Meaning of Christmas Santa Claus (as told to Mitch Finley) discusses such festive topics as himself, Clement Clarke Moore's Christmas poem, Dr. Seuss (whose real name was Theodore Geisel), King Wenceslas, Saint Francis of Assisi, giving and family. The tales of Christmas and the other information contained in the book are enjoyable and will be of interest to those who look forward to this special time of year.

Christmas Books for Children

There are numerous Christmas books for children that are published every year. Three particularly good books that will encourage children to get involved in holiday activities are below.

Dear Santa
Ronne Randall, illustrated by Sharon Williams
Silver Dolphin Books
2007
ISBN: 9781592237616

Dear Santa is a delightful story of how a little girl, Molly Mitchell, writes Santa Claus a letter, but she forgets to mail it. When Santa realizes what has happened he blows some of his magic dust on Molly and she is transported to the North Pole where Santa and Mrs. Claus show her how things are done. They also give her Santa's snowman pen. When Molly wakes up Christmas morning she thinks she has been dreaming, but she has the pen which she uses to write Santa a thank you letter.

Besides the entertaining story, this book includes five Christmas letters with envelopes as well as 60 foil stickers, 80 colour stickers and a snowman pen. I like that this book encourages children to write thank-you letters - a dying custom we could all do a little more of.

Make Your Own Angel Ornaments
editors of Klutz
Klutz
2008, 32 pages
ISBN: 9781591745976
ages 8+

The editors of Klutz recently published Make Your Own Angel Ornaments - and in time for Christmas. Accompanying the instructional booklet are various items for creating eight angels including: faux leaves, florist's wire, wooden beads, glue, faux flower petals, embroidery floss and more. The eight unique angels that can be created will be useful to decorate a tree or wreath.

Kids in the Holiday Kitchen
Jessica Strand & Tammy Massman-Johnson
Chronicle Books
2007, 96 pages
ISBN: 9780811861397
ages 4+

If you want your children to help with the Christmas cooking or you want to keep them busy with craft projects you should check out Kids in the Holiday Kitchen. The book is divided into sections for various recipes including meals, snacks, deserts - everything from potato pancakes, French toast, apply-raspberry spiced cider and holiday shortbread to chocolate-caramel popcorn, minty hot chocolate and chocolate truffles. There is also a section for making 14 craft projects including a twig photo frame, decorated soap and handmade greeting cards.

Hellboy II & Kung Fu Panda on DVD!

Hellboy II: The Golden Arm (Universal Studios Home Entertainment) and Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks) are on DVD and in time for Christmas. Our family recently watched both movies and found them very entertaining.

While I hadn't seen the first Hellboy movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the second. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal Studios Home Entertainment - rated 14A) is the sequel to Hellboy (2004) and sees Hellboy, the super strong character who works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, band together with his "team of paranormal outcasts" to save mankind from a terrible, ruthless prince and his army of monsters.

Joining Hellboy (Ron Perlman) in his vital assignment are Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) who is Hellboy's girlfriend, Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane). Also in this exciting film are Luke Goss who plays Prince Nuada and Anna Walton as Princess Nuala.

The film is directed by Guillermo del Toro. Special features include deleted scenes and commentary with Guillermo del Toro.

Another fun movie is Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks). This animated movie features a panda, Po (voiced of Jack Black), who loves kung fu. Po is supposed to take over his father's noodle restaurant, but he has aspirations of becoming a kung fu master. The large, clumsy bear's father is Mr. Ping (James Hong) who is a goose. Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), a tortoise, wants to choose a Dragon Warrior to fight the bad warrior Tai Lung (Ian McShane) - a snow leopard. Controversy ensues when Po is selected as the Dragon Warrior - much to the disappointment of the Furious Five who are all skilled warriors trained by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). The Furious Five consists of Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross). As you would expect, Po defeats Tai Lung earning the respect of Shifu and the Furious Five.

Lots of bonus features are on the DVD including "Help Save the Wild Pandas." Also with the movie in the 2-disc set is the DreamWork's animated short Secrets of the Furious Five - an approximately 24 minute DVD that sees Po using stories about the Furious Five to teach some bunny children.

"A Very Special Christmas" CD Series

The CDs in the A Very Special Christmas series contains lots of good festive tunes. The first CD, A Very Special Christmas, is particularly good and features 15 popular seasonal songs. Some of the highlights, at least for me, of this CD are: "Winter Wonderland" (Eurythmics), "Merry Christmas Baby" (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band), "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (The Pretenders), "The Little Drummer Boy" (Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band), "Run Rudolph Run" (Bryan Adams) and "Silent Night" (Stevie Nicks).

A Very Special Christmas 2 also contains some seasonal gems including: "The Christmas Song" (Luther Vandross), "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (Frank Sinatra/Cyndi Lauper), "O Christmas Tree" (Aretha Franklin), "What Child is This?" (Vanessa Williams) and "I Believe in You" (Sinead O'Connor).

The impressive list of musicians continues on the third album in the series. Of the 16 songs on A Very Special Christmas 3 some of the highlights are: "I Saw three Ships" (Sting), "The Christmas Song" (Hootie & the Blowfish) and "O Holy Night" (Tracy Chapman).

A Very Special Christmas Live features 11 more tracks by the likes of Vanessa Williams ("What Child is This?"), Eric Clapton ("Christmas Tears") and Sheryl Crow with Eric Clapton ("Merry Christmas Baby").

A Very Special Christmas 5 offers more festive songs from Macy Gray, Wyclef Jean, Eve 6, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder, City High, SR-71, Dido, Sheryl Crow, B.B. King & John Popper, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Powder, Stevie Nicks, Kimberly Brewer and Darlene Love.