12 Blogs of Christmas Day Two: The Christmas Toy

While Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is our favorite Jim Henson Muppet Christmas special, The Christmas Toy is a close second. This is produced by Jim Henson, but not directed by him, since, when it was produced in 1986, the Muppets were much bigger business, and presumably Henson was busy with other things. It’s still a great TV special. I remember loving it on its original broadcast, and that love hasn’t faded a bit in the intervening years.

(Spoilers after the jump. Although, again, this special is 21 years old, long past the spoiler statute of limitations.)

12 Blogs of Christmas Day One: Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

Merry Christmas! Welcome to the first of my 12 Blogs of Christmas, running every day from Christmas Day to the Epiphany (that’s the way it works; look it up). Every day, I will be talking about something that particularly means Christmas to me.

One of our annual Christmas traditions is watching the early Jim Henson special, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. Produced 40 years ago, based on the book by Lillian and Russell Hoban, this hour-long special oozes charm. It tells the story of Emmet Otter and his mother, together since Pa Otter passed away, scraping by on the income from Ma taking in laundry and Emmet doing odd jobs using his father’s tool set. 

(Spoilers after the jump. But seriously, it’s 40 years old. I think the spoiler statute of limitations has expired.)

Christmas Eve and I'm Back!

So, as I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, I’ve been having a lot of trouble staying cheerful and happy this year. It just feels like we’re in the middle—or, worse, just at the beginning—of a period where people are feeling way too comfortable being nasty to each other and treating the world like crap. So I haven’t had the energy to blog about the things I enjoy, For that matter, I’ve been having trouble feeling that enjoyment from things that would usually make me happy, because the darkness of the world is overwhelming all my joy.

I want to change that. I want to find ways to feel happier and more optimistic. Part of that is doing what I can to make the world a better place, which, admittedly isn’t that much. But if all I can do is call my congresspeople and tell them I want them to stop passing laws that hurt people, because even that stresses me out, then that’s what I’m going to do.

Another thing I can do is make a conscious effort to let things make me happy. Tomorrow is Christmas. After tomorrow, Doctor Who will be played by a woman, and that’s exciting. This time next month, I will have gone to Disneyland to celebrate my wife’s birthday, and that’s exciting. Six months from now, if all goes according to plan, I will have driven a real train, and that’s exciting. So many positive things I have to look forward to, and I need to embrace them.

I’m going to try to get back in the habit of blogging weekly again, too. I don’t know how successful that will be; maybe biweekly is a more realistic goal. I think I stopped enjoying it because I was putting too much pressure on myself. For example, I still really want to promote the Catalyst Prime line of comics, because they’re great, and a fantastic example of diversity in a world that seems to loudly wish it was all white male. But I was having trouble finding the time to write about their new comics every week, and so it started feeling like a burden and a failure rather than a joy. I need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

I’m going to try to start things off with a bang. Starting tomorrow, I’m hoping to post 12 shorter blogs in a row, for the 12 Days of Christmas. (Yes, the 12 days start on Christmas and end on the Epiphany. Look it up.) I’m going to write about things that make me happy during this holiday season. They’re almost all Christmas-related, which I suppose isn’t very inclusive. However, none of them are particularly Christian, which reflects the way my wife and I view Christmas. We are Strict Decorationists. 

Please check out my blog starting tomorrow, to find out about some of my holiday favorites!

What's in the Box?!?: October Marvel Collector Corps

November brings with it a new movie from Marvel: Thor: Ragnarok! Along with it comes a new Marvel Collector Corps box from Funko. The theme? Thor: Ragnarok! Dismissed as coincidence! Let’s take a look and see what we got.

For starters, this box is physically small than many of the recent boxes from Marvel (or, indeed, any of the Funko subscriptions). It can barely contain one cat!

What's in the Box?!?: Loot Crate Marvel Gear+Goods for October

I don’t blog about it enough—because sometimes I just feel like opening up a box without photographing every single item—but I really enjoy Loot Crate’s Marvel Gear+Goods box. This month’s box, featuring the Defenders, was pretty cool, and I was able to actually photograph everything, so let me show you what I got!

What's in the Box?!?: October Funko Disney Treasures

First, apologies for not posting anything last week. I was sick the whole weekend, and pretty much all this week. But, tired of just sitting around reading comics, I decided it was time for another Funko subscription box unboxing! This time around, it’s the new Disney Treasures box! This month’s theme—appropriate for the Halloween season—is Haunted Forest. As usual, Funko had revealed one of the items, but the rest were a complete mystery. Would there be an item from Nightmare Before Christmas? Haunted Mansion? Join Gizmo and me, and find out.

What's in the Box?!?: September Star Wars Smugglers Bounty

Apologies for not posting last week; I was feeling pretty stressed and pressured. However, I’m back on the blogging horse. This week, it’s time for this month’s Funko Star Wars Smugglers Bounty unboxing!