Noooo!

Okay, maybe i'm rushing to judgment here.  Maybe i need to practice being more open minded.  But gosh this looks an awful lot like one of those times when i'd have to leave my mind so open my brains would fall out.

It seems that the up until now unthinkable is going to happen -- someone out there is planning to make a sequel to It's a Wonderful Life.

A moment, please, while i regain my composure (and thank heaven it isn't a remake, which would have me apoplectic).

Again, maybe i'm rushing to judge what i don't understand, and maybe it's going to be a wonderful movie.  But, Jiminy Crickets, how do you improve upon, and have a sequel to, the best Christmas movie ever?

Especially as, in this one, George's grandson is to be shown by an angel, played by Karolyn Grimes (the original Zuzu), how much better life would be for everyone if he hadn't been born.

Now, i don't usually consider myself a Grinch, although i do get peeved about over-commercialism and trying to expand the season beyond a reasonable boundary.  This is just rubbing me the wrong way right now.

The movie is set to open in theaters in time for the holidays in 2015.

Meanwhile, the original will air twice this season (much better than in the years past when it was on daily, sometimes more than once!), on December 14 and again on Christmas Eve, both times on NBC.

It's a good thing it's going to be at least a year, it's going to probably take me that long to calm my mind and maybe give this one a shot.  And what's the worst that could happen?  The worst is that it's a bomb and forgotten almost as soon as it leaves the theaters.  It can't contaminate the joy and love and sheer greatness of the original.

Well, i'm going to go try to think of something pleasant now.


Today is:

Alligator Wrestling Day -- internet generated, and i wonder if a cat that doesn't want its meds counts?

Ashi Vanguhi -- Ancient Persian Calendar/Zoroastrian (celebration of Ashi Vanguhi, or Holy Blessing; date approximate, but always two days after a full moon around this time of year)

Automatic Toll Collection Day -- the first machine went into use on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway on this day in 1954

Discovery Day -- Puerto Rico

Equal Opportunity Day / Dedication Day / Remembrance Day -- anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

Fete de S.A.S. le Prince Souverain -- Monaco (National Day)

Flag Day -- Brazil

Garifuna Day/Carib Settlement Day -- Belize

"Have a Bad Day" Day -- for the hidden, or not so hidden, grouch in all of us; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

International Men's Day -- Australia; Canada; Ghana; Hungary; India; Ireland; Jamaica; Malta; Singapore; South Africa; Trinidad and Tobago; United Kingdom; United States

Liberation Day -- Mali

National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

Please Maintain Your Focus Today Day -- internet generated, but a good idea

School Pride Day -- US (always on the Tuesday of American Education Week)

St. Obadiah's Day (Obadiah the Prophet)

"What Ever Happened to Gary Pucket?" Day -- internet generated, and a fun question to research

World Prematurity Day -- International (raising awareness about premature birth, the leading cause of newborn death each year, and what can be done to prevent it)

World Toilet Day -- sponsored by the World Toilet Organization (yes, really, to raise awareness of the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to proper sanitation)


Anniversaries Today:

Zion National Park is established, 1919
Women's Christian Temperance Union is founded, 1874


Birthdays Today:

McCaughey Septuplets, 1997
Kerri Strug, 1977
Jodie Foster, 1962
Meg Ryan, 1961
Calvin Klein, 1942
Ted Turner, 1938
Dick Cavett, 1936
Larry King, 1933
Roy Campanella, 1921
Indira Gandhi, 1917
Tommy Dorsey, 1905
Billy Sunday, 1862
James Garfield, 1831


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Rocky and His Friends (Rocky and Bullwinkle), 1959


Today in History:

The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land, begins, 1095
Rabbi Isaiah b Abraham aha-Levi Horowitz arrives in Isreal, 1621
The Jakobinen club forms in Paris, 1794
The Jay Treaty, the first US extradition treaty, is signed with Great Britain, 1794
Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first European Americans to cross the continent, 1805
Warsaw University is established, 1816
The St. Petersburg flood, caused by storms, kills 10,000, 1824
The second Canadian railway line, the Montreal and Lachine Railway, is opened, 1847
Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address, 1863
Boss Tweed is convicted, sentenced to 12 years, 1874
Carrie Nation attempts to address the US Senate, 1903
NY receives the first Marconi wireless transmission from Italy, 1911
Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures (anybody want to guess what this eventually became?), 1916
The first issue of Time Magazine is published, with Emperor Hirohito on the cover, 1928
Télé Monte Carlo, Europe's oldest private television channel, is launched by Prince Rainier III, 1954
The first automatic toll collection machine is introduced on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway, 1954
Ford cancels the Edsel, 1959
Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon, 1960
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement, 1977
Lt. Gen. Maurice Baril of Canada arrives in Africa to lead a multi-national policing force in Zaire, 1996
Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of the Artist Without Beard sells at auction for $71.5 million USD, 1998
The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft, 1999
Claudia Castillo has a successful trachea transplant from stem-cell created organ, 2008
Many nations urge lower fishing rates on the Atlantic bluefin tuna; quota limits on the critically endangered fish are discussed by major fishing nations in Paris, 2010