This past weekend, Dick Van Dyke turned 90.

Fans celebrated by showing up outside of where he was showing and putting on a big show of classic Disney Mary Poppins tuns. He was singing along from the balcony and, later, came down to join everyone else for pictures and some more singing and dancing.

It was really great to see him still going so strong. 90 is a good, long run… and to still be singing and dancing, well, that’s even better.

You can check that out here.

This weekend was also my grandfather’s 90th birthday. He was never much of a singer and dancer (as far as I know), but he’s still going strong. Working a few days a week, going out with the family every now and then, pretty much most of what he’s been doing for decades. Including smoking cigars and drinking Jack.

Longevity is kind of an awesome thing when it’s accompanied with quality.

In today’s vlog, I go on a bit about both these guys (but the important one is my grandfather).

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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Here’s another movie to add to your list of movies to watch around Christmas (or, really, any time you need a pick-me-up).

Scrooged is one of my favorite Bill Murray films. It’s also one of my favorite Richard Donner films. And one of my favorites re-tellings of A Christmas Carol.

It’s a comedy with a ton of heart… and a musical number that, when I saw it back in 1988 in the theater, got the audience dancing along a little bit. Kind of awesome.

The cast is all at the top of their games, keeping up with and making use of Murray’s perfect comedic style. Even better, it’s got music by Danny Elfman helping to set that that creepy yet funny tone.

I don’t think I know anyone who hates this movie.

Watch me talk about it in today’s vlog.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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There may be no place like home for the holidays, but to get there, a lot of us have to hit the road first.

As is the case with any travel-heavy holiday, there’s a high chance of adventure–either pleasant or un–to be had while going over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s house. I know I’m regularly driving over five hours to get back to the old homestead for Christmas. And a lot of that is through Pennsylvania (which, if you’re somehow not familiar, isn’t one of the small states).

Weather is a big deal during those trips. Sometimes a big enough deal to change travel plans. Sometimes it becomes that big of a deal when it’s already too late to change travel plans.

I want to hear about your holiday travel adventures. Tell me about that time your car full of gifts for the in-laws spun out on a patch of black ice and you had to figure out how to get all those packages into the sub-compact rental (of course the only one available from the middle of nowhere rental place you were closest to). Or maybe there was that time with the dog… yeah, that time.

Watch me tell one of my little stories in today’s vlog and then tell me yours.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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Banter is one of those things I really dig in movies and TV.

Some actors really nail banter.

Dennis Leary and Kevin Spacey are two of those actors. And they’re both at the top of their game in The Ref. (Which happens to be a Christmas movie, in case you didn’t know.)

Family gatherings at the holidays can be stressful things. We see that clearly in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. For every bit of utter silliness in that movie, there’s equal measure of darker dysfunction in The Ref.

For some reason, that sort of dark holiday comedy didn’t play well to the movie-goers of 1994.

But there was an audience, a pretty solid and continually growing one, for this sharp and biting commentary-filled dark comedy.

If you haven’t seen it, you should.

Watch me talk about it in today’s vlog.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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“Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs…”

Words spoken by a man who’s traveled across the country to spend the holidays with his ex-wife and daughter. He stopped in at her company Christmas party.

Things went… poorly.

That (kind of) sums up the basic setup for one of my favorite Christmas movies, Die Hard.

I’m not sure everyone realizes it’s a Christmas movie. Let alone that it’a a pretty good Christmas movie (it is, after all, kind of about family and hope and giving just the right gifts and just the right time…).

It’s also one of the best action movies of all times. High bullet count. A suitable number of explosions. More than it’s fare share of quotable bits. One of the best villains ever. And a doggone iconic American action hero in Bruce Willis’ John McClane.

It spawned more than a couple of sequels (only one of those is really even close to being as good as the original) and introduced more than a couple of sayings into the lexicon of the general population.

Plus, it’s good fun.

Watch me go on for a bit about it in today’s vlog.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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