All I Used To Want For Christmas

 If I’m reviving my blog, I guess I will also have to do another of my annual complaints about Christmas overload. I’d do my usual attempt to prove that I’m not some hateful curmudgeon who rejects all the spirit of the holiday, that it’s not me, it’s just unreasonable to for anyone to be expected to have a holiday force-fed into your brain for two months like something out of A Clockwork Orange. Wait, have I already used that analogy to describe it? Dang, I used it in 2016.

This year, I can get across the concept by telling the anecdote of how I had a wonderful stroll through the Wal-Mart Christmas department, revelling in the fun, low-pressure enjoyment of exploring all the decorations. I don’t even care that it’s mass-manufactured, commercialized cheapness; that’s part of the magic of Christmas. I walked out feeling full of Christmas spirit, but also feeling like I’d had my fill. And then I remembered that it was only mid-November. 

Anyway, that’s what I would have written, except that, I don’t really feel overwhelmed by Christmas this year. I’m not haunted by cheap plastic decorations everywhere. My brain isn’t involuntarily reciting carols every waking hour.

And it’s not hard to see why: I’m just not out in public as much. Doing more things online, and more shopping online in particular, I’m not exposed to mandatory Christmas cheer anymore. And is it just my imagination, or is it less ubiquitous now? It seems like decorations are more restrained now. Maybe all of society has turned down the intensity after Covid. Or maybe it’s another part of the Great Resignation: if a company can’t find enough under-paid workers to do the basic work of the business, then they definitely can’t spare the hours to have someone hunt down the inflatable Santa out of the storage room.

So this is a case of the modern world fulfilling its promise: More activities on the Internet allow us more freedom to create a life for ourselves that is unique to our needs and desires. Is it worth the hollowing-out of the retail sector? No, but it’s something to be thankful for the next time you’re browsing Amazon listening to your own music.

Sun Life On My Shoulders

I’m stuck here watching the traditional NBA Christmas games, since it’s that or watch year-end retrospectives or sitcom marathons, or get into the twenty-first century and pay for a streaming service. I should have invited someone to watch them. I know the Raptors aren’t doing anything today, I could have asked them. Of course, that’s Canadian basketball’s yearly complaint, that it doesn’t matter how many winning seasons the Raps have, they’ll never get invited to play on one of the Christmas Day marquee games. At the same time, it doesn’t matter how bad the Knicks get, they’ll just keep getting invited back.

But I should acknowledge that this complaint is not just unique to Toronto this year. Not only are the Raps not playing despite leading the league, the Western Conference leading Denver Nuggets are also at home to unwrap presents and watch 28th-out-of-30 New York stagger around the court. I’m sure some folks are putting together anti-Canadian conspiracy theories based on the fact that one of their key players is Canada’s own Jamal Murray.

It’s more likely that the Denver market just isn’t important enough to the American broadcasters. You see the same thing in Baseball, where the Sunday night national telecast has become a tiresome rotation of the same few teams over and over. No, I’m not expecting them to show the Blue Jays — at least over the last couple of years — but teams like Milwaukee and, again, Colorado get ignored even when they have good teams. Having said that, smaller markets Portland and Utah are coming up in the Christmas night game, so you could also chalk this up to the broadcasters and league doing a bad job of predicting which teams will be good this year. If next Christmas features the Nuggets playing the Knicks while the defending-champion Raptors sit, then we can go back to Canadian indignation.

But one thing you can appreciate when watching multiple NBA games is the oddness of the league’s uniform sponsors. Starting at the beginning of last season, teams have had a corporate logo on their uniforms. It’s nice and tasteful, rather than the giant ads used in soccer or the WNBA. So I’m filing it with the NHL’s shootouts under sports ideas I hated but surprisingly don’t get angry about.

It helps that there haven’t been any embarrassing ad associations. That’s in sharp contrast to venue names, where most of the names are okay, but you feel stupid talking about Sleep Train Arena or Smoothie King Center. Actually, it’s been nice that many teams have sponsorship from local companies, such as Harley Davidson for Milwaukee or Goodyear for Cleveland.

But what’s odd is that even though the less-lucrative teams like Sacramento have not had to take sponsorship from Depends or Preparation H, the more popular teams haven’t taken sponsorship from the Blue Chips. Like, you’d think the Warriors would have a bidding war that only the richest companies could hope to win. Say, a local company like Google or Apple. But no, their sponsor is Rakuten, which is a Japanese e-commerce company and not, as I had assumed, a sound effect from Street Fighter. Apparently it’s a big company, I’m just surprised that a bigger American company didn’t want it. Or, to put it another way, Rakuten is apparently called “the Amazon of Japan,” yet they wanted to sponsor an American sports team even more than the Amazon of America did.

And the Lakers should be a big score too, given their history and their Lebron James. But again, they’re sponsored by Wish. Sure, that’s a big company, but you’d expect the Lakers to be sponsored by Exxon or something, if only to match the Celtics and their GE ads. Okay, I guess the current Lakers are promising, but haven’t truly arrived yet, which is sort of like ordering from Wish.

My point is that the ads aren’t really the prestige item you might expect; many companies are seeing it as a path to legitimacy. I guess it’s sort of like a Super Bowl ad. Sure, Coke or GM might make one, but a lot of the time it’s just some dot-com betting half their funding on making a big impression with the public.

Cold Comfort

Recently we've had controversy because some radio stations have banned the song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" for its connotations of date rape. While you might think that this is a result of oversensitivity in the age of #MeToo, I have to point out that people were finding it kind of creepy for years before. I also have to point out that others claim the song was originally intended quite differently: the idea was that the young lady wants to spend the night with the man, but social mores of the time prevent it, so the two of them are trying to build up the idea of the bad weather to give her an acceptable excuse to stay.

I'm no expert on the moral nuances of the 1940's so I can't say which interpretation is correct, but there's one thing I do know: The Anti-PC crowd has been so distracted by this that I haven't had to endure a single It's-Merry-Christmas-not-Happy-Holidays rant. Wow, all it took was sacrificing a song that lots of people hated anyway. We should do this every year.

The other big story that's been getting the goat of the Politically Incorrect is that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has demanded that we stop using phrases involving the disrespect of animals, such as "getting your goat." As I've observed before, PETA has a strange random targetting pattern, where they make proclamations as it occurs to them, not caring what the reaction to them.

As a liberal with an interest in political strategy, that's the sort of action that costs me patches of hair and years off my life: So many people and organizations just act on what ever they feel like, without asking if this is the battle we really need to be fighting right now, or if it will lead to a backlash that does more harm than good. And PETA is clearly the worst for this, regularly picking fights that make its whole cause a laughingstock for no gain at all.

And yet, part of me admires that bold disregard for consequences. I think we all admire audacity, and PETA has it in spades, even if it doesn't come with much guidance. Hey, you know who else likes people who act without considering the consequences? The Anti-PC crowd. Once again, the extremes have a lot in common.

Rated Xmas

I don't know if you're aware of it, but there's become a whole subculture of TV Christmas movies. Okay, "subculture" isn't really the word for it: in our modern world, we have so many entertainment choices that there can be an entertainment trend that exists on its own and has ardent followers, but much of the public remains oblivious, like Amish Romance. Well that's what has developed here; several specialty channels will be showing nothing but Christmas movies all through November and December. But it's just a few channels, and mostly during the day, so you may not know about them at all. But there are so many - with more being cranked out ever year - that there's apparently a great appetite for them. The Hallmark Channel in the U.S. is making most of them, and here in Canada they've been picked up by several channels with compatible programming. Mainly that's the W Network. Hey, remember when that started and everyone expected it was going to be radical feminism 24/7? Innocent times.

Generally, these are laid-back romantic-comedies, though there isn't even the pretense of going after the bro market, so the stories are very focused on the female character, and not a hint of slap-stick or gross humour. And there's a theme of people finding themselves, finding their love of Christmas, or, a new appreciation for their small town.

Interestingly, they seem to be mostly made in Canada. For one thing, we've become the cheap film capital of the world, and we have snow.  And that leads to something interesting: The stars of these movies are either soap stars, or people who used to be on sitcoms. But most of the supporting cast are Canadian actors. Even if you don't know them, you've seen them in commercials. But the mainly American audience for these movies wouldn't know this, they'd just wonder why the same few people keep popping up in one movie after another, and assume that these folks have somehow decided to specialize in just holiday-related roles.

I've complained in the past about the ubiquity of Christmas, and how long we celebrate it, so you'd think that I'd be really annoyed by these movies. And yet, I'm not. For one thing, I don't hate Christmas, I just hate having it shoved down my throat non-stop. I find that it's quite pleasant having Christmas in nice little parcels that I can take or leave, even if they start early and schmaltzy.

My only complaint is that, as I said, these movies are all variations on a theme, and it would be nice if other networks concentrating on different genres would offer their own Christmas movies. That could be difficult. Like say, there have been only a few Christmas horror movies. And there aren't really any sci-fi Christmas movies beyond Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. And twenty-eight Doctor Who specials. 

Of course, there's a discussion every Christmas about whether Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie, since it doesn't have much in the way of Christmas themes, but does take place on Christmas Eve. I always thought that argument was kind of silly, but perhaps I'm being too harsh. It's just the first of a new wave of Christmas action movies. The next one should be along any time now.

It's Beginning To Look A Nice Tasteful Amount Like Christmas

This week I was in a mall, and as is now expected in late November, Christmas is in full swing. Halloween is gone, and some people respectfully hold back until after Remembrance day. In the U.S. they still have Thanksgiving, and of course the second most important date on the capitalist calendar, Black Friday. But for us, there's no holding back on the Christmas decorations.

The Santa enclosure was up, though it wasn't inhabited yet. I guess the Santas have a strong union if they're not forced onto the job until later. Or perhaps it's the amount of exposure to screaming kids, there's probably some sort of health regulations about that. So for now, there's just a strange Christmas labyrinth ending at an empty chair.

Of course, I'm not a fan of starting Christmas as early as possible. I'm not against Christmas, I just find that a month is more than enough of it for me. So I was surprised when I found that I wasn't annoyed at all the early signs of the holiday season. For once, I wasn't feeling like I was trying to survive an unregulated psychological experiment. It was actually kind of enjoyable.

I realized why when I was looking at some felt snowmen and it suddenly hit me how unusual it was to be seeing Christmas decorations without the accompanying music. Yes, the mall was still playing its usual non-threatening oldish pop soundtrack. Some might find it culturally confusing to be walking among random sprigs of holly to the sound of lesser Rick Astley tracks, but it came across as much less pushy to me.

Like I say, I don't mind Christmas, I just find it difficult to take such a long, uninterrupted period of not being able to get away from it. But this weakened, partial Christmas allowed me to genuinely enjoy it. To me, this is how a sane society would celebrate its biggest holiday: lots of celebration, but without losing sight of everything else in existence.

So I'm going to try to enjoy Christmas during this brief, early period. All too soon it will strengthen into a category-5 holiday, and I'll have to retreat into my curmudgeonliness. But for now, Merry Mid-November.

Chill 'Em All

It's about time for my annual complaint about ubiquitous Chirstmas music. Once again, I'm trying not to sound too curmugenly. I'm trying to find a reasonable middle ground between people like myself who only enjoy a little Christmas music, and the folks who want their Christmas cheer pounded into their head non-stop, Clockwork Orange style.

First up, while I do appreciate a reprive from Christmas music in stores, playing "What Are You Doing New Years Eve" in November is not an improvement. I'm just thankful there aren't any Valentine's Day songs, or they'd be staring later this week.

I also just heard a re-write of "Mr. Sandman" altered into a Christmas song - "Mr. Santa, bring me some toys." I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. On the one hand, I've always figured that a way we could improve the Christmas music season would be to write more songs, so we would at least have a greater variety to play over the eight-weeks of Christmas. But rewriting existing songs to become Chirstmas-related? That's an awfully big can of worms to get into.

For a start, you might have already started by trying to think of other songs with "sandman" in the title that could be just as easily changed. And if you're similar in age to me, you immediately thought of Metallica's "Enter Sandman." There's some promise in the corus:

Silent Night
Holy Light
Take my Hand
We're off to Winter Wonderland

Of course, I knew someone would already have come up with lyrics along these lines. And in fact, someone has recorded an actual song. It's not quite the Christmas music diversity I'd hoped for, but at least now rock fans don't have to keep playing Trans-Siberian Orchestra. You occassionally hear their music in stores in the lead-up to Christmas, and it gives the experience an apocalyptic overtone that already-stressed shoppers just don't need. I don't think Merry Metallica will be much better in that respect. I think I'm going to do a search for Enya Christmas albums.

Things the Teenage Me Would Never Have Believed About Life In The Future, #19

There's a TV channel that just shows a burning fireplace.  It started as a holiday special during low-ratings slots like Christmas morning.  It also started off semi-humourously.  But people decided they liked it, so lots of people watch it now.

Betting On The Stacks

Doing Christmas shopping in Chapters, I learned a lot. For one thing, I can't believe how much manga and graphic novels have grown.  I remember being amazed that it had its own shelf, and now it has its own section.

But I also found these piles of books. You sometimes see the latest much-anticipated book arranged like this. I figure the height of the stack gives us an indication of how the book is selling. And they complexity of the design shows how much free time the site employees have.

I remember how there were huge arrangements of the Steve Jobs biography for a while, which I figure means that they ordered far too many in the hype following his death. So what do we know based on these piles?

Justin Trudeau should be worried that his book sales are well behind those of conservative icon Conrad Black.

The Leafs' book isn't doing too well. It's way behind the Gordie Howe book. Though it is beating the latest Young-Adult fantasy on the other side of it.

And the leading author? No, not Stephen King, it's Amy Poehler.

I'm Dreaming Of A Wide Christmas

I'm one of those people who hates the coming of Christmas music. No, I don't have anything against Christmas or its music; it's the ubiquitousness of it. Yes, I know, I've mentioned this before. Having it going constantly, everywhere, for a month is a bit much.

But today I realized there is a potential positive: in trying to fill the airwaves with songs on a single topic, music programmers have to reach outside of their normal confines of time and genre. Just in the past few minutes waiting in a drug store, I've heard fifties, soul, and the Beach Boys.

A lot of people would consider that to be another negative, but I consider it a positive. I'd actually like a radio station that would play anything. Maybe it was being raised on the necessarily eclectic tastes of one music video channel that tried to be all things to all people.

So that's a good thing about Christmas, forcing us to break out of our normally strict music formats.  And it's all thanks to the limited number of Christmas songs.  So all you ignored genres, this is your ticket to greater exposure.  Polka, blues, free jazz: get recording.

A Valentines Proposal

Now this may come as a surprise to you, but Jesus probably wasn't born on December 25th. No, this isn't some atheist rant accusing Christians of hijacking pagan holidays; even Christian scholars basing their work on the bible agree it doesn't sound like the gospels are happening in early winter.

Some people will be upset by this idea, but I think most Christians would agree that celebration of Jesus and his teachings is the important thing, not whether it's on the correct date or not.  Which brings me to my proposal: if we agree that Christmas isn't really at the right time, and we agree that it isn't a problem, then why not move it to a more convenient time?

The unfortunate thing about the timing of Christmas is that it comes at the start of the winter. We get the most joyous part of winter over with just as the worst of the weather is about to hit. That's especially unfortunate given that we have turned Christmas into a two-month holiday. Wouldn't it make more sense if those two months were over the most depressing weather of the year, brightening our darkest (literally) times. Once we have the letdown that Christmas is over, we'd have spring coming up.

So I think Valentine's Day would be the best time for Christmas. No one will miss Valentine's Day - singles hate it, the in-love don't need it. So switching it with Christmas shouldn't be a big problem. We just need the Catholic church's okay. So come on Francis, give it a go.

So This Is Holiday

As always, there's controversy this year about people saying, "Happy Holidays" rather than, "Merry Christmas". Normally I don't care too much.  If people are going around wishing nice things to one another, I won't look that gift horse in the mouth.

But I do have to point out that this year the replacing of "Christmas" with "Holiday" has entered a new and awkward phase, as advertisers have tried expanding use of the H-word beyond slogans and signs, and into more natural speech. I mean, I can understand using "holiday" when addressing a large public group ("Here's wishing everyone in Moose River a Happy Holiday"), but people don't really use it when discussing it with well known friends. ("What are we having for Holiday dinner?")

The prime example is that heart-warming Apple commercial where that teenager makes a family movie with his iPhone. It's a nice ad, but the video begins with the title, "A Harris Family Holiday." That sounds artificial, and not just because we're supposed to believe that a family called "Harris" might be celebrating a different holiday.

It's one thing to talk about the population as a whole celebrating "Holidays" in a generic sense, but no single person/family celebrates "Holidays." I doubt anyone would feel left out if we just acknowledged that the family in the ad is celebrating Christmas. Or, alternately, I doubt any reasonable person would find the commercial any less touching if it were "A Savarkar Family Diwali."

There's No Hip In Christmas

I often feel alienated by Christmas, what with its enforced revelry. So when I find something to celebrate, I feel I should pass it on.

Here's something to love about Christmas: the way it flattens out the cultural hierarchy, allowing lowbrow content to reach classic status.

Probably the best example is the Rudolph TV special. It's a stop-action-program that takes an existing story and slaps on a backstory with all the gravitas of a Saturday morning cartoon. In any other context it would be forgotten, save for a brief moment thirty years after its debut when it would receive a brief ironic revival. But because it's about Christmas, it's achieved cultural touchstone status. Even the original Rudolph story itself is a colouring book turned novelty song.

Where else would we find a long-term life for A Christmas Story, Boney M's Mary's Boy Child, both Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Manheim Steamroller?  Or there's the "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" story; what other letter-to-the-editor has such respect?  Even Santa himself was shaped by early Coca-Cola posters.  And how did Boris Karloff, known for playing Frankenstein's monster, achieve immortality?  By narrating a Christmas special.  And there's the Bing Crosby/David Bowie Little Drummer Boy duet.  What other cultural force would even get them into the same room, never mind working together?

So let's all have a Merry, Culturally-Inclusive, Christmas, and put our snobbery aside until Boxing Day.

Pa-Rum-Pum-Pum-Pu-u-u-u-um

I used to feel sorry for Justin Bieber.  Sure, I hate commercialized pop driven by tween girls' hormones as much as anyone, but he doesn't deserve the level of vitriol he's received. 

At least that's what I thought until I heard his version of "Little Drummer Boy" during today's basketball games.  Look, Bieb, inserting extra notes to show off your vocal abilities Mariah-Carey-style is merely annoying, but that's if you can actually hit all those extra notes.  Pointlessly meandering notes in a really artificial auto-tuned voice is neither entertaining nor impressive.

I have new respect for David Bowie and Bing Crosby.

DJ X-Mass

Supposedly the Saturday before Christmas is the busiest shopping day of the year, even busier than Black Friday in the U.S.  Fortunately - and uncharacteristically - I finished early and was able to avoid it all together.  But there's one thing you can't avoid unless you complete your shopping a month-and-a-half early: Christmas music.  Of course it's not just in stores, it's also on much of the radio dial and many TV commercials too.  For the Christmas overloaded like me, the non-stop music is the hardest thing to take.  I realize I can't stop it, so here are some tips on how we can make the Christmas tunes a little less annoying:

Go Easy on the PC Winter Carols

A lot of songs we associate with Christmas actually never mention it:

• Winter Wonderland 
• Marshmallow world
• Jingle Bells
• Sleigh Ride

So these songs are a safe solution at PC civic events and in stores holding hopes of sucking religious minorities into the buying frenzy.  But like most attempts to genericize Christmas, it annoys many while fooling no one.

Look Deeper into Back-Catalogues

Just about any well-known artist has recorded a Christmas song at some point in their career, even if they haven't gone the full Christmas cash cow- I mean, "album".  For instance, last year a number of radio stations seemed to remember U2's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"  So it's worth a look.

Try Tangentially Christmassy Songs

The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" is not technically about Christmas, but it does mention it.  All the music from the Peanuts Christmas special is just instrumental, but it's become associated with the holiday.  And if you're filling a month of songs, you're going to have to consider that close enough.

Never Play "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time"

It's modern, light, and by one of the most beloved musicians in the world, so it seems like a marketing dream.  Too bad it's such an annoying song.  I don't like to exaggerate, but this song may just cancel-out Paul McCartney's positive contributions to music.

Never Play "Santa Baby"

That's such a creepy song.  For one thing, it's sexualizing Santa, a concept I felt dirty just typing.  If you think about it, that song is exactly the thing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is making fun of.  We don't need to hear about how much mommy wants to kiss Santa Claus.  The fact that the song has such a dated feel only accentuates the feel of listening to your mother's love song.

Thank You For Such A Useless Gift

Oral-B is running a strange ad right now for their electric toothbrushes.  Of course, their ads have been odd for a while, what with their idea of using teams of dancers running around the Bonneville Salt Flats interpreting the life of a toothbrush bristle.  And it gets even more disturbing at the end of the commercial, where they show a close-up of one of the dancers running her tongue over her apparently immaculate teeth, enjoying the taste of clean teeth far more than anyone should.

But what's extra strange about this ad is the final line from the narrator: "You can find the perfect holiday gift at a store near you."  I always want to respond to that by saying, "That's nice, but where can I find one of your electric toothbrushes?  I'd like to buy one if only to thank you for your lovely if cryptic advice that I can find the perfect gift at a store near me."

It's one of the unfortunate sides of modern Christmas, this annual attempt to convince us to give mundane products as gifts.  Really, it's to be expected:  Whatever else Christmas is, it's now a huge boon for business, so every company wants to get in on it, not just the toy companies.  It's great for the economy: you can bet central bankers the world over wish they could make everyone feel obligated go out and buy extra stuff.  But it's a bit of a downer if we just buy the same stuff we normally do, but more of it.  Buy a family member an electric toothbrush in June and it's just a purchase.  Do it in December and it's a gift.

It would be great if Christmas was not just an artificial boost for our collective finances, but an artificial boost for our psychology too.  So I encourage everyone: resist the urgings to do your gift shopping at the grocery store.  Restrict your Christmas purchases to completely useless things you would never normally buy.  Let's keep Christmas impractical!

Step Aside, Grinch

I - like many people these days - am getting sick of the hoopla around Christmas.  It's nothing about Christmas itself: it's the inescapability of it.  I've voluntarily looked at Christmas related products in stores, and participated in Christmas activities.  Yet I go a little crazy when every public place is playing non-stop holiday songs starting a month before the big day.  Worse, the start of the Christmas season is getting earlier and earlier every year, threatening to overwhelm Halloween.

But today, I saw a way we can combat it.  Ironically, it was among the seasonal display in Walmart.  There, in between the figurines from the 60's Rudolf TV special and the Kiss tree ornaments, was the thing that will stop Christmas from taking over the whole calendar. 

It was a shelf of Teddy Bears, finely outfitted in either a party dress or a vaguely Heffnerian robe, all with "2013" on the heel.  Yes, they were New Years decorations.  With more than two weeks to go before Christmas, Walmart already has the New Years decorations out.  And this is how we can win: by doing to Christmas what Christmas has done to everything else in the bottom quarter of the calendar.  So I'm calling on all natural allies of New Years Eve/Day to support them on this:  young people, football fans, partiers, drunks.  Buy any New Years favours you can find, and buy them now.  Convince retailers to get the Christmas stuff moving out as soon as possible.  After this attack from the rear, Christmas will still be an ubiquitous cultural force, but only for two weeks in early November.

Get Behind Me Santa

I've never really understood the obsession we have with believing in Santa.  Personally, I don't really remember a time when I believed in Santa, though I'm sure at some point I did.  No, my parents didn't spoil the idea for me.  But on the other hand, they didn't exactly work hard to keep up the ruse.  Once I became conscious of the planet's size, they didn't try to convince me of the existence of sleighs with warp drive or million-strong teams of elf assistants.

And that's the thing I don't understand.  There are lots of instances were we make up something to defend kids from the complexities or evils of the world.  But it's the insistence that kids maintain that belief even though they've long outgrown the need for them that I don't get.  Maybe we're afraid of our kids growing up and Santa is a way of hanging on to their innocence.  But normally we celebrate the milestones of a child's maturity.  I know, compared to walking and talking, acquiring the brains to understand the aerodynamic limitations of reindeer doesn't seem like much.  But it is progress, and normally parents aren't exactly shy about trumpeting their child's accomplishments.

Some make the point that it's important to believe or imagine.  Believing in something is a big part of most religious beliefs.  Is Santa a sort of introduction to religion?  (No one mention this line of thinking to Richard Dawkins or we'll never hear the end of it.)  As for for the idea that Santa belief is important for imagination, I have to ask, is lack of imagination really that big a problem in our society?  Wait, before you answer, go take a look at the folks camping-out to be first on line for The Hobbit and then get back to me.