The Last Candle

Commerce: <p/> At roughly midnight last evening, I decided it was high time and nigh time to pickup some new Christmas music. I’m not big on the season, honestly — although the cookies are delicious! — but there’s no other time of the year where music is meshed into the season so snugly. (What’s second place for snuggliest music season? Fourth of July, with it’s Sousa brass and all-American melodies? Maybe. Just maybe.) <p/> So, Christmas music. Everyone has their favorite album to associate with the holidays: Christmas Day in the Morning is my perennial favorite. But after years of Christmas Day in the Morning, I’m looking for a few new jingles. <p/> Jingle bell rock, maybe. <p/> Like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. <p/> Well, that’s a easy pick, and with Amazon selling the last two discs in TSO’s Christmas concept trilogy, The Lost Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve and Other Stories — the next concept by these guys will be called The Christmas Eve That Rocked, I bet — for eight bucks apiece made the choice even easier. Sold. Went to bed. <p/> And this morning, around the crack o’ 7:30 AM, I received an e-mail notice that the CDs had shipped. The UPS tracking number a few hours later supported Amazon’s brazen claim. <p/> Now that’s service. <p/> In the heat of the TSO potential, however, I had forgotten that Sufjan Stevens’ new Christmas compilation was already en route. Songs for Christmas arrived today, and I’ve been listenin’ through the five twenty-minute EPs for the last couple hours. The season has never had so much banjo! <p/> Cinema: <p/> Alright, I wasn’t going to advertise my personal YouTube channel until I put, y’know, something interesting up there. Mentos and pepsi and atomic bombs, that sort of thing. <p/> But seeing as how the teaser-trailer for Bedlam in Battery Park is such a hit, with a single five-star rating and almost fifty views, I might as well pop the sparkling champagne bottle open now. Huzzah! <p/> The next video, a little clip that melds a crazed Japanese music video with some zero-budget costuming and stage presence that I blended up during the college years, should be uploaded soon, after I fix all the video brightness problems from the original captures. And then:another sure hit!