Of all the staves, this is probably the easiest one to get right on film. The spirit is nothing more than a black, hooded robe with a “spectral” hand outstretched. There are a few conversations about the death (Scrooge doesn’t realize it is his own death, but it’s obvious to the audience). Then a scene…
This marks the center of the story. It is probably the most famous part of the story as well. We have Scrooge travelling with the Ghost of Christmas Present. It contains the scene in the Cratchit household where we meet Bob’s family and Tiny Tim says, “God bless us, every one!” It also has the…
Well, my schedule was thrown off a bit, but I’m back with the second installment. The first of the three spirits is more commonly known as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Of the three spirits, Christmas Past is the one that never looks right on screen. Dickens says: It was a strange figure – like…
I took my daughter to see The Nutcracker. It was fun. I know next to nothing about dance, but from my perspective, they did a nice job. Yet I didn’t enjoy it as much as other productions I’ve seen because there were no live musicians. The company was dancing to a recording. I found that to…
I have a Christmas tradition that I would like to share. Every year, for the past twenty or so years, I have read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I always read it over five nights, one stave per night, so I finish the book on Christmas Eve. I don’t know exactly why I started…
I was recently asked about one of my posts about depression. The question was basically asking how I felt about my post. I answered that I didn’t think it was great. It takes a lot of energy to write, even the short posts, and, as a result, I feel like many of my posts are…
A man was walking along by himself on a dusty road. Everything around was brown. The dirt, the rocks and the trees were brown. Even the sky had a brownish tint to it. The man was naked except for a neck tie, a very long neck tie. It went down to his knees. It was…
My daughter recently learned how to tie her own shoes. This is an exciting development. She’s very proud of herself. And I’m very proud of her. But, now we are late wherever we go. It takes her a solid ten to fifteen minutes to tie them satisfactorily. It’s adorable and maddening. That seems to be…
I’m lonely. I don’t know how much of it is depression, how much is the divorce and how much is actually being alone (although I rarely seem to be alone, so my guess is it’s the first two), but I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Whatever the cause, I am lonely. It feels different from other…
I’ve never been a good sleeper. I’m quite jealous of those who are. I’ve been this way as long as I can remember, and, according to my parents, it was the case before that. Sleeping is just not a talent I was born with, nor is it a skill I’ve been able to develop. Naturally, depression…
