There's been countless specials, movies and TV shows to help us get in the Christmas spirit, but how many do you actually remember? If you're anything like me, you know them off by heart - it's kind of my thing though. So as a fun way to celebrate the lead up to Christmas I decided to compose a list of quotes from some of my favorite Christmas shows - how many can you guess correctly? Answers are at the bottom.
1. "Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. My personal preference was for Lux, but I found Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor - heady, but with just a touch of mellow smoothness. Life Buoy, on the other hand..."
2. "If I live to be 100, I'll never forget that big snow storm a couple of years ago. The weather closed in and, well you might not believe it, but the world almost missed Christmas. Oh, excuse me, call me Sam. What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a talking snowman before?"
3. "Even weirdoes are cute when they're babies."
4. "Wow, you're fast. I'm glad I caught up to you. I waited 5 hours for you. Why is your coat so big? So, good news - I saw a dog today. Have you seen a dog? You probably have. How was school? Was it fun? Did you get a lot of homework? Huh? Do you have any friends? Do you have a best friend? Does he have a big coat, too?..."
5. "No, you are a hallucination, brought on by alcohol. Russian Vodka, poisoned by Chernobyl."
6. "Me? You want *me* to be the director of the Christmas play?"
7. "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
8. "Can I sleep in your room? I don't want to sleep on the hide-a bed with Fuller. If he has something to drink, he'll wet the bed."
9. "At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe."
10. "Oh, I was just smelling - smiling. I was just blouse - browsing. I, uh, heh heh. Well, I guess it just wouldn't... Oh hee hee, it wouldn't be the Christmas shopping season if the stores were any less hooter than they - HOTTER than they are. Whew. It is warm in here, isn't it?"
Answers
1. A Christmas Story (1983)
2. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)
3. A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
4. Elf (2003)
5. Scrooged (1988)
6. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
7. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
8. Home Alone (1990)
9. Polar Express (2004)
10. Christmas Vacation (1989)
When I first started this blog I posted some of my favorite director quotes in the sidebar to act as inspiration in pursuing my own goals. While I still consider these quotes to be great sources of inspiration, I'm removing them from my sidebar as part of my clean-up and reconstruction, and instead am posting them here for memories sake.
In my opinion these are still some of the best filmmaker quotes I've come across. Charles Chaplin
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."
Martin Scorsese
"Now more than ever we need to talk to each other, to listen to each other and understand how we see the world, and cinema is the best medium for doing this."
Steven Soderbergh
"Making a film that's supposed to be fun to watch is really hard - that's the weird irony of it."
Francis Ford Coppola
"The essence of cinema is editing. It's the combination of what can be extraordinary images of people during emotional moments, or images in a general sense, put together in a kind of alchemy."
Robert Zemeckis
"I won an Academy Award when I was 44 years old, but I paid for it with my 20s. That decade of my life from film school till 30 was nothing but work, nothing but absolute, driving work. I had no money. I had no life."
I want to thank everyone for the personal messages, emails, and facebook messages I received about my latest Christmas short, We Two Kings. I don't think I've ever heard the words 'cute' or 'adorable' to describe one of my shorts as often, but under the circumstances, my movie was intended to give people warm fuzzies for the holidays so I'll accept that as positive feedback, haha.
Also notable were the comments about how great the project looked. Like I said in the post, I couldn't have lucked out more with the fresh snow and great weather for a day to shoot. Even I have to admit, the overall look - fake crowns and all - surpassed my own creative expectations.
And finally, a lot of you commented on my quirky and irreverent humor - thank you! haha. I couldn't have summed it up better myself, and I'd be lying to say that awkward comedy isn't a personal favorite of mine. Tyler and I play well off each other and I think it shows in the projects he's helped me with.
We Two Kings has proven to be a great way for me to close out 2009 and welcome Christmas. Thanks to all of you for checking it out and sharing your feedback, it's been a lot of fun to receive (and please feel free to send more). At this point it's a long way off, but as several of you asked, sequel anyone?
