From all of us at anythingbut.com to you all of you, at thepeoplewhoreadthissiteeachday.com, have an awesome Christmas!
Ho Ho Ho!
Dan and Dave
Letterman Visits U.S. Soldiers in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Joking with wounded soldiers and rattling off a `Top 10' list for the desert-weary, talk show host David Letterman dropped in Wednesday for a Christmas Eve visit with U.S. troops in Baghdad.
Letterman, the host of CBS' "Late Show," visited the military's main combat hospital and met soldiers at one of Saddam Hussein's ransacked palaces that now serves as part of the U.S.-led coalition's headquarters.
Soldiers said the visit was an important boost over the holiday spent far from home.
Arriving at the hospital, Letterman emerged from a car wearing dark sunglasses, smoking a cigarette, holding a cup of coffee and casually taking a phone call.
Snapping a picture, 1st Lt. Michael Gerstmyer, 24, from Baltimore said he was surprised at how relaxed the TV star appeared in a battle zone.
"He acts like he's been here for years," Gerstmyer said.
Last Christmas, Letterman visited troops in Afghanistan.
Letterman — who brought along his comedy sidekick Biff Henderson and the show's musician, Paul Schaffer — toured the hospital and stopped at the bed of Pfc. Jacob Dominique, 20, of Archbold, Ohio. "We took his appendix," a nurse said.
Letterman's reply — "I saw it downstairs in the gift shop" — won a roomful of laughs.
In a routine that Letterman is famous for on the show, he read out a "top 10" list written especially for the soldiers: the top 10 signs you've been in Iraq too long.
"No. 9: you've heard a crazy rumor that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor of California," Letterman said.
Number two was, "Camel: it tastes like chicken."
Number one was aimed at the soldiers running the hospital: "And the No. 1 sign you've been in Iraq too long: Dave's heard about our outstanding health care and came to us for his hemorrhoids," Letterman said to loud applause.
'Christmas Story' Marks 20th Anniversary
LOS ANGELES - The phrase "You'll shoot your eye out!" has become as synonymous with the Christmas season as Scrooge's "Bah, humbug!" and Santa's "Ho, ho, ho!"
For 20 years, this warning has defined the holidays for doe-eyed 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in the movie "A Christmas Story," as his mother, his teacher — and even Kris Kringle — reject his plea for one particular Christmas present.
That would be, in his words, an official Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot, range-model air rifle with a compass in the stock "and this thing that tells time."
"It catches the truth," said director Bob Clark, who spent 14 years trying to make the film. "It's about the American sense that there is something great in our destiny, and Ralphie's is to get that BB gun with a compass in the stock."
Over the years, the modest little movie has grown into a Yuletide perennial and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a new DVD, featuring reminiscences from the now grown-up star Peter Billingsley.
Meanwhile, this year marks the sixth annual marathon broadcast of the movie on the TNT cable channel. (Starting Christmas Eve at 6 p.m. EST.) TNT started its 12 around-the-clock showings as a stunt in 1988, but popular demand turned it into a tradition. An estimated 38.4 million tuned in at some point to watch it last year.
"Probably about 10 years ago, when it started getting mentioned in the same breath as `It's a Wonderful Life' — and people weren't disagreeing with that — that's when I realized, `Wow, this thing might be around for a really long while,'" Billingsley, now 32, told The Associated Press.
But how did "A Christmas Story" begin? What made it a seasonal phenomenon? And where does it go from here?
The truth is: "A Christmas Story" didn't start out as a Christmas story.
The series of vignettes in the 94-minute film — war with the yellow-eyed school bully, The Old Man's gloating over a garish "leg lamp" in a fishnet stocking; the triple-dog dare of sticking your tongue to a frozen flagpole — were short stories from radio storyteller Jean Shepherd's 1966 collection "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash."
Among them was the tale about Ralphie wanting a BB gun for Christmas, which became the centerpiece of the movie.
While driving to a girlfriend's house in 1968, director Clark said he became enthralled with one of Shepherd's fireplace-cozy radio narrations. Clark repeatedly drove around the block — keeping his unknowing date waiting — while Shepherd finished the story.
For the next 14 years, Clark tried to persuade a studio to finance a film based on the stories of Shepherd, who died in 1999 at 78.
But nobody in Hollywood was interested.
Clark made a series of horror B-films in the 1970s ("Deathdream" and "Black Christmas") and wrote for "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV show before landing on a hit.
His rowdy 1981 sex comedy "Porky's," which cost only $4 million to make, collected a whopping $105 million. Suddenly the writer-director had some industry clout.
"They didn't want to do the movie. Nobody did," he said. "But they said, `Let the idiot do the movie. Give him some money so he'll get up and do another "Porky's."' That's the only reason `A Christmas Story' got made."
Apart from Ralphie, the movie's other major role was the father — known not as "Dad" but as "The Old Man."
The suddenly popular Clark shopped the part around to a few curious Hollywood big-shots — including Jack Nicholson. (Imagine that alternate-universe version for a moment.)
Ultimately, the part went to Darren McGavin, a cult-favorite for his TV role as a reporter who investigates the supernatural in "Kolchak: The Night Stalker."
Although he was not the first choice, McGavin proved he was the best choice — bringing a boyish musicality to the character, crossed with the grumpy scowling of a well-practiced curmudgeon.
McGavin, now 81, suffered a debilitating stroke several years ago and was unavailable for an interview.
At 60 when the film was made, he may have seemed a little old to have such young sons — but don't all adults look much older from a child's perspective?
"I can't tell you how many people come up to me and say, `You know, he's just like my dad,'" said his daughter, Graemm Bridget McGavin. For her, it's the same thing.
"This is the closest to him of any of his roles," she said, adding with a laugh: "He was TOUGH."
Billingsley, who was also the Messy Marvin kid from 1980s Hershey's chocolate syrup commercials, was a veteran child star but "A Christmas Story" presented him with new challenges.
The then 12-year-old Billingsley had to carry the whole movie, but had very little dialogue. Most scenes required him to look cute and thoughtful while Shepherd provided narration.
"A lot of it's instinctual. You just try to figure out how you can stay as real as possible without overdoing it," he said.
He still remembers the bitter winter of Cleveland, where they filmed many of the snowy exterior scenes. "I remember going outside and shooting the gun — the part where I nearly shoot out my eye — and I start to tremble and cry a little bit, which was very real because it was so cold and I was in my PJs," he said.
The film opened in 1983 the week before Thanksgiving, and collected about $2 million from 600 theaters — solid business for the time. That take doubled on Thanksgiving weekend and the movie was getting strong word-of-mouth support.
But MGM hadn't counted on much success — and didn't schedule any more screens for the lead-up to Dec. 25.
"I thought, `Well, in the weeks before Christmas we're going to clean up,'" Clark said. "But I got a call from the head of distribution, who said: `I've got a surprise for you.'"
And the movie disappeared from theaters.
Ultimately, it collected about $19 million at the box office. Good, but not great.
The advent of home video and ubiquitous showings on television earned "A Christmas Story" a place as a holiday tradition alongside "Miracle on 34th Street" and "White Christmas."
In fact, a recent unscientific survey of 7,200 people by the Internet Movie Database placed "A Christmas Story" as the most beloved holiday film of all time. It had 19.3 percent, while "It's a Wonderful Life" was second with 15 percent.
Warner Bros. now owns the film, and Clark is on a crusade. He wants the studio to reissue the movie on the big screen next Christmas season and is trying to rally fans to contact the studio.
In the meantime, with repeated showings on television, does the grown-up Ralphie ever sit down to watch the little-kid Ralphie?
"Over Christmas, when the family gets together, it invariably gets turned on," Billingsley said. "And yeah ... I'll sit down and watch."
RAYMOND RETURN 'MYSTERY'
There's no word yet whether "Everybody Loves Raymond" will return for another season, said star Patricia Heaton.
"It's a huge mystery for all of us on the set," Heaton said.
CBS certainly would like the series to return. "Raymond" has been a Nielsen ratings hit during its eight-season run and is this fall's fifth highest-rated show. But executive producers Ray Romano and Phil Rosenthal have said this might be its final season.
Romano and Heaton star in the Emmy-winning sitcom as Raymond and Debra Barone, a couple who argues virtually nonstop. Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts play Raymond's meddling parents, Frank and Marie, who live across the street.
"Ray and Phil are trying to figure out if we have enough stories to continue; we've had eight memorable seasons," Heaton said. "I certainly would like to do another year, but I want it to be wonderful.
"I think we'll know in January," Heaton added.
No Joke: Actress Jennifer Connelly Wants to Laugh
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Jesus, I think I need a comedy," exclaimed super-serious Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Connelly.
The star of new movie drama "House of Sand and Fog," which opens nationwide on Friday after playing in a few cities last week, has vaulted onto Hollywood's A-list of leading ladies in recent years for a series of films exploring dark themes.
Connelly, 33, has played the colleague of a doomed scientist ("Hulk"), wife of a schizophrenic math genius ("Beautiful Mind"), mistress to a tortured painter ("Pollock"), drug addicted girlfriend of a junkie ("Requiem for a Dream") and doomed lover of a politician ("Waking the Dead").
Things don't get much brighter in "Sand and Fog" with her role as Kathy Nicolo, a recovering alcoholic whose home is repossessed by the county for back taxes.
Connelly said she has had enough of tragic heroines, but comedic roles just do not come her way. "It's not like, you know, the hot new comedy comes around and they think of Jennifer Connelly," she joked.
While "Sand and Fog" won't help Connelly build a reputation for leaving audiences laughing, the buzz in Hollywood is that it just might deliver her a second Oscar.
She won her first Academy Award for supporting actress playing Alicia Nash, wife of Nobel laureate John Nash, in 2001's "Beautiful Mind,"
"It's a bit early, but it's a nice sign people are considering this movie that way. Clearly, you do a film and you hope people like it," she said. "It's a worthwhile film. It's well-executed, and it's really about something."
AMERICAN DREAM GONE AWRY
The movie, based on a best-selling novel by Andres Dubus, revolves around two people struggling against each other to realize one of the great American dreams -- owning a home.
But the seaside bungalow in northern California is more than just a house. For Connelly's Nicolo, it represents safety and security as she deals with depression and alcoholism.
The house, which her father left her, offers her a shred of dignity, and when the local government auctions it off because she failed to pay a tax bill, she fights to get it back.
Ben Kingsley portrays Massoud Amir Behrani, an Iranian and former colonel in that country's air force who fled to the United States when his government was overthrown.
To maintain an appearance of wealth and influence in his community of Iranian expatriates, he works two low-paying jobs to afford a high-rise apartment and proper education and lifestyle for his wife and kids.
Behrani has saved money diligently and when Nicolo's house goes up for sale, he buys it fast and determines he will fix it up then sell it at a profit to restore his own dignity.
Behrani's purchase and Nicolo's inability to reverse it legally sets in motion a chain of events that lead both on a downward spiral of manipulation and deception as they try to outwit each other and the government.
BOLD CHOICES, SHY PERSONALITY
Connelly calls the movie, "largely about intolerance," and not just ethnic prejudice. Nicolo also encounters resistance to her pleas for help, given her state as penniless and homeless.
Connelly said "Sand and Fog" and other recent films, such as "Requiem for a Dream," are movies "that just kind of grab you and shake you up a bit."
The actress, who has two sons and is married to "Master and Commander" star Paul Bettany, took a break from films in the late 1990s. She returned for "Waking the Dead" and "Requiem" -- both low-budget, art-house films that rekindled her career.
"Requiem," in particular, was considered a bold choice due to its subject, and Connelly said she likes the risk involved in projects considered too dangerous for major studios.
"Otherwise, (acting) would just be very boring," she said.
While her recent characters have been very "emotionally demonstrative," in her life Connelly said she can be shy.
The day she won her Oscar, Bettany said she had forgotten about the awards altogether until he called to ask if she had prepared her speech. At that point, she didn't have one.
"I've never seen anyone so unconcerned about it," he said.
Connelly disagreed, saying that when she's stressed she tends to appear calm even though she is a bundle of nerves.
On Oscar night, "I had a bit of the deer in the headlights syndrome," she said. "It is an overwhelming moment, a big, big moment."
If "Sand and Fog" scores as well with Oscar voters as it has with early audiences, she may be able to have another big moment.