h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What do you think? Too early?

If I don't start watching them now, how will I get Christmas-themed entries into Peer Review before Christmas (assuming another of my entries is Recommended between now and as I'm keeping a maximum of 10 entries in Peer Review at the moment)?

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Offhand, I cannot think of a Christmas-themed movie that I would watch without a gun to my head. Or one I would willingly read about, even...

Might I recommend a search for films with a different holiday? Say, Guy Fawkes Day? Or Bring-Your-Dog-to-Work Day?

I'm with Dmitri about the Christmas themed films - if I've seen any it has probably been in July and they took me by surprise!

I don't think it's too early for you to start watching Christmas films, though, as a big Christmas Tree was installed at my local garden centre on 1 November and my mum bought the Christmas presents for her luncheon club on the same day as the presents (gifts?) were half price in the Pre-Christmas sale

I'll happily read Christmas Entries, though, as they enable informed decisions to be made about what watching them would be like

The Box of Delights was excellent too - Christmas was in there, but with much more magic, so it wasn't forced.

I look forward to finding out what you see - I may or may not be persuaded but I'll definitely learn something

Back in my youth I wrote stuff about other holidays:
A2116559 - Halloween: Being The Adventures Of Michael Myers
A2198414 - Halloween: The Night He Came Home
A2198423 - Halloween II
A2198432 - Halloween III: The Season Of The Witch
A2198469 - Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers
A2198487 - Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers
A2198504 - Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers
A2198513 - Halloween: H20
A2198522 - Halloween: Resurrection

All of which had previously had a version written for . It got a tad repetitive. I much prefer the of Christmas, but admittedly not so much as to actually watch the sort of sachrine programmes they show on seasonal channel 'True Christmas' which is already broadcasting.

I also saw the recent 'Gunpowder' dramatisation. Apparently 52% of viewers thought it was too gory, what with all the beheadings, burning of heretics, crushing, executions and torture scenes. Nope, I think I'll stick to Christmas - at least until they make a film all about Isle of Wight Day.

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I think I saw that one, too. That's just realism - our shared history is pretty awful.

Just so you don't review 'Bad Moms Christmas'. Stephen Colbert was on a rant about it.

I wasn't planning on reviewing every Christmas film ever – or indeed dedicate a whole entry to a Christmas film - I just wanted to watch two so I can finish an entry off and move it out of the Work in Progress pile and into the waiting for Peer Review queue.

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I don't know which films you've seen, but have you seen 'It Happened on Fifth Avenue'? That's sometimes used as a 'Christmas film', and it's actually pretty good. It's about a curmudgeonly real estate millionaire, his daughter, and a clever tramp with a pet dog. Not bad for 1947. In this clip, Don Defore is getting ready to Occupy New York:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUGikBS4GKU

{... until they make a film all about Isle of Wight Day}

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/

Okay, you've persuaded me – I'll soon watch a semi-animated film all about Easter

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With bunnies?

With , , , and .

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DROP EVERYTHING!
I was going to watch a film tonight in order to write about it for Peer Review, but we've been instructed by the VC to watch tonight's episode of Panorama, which is on Student Loans Fraud taking place at Alternative Providers (ie, educational establishments that are not universities, do not receive funding from HEFCE – the Higher Education Funding Council for England - and are not further education colleges).

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VC=Viet Cong?

Ah! I hope you find it instructive... Our VC (Vice Chancellor ) has not mentioned it...

Ah! We had a Chancellor at our university. We speculated that he chancelled in his Chancellory...which we imagined to be high in the Cathedral of Learning, near the 42nd floor...I'm sure there was a Vice Chancellor somewhere, I just never met him.

At the University of Cologne one day, the secretary of the Romance Department was typing a letter for our professor to the chancellor of a university in Romania. The letter began, 'Your Magnificence'...they had trouble convincing me that this was a proper form of address to someone in a communist country.

The Chancellor at many UK unis is a figurehead who doesn't do much except attend official events. Our last Chancellor was Admiral Lord West of Spitbank (the bit of the Solent near 'Pompey', as Portsmouth is known). As his title suggests he was in the navy. During the Falklands War his ship sank and he chose not to go down with it, but he did brave stuff making sure no-one else did. He was also in charge of the defence of Southampton and the Isle of Wight in the event of a nuclear war. Obviously ideal qualifications for university life.

The VC is the person who actually runs the uni. Ours is a jumped up PE teacher who loves the sound of his own voice and had a huge vote of no confidence in his abilities to promote an academic environment, but is very good at cost cutting at the expense of education and making a profit, so the Board of Governors love him. But for all his many, many, many faults (how long have you got?), he isn't corrupt. Dishonest and deceitful, yep, there's no doubt about it in the way he spends an hour briefing every staff member saying 'there will be no job cuts' one day and then a week later makes 200 people redundant. But corrupt? No. Don't think so. Not yet, anyway.

Strangely, the kids didn't find the investigation of corruption of the student loans system at AP institutions as enjoyable as 'Mr Bean' or 'The Storyteller'.

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I wonder why.

Our chancellors are professional glad-handers, too, in charge of raising funds amongst wealthy alumni. The one we had back in the day in Pittsburgh was married to a professional opera singer.

Since I worked as reporter and rewrite editor over at the 'Pitt News', I was in on the flap when our music critic panned one of the lady's concerts, something about flat notes...Andy's prose tended to the purple, but he had perfect pitch...