Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear

Today, we'll look at the Christmas special that teaches us not to be prejudiced, because a freakish nose can sometimes come in handy. Maybe somebody should have told that to Ashlee Simpson. This post isn't about shitty pop stars' even shittier siblings, though, but about the most famous Rankin-Bass stop-motion holiday classic of all, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Rudolph was an important part of my childhood, as I'm sure it was for many of the rest of you. I didn't watch much TV as a kid, which didn't really bother me at the time, but now makes me a little disappointed that I can't keep up with discussions of Thundercats or Transformers with other members of my generation. Rudolph, though, was something I caught whenever I could, which back then meant once a year. And if I may offer some mostly obvious comments on it:

• The title screen identifies the special as "(c) Videocraft Intl'. Ltd. MCLXIV." Yes, that's right, they apparently filed the copyright in 1164, which would have been quite a feat. Does that mean it's now in the public domain? {g}
  
• One thing that's always stuck with me about this is Mrs. Claus's obsession with fattening up her husband. "Papa! Eat!"
  
• I'm still not sure why they decided to have Rudolph's nose make obnoxious noises when it's glowing.
  
• Although the does are shown without antlers, female reindeer actually do have them, leading some people to speculate that the Ceryneian Hind of the Hercules myth could be a reindeer.
  
• There must be some kind of story behind the tall, nerdy elf, who's the only one besides Hermie and the boss not to look like a generic male or female elf. The fact that he has glasses suggests that, even though the North Pole doesn't have any dentists prior to Hermie, it presumably does have an optometrist.
  
• The Misfit Toys (whom I usually forget about until they actually appear) really run the gamut from hardly having anything wrong with them (the polka-dotted elephant) to totally messed up (the train with square wheels). The doll doesn't appear to have a problem at all, but according to the IMDB trivia page, she's there because she suffers from depression. Maybe some other misfit elf can become a toy psychiatrist, and get her some Prozac. And speaking of misfit toys, I wonder if any of those cannibalistic Cabbage Patch Kids ever ended up on that island.
  
• That same trivia page says that Rudolph and Hermie sang a song other than "Misfits" back when I was a kid, but I can't say I remember that.
  
• Okay, so Hermie removes the Bumble's teeth, thereby eliminating him as a threat to Arctic society. But what does he eat after that? Does Yukon Cornelius have to feed him through a giant straw?
  

All that nerdiness aside, though, this is something that's still worth watching after all these years. And speaking of Rudolph, you know how kids always like to yell out "like a lightbulb" and other such things after the lines of the song? Well, which interjections did you learn as a kid? For me, it was "like a lightbulb," "like a flashlight," "like Pinocchio," "like Monopoly," "ho ho ho," "yippee," and "like George Washington," in that order. Yeah, I know the "Pinocchio" one makes no sense, and I can't imagine caribou playing Monopoly, but those are what my elementary school music teacher said they were. Were they different for anybody else?

And, on a different topic, here's the infamous first-sentence-of-every-month meme:
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Finally, happy belated birthday to majellen!

Good food, good meat, good God, let's eat

For today's pseudo-philosophical entry, I'm going to offer a few of my thoughts on diet, specifically in regards to eating meat. I'm sympathetic to a fair number of animal rights causes, but I've never had any real qualms with eating meat. Sometimes I wonder if I should, though. I can certainly say I have respect for people who can get by without eating meat, because it just seems like so much work to me. I like meat, but I don't LOVE meat like some people do. I believe I've said before that the things I'd miss most if I suddenly decided to switch over to a vegetarian diet are ham sandwiches and Chick-fil-A. Oh, and shrimp, although that's not exactly something I eat on a regular basis. I've never been all that uptight about my choice of diet. I get annoyed when people insist that they've fought their way to the top of the food chain. Yeah, what animals did you, personally, fight and eat? Or are you talking about fighting over the last box of frozen chicken nuggets at the grocery store? But then, I've also seen statements from vegetarians who claim, in so many words, that it's not natural for humans to eat meat. Of course it is! What do you think the hunter-gatherers were hunting for? Carrots? We have reached the point where people don't necessarily NEED to eat meat, but it's still a natural thing to do. I've heard things about how it's not a good idea for a kid to be a vegetarian, but I don't know enough about nutrition to judge whether or not that's true.

I could make the argument that animals eat other animals, so that trying to argue for vegetarianism on the basis of animal rights is a slippery slope toward accusing cats of murder when they kill mice. (Mind you, I've known people who objected strongly when their carnivorous pets killed smaller animals, which makes me wonder why they didn't choose different pets.) But really, it's mostly just what I'm used to. I do think, however, that vegetarian options have become much more viable over the years. I don't eat fake meat, but I understand that some modern meat substitutes are actually pretty good, and vegetarians are no longer forced to eat tofu (which, as far as I can tell, is essentially rubber made out of soybeans) in order to get protein. I think it's possible that humanity will eventually reach the point where vegetarianism is the norm. But I don't think we're anywhere close to that point yet.

While I'm on the subject, I can't say I'm a fan of PETA's scare tactics and pictures of cute little animals being tortured. That's not to say that I don't feel really uncomfortable watching a cow get slaughtered or a rabbit clubbed to death, or feel that there's a lot of room for reform in the meat industry. It's just that, when your moral or philosophical argument boils down to an attempt at a visceral reaction, I have to wonder if you've really thought your position through all that well. I mean, isn't that basically the same approach used by fire-and-brimstone evangelists and politicians who run on a platform of fear?

An Engaging Post

I have a few more things I want to post about, but I figured that it would be worth a separate post to say that bethje and I are now officially engaged. We'd been talking about it for a while now, and she knew about the ring, but I actually presented it to her today (or I guess actually yesterday at this point). I'm thinking March might be a good time for the marriage, but we haven't decided for sure.

Coming up, we have comments on Frosty, the Grinch, and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus! Stay tuned!