Merry Christmas! To the GITS-community and to you, Scott. And a suggestion for the Daily Dialogue (though it's a song and a monologue) from my favorite Christmas Movie. Frenzy enough? COP: Attention, attention citizens. Terrible news. There's still no sign of Santa Claus. Although the impostor has been shot down, it looks like Xmas will have to be canceled this year. I repeat the impostor has been shot down but there's still no sign ...... JACK (performed by Danny Elfman): What have I done? What have I done? How could I be so blind? All is lost, where was I? Spoiled all, spoiled all Everything's gone all wrong What have I done? What have I done? Find a deep cave to hide in In a million years they'll find me Only dust and a plaque That reads, 'Here Lies Poor Old Jack" But I never intended all this madness, never And nobody really understood, well how could they? That all I ever wanted was to bring them something great Why does nothing ever turn out like it should? Well, what the heck, I went and did my best And, by god, I really tasted something swell And for a moment, why, I even touched the sky And at least I left some stories they can tell, I did And for the first time since I don't remember when I felt just like my old bony self again And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King That's right! I am the Pumpkin King, ha, ha, ha, ha And I just can't wait until next Halloween 'Cause I've got some new ideas that will really make them scream And, by God, I'm really going to give it all my might Uh oh, I hope there's still time to set things right Sandy Claws, hmm — The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), written by Caroline Thompson (screenplay), Michael McDowell (adaption), based on a story and characters by Tim Burton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4GL1BbVLJQ The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Christmas Frenzy Trivia: Tim Burton has said the original poem was inspired after seeing Halloween merchandise display in a store being taken down and replaced by a Christmas display. The juxtaposition of ghouls and goblins with Santa and his reindeer sparked his imagination. Dialogue On Dialogue: Jack‘s frenzy and love for christmas went a bit over the top. He admits it in this scene.

Thanks, Katha, and Merry Christmas to you! Also thanks for all your Daily Dialogue suggestions, part of a great 'team' supporting this long-running series!

Thanks.... and as I'm too tired to build the new train (Santa has brought) and to pack the stuff tomorrow plus Fiji sounds nice right now - another suggestion: BRAD: What are you guys doing for, christmas? STAN: We got the entire family flying in. 13 airport pick-ups. 4 days of listening to how gifted my nieces are. My brother thinks his daughter, the four year old..is gonna be the next, Beyonce. She's bad and she sucks. ERIC: I'm vacationing in tropical Albany this year with, Tricia's family. They got us a cot, which is awesome. But we'll probably end up sleeping on the musty couch in the basement with the cats. All seven of them. We'll get to be there the whole week. BRAD: Sounds like a prison sentence. KATE: Why do you guys put yourselves through that? ERIC: It's, christmas, right, don't you have to? KATE: We don't need to do it. BRAD: We don't. We don't do it. KATE: We're done. ERIC: Why, what are you doing? KATE: We're going to Fiji. Just the two of us. BRAD: Yeah. STAN: Fiji? KATE: Yeah. ERIC: Don't your families get upset? KATE: Not if you tell them you're doing charity work. Like building houses in third world countries. BRAD: Teaching english as a second language in, Puerto Rico. Helping orphans in, Somalia. Helping, Chinese kids capture lobsters. Boil them, cut them, clean the weird stuff out the middle. We find it that the more details you give kinda throws them off the set. ERIC: You lie to your families at christmas time? BRAD: You really can't spell families without lies. STAN: But don't you ever feel guilty? KATE: For taking a vacation on our vacation? No, not really. BRAD: You do look pretty sexy with a tan. KATE: Thanks, babe. — Four Christmases (2008), written by Matt R. Allen, Caleb Wilson, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Christmas Frenzy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v0Rbf5xI9o (Trailer) Trivia: The film started production during the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which meant that there could be no changes made to the script during filming. Dialogue On Dialogue: Family traditions seem to be without alternative. Brad and Kate ignore them and all the christmas frenzy. But they‘ll fail this time.