Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" is the most overdone, boring thing around this time of year. Except for the occassional local ballet company's production of the "Nutcracker" with the huge dancing mouse with the sword and all that other stupid flitty stuff. I know that we can all look forward to Kelsey Grammar's portrayal of ole' Ebenezer this year, and maybe next year it will be David Hyde Pierce, and then in 2006 it will be the dog Eddie's turn to wear the vest and the pointed buckled shoes and to bark out "bah humbug" and shove Tiny Tim face down into a snowdrift, finishing the little cripple off with a shoeheel to the base of the skull. Every year the productions of Christmas Carol get better and better, don't they? So precious. Ahh, the festive Yule-tyme!

So anyway, for some reason I wanted to find an endearing image of Ebenezer Scrooge, so i did a search and came up with a link to Face Pots. These are pots made of ceramic that have, well, faces on the lid that stare up at you; their cold potty stares making you question your very existence. The thought of a whole series of Dickens' inspired face pots was too good to keep to myself, so here, go order yourself a whole messa face pots, my dear.

Remember when Patrick Stewart pulled out his one-man Christmas Carol? Good times. I like PS, especially as Xavier in X-Men. The best work he ever did was that skit on SNL where he was the sexy cake baker. All his cakes depicted women going to the bathroom. Something is profoundly funny to me to hear Patrick Stewart's awesome British lilt saying, "What could be sexier than a woman going to the bathroom?" Why can't they re-run that skit every Christmas on NBC?

I am free-associating again. Oh well. It's not like you have anything better to do, sitting there reading this blog and picking your nose with your non-mousing hand. You are really something else, you know that? Sheesh. Go get a tissue and come back when you've cleaned yerself up.

Are you now presentable? Good. Moving on: I am tentatively planning to name my next pet Lucille. Not after BB King. After Lucille Bluth, of course. I love the scene where George Sr. finds Judaism and fashions a yarmulke out of the top of his canvas shoe, and Lucille visits him in prison: L: "Why are you wearing a shoe on your head?" G:"It reminds me that God is above me, and to always remember God in all I do." L: "So you put a shoe on your head?" I love a lot more about Lucille, but I would rather we all sit down and watch Arrested Development together and chat about it as a group.

Here's a good Tobias quote, from the episode where he wanted to buy leather clothes to bond with his daughter: "I'm looking for something that says, 'Daddy likes leather.'"

OK, I am done with my Arrested Development obsession for the afternoon. But tonight I can't promise that Trish and I won't sit down to an episode or 4. This has happened a lot lately. Also, English Muffin pizzas are outta sight, and work best when applied as a dinner solution when you want to watch Arrested Development and don't want to cook all night.