The Great Christmas Movie Binge

With a ton of time on our hands and the air being poisonous, we decided to make a list of every Christmas movie we could think of and watch them all before Christmas. Some of them are old favorites and some will be new, so I think it's a worthwhile project.

Rolling Meadows Brewery announced that they are shutting their doors. The pandemic has been murdering businesses seemingly at the same rate as its been burying people. This is the only Springfield brewery that I'm aware of that had packaged beer available in supermarkets, plus it was run by a family I know from grade school. I was sad to hear the news.

We did some walking in the Loop.

People are savages and I love it.

The first movie we hit on our 2020 Christmas Movie Challenge was a true classic: Home Alone.

Vinny the Shark

Zoe needed some attention so she bought matching Halloween costumes for herself and Vinny the dog.

A couple of days earlier we did a dry run.

Then it was time for the big game. Howloween was the most prestigious Halloween dog costume parade and contest in southeastern University City. It was make or break time, and Vinny knew it.

We gave Vinny a pregame walk, as is part of his training regimine.

The Moonrise Hotel was the site of the showdown.

We got there a little early.

We saw pretty quickly that there was some stiff competition. This Pennywise the Clown and Georgie from IT were especially disturbing. 

A demogorgon from Stranger Things.

Vinny strutted his stuff so well that we thought we had a chance at victory.

We were wrong.

While Vinny's shark impression was panned by critics, the audience loved it. He ended up winning a pretty cool prize pack due to all of the Instagram love he received.

Arting In and Rocking Out

We started off our exploration today with a visit to the Saint Louis Art Museum to check out Paul Gauguin: The Art of Invention. 

I was especially interested in Gaugin's work in Tahiti. I've been making some good progress in the Pacific islands recently, with trips to Hawaii, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and New Zealand. These nations are all related but at the same time have considerable physical distance between each other, so it's been fun to see the similarities and differences in their cultures.

There were some related works mixed in that weren't Gauguin.

"Hone Taahu, the master carver who created these panels, is known for combining both square and serpentine figures. Taahu's carvings often include action and movement, visible in one panel with the placement of the hands through the mouths. Taahu is also credited for depicting great variation in the stylistic treatment of tongues. Extending one's tongue is an expression of a Maori warrior's readiness to fight."

I won a couple of tickets from Do314 to see the Summer Cannibals at the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill. They rocked so hard with the guitars and the sounds.

Every time we come to the Duck Room I have to remind Lydia that I saw Chuck Berry play here, and that she, a native St. Louisan, has failed to do so. Low energy!

First Ride on the Loop Trolley

They've been working on the boondoggle Loop Trolley in University City for what may be 100 years. They tore the street up and made traffic in the area just suck, so when the damn thing was done we figured we should give it a whirl.

I was a little disappointed with the ticket design here. I was hoping for a nice souvenir with a picture of a trolley. This thing doesn't even say trolley on it. Sad.

The interior of the thing was nice and classic with a lot of wood everywhere.

The traffic signals were amusing.

I don't know if we planned on visiting the Missouri History Museum but that was the end of the line so we did. Trolley accomplished!

Karaoke Birthday Party

My birthday is a magical time when I can use my dictatorial birthday powers to compel people to have fun times that they might otherwise poo poo.

We did a little prepartying with some beer pong at the apartment.

Kevin broke my bobblehead last party so I have immortalized his crime.

I bought Lydia and myself some amusing clothes from the Hunter collection at Target.

Asia just does karaoke better than we do. The W Karaoke Lounge on the University City Loop was a really glitzy, baller version of a karaoke box place where every group books their own private room.

The downside with Asian karaoke places is their songs are mostly Asian. The English collection wasn't huge.

Everybody was real jelly on my jacket.

We sang and sang until the machine told us to leave.