Christmas Is a-Coming! MA-140 - Wondrous Christmas Time

For Christmas 2018, here's a new compilation of songs recent and not-so-new.  Some are reverent and some are more frisky.

01 - Joy to the World - Philadelphia Brass Ensemble - 1973  (1:10)

02 - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Kate Rusby - 2008  (4:26)

03 - Baloo Lammy - The Robert DeCormier Singers and Ensemble - 1986  (2:29)

04 - The Holly and the Ivy - The Mistletoe Orchestra & Singers - 1999  (2:26)

05 - Silent Night / Away in a Manger - Dallas Brass - 1994  (2:20)

06 - I Wonder as I Wander - Robert Shaw - 1957  (2:38)

07 - Christmas Time Again - Cartoon - 1981  (3:16)

08 - Sleigh Ride - Kenny Ball - 2002  (3:09)

09 - Blue Suede Santa - Hillbilly Casino - 2008  (3:13)

10 - Christmas All Over the World - Dana Countryman - 2015  (3:18)

11 - Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - The Fab Four with Ovation School for the Performing Arts Choir - 2014  (3:43)

12 - Away in a Manger - The Galliard Brass Ensemble - 1982  (2:12)

13 - Un Flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle - Martha Schlamme - 1973  (1:59)

14 - Improvisations on Christmas Carols - #2, Andante non troppo - Bryan Kelly - 1969  (2:46)

15 - Joy to the World - The Taverner Consort - 1993  (2:42)

16 - Lullay, lullow - I saw a sweete seemly sight - The St Margaret's All Boys Choir - 1976  (3:01)

17 - In the Manger - John Doan - 2011  (4:40)

18 - Silent Night - E Power Biggs, Gregg Smith Singers, Texas Boys Chorus - 1973  (2:54)

19 - Candlelight Carol - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Arts Educational School Chamber Choir - 1995  (4:01)

20 - I Saw Three Ships - The Deller Consort - 1973  (2:01)

21 - Merry Christmas - Judy Garland - 1949  (2:46)

22 - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - André Previn (arr Mendelssohn) - 1964  (2:03)

23 - Glory to God - Alexander St Charles / One Experience Choir - 1972  (2:25)

24 - Coventry Carol - Colorado State University Chamber Singers - 1980  (2:52)

25 - Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child - arr Mark Hayes - 1999  (3:20)

26 - The First Noel - The Fab Four - 2008  (4:08)

27 - Deck the Hall / What Child Is This - The Swingles - 2015  (3:07)

The attentive listener will note that the traditional Scottish melody of Track 3, "Baloo Lammy," provided some of the melody of Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas."

https://www.filefactory.com/file/60xh8z6me7cc/MA-140.rar

I hope this comp re-acquaints you with the wonderful truth of God-made-human.

See you next Monday!
 

Lord of the Rings Word Search Solution

Here it is.

See you on Monday, December 3rd, with a new Christmas music compilation.

  

Lord of the Rings Word Search

I created this in the fall of 1974, in my spare time. During these days I also was working on two or three unfinished and/or crappy novels, writing several dozen songs (some non-crappy), and meeting the most wonderful girl-woman on Earth.  Also my first semester of college.

Here is the word search:

And here are the words/terms to find:

As is typical with word searches, the words/terms can be found in any direction, in straight lines.

You fine folks have three weeks to solve it.  Although it probably isn't that hard.  I'll post the solution on Sunday, December 1.

See you then!

 

2018 Blog-o-Ween Header Art Sources

Grow 7 Monsters:

This ad for growing “plant creatures” was from Richie Rich #42, cover-dated February, 1966.

Grow 2 Monsters:

This half-page ad came from Pep!’s February, 1965 issue, #178.

And when you put it all together, you have ....

See you back here on Monday, Fiends and Squealations!
 

O My Darling ... Frankenstein?

Well, one of those ideas came to me in the early morning hours of this October.  When the demented muse finally discarded my mutilated brain, the following words were left behind.  It's a song, a filk if you will, to be sung to the tune of "Clementine."

My Monster Frankenstein

by Mark Alfred

On a table, in a castle,

Shackled down from toe to spine,

Lay a creature pale of feature –

And we called him Frankenstein.

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          You were made to live forever –

          Awful scary, Frankenstein.

Tall he was and like a mountain,

And his shoes size twenty-nine –

Coffin boxes without topses

Formed a bed for Frankenstein.

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          Shot with juice, you’ll live forever!

          Awful scary, Frankenstein.

Chased the peasants through the village,

Killed each one that he could find.

Said his maker was a faker,

Wouldn’t give him peace of mind.

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          Did you want to live forever?

          Awful scary, Frankenstein.

All he wanted was a girlfriend.

All his love he would consign,

To a woman who would come and

Love the monster, Frankenstein.

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          What you want I can’t deliver –

          Dreadful sorry, Frankenstein.

So he asked his kindly Doctor

To a girl for him design.

He’s so lonely, he’s the only

Manmade monster, Frankenstein.

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          All your anguish makes me shiver –

          Awful scary, Frankenstein.

So the Doctor started sewing

On a female of the line.

All that stitching!  He was bitching,

That Professor Frankenstein.

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          What’s he sewing?  You’re not knowing –

          Never worry, Frankenstein.

Then the Doctor turned the juice on,

On the form that lay supine.

Then her form began to warm!

And oh the joy of Frankenstein!

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          Here’s a mate to have forever!

          Pretty happy, Frankenstein.

But the bride rose from the table,

Her disgust was unconfined.

Started screamin’ like a demon –

Dreadful sorry, Frankenstein.

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          Did you ask to live forever?

          Awful scary, Frankenstein.

Now he staggers through the country

With a hate for all mankind.

His awoken heart was broken –

He’s so bitter, Frankenstein.

          Oh my monster, oh my monster,

          Oh my monster Frankenstein,

          What the cost, to live forever?

          Awful scary, Frankenstein.

Copyright © 2018 by Mark Alfred

Thanks for allowing me to drag your corpse through 2018 Blog-o-Ween!

Happy Hauntings!  

Halloween Decoration Fail

One of the buildings I work at has a lot of fun decorating their offices.  There's  contest for the best door decoration, too.

In October 2017 I was walking the halls and was bemused to see a very silly Halloween window decal.

What's wrong with this picture?  Why, everybody knows that a vampire wouldn't be smiling if his coffin bore a cross.  The poor schmuck probably couldn't even open the lid.

Sheesh!  The level of public ignorance about the basics of life nowadays!  The goof level only increases when you realize that the illo is a commercially available product!  That means that many eyes looked at the image before it was distributed, and not one moron picked up on the jarring dissonance.

Well, grease up your trapdoors and fire up your bonfires.  I'll see you back here on Wednesday, the 31st, for our final installment of this year's Blog-o-Ween!
 

Juvenalia: "The Spoor of Cthulhu"

You can tell what I read too much of as a teen.

By the time I was twenty, when I wrote this, I was totally warped.  Thanks, Aich-Pee-Ell!

See you back here on Monday for the commencement of the final week of this year's Blog-o-Ween!
  

More Munster-ous Mucking About

A few more pages of the Munsters coloring book.

 When Herman's "natural" face wins the prize at a costume party, Lily is insulted.

The above two images comprise a two-page spread.

Well, see you on Friday, kiddies, for another relic of my fictional past, Cthulhu-style.
 

Fran Krause’s Creepy Worlds, Number 2

Cartoonist and weird thinker Fran Krause has come up with some deliciously odd and bizarre thoughts.  I felt as if his growing-up was exposed to the same warping influences as mine!

These three panels are from his 2017 The Creeps:  A Deep Dark Fears Collection.  Read it!  Buy it!

 And I'll see you fine fiends once more on Wednesday!