OT - NO POLITICS Off Topic 2020 part XX - Neil Peart, drummer and primary lyricist for Rush, dead at 67
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Lee Mendelson, the producer who changed the face of the holidays when he brought “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to television in 1965 and wrote the lyrics to its signature song, “Christmas Time Is Here,” died on Christmas day, his son said.
Mendelson, who won a dozen Emmys in his long career, died at his home in Hillsborough, California, of congestive heart failure at age 86 after a long struggle with lung cancer, son Jason Mendelson told The Associated Press.
Lee Mendelson headed a team that included “Peanuts” author Charles Schulz, director Bill Melendez, and pianist and composer Vince Guaraldi, whose music for the show, including the opening “Christmas Time Is Here,” has become as much a Christmas staple as the show itself.
R.I.P. Lee. Just speaking about mental health and depression as we have been, Schulz, who had his own lifelong struggles with low self-esteem, was utterly remarkable in creating a lead comic strip character who was a child battling depression, failure, self-worth and loneliness, and finding humor in this kid's daily life and challenges without shying away from genuine insights and acknowledgement of the realities of these issues. All done at a time well before mental health became a much more public and openly talked about and understood topic.
Mendelson was brilliant in translating this to animated form, helping to create stories and music that were entertaining and child-friendly without ever avoiding the true nature of Charlie Brown and the other characters and the flaws and struggles that were integral to their identities in the strip. Charlie Brown was an inspiration and was so readable/watchable to so many not because he had classic Hollywood success in his stories but because he tried, grappled, failed, and then got right back up and tried again.
Both Schulz and Mendelson were true revolutionaries not only in art/media, but in their ability to introduce a whole new dynamic to characterization and storytelling in comics and family programming.
Clint Eastwood
Eff the Habs
- Nov 11, 2018
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Aeroforce
Registered User
Schulz also inspired Mike Judge, who essentially did the same thing.
Kidding aside, Mendelson is prominently featured on the bonus features of the Peanuts Holiday 3-Pack DVD (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas). He gives great insight into the making of each classic, along with the late, great Bill Melendez.
They had a great team with Schulz and the MVP Vince Guaraldi.
Bruinaura
Resident Cookie Monster
- Mar 29, 2014
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A friend of mine in California posted on Facebook that she went to buy deodorant at Walmart and they had it locked up, like the razor blades. 
She asked an associate if people were stealing deodorant now, and they said stealing wasn't the issue.......
People had been coming in, using it, and putting it back on the shelf.
She asked an associate if people were stealing deodorant now, and they said stealing wasn't the issue.......People had been coming in, using it, and putting it back on the shelf.
Bruinaura
Resident Cookie Monster
- Mar 29, 2014
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I watched Togo on Disney Plus and now I'm a blubbering mess.
What a great movie though.
What a great movie though.
Just got in from seeing the new Star Wars movie.
Wow. It was really good.
Wow. It was really good.
LouJersey
Registered User
I liked it a lot as well but it was not all that well received by critics and some hard core Star Wars people
Honestly I thought it was one of the best.
I was entertained . As much as I was in the 80s
- Apr 30, 2010
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Went to the Bosstones tonight. then went to the Cask for food before heading home.
I give you...a Mac and cheese grilled cheese, with bacon.
I give you...a Mac and cheese grilled cheese, with bacon.
smithformeragent
Moderator
I was definitely entertained.
I laughed my ass off for a good portion of the movie.
Having said that, the continuity of the movies was an effing mess.
I can't believe it's been 4 years since my dad passed away.
some days it feels like a lifetime ago and some days it feels like it happened yesterday.
I had hoped things would get easier as time went on but that's just not the case. I'm still not ok and I'm not sure I'll ever be ok.
What I do know is that I would have never gotten through it without this place and the amazing posters who reached out or who I saw in person and for that I will be eternally grateful.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
some days it feels like a lifetime ago and some days it feels like it happened yesterday.
I had hoped things would get easier as time went on but that's just not the case. I'm still not ok and I'm not sure I'll ever be ok.
What I do know is that I would have never gotten through it without this place and the amazing posters who reached out or who I saw in person and for that I will be eternally grateful.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Going to Maggiano's in Boston with friends, walking up to Copley Square to check out the ice sculptures then off to the sports bar for a drink or 2 then coming back to my apartment and probably passing out before midnight haha
My mother passed away 14 years ago and my Dad 12 years ago. It doesn't get easier they will always be missed but you learn to accept it and continue to live your life to the best of your ability.
Bruinaura
Resident Cookie Monster
- Mar 29, 2014
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I'm watching the "original" Star Wars right now with the crappy 1990s graphics added.
The acting is so bad. So bad.
My brother and I had a lot of Star Wars toys growing up though. There was even a board game. Too bad we didn't keep any of it lol
Bruinaura
Resident Cookie Monster
- Mar 29, 2014
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My dad died over 18 years ago, when I was 30. I still miss him. Mom brought some more stuff to me on this trip as she's trying to sort through things so we don't have to someday. I have to be in the right frame of mind to go through it though.
*hugs*
It never gets much easier for me. Dad passed 6 years ago but feels like yesterday.
My mom is in late stage 4 liver cancer and I know she has seen this her last Christmas.
I’ve really started to feel my own mortality recently and how precious time is.
My mom is in late stage 4 liver cancer and I know she has seen this her last Christmas.
I’ve really started to feel my own mortality recently and how precious time is.
11:07 a.m.: A Gloucester man reported to police that his Boston Bruins sweatshirt — to which he attached immense sentimental value — had been stolen from the locker room while he was working out at the YMCA on Middle Street. An hour later, he called back to report that he'd been wearing the sweatshirt under his vest the whole time and did not remember putting it on.
Police/Fire
Police/Fire
BOSTON —The future of a South Boston restaurant that has been in business for more than a century is uncertain.
A sign posted on the door of the No Name Restaurant on Boston’s Fish Pier said the establishment was closed Monday for a management meeting.
Employees, however, told NewsCenter 5 that the restaurant will be closing for good.
“I got a phone call at 6:30 (this morning) telling me to come in, and they’ll pay us for this week. That’s all I know,” said an employee who has worked at No Name for 30 years.
No Name Restaurant dates back to 1917, and according to its Facebook page, it is the oldest restaurant in Boston under the same management -- the
Contos family.
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