Servin' up Wednesday's tid-bit tray

All the odds and sods flickering through my extremely short-attention-spanned mind this morning - grab your cocktail plate and pile it high.

Nostalgic for those holiday TV commercials of old? Well, hop on your Norelco electric shaver and ride on over to Classic TV Ads. The quality's pretty lousy on most of the offerings, but it's still fun to watch and remember. I think the old cigarette ads (Lucky Strike, Chesterfield) are the most interesting. Who knew Christmas in the 1940s and 50s was all about smoking? Damn that 1963 Surgeon-General's report! The site also has clips from TV specials - Rick Nelson, Perry Como, Karen Carpenter, and my personal favorite - Julie, natch. Funny stuff.

Additions to the Christmas movie lists have come through. Nobody reminded me to include the 1994 re-make of Miracle on 34th Street to the post-1960 group (we've agreed to disagree about which version was better) and put Bogart-Ustinov-Ray's We're No Angels on the pre-1960 list (haven't seen it in years - good addition!). There's been some discussion about whether to include A Nightmare Before Christmas in the post-1960s, but I consider that more of a Halloween movie. Thoughts? Oh, and The Open Mind told me about a 1971 animated A Christmas Carol that was missing from my Scrooge list. I haven't seen it, but it's the only Carol to win an Oscar (and Alistair Sim did the voice-over for Scrooge).

The Guardian's Culture Vulture wants to know about your seasonal reading habits. I like to settle in with a good anthology of Christmas mysteries/ghost stories (and I've had trouble finding new ones this year). And you already know my predilection for A Child's Christmas in Wales and A Christmas Carol. What's next to your chair by the fire (besides the eggnog and mulled wine)?

Still no word on Tom Fox and the other Christian Peacemaker Teams hostages. CPT has put a photo album of Tom's work in Palestine and Iraq online. As I try to keep track of developments in the hostage situation, I've run across some ugly, angry posts about these folks who are following their caring, peaceful principles to make the world a better place. I am constantly amazed and saddened by the hatred and hypocrisy spewing from fellow Americans. Find my original post about Tom here.

Tid-bit tray's full now, so I'll stop. Hope there's something for everyone on it.