Written by Erica Rose Jackson December 1st is here and it’s officially the most wonderful time of the year! In honor of the arrival of the Chrimstmas month, I would like to share my top ten favorite Christmas movies with you. It’s important to know that not all of these choices are family friendly. Share your favorites with me or tell me what you think of my list. 10. Office Christmas Party
9. Christmas with the Kranks
8. The Christmas Chronicles
7. Bad Santa
6. Home Alone
5. Love Actually 4. Elf
3. The Santa Clause
2. Fatman
1. Die Hard
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Written by Erica Rose Jackson Mel Gibson stars and shines as a gritty Chris Cringle in Fatman, a brand new movie released to digital platforms on November 24th. Gibson’s Santa is not the one you’re used to and he’s not like Billy Bob Thornton’s Bad Santa either. This Chris Cringle has lost his Christmas Spirit and he’s ready for anything, I mean anything. The story centers around a spoiled young boy named Billy Wenan (played expertly by Chance Hurstfield) and his vendetta with Santa over receiving coal for Christmas. Billy, luckily, already has an assassin on hand for any occasion played by the incomparable Walter Goggings. Fatman offers Santa like you’ve never seen him before in this fun and dark Christmas action/comedy. Santa is barely breaking even to be able to continue his work because there are so many children on the naughty list. So, against his wishes, he agrees to a contract with the US Military and brings the elves back from break to get the project started. Gibson broke my heart in the scene where he explains to the elves what’s going to happen because you can tell he so genuinely doesn't want to do this. Mrs. Claus (Ruth), played beautifully by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, does her best to show her husband what good he does with his work while the military dangles a permanent contract in his face, worth the money he needs to keep going and more. Fatman has much more heart than you’d expect given the film’s premise. I don’t want to give too much away but Billy hires Goggins’ assassin to kill Santa which has been a lifelong dream of Goggins’ character, Skinny Man. Fatman offers laughs, action, and heart all within it’s modest run time of one hour and thirty-nine minutes. Between the Mondo Boys exceptional soundtrack and Ian Nelms’ work in the director’s chair, this movie is a Christmas masterpiece that will be enjoyed year after year. We can only hope that a sequel will come from this success of this film because Mel Gibson’s Santa has so many more stories to tell! 10. ‘The Christmas Song’ - Toni Braxton
9. “Carol of the Bells” - Destiny’s Child
8. “My Only Wish (This Year)” - Britney Spears
7. “Like It’s Christmas” - Jonas Brothers
6. “Underneath the Tree” - Kelly Clarkson
5. “Blue Christmas” - Elvis Presley
4. “Let It Snow,” - Frank Sinatra
3. “O Holy Night” - Josh Groban
2. “Sleigh Ride” - The Ronettes
1. “All I Want for Christmas is You” - Mariah Carey
Canva is an easy to use site with most of the services at no cost. We are going to give you a how-to on using the site but you can always contact one of your officers for more information.
Begin your journey on Canva by signing up which you can do through setting up a username and password or using your Google or Facebook accounts, which can sometimes be easier. Don’t worry, Canva does not post for you on your accounts. After you are signed up, you can browse the different templates available through their service depending on your needs. You will most likely use all of them at some point along the way. Once you select the type of media your project requires, Canva will allow you to look at layouts of theirs but you can also start from scratch and create your own. Here are a few different ways the site looks when you choose different methods. The first image shows examples of the layouts Canva provides which you can choose and rearrange by your needs. The second image shows shapes which can be added to the background in order to create your own layout. In the third image, you can see some of the background colors available for your creation. Canva allows you to upload images and logos of your own to finish your work and give it the look you intend on. This site is easy to use and the product is outstanding considering its free to use. Canva has features that do cost money but most of the time, even if you find something like that, you can create something like it yourself. Once you finish, you’ll have a great product for school, work or maybe a fun personal project. The last image is an example of a completed creation. We hope you found this information useful and like we said above, if you need anymore assistance with Canva or have more questions, contact us. We are more then happy to help. Written by Erica Rose Jackson I haven’t done an interview in a few years so, for this week’s topic, I’m going to share one of my past favorites. Please enjoy my interview with comedian Brian Regan from five years ago which was originally published at PopWrapped. I was honored to have the opportunity to speak with comedian Brian Regan about his work and his upcoming show in Birmingham, Alabama at the BJCC and it was all laughs! Regan, originally from Florida, became a stand up comedian with the goal of being on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which he mentioned was a comedian’s goal when he got started. Brian Regan has been a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman a total of twenty-eight times and recently hosted a live hour long comedy special from Radio City Hall on Comedy Central. Regan was kind enough to schedule a phone interview with me. When the time came, I waited anxiously for the call, growing more and more nervous as the minutes passed. It turns out I had no need to be nervous because he was fantastic to speak with. He was just waking up when we spoke and I was two cups of coffee into my day so I promised I wouldn’t be too peppy. I got a laugh which was a huge honor. I shared with him that I couldn’t wait to see his show here because I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing him live before. We talked about what’s coming next and he said mostly “working on new material” since he had just completed a live special. I asked for a little teaser of his new material but he explained that it doesn’t work well over the phone. Looks like I’ll be surprised at the show! Here’s some other things we discussed: Erica Jackson: Are you excited to be coming to Birmingham? Brian Regan: Yes, yes I like Birmingham. I’ve been there many times over the years and I’m excited to come back. EJ: When you’re on tour, do you get a chance to do anything in the city or is it more like do the show and move on? BR: Well...things changed about 10 years ago when I switched from Comedy Clubs over to theaters. With Comedy Clubs, I’d be in a city for 3 or 4 days in a row where with theaters it's one night. Sometimes with travel it’s not even a whole day. Sometimes we pull in a few hours before the show, do the show and then blow out of there right afterwards. So now I don’t get to experience the cities like I used to. EJ: I watched a trailer for the movie you did last year with Chris Rock Top Five, was that fun to film? Did you guys laugh a lot? BR: Yeah, I’ve never done a movie like that and it was..you know, my scene was not a long scene so we were able to shoot my scene in a couple of hours. And it was great fun. We did what the script was. He (Chris Rock) had written the script and then after we shot that, we played around a little bit. Chris Rock was the director as well and it felt like he wanted to have some fun and capture some ad lib moments. So, that was cool as well. It was a really great experience. EJ: I just saw your special at Radio City Hall on Comedy Central and the pics you posted on Twitter, was that fun? BR: Ugh, sure! It was intense because it was live. It was a full on 100% concentration deal. Usually when you shoot a special, you often times shoot two shows so you can edit between the two, so if you flub a word here or there you can make up for it in the other show. In this one, I didn’t have that luxury so it was 100 % concentration for an hour straight. And, it was fun but it was good to be done with it as well. EJ: So you have been on The Late Show with David Letterman 28 times, do you have any favorite memories? BR: Well, they were all a lot of fun. Certainly the first one and the last one stand out. The first one is really intense because you are finally fortunate enough to be able to get on the show and you want it to go well. The fact that it went well was really cool and the fact that they contacted me and asked me to do a second one..being asked to do a second was almost more important than being able to do the first one because that means the first one went really well. And then I just got lucky enough to get my foot in the door and they seemed to like me and I was able to do a number of them over the years. The last one was a great experience too. I was on with Ray Romano and the Dave Matthews Band and it was pretty cool. You’re standing backstage and you look at those two and think ‘I’m squeezed between two big shots here’ which makes me feel like by default you’re a big shot too. (I told him he is a big shot which he modestly accepted). It was great to get the chance to do it. EJ: Many consider you to be a clean comedian, do you think that’s true and is it hard when a lot of them are vulgar and raunchy? BR: Well, I don’t even really think about the clean thing as much as other people do. I just do comedy the way I like to do it. I guess at the end of the day it happens to be clean. It’s not my mission statement, if you will to do clean comedy. I just tend to talk about things that happen to be clean. What’s weird to me is because everyone else isn’t clean, I get defined as being clean. I wonder if I was doing this kind of comedy 40 years ago where everyone was doing clean comedy it wouldn’t be focused on quite as much. To me, it's just a different style of comedy. Music has rock n’ roll, reggae it has jazz, it has country. Comedy has different styles and I guess clean is just a way of doing comedy. I just like talking about what I like talking about. EJ: How much fun did you have with Jerry Seinfeld on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee? BR: It was a lot of fun. I did one of the first ones that he did. He did a batch of 8 to 10 so when I did mine, there were none on the air to look at, to see where he was going. The title is the premise of the series so you don’t really know what this is going to be like. He literally picked me up and we drove around for 4 hours and they edited it down to 12 minutes or so. It was very fun. EJ: Seinfeld picks the cars based on the comedian right? BR: Yeah, we talked before we shot it and he told me the premise of the show and he said he likes to pick a car that’s conducive to the comedian. And he said, ‘What kind of cars do you like?’ I said, ‘I don’t really know anything about cars.’ He said, ‘when you were a kid in high school, what kind of cars did you fantasize about?’ I said, ‘I never did that. I never had such fantasies that’s not how I’m wired.’ He said, ‘When you’re driving around, what kind of cars do you see that you think that would be cool for me.’ I said, ‘I’ve never had such thoughts.’ He said, ‘I’m taking this out of your hands. I’m gonna decide what car we get for you.’ That was it, he pulled up in a Dodge Challenger or something and he felt it was an all American Car and I was an all American Comedian.
Ingredients 1 lb of ground beef turkey 2 packets of taco seasoning 1 can of diced tomatoes 1 can of diced tomatoes with green chiles 1 can of corn 1 can of black beans Directions 1. Brown your meat in a skillet, drain, then mix in 1 packet of taco seasoning with water amount as directed on the package. 2. Place the cans of tomatoes, corn, and beans in your crockpot on low heat while preparing your meat. 3. Add the meat to your crockpot and the additional packet of taco seasoning. Cook on low for 1 hour or more (depending on time and flavor) 4. Serve with toppings of your choice like sour cream chips. Written by Erica Rose Jackson
Hadley was used to going to Alan’s office because he was a lawyer and many of their dinner dates were over his research. When she walked into the building, the security guard greeted her, “Hey college girl!” Hadley smiled in return, “Hey Jerry. Am I cleared to go up?” He nodded as she made her way to the elevator, heading up to the 30th floor. After Hadley got off the elevator, she walked into the office lobby and saw people dressed up as public officials which meant her and Alan’s costume wouldn’t fit in. She already knew they judged him for dating her. She didn’t spot Alan anywhere so she headed in the direction of his office. She found his door closed so she knocked, “Come in,” she heard his voice from the other side and opened it to reveal he wasn’t in his costume yet. “What’s going on?” she asked, confused. Alan smiled and walked over to her, kissing her forehead, “I was about to change. Do you wish to step out or stay and watch?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye. Hadley scrunched her nose as she smiled, “I’ll wait outside, perv,” she said with a wink, stepping back out and closing the door. As she stood in the hallway waiting she saw someone walking her way. Well, she saw a shadow. The figure came into view from one of the senior partners offices heading out to the party. Hadley couldn’t see the face but she knew the person was dressed in all black. ‘Maybe one of the partners still needed to change too,’ she thought to herself as she heard Alan’s door open. “Did I forget to mention how breathtaking you look?” he said as she turned to see him in his costume except for the mask. Hadley grinned, “You certainly did but I will forgive you this time. Are you ready to join the party?” Alan sighed, pulling her close, “I suppose though I’d rather stay in my office, alone with you,” he admitted. Hadley slapped his arm, “C’mon! This isn’t my workplace. We could’ve gone to a party on campus but you wanted me to come to you.” “Ah, yes a college party,” he repeated as he offered his arm and they walked to the party, “How nice that would’ve been. You and all your twenty year old friends and me,” he said, always ready to point out the age difference. Hadley elbowed him in the ribs as she walked to the bartender to get a drink. “What will you have, miss?” the man asked. “I will take a beer, thanks,” she answered. She could almost hear Alan holding back a gag at her order. “Why are you so feisty tonight, dear? Speaking of college parties and not ordering wine,” he mused as he ordered a scotch. Hadley smiled, “Maybe it’s the costume. I think Black Widow is a beer drinking type of gal,” she said, taking a sip. Alan shook his head, “I hope no one tries to mess with you tonight,” he said simply as he slipped his arm around her waist. The DJ had on a Halloween playlist which included everything you’d expect: ‘The Monster Mash’, ‘Ghostbusters’, and ‘The Witch Doctor’. Hadley listened to all the lawyers drone on, nodding politely at their comments until ‘Thriller’ came on. “Alan, would you like to dance?” Hadley whispered, trying not to interrupt an older lawyer who was discussing his views on the election. Alan was not a fan of dancing but he was also sick of hearing the man talk, “It’s been so nice chatting, Harry but my girl would like to dance,” he said excusing them and heading to the small dance space. “Do you know the ‘Thriller’ dance?” Hadley asked, her tone hopeful. “It was a hit in your time more than mine,’ she added, in a teasing tone. Alan simply rolled his eyes as he surprised her with the moves. Hadley squealed as she joined him. As they danced, laughing and having a great time, the music stopped and the lights went out. Everyone in the room pulled out their phones to see. Hadley reached out and grabbed Alan’s hand to make sure he was close. “Come back to my office. We can light a candle until the power comes back,” he said as he used the flashlight on his phone to guide them. “What do you think happened?” Hadley asked as they walked into the hallway that led to his office. Before Alan could answer, he turned his head at the sound of a scream. “What’s going on?” she asked, “Let’s go check it out.” “That’s not what you’re supposed to do in a scary movie,” Alan stated but Hadley rolled her eyes and dragged him back to the lobby. Alan steps in front of her as they entered the party area. The room was empty except for a woman sitting on the sofa in the waiting area. “Where did everybody go?” Alan asked outloud, stepping closer to the woman. As he got closer, he could see that she’d been stabbed in the neck, blood dripping down onto the sofa. “Is she ok?” Hadley asked as she got closer. Alan turned and pulled her into his arms, shielding her eyes, “Don’t look,” he said gently. “Why?” Hadley whispered. “She’s been murdered,” he answered, backing them away. “We should make sure no one else is wandering around,” she suggested, worried about everyone who had been there. Alan nodded as the walked quietly through the office for anyone who had stayed behind. “Call 911 with your phone,” Hadley said as they looked. “If I do that we won’t have the flashlight during the call. I’ll do it in a moment,” he replied. “That office is open,” Hadley observed, “Let’s go in.” Alan stepped in front of her again as they pushed the door just a bit to see if anyone was inside. Alan didn’t have time to stop Hadley from getting beside him. There was a man in all black holding Alan’s boss into the wall with a butcher knife. Hadley inhaled to scream but Alan placed his hand on top of her mouth quickly to stifle the sound. He backed out slowly, pulling Hadley with him. His efforts were for nothing though because he had forgotten about the light beaming from his cellphone. They watched as the man pulled back the knife, dropping the boss to the ground, lifeless and turn to reveal himself. They found themselves face to face with MIchael Myers from Halloween. Michael cocked his head to the side taking in the sight of two more victims. He began walking slowly toward them. Hadley always wondered how she’d act in a situation like this. She yanked the door closed, ripping the door knob off and pulling Alan with her. “We have to get out of here,” Alan said, his tone urgent. Hadley nodded, “How? I’m sure the elevator is out since the power is gone,” she pointed out. This was your typical horror film set up. Alan sighed, “We can take the stairs. Once we get outside I can call the police,” he suggested. Hadley stopped and looked at him, “That’s the opposite of what you’re supposed to do in a horror movie. We’ll end up on the roof somehow,” she finished with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “Do you have a better suggestion?” Alan asked, as they heard the sound of smashing wood. Hadley shook her head, “No, let’s go,” she said as she grabbed his hand and they went of the stairs. Hadley suddenly stopped, “Wait, what if we try to trap him?” Alan looked at her with confusion on his face, “How do you propose we do that?” “I mean, it’s not the real Michael Myers with the whole super strength, immortal thing,” she began, “We can try to trap him on one of the balconies. I’ll lure him out there close to the door and then you can push him out and we can lock him out,” she beamed, feeling proud. Alan shook his head, “No for two reasons. That’s insane and you’re not playing bait for a psycho. Keep moving,” placing his hand on her lower back to push her forward. They reached the lobby, almost to the stairs when Michael showed up stopping them in their tracks. “The offices go in a circle,” Hadley stated. “Are you sure you don’t want to try my plan?” she asked as he stood in their way, staring them down. Before they could make a move, the door to the stairwell opened and Jerry the security guard appeared. “Jerry, get back in there and run!” Hadley yelled. But Jerry’s instincts took over and he rushed for Michael tackling him from behind. Jerry stood back up and motioned for them to follow him out. Hadley started to move forward but Alan grabbed her arm as Michael got back up and turned to face Jerry. Jerry moved forward to attack him but Michael struck forward with his knife, pummeling it into Jerry’s gut. Hadley watched as Jerry stopped and became motionless, nothing but fear in his wide eyes. Alan reached out to her to shield her from the third gruesome death of the evening but Hadley had other plans. Jerry was her friend. “Call 911,” she ordered as she looked for anything that could be a weapon. ‘The bar!’ she thought to herself, racing toward it and grabbing a giant bottle of vodka. Michael still had his back to them, his knife in Jerry. Hadley raced forward, praying he wouldn’t turn. She reached him and reared back the bottle and then smashed it on the back of his head, sending glass and alcohol everywhere. Michael stumbled forward, falling on top of Jerry. Alan watched in shock as his girlfriend took down a killer. “The police are coming,” he announced as she still stood staring down at the bodies. “Let’s get outside,” Alan said, making his way over to her and gently moving her toward the stairs. Alan opened the door to the staircase ushering her inside. “Jerry has the keys to the stairway. We could lock him in on that floor if we get them off of him,” Hadley said, speaking for the first time. “Or we could just get out of here,” he said as he gently ushered her down the stairs. As they got to the end of the first flight, the heard the door open from above. Hadley and Alan looked up to see Michael back on his feet looking down at them. “Go,” Alan said as he sped up down the stairs. They raced down the stairs reaching the ground floor and they found the door locked. “What do we do now?” Alan said, exasperated as Michael was gaining on them. “Can you break the glass?” Hadley suggested, “I could probably fit my arm through and open it from the other side,” she stated, watching the stairs. Alan cocked his head to the said and reared his fist back before punching through the glass. Hadley moved in next, sticking her arm through the broken glass and reaching for the handle on the other side, all while trying to do as little damage as possible to her arm. As she fought to get a grasp, Michael was at the last few stairs, his knife ready. Alan moved in front of her. “Got it!” Hadley shouted as she pulled her arm back, now dripping in blood. She wasn’t quick enough because Michael was inches away from Alan. Hadley shoved him out of the way and thrust her foot into the air, kicking the knife out of his hand. He lunged forward for her throat but she jumped back. Michael was off balance and Hadley used that to push him down the stairs that led to the basement. She watched as he rolled down the stairs, flipping and turning. “Are you ok?” she asked, turning back to Alan who she’d pushed back against the wall. Alan was looking at her with a grin on his face, “I was going to protect you,” he stated, “But that costume really has had a different effect on you.” Hadley smiled as she grabbed his hand and walked out into the lobby where the police had just arrived to see them both bleeding. “We need a medic,” one of the officers shouted, “Where’s the assailant?” Hadley pointed back to the staircase as they were surrounded by a medical team rushing them out of there. “How about next year we go to a college party?” Hadley said with a grin once they were being bandaged up. Alan smiled back, “How about we just stay home,” he said, leaning down placing his lips to hers. Written by Erica Jackson I absolutely love this topic because it makes my job so much easier since this is basically a listicle. Please enjoy my top ten favorite inspirational quotes. Written by Erica Rose Jackson We’ve reached week forty-five of my long overdue blog challenge and we’re just seven blogs away from the endzone. This week’s topic is a fun one because I get to write a review (which is something I love) and I’ve chosen to write about Taylor Swift’s latest album Folklore. We might not have all accomplished something during this quarantine, but the same can’t be said for T. Swift because she dropped her best album to date. I’ve decided to review the album track by track because that’s my favorite way. I’m a little behind the release but it’s 2020 and everything is delayed. ‘The 1”
“Cardigan”
“The Last Great American Dynasty”
“Exile” (feat. Bon Iver)
“My Tears Ricochet”
“Mirrorball”
“Seven”
“August”
“This is Me Trying”
“Illicit Affairs”
“Invisible String”
“Mad Woman”
“Epiphany”
“Betty”
“Peace”
“Hoax”
“The Lakes”
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