Happy Monday, Happy Christmas Eve Eve and Happy second day of Hannukah. Welcome back to Jacob’s Letter, a free pop culture newsletter full of puns and occasional badly-PhotoShopped dog photos.
If you subscribed after coming across the “Star Wars” newsletter last week that the kind folks at “Skytalkers” shared, welcome, and thanks for subscribing!
Nova and Opal, two of the lesser-known reindeer.
The newsletter doesn’t feature “Star Wars” news all the time, but it will occasionally (I just saw “Rise of Skywalker” and have a lot of thoughts, but I’m going to wait a bit to think on it for a full review). Speaking of “Skytalkers,” Check out Caitlin and Charlotte’s very spoilery first impressions of “The Rise of Skywalker” at this link or wherever you download your podcasts.
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This week’s newsletter will be short. Taylor and I collaborated to talk about some of our favorite pieces of holiday pop culture, be it music, movies, books or TV episodes. If you’re still looking for things to watch, I put together a handy holiday streaming guide over at Book & Film Globe.
Enjoy, and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.
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Makin’ a list…
Some of Jake’s favorites:
The Alabama ‘Christmas’ album
This album is 34 years old and pre-dates me by six years. It was on constant rotation in my house every year, and even as a kid the synths and piano tones made me wistful and nostalgic despite not really having anything to be nostalgic for at that point. “Joseph and Mary’s Boy” is a modern-day hymn in my book.
‘Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama’ by Chance the Rapper and Jeremih
Chance the Rapper’s Christmas mixtape collaboration with Jeremih used to be available as a free download back in 2016 (and I’m sure you could find it floating around the internet now) but the whole thing is on YouTube at the above link. It’s a fun holiday romp that was released six months after “Coloring Book,” right at the moment Chance was starting to blow up. Every time I listen to it I think of the holiday road trips I took with Taylor that year when we were living in Austin.
Twilight Zone: ‘The Night of the Meek’
For a show that often featured bleak endings and sometimes didn’t think too highly about the future of humanity, “The Twilight Zone” felt the thrill of hope in its Christmas-themed episode from season 2. A down-and-out drunk department store Santa drinks to forget that he lives in the bad part of town where he can’t give kids what they need. Through a supernatural series of events, he comes across a bag of toys that produces every item that anyone asks for. In the end, he wishes he could give kids presents every year and becomes Santa himself. One of my favorite “Twilight Zone” episodes. You can watch it on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.
‘The Family Stone’
Everett (Dermot Mulroney) and Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) take a trip back home to visit Mulroney’s family for Christmas so Everett can ask his mom (Diane Keaton) for her wedding ring to propose. Things don’t go as planned, and this holiday rom-com-drama morphs into more than a “city girl meets her boyfriend’s family” movie. The family here feels like a family, with each character interacting with each other in a different dynamic, and reminds me of going home and seeing a house full of relatives. It’s not available on streaming anywhere, but try and check it out if you can.
‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
This is too sentimental for its own good, it could probably be edited down by about 20 minutes and it features one of the most cartoonishly evil villains in the history of film. But its simple message — Everyone matters, we all touch each other’s lives in unknown ways and humanity’s propensity for good will overcome evil — wins me over every time. In terms of sheer numbers, it’s the film I’ve seen the most in my life thanks to my family’s annual Christmas Eve tradition. I find something new to love in it every time.
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Checkin’ it twice…
Some of Taylor’s favorites:
‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ by Darlene Love
This is my favorite Christmas song because I enjoy singing the backup parts with accompanying backup singer choreography.
Veronica Mars: ‘An Echolls Family Christmas’
We fought over who would get to claim this as one of our favorite pieces of Christmas pop culture. The poker-playing episode is “Veronica Mars” at its best, and it’s a Christmas Tradition in the Tompkins-Harris household.
You can watch the episode on Hulu, or buy the whole series on DVD.
More: Neptune Confidential: A ‘Veronica Mars’ newsletter
‘Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ (the Jim Carrey version)
A childhood favorite that I still quote regularly even in non-Christmas settings. The audacity! The unmitigated GALL! You can stream it on Netflix.
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