Merry Christmas!

A life cut short

John Lennon would have been 70 today, had he not been shot to death by a very troubled man (no one seems to be able to agree as to whether his murderer was insane or not, but he remains safely imprisoned, having recently been denied parole for the sixth time).

I'm not a big fan of Lennon, or the Beatles, for that matter. I like, not love, their music. But you can't argue that his music didn't have an effect on an era, though. Of Lennon's songs, this is my favourite (and probably it's most other people's, too), not just because of the message, but the haunting music as well.



Google is celebrating with a video logo (the first it has done). Kudos for their creativity. Here is a screencast of the logo, the animation, and the music someone captured, also incorporating 'Imagine':

If only there could really be peace on Earth...

Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon (warning to the squeamish; there are very graphic images included of death and injury, which is part of the point...the EMI folks won't let you embed the video, but I found it very moving, and a good reminder for why we should work for peace. So in the stress of the holidays, as you're surrounded by loved ones and trying to put batteries into radio-controlled cars, remember those both far away and near for which this is an ordinary day of fear, of horror, of hunger, or isolation, and find a way to be part of the solution to the ills of the world.

Of course, there's also this (now) Christmas classic, which has done exactly that over the last 25 (25!) years:


Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe it's been so long

Okay, so I'm not Christian, but I was raised one, and my family still is. So in addition to my holiday (Solstice/Yule) and YKWIA's (Hanukah), I celebrate Christmas with my family. There's a universal spirit of banishing darkness from our lives and reaching out to others regardless of what holiday you celebrate. Here is a sample of Christmas songs that mean something to me.

Band Aid 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' from 1984 (during my impressionable teens--I was 17 when this was made)



And the newer version from Band Aid 20



It's still needed more than ever.

And just to throw another in, here's John Lennon's 'Happy Christmas (War is Over)'

Imagine Peace

'Imagine' by John Lennon


and a video for A Perfect Circle's somewhat darker cover