Author Archives: Dazzling Erin

Artist Profile: Bernard Barton (1920 — 1993)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

As happens sometimes, I couldn’t find much biographical information about the pulp artist Bernard Barton.  I was able to find his dates of birth and date at wikimedia but otherwise, there wasn’t much information online, beyond his work.  Bernard Barton was one of the few artist of the pulp paperback era to regularly sign his work, which means that even if I can’t find out much about his life, at least we can appreciate his work.

As far as I can tell, Bernard Barton is no relation to Harry Barton, another prominent artist of the pulp era.  (Interestingly, Harry’s full name was Harold Bernard Barton.)

Check out some of Bernard Barton’s work below:

I Watched Finding Santa

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

I will be the first to admit that I’m not as much of an expert on Hallmark Christmas films as some members of my family but I think that I have figured out that general formula.  Basically, in every Hallmark Christmas movie, one of the girls from Full House either lives in or returns to a small town where it snows all the time and she falls in love while celebrating the holidays.  There is always one person who doesn’t have the holiday spirit but, by the end of the movie, they’re saying “Ho ho ho” and drinking eggnog.

In Finding Santa, it’s Jodie Sweetin’s turn to fall in love during Christmas.  She plays Grace, who lives in the town of Green River.  From her parents, she inherited an all-year Christmas store and the responsibility for organizing the town’s annual Christmas parade.  With the parade’s 50th anniversary approaching, Grace wants everything to be perfect but then the town’s Santa Claus, Tom (Jay Brazeau), slips and breaks his arm.  Tom runs a Santa school but he says that none of his students are ready to don the red suit.  Tom says that only his son, Ben (Eric Winter), can steer his sleigh.  The only problem is that Ben has no Christmas spirit and doesn’t want to be Santa.  Grace goes to Boston to try to change his mind.

Finding Santa starts out like a typical Hallmark Christmas film, with Grace loving Christmas and Ben feeling that Grace is making too big a deal about it.  The thing that sets Finding Santa apart from other Hallmark movies is that, for once, the Christmas skeptic has a point.  Grace does make too big a deal about the Christmas parade and protecting her parent’s legacy.  Grace is so obsessed with making everyone else’s holiday season perfect that she forgets to enjoy it herself.  Of course, by the end of the movie, both Ben and Grace have fallen in love and learned an important lesson about the true meaning of Christmas.  It’s a cute movie that teaches an important lesson about taking time for yourself.  Plus, I like the idea that there’s a school where you can get a Santa Claus degree.

Before I watched this movie, I was feeling bad because I overslept and missed our annual Christmas parade this weekend.  Getting to see the Green River Christmas Parade in Finding Santa made me feel better,  I don’t know the name of the man who plays Santa in our parade but he’s been doing it for years and he always does a great job.   He probably graduated at the top of his class from Santa School.

The Real Santa Claus, circa 2015 (picture taken by me)

I Watched Mingle All The Way

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

On Saturday night, I needed some cheering up so I watched Mingle All The Way on the Hallmark Channel.

Mingle All The Way is a Hallmark Christmas movie, which means that everyone in the movie goes from Grinch to angel in just two hours.  Molly (Jen Lilley) has created an app that pairs professionals together so that they can attend events together without having to worry about it turning into a romance.  Jeff (Brant Daugherty) works in public relations and is a single father.  When Molly allows her co-worker to set up her profile and Jeff lets his sister to do the same thing for him, the end result is that they end up getting paired together.  At first, they don’t like each other, because Molly thinks that Jeff is rude and Jeff thinks that Molly is to wrapped up in her work.  Then, Molly meets Jeff’s daughter and Jeff meets Molly’s family and they all come to loe each other.  It’s a Christmas miracle!

There was nothing surprising about Mingle All The Way but that’s not a problem.  It’s a Christmas Hallmark film so it’s not like I was expecting it to reinvent the wheel or anything like that.  I just wanted it to be a sweet and cute movie about people falling in love during the holidays and that’s what the movie delivered.  Hallmark movies have become as much a part of Christmas as the tree, the stockings, and old St. Nick coming down the chimney.  The holidays can be a difficult time for a lot of people and Hallmark movies like Mingle All The Way are there to provide an escape.  On Hallmark, every gift is perfect, every season is merry and bright, and we all get to experience our ideal Christmas.

As for why I needed to cheered up, it all has to do with baseball.  Ever since Adrian Beltre announced he was retiring, I’ve been feeling down.  If my Rangers couldn’t make it to the World Series with Adrian batting for them, how are they going to do it without him?  All I want for Christmas is a home run hitter who can play third base.  Until that happens, at least I know I can turn over to Hallmark and watch movies like Mingle All The Way.