The Lesson Of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown


Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown may not be as acclaimed or well-known as It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or A Charlie Brown Christmas but it’s one of my favorite of the Peanuts holiday specials.  It has a very important lesson to teach us all.

It’s all about faith.

Hardly anyone in Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown has a good Valentine’s Day.  None of them should have been surprised.  All of the Charlie Brown holiday specials are about how days like Halloween, Christmas, and Thanksgiving rarely live up to our expectations.  Why should Valentine’s Day be any different?

Charlie Brown shouldn’t have been surprised when he went home empty-handed.  Sure, he thought he’d get a lot of valentines.  He even brought a briefcase to school with him because he was expecting to get so many.  After Schroeder handed out all of the valentines, Charlie Brown even went to big red box and turned it upside down.  There was nothing for Charlie Brown.  There’s never anything for Charlie Brown.

And Linus shouldn’t have been surprised when his teacher left school before he could give her that big heart-shaped box of candy.  After spending all of those Halloweens in a sincere pumpkin patch and waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Linus should have been used to the disappointment.

And Lucy should know that she’ll never be able to compete with Scroeder’s love of msic, no matter how many times she destroys his piano or tells him that Beethoven was overrated.

In the world of Charlie Brown, only Snoopy gets what he wants but he’s a dog so he doesn’t want much.  All he has to worry about is keeping Woodstock happy, finishing his new book, and shooting down the Red Baron.

But they never give up.  None of them.  No matter how wishy-washy or crabby they may be, all of them keep the faith.  None of them surrender their hope.  That’s the lesson of every Peanuts holiday special but it’s especially the lesson of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.  Someday, the teacher will accept Linus’s gift.  Someday, Schroeder will learn to appreciate Lucy’s finer qualities.  Someday, Sally will be able to make a Valentine just as impressive as Snoopy’s

And someday, maybe today, Charlie Brown will finally get that Valentine!

Never lose hope.  Never give up.  That’s a good lesson for Valentine’s Day.  That’s a good lesson for any day.

My Favorite Super Bowl Commercial 2019


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Well, there were slim pickings in this year’s Super Bowl commercial race. Mercedes Benz featured The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Stella Artois gave us the return of The Dude, and that Bud Light/Game of Thrones mash-up was pretty cool. But the ad that had everyone at the Super Bowl I attended roaring with laughter was this one starring Craig Robinson:

Yeah I know, it’s sophomoric, but also funny as hell!!

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6 Super Bowl Commercials that Lisa Won’t Forget


So, I’m sitting here like I do every year and I’m trying to pick my favorite Super Bowl ads.  (After all, the commercials are the only reason that I ever watch the Super Bowl.)  And I have to say that I’m having some difficulty doing it this year because, for the most part, all of the commercials were hella forgettable.  There were a few good ones and a few bad ones but the majority of them were just kind of there.

The bad ones, of course, were easy to spot.  There was that creepy Robochild who I guess is supposed to convince you to get your taxes done or something.  The first Google ad — the one about people using Google translate to discover how to say “I love you” — was a bit too desperate to convince us that Google is a force of good as opposed to evil.  (As long as I can always use it to check the weather, I really don’t care what Google does in its spare time.)  I might have liked the Steve Carell Pepsi ads if they had been for Coke instead.  You have to understand that, down south where I live, we kind of find Pepsi to be offensive.

To be honest, the best ads were the movie trailers but I just spent about 5 hours posting all 16 of those to the site.  Here are 6 other commercials that, regardless of whether I liked them or even found them to be effective, I won’t forget.

1.  Every Super Bowl, I look forward to the new M&M’s commercial.  This year’s was as cute as always and Christina Applegate did a good job selling the frustration.

2. I didn’t necessarily like this Audi commercial but it did spark an interesting theological debate between me and my sister about whether or not anyone would really need a car in Heaven.  Eventually, we concluded that the guy was actually in Purgatory, or at least he was until his life was saved.  It bothers me that, at the end of the commercial, that guy has a half-digested cashew somewhere on his desk.

3. I preferred the robots from this Michelob commercials to the Robo Child.

4. I’m not really sure what’s supposed to be going on in these commercials for Turkish Airlines.  I’m assuming that this is meant to be appeal to international assassins.

5. I did like this Olay commercial, mostly because of the horror angle.

6. And finally, there’s this commercial, which starts out as a Bud Light commercial but then quickly becomes something else.  I know I already shared this earlier tonight but seriously, this was so obviously the winner of the Super Bowl commercial sweepstakes that I simply have to show it again!

OOPS, BRADY DID IT AGAIN! NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS WIN SUPER BOWL LIII!


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It wasn’t pretty. Defense dominated the game, but a late scoring drive by Tom Brady led to a Sony Michel touchdown, and the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3. It was the Pats’ sixth Super Bowl victory, tying them with the Pittsburgh Steelers for most championships in the Super Bowl era. Say what you want about it, but this native New Englander remembers when they flat-out sucked, making all this winning soooo much sweeter!

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – FEBRUARY 03: Sony Michel #26 of the New England Patriots scores a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth quarter during Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 03, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Neither team could get anything going on offense, as the Rams’ #2 ranked defense and the Pats’ #4 ranked defense hit hard. Stephen Gostkowski nailed a 42 yard field…

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Here’s The Super Bowl Spot for Hanna!


Hanna was my favorite film of 2011 so I’m really hoping that the Amazon Prime adaptation does it justice.  Here’s the Super Bowl spot which, if nothing else, is far more exciting than the game that is currently being played in Atlanta.

Hanna will be available to Amazon Prime subscribers, right after the game ends.

Here’s The Super Bowl Spot for Our Planet!


This might be nice!

Our Planet is a new Netflix series where Sir David Attenbourgh explores never-before-seen habitats.  I always get a little bit worried about nature documentaries because they always seem to lead up to a bunch of tigers eating a gazelle but, judging from this Super Bowl spot, it looks like the show features some really impressive footage.

Plus, I can’t resist anything that feature animals looking quizzically at a camera.

Here’s the Super Bowl spot for Our Planet!

Here’s The Super Bowl Teaser for Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone!


Did you know there’s a new Twilight Zone coming out?

Yes, again.

There’s actually been quite a few Twilight Zone revivals but this latest one involves Jordan Peele, who is a certified superfan of the show.  I mean, Get Out basically was a feature length Twilight Zone episode and Us was apparently inspired by the show.

Plus, the new Twilight Zone is going to be online which, in theory, means a bit less censorship.  That’s always a good thing.

Here’s the Super Bowl spot for Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone!

Here’s That Extremely Clever Game Of Thrones Commercial, the one that was disguised as a Bud Light Commercial!


Okay, I nearly missed this commercial because I don’t like beer.  In fact, if Leonard hadn’t said something on twitter, I totally would have missed it.  That would have been a shame because this might be the best commercial of this year’s Super Bowl.

Basically, it starts out like a Bud Light commercial.  But then suddenly …. well, just watch it:

Game of Thrones will be returning to HBO soon.  The Bud Knight, meanwhile, appears to be gone forever….

FROM THE GRIDIRON TO THE SCREEN


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Happy Super Bowl Sunday! As you all may know, many former football players have made the transition from the Gridiron to the Silver Screen. In honor of tonight’s Big Game, I’ve assembled a All-Pro gallery of posters starring ex-jocks turned actors:

Jim Brown, running back, Cleveland Browns (1957-65)

Brian Bosworth, linebacker, Seattle Seahawks (1987-89)

Bernie Casey, halfback/flanker, San Francisco 49ers (1961-66), Los Angeles Rams (1967-68)

Fred Dryer, defensive end, New York Giants (1969-71), LA Rams (1972-81)

Rosey Grier, defensive tackle, NY Giants (1955-62), LA Rams (1963-66)

Joe Namath, quarterback, New York Jets (1965-76), LA Rams (1977)

O.J. Simpson, running back, Buffalo Bills (1969-77), SF 49ers (1978-79)

Bubba Smith, defensive end, Baltimore Colts (1967-72), Oakland Raiders (1973-74), Houston Oilers (1975-76)

Woody Strode, offensive end, Los Angeles Rams, (1946)

Carl Weathers, linebacker, Oakland Raiders (1970-71)

Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, defensive back, Pittsburgh Steelers (1960), Oakland Raiders (1961-64), Kansas City Chiefs (1965-67)

And…

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