News of the Week: 100 Rules for Living, Pop-Down Trees, and Cookie Cutter Cookies

Read This!

Here are ten new books to give this Christmas, either to someone else or yourself.

100 Rules for Living to 100 by Dick Van Dyke. The famed comedian and song and dance man turns 100 on December 13 so he must be doing something right.

By the way, the night before Van Dyke’s birthday, there will be a new documentary about him on PBS’s American Masters.

Uploaded to YouTube by American Masters PBS

A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken. The award-winning novelist, short story writer, and teacher gives us a guide to writing fiction and being a writer, structured as 280 accessible short (though sometimes longer) paragraphs. Unlike many how-to-write books, this one is actually helpful, smart, and realistic, while still remaining inspirational.

The Award by Matthew Pearl. A Cambridge, Massachusetts author wins an important award for his novel and suddenly his mean, reclusive upstairs neighbor – a very famous author himself – wants to get to know him better.

Barbieland by Tarpley Hitt. The unauthorized history on how the doll came to be and how it has ruled the world of toys the last several decades.

Star of the Show: My Life on Stage by Dolly Parton. This is the third volume of memories and photographs from Parton’s career. (It’s also available in a Deluxe Edition.)

Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn. The subtitle for this book is “A World War II Story of Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History of Pearl Harbor,” and I’m sure it’s a book everyone will be talking about in the coming months.

Digital, Inc. by Richard Curtis. A fascinating history of how the e-book revolution came about in the publishing industry, from someone who was there at the beginning. This one gets extra points for bringing back the dash to the word “e-book.”

Something from Nothing: A Cookbook by Alison Roman. This is already on many of the “Best Books of the Year” lists. It shows you how to make great meals from whatever you might have in your pantry.

Cocktails Illustrated. The folks at America’s Test Kitchen have written the ultimate guide to making cocktails, with over 400 recipes.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 12th Edition. It’s the first new edition of the classic guide in 22 years, and the book I’m buying for myself this Christmas.

Yet Another Word of the Year

Finally, a word (or phrase) I’ve actually heard about and used this past year: “rage bait.” It’s the Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year. It’s defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account.”

I think that describes 84 percent of the web.

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

I’ve seen this commercial approximately 700 times in the past three weeks. It’s for the Superstar Santa Pop-Up (pop-down?) artificial tree. It takes just a minute to put up (take down?) and it comes pre-decorated with lights and ornaments.

I have no idea if it looks like it does in the ad, maybe it’s nice, but what irritates me is they’re pushing it as a more convenient, faster way to put up (take down?) a tree. You no longer have to spend hours decorating the tree! Who wants to do that?

Since when did decorating a Christmas tree, something families have enjoyed doing for generations, become a “chore” that had to be “completed” and a “problem” to be “solved?”

Uploaded to YouTube by Star-Shower-Holiday

Headline of the Week

“Macaulay Culkin’s Kids Don’t Realize He’s Kevin from Home Alone”

RIP Tom Stoppard, Steve Cropper, Fuzzy Zoeller, Robert A.M. Stern, Tony Benedict, and Daniel Woodrell

Tom Stoppard not only wrote such acclaimed plays as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Leopoldstadt, but also won an Oscar for writing Shakespeare in Love and was an uncredited script doctor on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Hook, Beethoven, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Chaplin, and The Bourne Ultimatum. He died last week at the age of 88.

Steve Cropper was a guitarist for such bands as Booker T. and the MGs, the Blues Brothers, Sam and Dave (“Soul Man”), and Otis Redding. He co-wrote “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” “In the Midnight Hour,” and “Green Onions,” among many other songs, and played with everyone from John Lennon and Jimmy Buffett to Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart. He died this week at the age of 84.

Fuzzy Zoeller won the Masters golf tournament on his first try and several other championships as well. He died last week at the age of 74.

Architect Robert A.M. Stern designed the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts as well as 15 Central Park West in New York City, the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, and the Comcast headquarters building in Philadelphia. He died last week at the age of 86.

Tony Benedict was a writer for such animated shows as The Flintstones, Mister Magoo, The Jetsons, The Yogi Bear Show, Wally Gator, as well as Disney movies and shorts and several Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck shorts. He died recently at the age of 89.

Daniel Woodrell wrote such rural noir novels as Winter’s Bone, Tomato Red, and Woe to Live On. He died last week at the age of 72.

This Week in History

Mary Celeste Found Abandoned (December 4, 1872)

The ship was found in pretty good condition and fully stocked with supplies, but no one was on board. Did they abandon ship for some reason? Was it murder? A storm? A giant squid?

18th Amendment Repealed (December 5, 1933)

This amendment declared the production, transport, and sale of intoxicating liquors illegal. But since it was repealed, you can buy what you need to make the drinks in that cocktails book I mentioned above.

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: L&M Cigarettes Christmas Album (December 3, 1960)

Now, the question is, is this album on YouTube? And … it is!

Uploaded to YouTube by The World Of Budget Vinyl Records

National Cookie Cutter Week

There are a few days left in this annual celebration, so get out those holiday-themed cookie cutters and make some cookies.

Like these Santa Sugar Cookies from Taste of Home or these Gingerbread Sandwich Cookie Stars from The Pioneer Woman. Allrecipes has Reindeer Cookies, Country Living has Pecan Snowflake Cookies, and Semisweet Designs has these Pumpkin Spice Toffee Roll-Out Cookies. They’re shaped like pumpkins.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

Christmas Card Day (December 9)

If you want your cards to reach your friends and family before Christmas, this might be a good day to mail them.

National App Day (December 11)

At first I was excited because I thought, wow, a day that celebrates mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and nachos! But then I found out it’s just a day to celebrate the apps on your phone, for some reason.