Dear Secret Santa,
Hi, it's me, Albert! Or Escapay, Escapy, Scaps, Scapsta, and during the holidays, Scapsta Claus!
I promise I'll write a short letter this year. Partly because the novelty of long letters is waning, and chances are you just skip down to the wishlist to figure out what to get me. Besides, I've already spoken about myself more than enough in past letters. You can access them
here (2005),
here (2006),
here (2007),
here (2008 ), and
here (2009). Thus, I don't have to talk about
The Ten Commandments or "Doctor Who" or "Merlin" or "The Golden Girls" or mashed potatoes. And just mentioning that I mentioned them should count towards mentioning them, so I can cross them off my "things to include in Secret Santa Letter & Wishlist" list.
Still, I don't want this letter to be an "I want this 'n' that 'n' those 'n' these..." because that would be very greedy as well as very boring. I can't help sounding greedy in these long and drawn out letters (they're called wish lists for a reason
), but I hate writing boring letters.
So, I'll relate a story that's been often told before, but still worth telling. You can find the original online somewhere, I'm just repeating it in my own words cause it's a great story.
- A college professor once entered his class and put a large jar on his desk. His class filled in, and once the time came to officially start, he poured a bunch of golf balls into the jar.
"Is this jar full?" he asked. Many of the students nodded. What a strange way to start a lesson, most of them though.
The professor then took out a bag of pebbles and began pouring those into the jar. They took up most of the space that the golf balls couldn't, and once again, he asked if the jar was full. Amused, the students agreed. Yes, it was full. But they began wondering what he would pour next into this jar.
The professor took out a bag of sand, and with cheers from the students, he poured it into the jar. Like the pebbles before them, the sand filled up spaces that the pebbles and golf balls didn't fill. He didn't have to ask his students if they thought it was full. Instead, he produced two cups of coffee, and poured it in as the students laughed.
"So, Professor, what is all that?" a student finally asked when the laughter subsided.
"The jar is your life," the professor said. "And everything I poured in it is representative of things within your life. The golf balls are the most important. Your family, your health, your friends, your faith, your beliefs. They are the most essential and take up the most space, because you can live your life on them and them alone. Were the jar empty except for the golf balls, your life would still be full." The students were amazed at such an assessment.
"So what about the pebbles?" another student asked.
"The pebbles are other things that matter, things in your life that ensure you live life well. Your career, your home. Your food and clothes. They're not as important, but still essential."
"And the sand?" yet another student asked.
"Sand is everything else. Small stuff. Designer sneakers instead of sensible shoes. A new car when your old one was fine. A bigger house to hold all the things you have but don't really need. Don't fill your jar with sand first. You need to know what to make room for in your life, and sand shouldn't take up so much space. Otherwise you won't have room for the golf balls and pebbles, the important things. Pay attention to the important things, the things that greatly fulfill your life. You have family, they're a link to your past and future, get to know them. You have your health, your body is yours for only a certain amount of time, so take care of it. You have your friends, they can tell you what you really are even if you don't want to hear it, don't lose them. Your house is fine, you can redecorate it next weekend, so spend this one setting up a fort with your kids. The golf balls matter, everything else just fills up the little gaps."
"But Professor," yet another student began. "What's the coffee for?"
"Well, that's easy," the professor said. "Your life may be full, but there's always room for a couple cups of coffee with a friend. Go out and have that cup of coffee, now is all you have. Class dismissed."
The students applauded.
I always thought it was a nice story. And the "now is all you have" is actually from something else. I forget if I saw it on UD or on facebook, but someone once took a picture of a Stop Sign, because someone else had placed a sticker on it:
Another nice sentiment. I think I'm all about sentiments in this year's Secret Sana Letter & Wishlist. But two seem to be enough, so I guess I'll get to the wishlist portion.
First off, you DO NOT need to look for "Walt Disney Treasures: Chronological Donald, Volume Three" anymore! Thanks to a wonderful UD member named not2foul, aka Greg, I'm finally the proud owner of my most highly-coveted Walt Disney Treasures DVD. He didn't want to sell it to someone who'd just re-sell it for a higher price, and wanted to make sure it would go to someone who'd appreciate the content, not the secondhand market value. I will be forever grateful to him for this, as Volume Three contains some of my most favorite Donald cartoons, including his early rivalries with Chip 'n' Dale. Thanks, Greg!
Second, our family upgraded to Blu-Ray. And it's made me rethink my movie-buying habits. I'm not going to be getting every Blu-Ray out there that I want, simply because the DVD upconversion on our player and TV is quite good and I've already got a great deal of DVDs that I don't need to see in high-definition. After all, does it really matter if I watch Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal argue about
Casablanca in high definition? Besides,
When Harry Met Sally... isn't on Blu-Ray anyway, so I couldn't include it on my list even if I wanted it. So this wishlist will be short, and while it is a mix of Blu-Rays and DVDs, is indicative of movies that I know I'll want to watch over and over again, as opposed to movies I just want to have. Thus, they're movies I'll appreciate more than if I gave you an extensive list of Blu-Rays and DVDs I don't have, but want for the sake of having them. I've also omitted any Disney Blu-Rays & DVDs, as my Disney collection is generally where I want it to be, save for several mid-or-low-priority titles that I can hold off on acquiring.
Finally, I have to mention Christmas music before I get to the list. I checked my old letters to see what I talked about, and it's generally the same. Still dislike "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and "Carol of the Bells", and still love "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" even if the movie it came from is too sweet. And if my Secret Santa is Kelvin, I retract the sweet statement. The movie does exactly what it intends to do to its audience, and does so perfectly.
Anyway, like I said earlier, I could go on and on about other stuff like
The Ten Commandments or "Doctor Who" or "Merlin" or "The Golden Girls" or mashed potatoes. But I'd just be repeating myself, which is quite annoying to both do and read.
Heck, I didn't even mention
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. Oh wait, never mind. There we go.
So, without further ado, here's the list, with UD-supportive Amazon.com links.
Books:
Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast by Charles Solomon - I generally don't collect the "art of..." books, but since
Beauty and the Beast came to Blu-Ray, I want this.
Random Harvest by James Hilton - It was out of print last year, but a new edition (albeit an expensive one) came out this year. I had to borrow the book via interlibrary loans before, but because of budget cuts, I couldn't do that anymore. I absolutely love it (and the Garson/Colman movie version), and would love a copy to own of my own. You don't need to get the one I linked to, if you find it at a used bookstore or Amazon Marketplace in good condition, that's fine too.
"Doctor Who": The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T. Davies & Benjamin Cook - this is the updated version that was released with over 300 pages of additional material. I've heard a lot of good things about this book, and really want it.
CDs:
Yes, I still collect CDs.
I don't even have an iPod.
The Band Wagon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Import) - The US version is out of print and mad expensive, so I'll have to settle for this. It's my favorite MGM musical, and my favorite musical of all time.
"Doctor Who": The Specials - I've got the soundtracks for Series 1/2, 3, and 4, but not this one.
The Soundtrack Factory: Gilda (plus Down to Earth, You'll Never Get Rich, My Gal Sal, You Were Never Lovelier, Tonight and Every Night) - a strange import CD I found online. Since there's no soundtrack-proper for those films, this is a compilation of songs from those films. Too bad
Cover Girl isn't included here, though.
Action Figures:
Merlin Action Figures - I'm much too old to play with them, but they'll still be great to have. Since they're from the UK, you don't need to get them. Unless you're from the UK and shipping to me anyway. The first link is four the set of four, while the individual links are for the individual characters, in order of preference.
--
Merlin Action Figure
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Morgana Action Figure
--
Arthur Action Figure
--
Gaius Action Figure
Blu-Rays:
Casablanca (1942) - one of my favorite movies of all time, and although I have the DVD, I still want the Blu-ray.
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951): Deluxe Edition - I didn't see this film until about a week or two ago, on TCM. I had planned on blindbuying it when it first came out in August, but never had a chance to pre-order it, and eventually forgot about it until the TCM airing. Would really love to add it to my collection, especially after reading a lot of the glowing reviews for the Blu-Ray.
Love Actually (2003) - rather appropriate given the Christmas season.
Stardust (2007) - this was my favorite movie of 2007 and I've been itching to get the Blu-Ray since it came out in September.
DVDs:
The Edge of the World (1938 ): Milestone Collection - an early Michael Powell film that I need to watch in full, I've only seen an excerpt of it on the DVD for
I Know Where I'm Going!, and would like to see the whole movie.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943): Criterion Collection (original release, not the Essential Art House version) - continuing on the Michael Powell titles, there's Colonel Blimp. I omitted
Contraband,
49th Parallel, and
One of Our Aircraft is Missing from this list, mainly because I'm not too concerned to own those yet, but would really like this one. I've got the rest of the 1940s P&P films, and once I finish the 1940s, I'll move on to the 1950s. If you plan on getting this, you can pay a mere $19.99 at barnesandnoble.com until November 21! Gotta love their 50% off sale on Criterion.
Separate Tables (1958 ) - a later-in-her-career movie for Rita Hayworth, it's unfortunately OOP and hard to find.
MoviesUnlimited and
ClassicFlix have it for $30, but I wouldn't ask you to spend that much. An alternative could be
Blondie on a Budget, where Hayworth played Dagwood's old girlfriend. There's a
Lunchbox Tin available with 10 Blondie films and a Shirley Temple DVD, or the regular
Two-Volume Set, as well as just
Volume One, which has the Hayworth movie on it. There's also a
Bootleg Collection of all 28 Blondie films.
Lucy's Really Lost Moments - it's quite cheap and a great supplement for Lucy fans. I have the VHS version somewhere, but would really like the DVD version too.
I guess that's all. I never know how to close letters (or as Thelma Harper would say, wind up a letter). I guess I could wind it up with some good old-fashioned holiday fun: Slingshot Santa!
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(
Click here to play Slingshot Santa over and over again!)
Your Secret Cindy Lou Who,
Scaps
I stayed within budget so here we go, nothing in particular order:
(since I haven't told them, though I don't think they would mind too much). If that's possible, that would be great. If not, no worries 
* I am a 20-year-old male, and I am currently not in school. I'm actually preparing for a two-year service mission for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly referred to as the LDS church or Mormons. Seeing as this is my last Secret Santa on this forum until 2013, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself, in bit-sized information:
).