Bookmonkey's Top 5 Holiday Stories

I'm sure everyone has them, holiday books, movies or TV shows that come out each December. As a kid I can remember re-reading The Night Before Christmas every year around Christmas. It was a simple poem that got me excited for Christmas morning and after a few years of reading it around this time of year it became a habit for my entire childhood.

These days, I've still got a few fun Christmas treats that make their way onto my shelf each year, but they have definitely gone beyond the classics.

Bookmonkey's top five Genre stories for Christmas

5. Nicholas Was...

For my first seasonal story, I like re-reading Neil Gaiman's 100 word poem, Nicholas Was. Like many of my favourite stories, it takes a common concept (Santa Claus), and shows it to you in a different way; a horrible, horrible way. I actually found this as a christmas card a few years back and sent it to many friends - some of whom still talk to me at Christmas.

4. A Very Nerdy Non-Canonical Captain S Christmas

I'm a pretty big fan of the Angry Video Game Nerd, so last year when I was working my way though his videos I came across this bizarre little gem, wherein he teams up with Captain S to save Christmas, I had to check it out. If you haven't heard of Captain S, start watching the series now! It is incredibly fun, and for those Sega Genesis fans out there, it is simply awesome. You can see the Christmas video here (just scroll down to the 5th video).

3. The Nightmare Before Christmas

I've been showing this movie to my kids since there were toddlers as a Christmas movie. It's great fun and if you have an edition that contains them, check out Tim Burton's Frankenweenie and (my personal favourite) Vincent, after you watch this freaky, but funny holiday flick.

2. The Nostalgia Chick's Top 10 Disturbing and Inescapable Christmas Songs

Every year my wife and I attempt to do all of our Christmas shopping before the end of November, why? Because we hate the non-stop Christmas music you are constantly attacked with at every store in December. When I first watched the Nostalgia Chick's (pictured right) video on these songs I couldn't stop laughing. I love the way that this video focuses on the frightening and creepy side of these holiday classics.

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1. Hold Me

This is actually a John Constantine: Hellblazer, comic (Issue 27), that takes a deeply scary concept - a ghost which whispers "Hold me" and then sucks the warmth (and life) out of its victims, and a full-time a**hole (John Constantine), and brings them together in what ends up, for me, to be a story that says everything that the holiday season should be about.

So there you have it, five quick views or reads that help put me in the holiday spirit!

Things I've Noticed: Advice on exploring TGWTG.com

Back in 2008 I found the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of the old Friday the 13th Game for the 8-Bit Nintendo. As a kid I had played and hated this bizarre little game so I was happy to see someone had put it to good use. Checking out the rest of the Nerd's videos I came across the Feud with the Nostalgia Critic and that brought me to one of my current favourite websites, thatguywiththeglasses.com.

Like most people, I enjoy sharing the funny stuff I find online, but, like most other people in the library professions, I try to help people in the most effective way I can. I'm going to assume that a new person coming to the site will begin with the Nostaliga Critic Reviews, the Bum Reviews, and the Ask That Guy with the Glasses videos. Which videos should a person go to after that? Here are my suggestions.

Bookmonkey's advice on exploring TGWTG.com

There are so many great reviewers on this site it is easy to become overwhelmed. At the rate of 3 or 4 videos a week over the last 2 years there are still reviewers I've only managed to see in one or two videos so far. When I'm asked by friends where to start however, it is almost always with one of these five reviews.

1. The Nostalgia Chick's review of She-Ra: Princess of Power

Like the rest of the reviews listed here, this is not the Nostalgia Chick's first review, but I think for a person new to the site, having seen the Nostalgia Critic's review of Masters of the Universe, this videos is simply comic gold focusing on fandom from a girls point of view, plus her shock at all the homo-erotic material in this kids movie was priceless.

2. Linkara's review of Superman at Earth's End

The reasons for my suggestion of this video are pretty simple, a) you actually see a "bad comic burn," b) You see the beginning of the "I AM A MAN!!!" bit, and c) I laughed so hard during this video I may have passed out for a minute.

3. Spoony's review of Yor the Hunter from the Future

The things about this video is that even though Spoony is quite well known for his Video Game reviews (my current favourite is FMV Hell: Make my Video), I love the fact that he reviewed this, because as a kid I was exposed to Yor, yes people, I am Bookmonkey, and a childhood survivor of Yor the Hunter from the future. This is a great place to start checking out Spoony's reviews.

4. Lee's review of Arcana Heart

Lee is probably my personal favourite reviewer from the site at the moment, simply because I love the genius behind the format of his videos, still photographs and an audio track. Very simple, definitely leaving me wanting more, and really, really funny. Arcana Heart was the first video of his I saw that went beyond the basic review format and had costuming and a skit aspect - very cool.

5. Little Miss Gamer's Review of Missile Command

Almost more like a television show, Little Miss Gamer tends to start with a skit and then move into the review proper. I actually found her by following the Angry Video Game Nerd, as I watched his Christmas Crossover video with Captain S and then started checking out the other videos available through PBC-Productions.

I cannot stress enough that these are just the tip of the iceberg on the site, I love so many of the reviews there I could go on for ages. If you want to start exploring the site past the main content however, I think all five of these videos are a great place to start.