Top 25 B-List Christmas Movies

I decided to make a top 25 list of my favorite Christmas movies that aren't on any of the traditional top Christmas lists, or A-Lists.  The movies on my list aren't great movies and some might be considered awful.  But they seem to be enjoyable at Christmas time.  Sort of like divinity and eggnog.  Here are the movies that are NOT on my list  (don't get me wrong, these are great movies and are really enjoyable to watch any time of the year):

It's a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street
White Christmas
A Christmas Story
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
A Christmas Carol
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Holiday Inn
Home Alone
Frosty the Snowman
The Santa Clause
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Elf
The Muppet Christmas Crol
Scrooged
Christmas in Connecticut
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Bad Santa
Love, Actually
Die Hard 2 & 2
Lethal Weapon
Gremlins
The Polar Express
The Year Without a Santa Claus

OK..on to the Top 25 B-List Christmas Movies:

25.  The Santa Suit

Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) is a scroogey CEO of a toy company and magically gets transformed into Kris Krandall.

24.  The Christmas Choir

This time its the kid from Iron Eagle (Jason Gedrick) who stars as an emotionally detached accountant who decides to form a choir at a homelss shelter.

23.  Unaccompanied Minors

A group of unaccompanied minors get snowed in at an airport.  Lewis Black is particularily funny in this.

22.  Barney's Night Before Christmas

Granted, this movie probably reminds me of Christmas time when my kids were little, so that is why it made the list.  But it does have some pleasant Christmas music and a well done Santa.

21.  Snowglobe

Christina Milian stars as a woman who discovers a Christmas-themed dreamworld inside a magical snowglobe...which is her escape from less than idyllically viewed family.

20.  While you were sleeping

As far as romantic comedies go, this one isn't bad.  Bill Pullman and Sandara Bullock seem to have great chemistry and there were genuine moments where I laughed out loud.  Peter Boyle and Jack Warden are great characters as well. 

19  Barney's Christmas Star

Well, this is probably on the list for the same reason as number 22.  I do enjoy this one a little bit more.

18.  Jingle All the Way

Is this movie great...no.  Is this movie funny....not all that much (I probably laughed more in 30 seconds of Elf than I did this entire movie).  But hey, its got Arnold, Sinbad, young Darth Vader, and Phil Hartman.

17.  Prancer

Sam Elliott is awesome and believable in this movie and I love that it seems to be genuinely, naturally snowing all the time.

16.  Call Me Mrs. Miracle

Debbie's Macomber's Call Me Mrs. Miracle is actually the second movie staring Mrs. 'Miracle' Merkle (Doris Roberts).  I just seem to care for this movie much more the the James VanderBeek one.  There is a little more to this one than the single guy-single girl formula.

15.  Moonlight and Mistletoe

Tom Arnold is Nick, the proprietor of a failing all-year Christmas village (Santaville) and Candace Cameron is her daughter who reluctantly visits and begins to turn things around for her dad.  This movie features a great smarmy villain that one used to see more in the Christmas movies of the 80s.

14.  The Christmas Card

via IMDB:  "US soldier visits the town from where an inspirational Christmas card was sent to him by a church group that mails cards out to servicemen as a goodwill effort."  It becomes a complicated love story (in a good way) and has some great supporting charactors (Ed Asner, Peter Jason).

13.  Elmo's Christmas Countdown

A very quick, enjoyable movie.  Lots of great music and an impressive guest list.  I found Steve Schirripa and Tony Sirico particuarily funny as Burt and Ernie.  Watch for the farting Charles Blitzen newscaster.

12.  Four Christmases

Talk about an impressive cast (5 Oscar winners).  Unfortunately, this movie just doesn't end up being as funny as you would have hoped.  But it does have its moments.

11.  Christmas with the Kranks

This is another movie that has a great cast and is a movie you would expect to be hilarious...but just doesn't quite deliver.  Lower your expectations and it is a good holiday movie.  Plus its based on a John Grisham novel.

10.  A Season for Miracles

An aunt (Carly Gugino) ends up homeless as she tries to care for her niece and nephew who might get thrown in foster care.  But through the help of an angel, discovers a place that might just be home.  On a side note....how in the hell did Laura Dern end up in this movie with such a small part?!?

9.  Eloise at Christmastime

Apparently this is based on a series of books...but I've never read them.  This movie does seem to capture a little bit of the magic that must be Christmas in New York. 

8.  Christmas with Holly

Just watched this movie.  Once you get "Full House" out of your mind, this is a pretty good movie.  Some genuinely touching moments (and funny ones too).

7.  A Very Brady Christmas

I love how this movie has the exact tone from the TV series.  It has some moments that might be unintentionally funny (spontaneous singing).  All the corny...almost bizarre story lines from the TV show are reflected in this movie.  If the Brady Bunch were real...I have no doubt this is what a Christmas would be like with them.

6.  Ms. Scrooge

I suppose there are a lot of movies based on "A Christmas Carol".  But this one is a favorite.  Ms. Ebenita Scrooge (Cicely Tyson) is a little over-the-top.  But it really has its own message apart from the standard Christmas Carol story.

5.  A Grandpa for Christmas

Ernest Borgnine stars as an old hollywood type that is estranged from his daughter and granddaughter.  But circumstances bring his granddaughter into his live.  I really found Ernest Borgnine, Katherine Helmond, and Julietta Googlia to be phenomenal in this movie.

4.  The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

I remember seeing (and loving) this movie as a kid.  But haven't seen it since.  But thanks to youtube, I was able to see it for the first time in at least 20 years.

3.  A Smoky Mountain Christmas

Dolly Parton stars as a country singer sick of the big city who returns to the Tennessee mountains but encounters some orphans, the Fall Guy (Lee Majors as a mountain man) and a witch.  Watch for a funny John Ritter towards the end.

2.  The Christmas Gift

A widowed architect takes his daughter on a working-Christmas vacation in Colorado where everyone believes in Santa Clause. The movie features Malcolm's mom (Jane Kaczmarek) and Kurtwood Smith.  Gotta love the typical rich snobby 80s villain, Mr. Reffield.

1.  One Magic Christmas

An angel-cowhand Gideon (Harry Dean Stanton) works to help show a mother the true meaning of Christmas.  I love how this movie was definitely NOT filmed in California with some fake snow added here and there.  Definitely looks like a midwestern/Canadian Christmas.  It also has quite possibly the best-done Santa/North Pole I've seen in a movie.

List of GIS companies

Aerial Services, Inc.
Bolton-Menk

Mapping Strategies, llc
Mid-West GIS
Midland GIS Solutions
Newcom Technologies, llc
North Point Geographic Solutions
Pete Buckingham Consulting
Pro-West and Associates, inc.
Rowekamp & Associates, inc.
Schneider Corporation
Snyder & Associates
Surdex Corporation
The Sidwell Company
Mapping Solutions
Rolling Hills Consulting
Quarter Quarter Geospatial
MGP Inc.
Geographic Technologies Group
GIS Solutions Inc
PSBA
Fisher Utility Solutions
HRGreen
Fugro EarthData, Inc.
Banks Geospatial Solutions
Kirkham Michael

Mohawk Valley GIS

 Trailhead GIS
ACT Geospatial
Northarrowtech
Surety Customized Online Mapping

cartographer's guild
Heritage Cartography
Historic Maps Restored
Metsker Maps
Raven Maps
Digital Map Products
shipwreck charts

eGIS Associates, Inc.
North River Geographic Systems, Inc.

TatukGIS

Rockwell Spatial, LLC

ESRI Partner Directory

http://www.spatialfocus.com/twiki/bin/view/SpatialFocus/WebHome
http://www.dtsgis.com/Company.aspx
http://www.gdbmsinc.com/gDBMS/Welcome.html
http://www.hexagongeospatial.com/
http://www.loqate.com/
http://www.mgpinc.com/
 

West Wing Maps

Catalpa Trees

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Northern_Catalpa_beanpods.jpg/685px-Northern_Catalpa_beanpods.jpg

NATO phonetic alphabet

Just thought I'd post the NATO phonetic alphabet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

Need help opening newer Office files

Libre Office

Microsoft Office Download Center

This video doesn't get old

Skylanders Swap Force Characters

http://www.skylanderscharacters.com/swap-force-characters.asp

Using Google Sites if your Domains are with Intuit

I really like Google Sites and I really like Intuit.  I create my sites using Google Sites and have my domains registered thru Intuit.  However, at first there didn't seem to be a straight-forward way to make it work.  But I have streamlined the process and below is the best way I've found to get my sites up and running.

1.  Go to intuit.com
2.  sign into the Intuit Websites login
3.  Go to the Advanced DNS settings of the domain you wish to use
4.  Click the Edit button
5.  If you have used other hosting services, you may want to 'Reset Defaults' but if this is the first time doing anything with the domain, just leave it alone.
6.  in the CNAMES change the www to ghs.googlehosted.com

leave this window/tab open in your browser

open a new tab/window in your browser

7.  Log into the Google Account that has your Google Site
8. Go into the Google Sites
9.  Make sure to set the Share to "Public on the web"
10.  Add web address (domain you edited above)
11.  Click the "these directions" link in the pop up at the top
12.  Go to bottom heading 'Domain is not verified' error when mapping
13.  Click the Webmaster Tools home page
14.  Click 'ADD A SITE' button on right
15.  type in the domain you edited above
16.  Choose the alternate methods tab
17.  Choose the domain name provider radial button
18.  Choose 'other' at the bottom of the drop down list
19.  Copy and paste the TXT record

leave this window/tab open in your browser

Go back to Intuit window/tab in your browser
20.  The best way to get the TXT record in is to use the Support Chat.  Kind of hard to find
21.  Click the 'Chat with Us' button
22.  State that you would like to add a TXT record to the DNS configuration of a domain you own to verify with Google (or something like that)
23.  They should ask for the domain and the text record (that you copied and pasted earlier in Google's webmaster tools).
24. It just takes a few minutes...once they have it entered, go back to the Google webmaster tools and click 'verify'
25.  You should now be able to go back to your Google site and add the web address to the site.

There you go....it seems like it might be easier to just have my domains with GoDaddy or another popular company.  But Intuit's customer service has been incredible.  Possibly the best customer service I've worked with.

Programs I want to try

I have come across several programs that sound interesting...but haven't yet has the chance to fully try out.  Here are the ones I'm interested in:

Comodo Cleaning Essentials

http://www.comodo.com/business-security/network-protection/cleaning_essentials.php

This program can run from a USB to remove stubborn malware.

Comodo Antivirus

http://antivirus.comodo.com/ 

I like this antivirus because its EULA is less restrictive. 

Norton Power Erasier

http://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.aspx

Can supposedly remove malware other AV miss.

SUPERAntiSpyware 
http://www.superantispyware.com/index.html
Another potentially good spyware remover.

DriverMax

http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/

Find, download, and backup drivers. 

Wuala

http://www.wuala.com/

LaCie's service with 2GB of free online storage.

Stellarium and Celestia

http://www.stellarium.org/

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

Star and space simulators

LibreCAD

http://librecad.org/cms/home.html

SpiceWorks

http://www.spiceworks.com

Networking tools.

Axence NetTools Pro

http://www.axencesoftware.com/en/nettools

Networking tools.

Wireshark

http://www.wireshark.org

Networking tools. 

PrinterShare

http://www.printershare.com

Allows for printing to any printer on a PC that has this program. 

HP Universal Print Driver

http://h20331.www2.hp.com/hpsub/cache/343033-0-0-225-121.html?jumpid=ex_r2845_go/upd

All you need is this one driver to be able to print to any HP printer

CCleaner

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Good for cleaning out unwanted junk and clutter

Recuva

http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Recover deleted files.

GIMP  and Inkscape

http://www.gimp.org/ 

http://www.inkscape.org 

Graphic editing software. 

My must have (free) programs on any PC

Whenever I get a new computer or work on a computer for any length of time, I always end up installing a bunch of programs.  So I thought I'd list my "go-to" free programs.  These include antivirus, malware removal, file compression, audio stuff, pdf viewers, graphics, encryption, email, office-type programs, RSS, etc.

Firefox

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

 My favorite browser.  I know Chrome is popular and Opera is cool...but this is still my favorite. 

Panda Cloud Antivirus

http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/

 Lots of antivirus options out there.  Panda Cloud is easy and quick to install, doesn't seem to suck up resources, and has worked well for me.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Must have program.   Removes just about any malware you come across.

PeaZip

http://peazip.sourceforge.net/

Great and opening and compressing files...in a variety of formats.

Audacity

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Use this to pull audio from computer....from things such as YouTube.

PDF-XChange Viewer

http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

I really like this for two reasons.  The first is that there is an  'Export to Image option'.  The second is that for really big files/printing...the average pdf viewer crashes.  But PDF XChange Viewer has worked everytime.

Paint.NET

http://www.getpaint.net

My go-to graphic program.  I've heard lots of good things about Gimp and Inkscape...but this is still my favorite. 

PosteRazor

http://posterazor.sourceforge.net

So you want to print a large poster....but only have a desktop printer....this is the program for you. 

KeePass Password Safe

http://keepass.info/

Over the years I have accumulated a ton of passwords.  This is by far the best way I've found to keep track of them all.

Glary Utilities

http://www.glarysoft.com/glary-utilities/

There is a lot this program can do....sort of a "swiss-army knife" of computer utilities.

LibreOffice

http://www.libreoffice.org

If you don't want to spend the money on Office...this is a must have.

skype

http://www.skype.com

I hesitated putting this on the list....as everyone knows about this program....but it is a must have.  It is also a great way to transfer large files. 

Zimbra Desktop

http://www.zimbra.com/products/desktop.html

I am on a quest to find an adequate replacement for MS Outlook.  So far, this is the closest.  It is great for viewing all your emails from multiple accounts in one place. 

TeraCopy

http://codesector.com/teracopy

Sure, you can right-click, copy, and paste.  But this program gives you a little bit more information  for copying files.

Bullzip PDF Writer

http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php

I've also used cutepdf...but Bullzip has been a favorite.

ImgBurn

http://www.imgburn.com

When I need to burn ISO files...this is what I use. 

Belarc Advisor

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

This program is great to run because it lists all the install codes for the programs you have installed.  Very handy if you are getting a new computer but lost your install codes.

Netvibes

http://www.netvibes.com/en

Not a program to install....but when Google Reader went byebye, I had to find something to use.  Netvibes has worked out great for me.

join.me

https://join.me/

Another non-program....but if you need to work or see another person's computer...it doesn't get much easier than this.

My top Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware Free Software

Being in IT but not being an IT expert or professional, I have had to deal with viruses and malware fairly regularly.  I thought I would make a list of the things I have used to deal with these problems.  All of these items are free to download.  If you are an IT professional, this is "kid stuff" but if you are like me and have to fix these things but don't have any experience....I'm going to share what I did and learned.

I have tried and used several anti-virus suites of software.  I would have no problem recommending any of the following:  AVG, Avast, Panda Cloud, Avira, and Microsoft Security Essentials.

Of course, things get more difficult when a nasty virus/malware slips thru and disables your anti-virus.

My go to program is Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Free.  I install this on any computer I sit down and work on.  Awesome tool and is the first thing I use to try and remove malware.  If you don't have any luck with it, be sure to try using it in Safe Mode (with networking).

8 out of 10 times, Malwarebytes solves the problem.  But ocasionally it doesn't get everything.  I have found Combofix to be my next weapon.  It is a little intimidating (and very powerful).  But follow the directions and it will work.

I cam across some other anti-malware that I haven't' used before (but will):

emisisoft emergency kit 2.o

Norman Malware Cleaner 2.1

Norton Power Eraser

Skylander Giants Power Stats

http://www.ign.com/wikis/skylanders-giants/Power_Stats

Social, Storytelling Map Sites

Here are some websites that use maps to share information and tell stories.

note.is

Findery

shots24

myhistro

meograph
meograph twitter page

toflog

momenttracker (Reported Attack Page)

momenttracker twitter page



Article Links:

Findery:  http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com
Meograph demo:  http://www.meograph.com/demo
Meograph Article:  freetech4teachers
toflog Article:  wikindu
start-ups article:  start-ups
note.is article:  googlemapsmania

Google Reader going away....now what?

For one, you can save your Google Reader subscriptions on Flipboard now.  Just follow these instructions.

Fifty (often free) Online Website Builders

Here are some options out there for creating your own (often free) website:

Google Sites

Weebly

Page-o-Rama

Jimdo

Wix

Cardcloud

DooID

AboutMe

FlavorsMe

webeden

imcreator

handzon

site2you

moonfruit

webs

webstarts

yola

jigsy

tumblr  

webnode

doodlekit 

350 pages

esitesbuilder

homestead

bravenet

angelfire

blink

tumblr

edicy

websketch

officelive

webon

viviti

yola

wikispaces

sauropol

roxer

devhub

snappages

let's eat

trip outlook

moogo

flooha

basekit

ucoz

your free web

clan site manager

Ewisoft

dotemplate

webspawner

terapad

sources:

http://www.ourtuts.com/encouraging-clients-to-build-their-own-website/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-57392999-68/three-free-services-for-creating-instant-web-sites/

http://smashinghub.com/top-10-free-online-website-builders-2012.htm 

smashinghub2
smashinghub3