AT THE LIBRARY

December 4, 2008

Christmas DVDs

It’s the holidays! The following audio/visual materials are available and may be checked out from the main library.

JACQUES PEPIN'S CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

Here is the Christmas feast of your dreams particularly if you are not the one who has to cook it…or pay for it. Fun to watch, though.

Pepin begins with Oysters on the Half-Shell and a tangy Mignonette Sauce, and proceeds with Home-Smoked Salmon, served in delicate bundles filled with Cucumber Salad.

The centerpiece is Braised Duck with a tangy honey sauce, Glazed Shallots, and Honey Sweet Potatoes. Salad with black truffles and lemon dressing is an elegant addition.

As for dessert, Pepin provides a step-by-step lesson in creating a Bûche de Noël, a pastry Yule log decorated with mint leaves and fruits, as well as an English Christmas Pudding with raisins, nuts, candied fruit, and old-fashioned Hard Sauce.

Interesting technique and simple yet elegant presentation are part of the Pepin mystique. DVD.

It’s a story often told during the Season of Peace to attest to the essential brotherhood of man; three Christian nations engaged against each other in the bloodiest conflict seen in history to date pause in the trenches on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christ’s birth, complete with Christmas trees and carols, in a momentary truce…before having at each other again the next day. The tale stands as testimony to the best of human beings in midst of the worst of human beings and as a dirge for human illogic.

The DVD is in three languages: French, German, and Scots. The French and German are subtitled; unfortunately the Scots is not so the viewer needs to listen closely.

In part three of the BBC series on Charles Dickens the director has chosen to present A Christmas Carol as a gathering of Dickens family and friends for a private performance of the tale. So we’re watching people in period dress watching "Dickens" tell his story.

As a video, it is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry. As story-telling however, it’s great stuff! Lean back, close your eyes and let your imagination supply the "video" while the narrator, Anton Lesser brings to life the dismal Ebenezer Scrooge and the Spirits who remind him what it is to be human.

The Library also owns this tale in dramatic versions on both DVD and VHS starring, variously, Albert Finney, George C. Scott, Basil Rathbone and on audio cassette and CD.