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10 movies to put you into the Christmas spirit

By no means do you have to agree with me, but I feel like I’ve watched enough Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas movies to rank the best Christmas movies of all time. I have become an expert. There are the classics, the romantic comedies, and the plain silly ones, but some remain stuck in our hearts and minds and we end up watching them almost every time Christmas rolls around. Here are 10 Christmas movies that will make your holiday season. Grab your hot-chocolate and let’s go.

10. Love Actually

If Love Actually was not on this list, something would be severely wrong. This holiday favourite is a must watch on my list. Since it’s release in 2003, there is something about the unique story pattern of the several characters that remains to be sweet, honest, loving and romantic. The classic cue card scene is Love Actually will always give me goosebumps.

9.  The Holiday

The Holiday remains one of those feel-good romantic comedies, that will leave you inspired and hopeful, even if you are suffering from a breakup during the Christmas season. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. Also – Jude Law, am I right ladies?

8.  The Santa Claus

I don’t recall how old I was when I first saw the Christmas movie. Released in 1994, this family comedy served up Tim Allen as an accidental replacement to Santa Claus. The Santa Claus is the first of a trilogy and gives a modern twist to a classic tale. It’s cute, cheesy, and just entertaining to watch. Apparently, our editor watched all three movies in one day!

 

7. Bad Santa

Bad Santa is definitely not your classic family-friendly film, but it will leave you laughing all the way through. Santa is unlike anything you expect and proves that the holiday season isn’t for everyone !

6. Elf

This 2003 light-hearted comedy tells the story of Buddy, played by Will Farrell, who as a human,grew up in the North Pole amongst Santa’s elves. However, he always feels like he doesn’t fit in, so he travels to New York in search of his real family. This movie provides lots of fantasy, laughs, fun, and a touch of romance.

5. Family Man

This is one that I always end up watching during the holidays. Released in 2000, this romantic comedy, explores thephrase, “be careful what you wish for”! It’s a reflection of the choices we make in life and how it impacts our future. It definitely causes you to reflect during this holiday season and be thankful for your family.

4. La La Land

While technically not a christmas movie, it was released during the holidays of 2016 and starts with an opening winter scene in balmy LA. This musical/romance flick starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone is whimsical, dramatic, and will leaving you dancing amongst the stars. Its a reflection of life, love and how our careers can inevitably take over our lives.

 

3. Serendipity

Serendipity is one of those moves that will always leave you hopeful and touched. This romantic comedy sticks true to its name. It revolves around events that happen by chance that result in a happy or magical situation. It taught me that what is meant to be will be. Love finds a way.

2.  Home Alone

Home Alone is without a doubt a holiday classic. Many people feel like it’s not Christmas time unless Home alone is on television.  Home Alone and the subsequent movies to follow in the franchise always provide fun entertainment for the family. The message is always the same: no matter how much you fight with your family and friends, nobody wants to be alone at Christmas.

The Polar Express

This 2004, 3D animated film transports us on a magical and inspiring adventure based on the children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg. Viewers are invited along for ann adventure on a magical train ride to the North Pole. This movie heightens the sense of imagination and self-discovery, especially for children.

Hope you enjoyed this list of Christmas movies? While many classics like Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, and A Christmas Story were omitted, that doesn’t mean you can’t fit them into your viewing schedule.

Happy Watching and Happy Holidays. Comment your favourite movie below!

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Health & Fitness

Try running gadget-less once a week

I was preparing for my usual morning run when I felt something was missing. I glanced at the broken watch on my bathroom counter before perusing the lily white stripe on my otherwise tanned left wrist, and I wondered whether or not to run without a watch or any gadget device. The watch was as much a part of my gear as shoes, shorts, and cap, especially now in this techno-driven world in which we reside. Without a watch or a Fitbit tracking device to keep tabs of my time seemed so untrendy.

I was so programmed to run with a watch or GPS that the notion of running watch-less had never occurred to me. How would I know how well (or how poorly) I was running? You can’t go from ‘A’ to ‘B’ without knowing how long it took to get there – or can you?

Under a clutter of fridge magnets is where I chart my daily workouts. With the evidence in black and white I noticed my times have improved. Sometimes it would take weeks for my times to improve significantly. Other times I might as well have been stuck in quicksand because the speed wasn’t happening. Always there was my ticking timer to tell the terrific (or terrible) truth.

On this day, however, I realized the sudden demise of my watch could be a positive thing. It just might alleviate a lot of pressure that had been building, allowing me to run more relaxed and in control, subsequently making the entire running experience more enjoyable. This is not to say you should never run without a watch — indeed, I look forward to getting a new one — but I won’t wear it every day.

My planned workout was going to be a fartlek session, which was always done with the aid of a watch. Fartlek is Swedish for ‘speed play.’ For the uninitiated, it means sprinting and jogging for various periods of time with various periods of rest following up. For example, you might sprint almost full out for 60 seconds, followed by 20 seconds of rest before sprinting for 90 seconds followed by 40 seconds of rest. It can be done on road or trail and has been accepted world wide as an important training tool.

I thought to myself, this would be mentally challenging doing a fartlek session watchless. I would run to the next tree or pole and estimate my time of rest between each hard effort. As I got into a rhythm, my running time wasn’t a factor in this workout now. It was just the trail and me running at my best.

After a 10 min warm-up, I worked out for approximately 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute cool down. My familiarity of the route certainly helped in estimating the sprint and rest times. Without a watch I had to listen more to my body, which meant needing to concentrate on my breathing and overall running effort.

Feeling a sense of exhilaration as the pressures of time disappeared allowed me to relax and just enjoy the moment. Turning the last corner to home I thought of my broken watch and how much I had relied on it to get through my workouts. I didn’t really miss it on that day after all. Now, I have a new training goal —to run without a watch once a week and to rely more on listening to my body instead.

Essentially, what I learned from running watch-less is I can still perform well without knowing exactly how fast or slow I’m running. Next, I might run shoeless, but only on manicured grass and only in good weather conditions. A long sandy beach might be perfect!

 

www.runwithit.ca

Twitter: @christineruns

Run With It YouTube Channel – Run With It

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Gay Post

Too far? Drag queens make fun of mentally ill Amanda Bynes in new Blurred Lines parody

Warning: This video features some seriously sexy men in some seriously tight underwear. 

While these girls have a history of making fun of current events with their covers of popular songs have they gone too far this time by making fun of mentally ill Amanda Bynes?

The video, a cover of the already questionable summer hit Blurred Lines, features references to the former child star’s meltdown, Twitter rampages, and arrest that led to her psychiatric evaluation along with images of the three drag queens in straight jackets and suggestions that the actress has been abusing drugs.

What do you think, has this comedy trio gone too far by picking on someone suffering from mental illness?

 

You can follow Travis on Twitter at @TravMyers.

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