Boris Karloff and Jim Dale

(From a newsday.com blog) Will anyone ever forget this green color of the Grinch, it's perfect!

Two amazing storytellers. Last night I had the distinct privilege of hearing both of these men narrate two shows. The first was a classic, it was Boris Karloff in none other than Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the second was Jim Dale in a new one which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was called Pushing Daisies. Meg and I of course love Jim Dale because he told the Harry Potter stories to us in on our car trips. If anyone hasn't read Harry Potter yet please listen to it from Jim Dale on CD, you can get it from any half way decent library system.

Let me just say that there is really something to be said about skillful story-telling. It is definitely a lost art these days. All the movies, TV shows, and various forms of entertainment have stamped out our ability to tell good stories to each other. My dad is a really good joke-teller and I think if he tried he'd be really good at stories too. In my opinion, the key to doing it well is knowing what to emphasize. The Grinch, first of all is an amazingly illustrated story of redemption without the movie, but think of how much Boris Karloff adds to that little 26 minute movie. As Meg and I were watching it last night we couldn't help but revel and laugh in how good the narration was.

And Pushing Daisies was a quirking, fast-moving, artsy sitcom that is about this guy who can resurrect the dead with one touch, but kill them with two. It sounds weird and it is, but I really liked it. It's kind of a love story, detective show, comedy, and intelligent take on the world all rolled into one. My favorite line of the show last night was when the blunt detective was about to arrest a suspected murderer and he and his sidekicks were debating how this guy might have interpreted what he did, and the detective said, "The truth isn't like a bunch of little puppies that all look the same and you pick your favorite one. There's one truth and it's knocking at the door."

Anyway, I just thought I'd put these modern day bards out there for y'all to know about. Have a good day.