ITEM #1: I now feel completely ready for the holiday season. No, there are no decorations on my house. No, the shopping isn’t done. No, I didn’t bake or cook anything. None of that.

I watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV. Now I’m ready.

There’s something about watching these venerable classics on television when they actually air each year, knowing you’re sharing that experience with so many other viewers – some of them old fans that can’t imagine the season without them, and some of them newcomers that are discovering the joys of a simple little animated model reindeer or a kid with a tiny tree for the very first time. And like me, many of you probably even have both of these shows on DVD or at least video tape. Yet we still tune in when they’re broadcast on the networks, because it just feels right.

Pop culture not only reflects what we think and feel, it unites us too. It brings us all together and reminds us about what we value, what we cherish, what we hope. When we’re all sitting in front of our televisions on a cold night in December watching Rudolph discover his true inner worth or Linus helping his best friend to understand really matters, we’re all the same. We’re all celebrating the one time of year when we try our best to look past differences, to see each other as equals and share the joy of the season.

Sometimes that isn’t easy, but even something as simple as a couple annual thirty-minute animated specials can help to break down those boundaries. That’s why we’re all still watching them decades after they first debuted, and that’s why our children will be watching them decades from now.

And that’s what pop culture is all about, Charlie Brown.

ITEM #2: In addition to our current Special Edition exhibit, Yellow Bricks & Emerald Cities (more on that later in this column), we have a pair of Sleepy Sensations in our third floor gallery space. First, see the original artwork from Bo Hampton’s 1993 graphic novel adaptation of the classic literary chiller, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The exhibit also features background artwork from Disney’s family favorite, Sleeping Beauty. But please be sure that you stay awake and get to GEM in order to see it all!

ITEM #3: Yellow Bricks & Emerald Cities – Our Special Edition Exhibit
In 1900, children of all ages were first introduced to a wonderful land of imagination and adventure known as Oz. Written by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz told the tale of farm girl Dorothy Gale and her magical journey to another world populated by fanciful friends and foes like the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Geppi’s EntertainmentMuseum celebrates the legacy of Baum’s work and its incredible impact on generations of children through a special exhibition that showcases first editions of the first 40 Oz books on loan to the museum from local collector Fred Trust, as well as other memorabilia. The original art wall graphics and cutout figures for the exhibit were produced by the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Oz Project Team: Crisanto Cimatu, Michael Clayton, Maggie Cerveny, Tiffany Nguyen, Elly Kim and Cody Griffith, all seniors in the Illustration Program at MICA. The Team was lead by MICA’s Chair of Illustration, Whitney Sherman, who acted as creative consultant and art director.

Yellow Bricks & Emerald Cities is open through January 2010.

Don’t forget to visit Geppi’s EntertainmentMuseum online at www.geppismuseum.com or in person at 301 W. Camden Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. Our phone is (410) 625-7060.