Tonight is this year’s U.S. airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas on ABC. That makes it a good day to watch TV, of course, but it also makes it a good day for me to talk about some upcoming releases: two more animated Peanuts DVDs. Now, the movies are finally getting the DVD treatment. Coming out in March will be Snoopy Come Home and A Boy Named Charlie Brown (that’s the spelling bee movie). No word yet on any special features.

If you’re enjoying the anticipation of David Michaelis’s upcoming biography of Schulz, then congratulations – you get to enjoy it a mite longer! The book, which had been targetted for 2006, has now been shifted to a 2007 release (probably the latter half of the year.) They’re really putting in the effort on this one, folks!

The latest addition to the AAUGH.com reference library is Snoopy’s Gourmet Guide, issued by Hallmark in 1967. Like Snoopy’s Daily Dozen (which I discussed here, this is done in a flip chart style, with each oversized (10″x15″, roughly) page having a larger Peanuts single-panel gag at top and a small recipe at the bottom. There are a dozen pages. And hey, there were a dozen pages in Snoopy’s Daily Dozen. And with the odd bound-at-the-top, designed-to-be-hung-on-the-wall format… you think they just took advantage of their calander printing set-up to turn these things out? Maybe? Huh? Maybe?

Unlike the Dozens volume, this doesn’t have new art. It has recycled art from the strips, reusing gags and relettering them (not to change the gags, just to fit the format.) Some of the same art is recycled in the prose-and-picture book Suppertime.

The recipes are chosen to go along with the gags, although sometimes that makes for strange recipes. Yes, the panel with Charlie Brown talking about how, when you’re really lonely, the peanut butter from your sandwich sticks to the roof of your mouth is already undercut by the fact that Snoopy has been added to the panel, making CB less obviously lonely. But it’s undercut further when they give you a recipe for a peanut butter, bacon, pickle, and mayonnaise sandwich. No, I’m not making that up. Really, when searching for a recipe book, your first question should be “does this have a recipe for a peanut butter, bacon, pickle, and mayonnaise sandwich”, and if it does, you should look elsewhere. My stomach is shuddering at the very thought of this.

Well, that’s all the news for now. Do let me suggest that if you’re considering ordering some items through AAUGH.com for Christmas or Hannukah, go do so now. The sooner you order, the more likely you can use the Free Shipping option and still have your package arrive by Christmas or Hannukah.

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