Christmas in the Congo

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 18, 2008 - Comments (0)
Category: Holidays, Music, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1950s

Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas)

Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 17, 2008 - Comments (5)
Category: Holidays, Inebriation and Intoxicants, Music, Regionalism, Children, Husbands, 1970s

Cow Festival in Switzerland

Each year the cows of Switzerland get to wear pretty hats.

Read all about the tradition here, then watch a few seconds of video.


Cow Festival in Mels from jillnachtman on Vimeo.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Dec 14, 2008 - Comments (0)
Category: Fashion, Holidays, Parades and Festivals, Foreign Customs, Cows, Europe

The Slutcracker

Because nothing summons up that warm old-fashioned holiday feeling like amateur strippers.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 09, 2008 - Comments (6)
Category: Entertainment, Holidays, Sexuality

Santa Claus is Dead

Hate to break the news to everyone, but Santa Claus died on December 23, 1985 of congestive heart failure. Santa was born in 1927 with the name Leroy Scholtz. He grew up to become the most dedicated mall Santa of all time. He liked the job so much that in 1980 he legally changed his name to Santa C. Claus. FindaDeath.com has a copy of his 1985 death certificate.

Rudolph the Reindeer is also dead. He died of shock in 2005 when two F-16s from the Danish Air Force flew overhead. I assure you, this is a true story.

Along similar lines, I like this 1993 headline from the Dallas Morning News: "Funeral home inviting kids to come visit Santa." The article explains that the funeral home director, Dan Hiett, came up with the idea of inviting kids to sit on Santa's lap in the foyer of the funeral home because "Not every child has the opportunity to go to the mall."

Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 09, 2008 - Comments (7)
Category: Death, Holidays

A Day of Thanksgiving

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 26, 2008 - Comments (1)
Category: Family, Food, Holidays, Money, Documentaries, 1950s

Christmas on Mars

Is there a better "mainstream" weird band than the Flaming Lips? Possibly not. And surely their long-awaited feature film Christmas on Mars will be excessively weird as well.

Here's the trailer. Despite the allusion therein to a 2003 release, the delayed film has not yet appeared, although it will have a showing this Halloween in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 26, 2008 - Comments (0)
Category: Holidays, Movies, Music, Performance Art, Surrealism

Pumpkin Drop

The incredible Sandy Pearlman delivers us this gem.

Happy Halloween!

Posted By: Paul - Sat Oct 25, 2008 - Comments (0)
Category: Agriculture, Customs, Destruction, Holidays, Cars

Monster Mini Golf

As we all realize, Halloween has become an incredibly inflated holiday over the past few decades. But claims that spending for the holiday rank just behind Xmas are bogus, as we learn in this Snopes article. Nonetheless, strange and unlikely exploitations of Halloween continue to erupt.

How about Monster Mini Golf?

Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 02, 2008 - Comments (8)
Category: Business, Holidays, Horror, Sports, Golf

Follies of the Mad Men #29

[From Life magazine for April 12 1954.]

Chick Chick and Presto Rabbit are the stuff of nightmares! Any child would surely run screaming from these hideous mascots. Note that the company that makes these kits is "Fred Fear"!!!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 22, 2008 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Business, Advertising, Holidays, 1950s