The Stuff

12) The Krampus visits the Venture Brothers (YouTube). The Krampus is a demon like creature that once traveled with Santa Claus doling out punishments to naughty children. He needs to make a comeback.

From WikiPedia:

The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine region the Krampus is represented by an incubus in company of St Nicholas. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December and particularly in the evening of December 5 and roam the streets frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas also slight birching especially of young females by the Krampus is part of tradition.

The present day Krampus costume consists of red wooden masks or Larve, black sheep’s skin and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, as many younger adults in rural communities engage competitively in the Krampus events.

11) A Krampus parade in Austria (YouTube):

10) A Krampus celebration (YouTube). Freaking awesome.

9) Yo yo yo - 1-900-909-RAPS - Santa is Gangster (YouTube). “Back in the day”, in a time before the interweb, 1-900 numbers offered children and adults alike a chance to run up $1000 phone bills by exploiting their primordial urges. Nothing says Christmas to small children like rapping, criminal Santas; what child wouldn’t be enticed by this commercial:

8) Santa’s 1-900 Number (YouTube). Here’s another one without the urban flava:

7) 1-976-SANTA?? (YouTube)

6) Home Alone in 5 Seconds (YouTube). Home Alone is one of the better Christmas-themed movies. Who doesn’t love a little slap-shtick violence in context of celebrating the birth of the “Prince of Peace”? We’ve all seen this film enough times that is isn’t as funny as it once was, but leave it to the 5 Seconds guy to make this quick and hilarious edit:

5) Raging Rudolph (YouTube). Mad TV’s parody of The Year Without a Santa Claus… and the Godfather.

4) Christmas In Hollis - Run-D.M.C. (YouTube). The first rap Christmas song? The most famous one for sure.

3) Aquateen Hunger Force Christmas (Adult Swim). The make the most of what little they have.

2) Musashi’s Xmas song (YouTube). Cats singing Christmas songs. This is to neutralize the impact of the next video.

1) Mr Hankey the Cristmas Poo! (YouTube).

Here’s a video of the Pogues classic Christmas song Fairytale of New York:

The scariest Santa Claus ever (video):

Papa Lazarou from the British Comedy League of Gentlemen.

If you’re looking for free Xmas music to listen to on your computer, you can try some of these resources: soma fm has 2 Xmas channels of streaming music going, and Fa la la la la is probably the most interesting source of Christmas music on the web.

Looking for tacky Christmas light displays? I know my camera and I are. Try Tacky Light Tour for the best and most tacky Christmas light displays. And we wonder why U.S. power plants need so much coal that they’re removing entire mountains in Kentucky just to get the coal.

(more…)

Those of you that remember “Seinfeld”, Larry David’s other TV show, may remember the episode where George’s father, fed up with available holiday celebrations, created his own holiday called Festivus. Instead of a tree or Menorah, you celebrate around a Festivus pole. Now you can buy a a Festivus pole online. They are “100% Aluminum, Manufactured in Milwaukee:A City Known For Its Very High Strength-to-Weight Ratio”.

Thanks to Pat Lambe for the link.