Most Christmas movies reek of sweetness and kindness – and are terrible morale fantasies. I despise such brain sugar.
Sure Trading Places is also fiction – but it is a moral fable with a nasty sting and big bowl of satire. It illustrates many nasty aspects of real life: poverty, injustice and arbitrariness …
But it conquers these obstacles with wit and brains – and not stupid trust in the kindness of people.
No I don’t celebrate "Weihnachten" nor do I care about the religion or consumerism behind it. But I like the Winter Solstice – good to know that the sun is reborn (and not the Son is Born).
But it is a great time to be charitable and reflect on your own fortunes. If you can read this you …
So you are pretty rich compared to billions of other less fortunate fellow humans.
No need to fake humility or consternation – enjoy and celebrate that you are so lucky and that you can indulge so many luxuries of life!
Christmas is the annual apex of Consumerism all over the world. Countries like China celebrate it like mad just as so called Christian nations.
For many Companies this shopping festival is the most important date – they make 50 or more percent of their sales during these days.
We certainly could cut down on consumerism (and many stupid presents we buy and travels we make during the silly season).
But consumers won’t like a new austerity and so the waste will rage on …
Who do we like to eat saints? Is that a weird leftover from the holy communion or simply greedy consumerism?
Everyone has his / her own Christmas movie they like to indulge to get that "happy family feeling".
Strangely Tim Burton’s "Nightmare before Christmas" touches that very nerve perfectly for me: it’s silly, it’s emotional and very funny.
And mixing Halloween and Christmas somehow expresses perfectly our modern approach to the whole affair for me …
But it’s not just the movie that’s so great – it’s soundtrack is brilliant too and feature many great songs from Maestro Danny Elfman:
Click player below to start the great Overture:
Click player below to start Jack singing "What’s this?":
So if you haven’t seen the movie yet – get it on your Christmas list.
Christmas – like so many festivals – is a clone of the winter solstice celebrations.
The winter solstice is an important moment for any primitive agricultural society: the days get longer and spring isn’t far off. It also is an important date, it helps you to figure out when to till your fields and start sowing your seeds – especially when you have no clocks and internet.
So celebrating the winter solstice is important and it’s no surprise why people stuffed themselves with yummy food (if it was available). Those yummy and calorie rich treats also are meant to help you to master the rest of the winter.
But today we hardly suffer from no food in harsh and long winters. You can even have typical European summer fruits like Strawberries and exotic bananas all year round.
There is hardly any hunger or scarceness these days in rich countries. We consume HUGE amounts of sugar and other treats all year long.
So why not go sugar & treat free until Christmas to REALLY get into the spirit and celebrating that day by eating something you don’t have EVERY day?
I bought my first Lebkuchen in early September – so the Silly Season officially started in late summer this year.
Have you bought your Christmas presents yet?
Be a good consumer and shop for Jesus!
Just because you bring me presents doesn’t mean I like to be touched by you – creepy old man.
How cares about the religious aspects of Christmas anymore? It’s mostly about the family and gathering together. For most families it’s the only time of the year when they come together and try to be a happy genetic pool.
But Christmas is usually about embarrassment. Each family has a huge selection of tales to tell what went wrong on such occasions. Drunken uncles, trees on fire, kids swallowing toys, etc.
Happy Embarrassment everybody!
This is why: Christmas at the beach – you bastards!
All my life I have been freezing my butt off waiting for Santa, while you lot enjoy yourselves at the beach.
It’s not fair.
Hope it will be a happy feast for the sharks.