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https://thenerdsofcolor.org/2019/12/25/happy-holidays-from-the-noc-and-the-birds-of-prey/
Recently, the cast of the upcoming Birds of Prey movie — including Ella Jay Basco, Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Rosie Perez — recorded a special holiday greeting exclusively for The Nerds of Color. Check it out below and have a Happy Holiday season: Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of […]
Winter is finally here, which means it’s time to grab some hot chocolate, curl up on the couch, and watch some Christmas TV episodes. Whether you’re on “Santa patrol,” or taking a much-needed breather from gift shopping, there are so many shows that will get you in the holiday spirit.
From Arrested Development to Neo Yokio, popular TV shows take Christmas up a notch. While you’re vegging out and taking shelter from the cold, there are awkward family dinners, gingerbread house competitions, and magical surprises worthy of your binge-watching lineup. Here are the best Christmas TV episodes on Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix that you can stream right now.
“Ludachristmas,” 30 Rock (Season 2)
“Ludachristmas” (Photo Credit: NBC)
TGS’ cast and writers are preparing for their annual holiday party, but not everyone’s cool with it. In 30 Rock’s episode, “Ludachristmas,” TGS workers explore the true meaning of Christmas, discover that everyone’s been a bit “naughty,” and almost take down a huge Christmas tree outside their office.
“Pink Christmas,” Neo Yokio
“Pink Christmas” (Photo Credit: Netflix)
Christmas finally hits Neo Yokio, a luxurious and bustling city. In Neo Yokio: Pink Christmas, Kaz struggles with demons, Secret Santa, and what the holidays might have in store for him.
“Christmas Waltz,” Mad Men (Season 5)
“Christmas Waltz” (Photo Credit: AMC)
Your favorite group of advertisers is back in the Mad Men episode, “Christmas Waltz.” Each character confronts different materialism conflicts during the holiday season: Paul Kinsey leaves his career and Lane Pryce is caught up in a tax dilemma that could send him to jail.
“Last Gingerbread House on the Left,” Bob’s Burgers (Season 7)
“Last Gingerbread House on the Left” (Photo Credit: FOX)
The Belcher gang takes on Christmas festivities in the Bob’s Burgers episode, “Last Gingerbread House on the Left.” Mr. Fischoeder and Bob Belcher have the ultimate gingerbread house competition, while Linda, Tina, Gene, and Louise attempt to belt out some carols.
“A Christmas Carol,” Doctor Who (Season 6)
“A Christmas Carol” (Photo Credit: BBC)
Amy and Rory get trapped on a troubled space liner, and the Doctor has to save the soul of a grumpy old man to prevent a fatal accident in the Doctor Who episode, “A Christmas Carol.” Oh, and did we mention that Christmas Eve weather could be a bit creepy?
“Afternoon Delight,” Arrested Development (Season 2)
“Afternoon Delight” (Photo Credit: FOX)
Gob decides to fire his entire staff after getting mocked at a holiday party, leaving Michael to creatively come up with a strategy to rehire employees following the ill-fated Christmas celebration. Arrested Development’s episode, “Afternoon Delight,” will leave you feeling nostalgic about the ’00s again.
For more streaming coverage, check out our sister sites, PCMag, Mashable, and AskMen. More on Geek.com:
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Hello and welcome to Christmas Eve, the penultimate Christmas! It’s also the third night of Hanukkah—in general, a day of festivities. Many of us have developed weird (and sometimes wonderful) annual traditions that go hand-in-hand with the holidays (or had them foisted upon us by family and friends). Let’s talk about some of the strange things we get up to.
When you think about it, most of the things we do around the holidays would look utterly bizarre to an outside observer. Decorate a dead tree? Tell children an all-powerful, all-seeing man is bringing them presents, and requires cookies? Light candles to commemorate the Maccabee revolt of 167 BC, and eat some foil-covered chocolate for good measure? Nothing about the holidays makes much sense! But those traditions are long-ingrained, filtered down through the years from disparate cultures, and seem normal. Less so are some of the lesser traditions that have sprung up, and those that we have made for ourselves.
In polling The Mary Sue staff, it was our Jess Mason who took the cake—or, in this instance, the pickle. Jess told us about her family’s tradition of “the Christmas pickle,” sometimes known as “Weihnachtsgurke,” which in the always delightfully literal German means, you guessed it, “Christmaspickle.”
“CHRISTMAS PICKLE???” I typed back in excitement. “DO GO ON.”
The tradition involves hiding a glass ornament shaped like a pickle in the branches of the Christmas tree. Whoever finds it first Christmas morning then receives an extra present or is “said to have a year of good fortune.”
According to Wikipedia, “This tradition is commonly believed by Americans to come from Germany and be referred to as a Weihnachtsgurke, but this is probably apocryphal. In fact, the tradition is completely unknown in Germany. It has been suggested that the origin of the Christmas pickle may have been developed for marketing purposes in the 1890s to coincide with the importation of glass Christmas tree decorations from Germany. Woolworths was the first company to import these types of decorations into the United States in 1890, and glass blown decorative vegetables were imported from France from 1892 onwards. Despite the evidence showing that the tradition did not originate in Germany, the concept of Christmas pickles has since been imported from the United States and they are now on sale in the country traditionally associated with it.”
Alas, it looks as though the Christmas Pickle, like many of our latter-day Christmas traditions, was likely invented by jolly old St. Capitalism. But don’t worry, kids! It could always be worse:
“Another origin which comes from Berrien Springs is a Victorian era tale of St. Nicholas saving two Spanish children who were trapped in a barrel of pickles by an innkeeper, which actually derives from a much more gruesome medieval legend involving a cannibalistic butcher butchering and storing a group of boys in a barrel and St. Nicholas miraculously restoring and resurrecting them.”
Let your days be merry and bright, and don’t forget to tell the kids today about the butchered children St. Nick brings back to life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go see a man about a glass pickle.
What’s the weirdest thing you do without fail on the holidays?
(image: Wikimedia Commons)
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Peter Gene Hernandez is professionally known as “Bruno Mars” is a popular singer from Hawaii who has been topping the charts the last several years as he was once signed to the legendary Motown Records. After being dropped by the label, Mars signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 2009 and hasn’t looked back since!
Mars amassed his fortune through the combination of producing for others such as Adam Levine, Brandy, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida as well as for himself with his former production team, The Smeezingtons (Mars, Ari Levine, and Philip Lawrence). They found instant success with Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. aka B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ on You”, and Goodie Mob’s former rapper turned singer Thomas DeCarlo Callaway aka CeeLo Green with his hit single “F*** You.”
Mars also found immediate success with his Atlantic Records’ debut single, ‘Just The Way You Are’ from his album ‘Doo-Wops & Hooligans’ as the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Another song, “Grenade”, also topped the charts. Meanwhile, his second album, released in 2012, ‘Unorthodox Jukebox’ contained the single, ‘Locked Out of Heaven’ and it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for over six weeks in 20 countries.
The Hawaiian singer has invested in the NJOY Electronic Cigarette Company, helped launched the “Selvarey Rum” brand, was endorsed by Pepsi and invested in Chromatik. Mars started the Bruno Mars Scholarship Fund with the Hawaii Community Foundation, to help kids from Hawaii with tuition fees.
Mars has sold over 130 million records worldwide, which makes him one of the best selling artists of all time. He constantly stays on the road performing as Billboard named the singer’s tour the fourth highest-grossing of 2018, tallying more than $237 million for 100 shows. Earlier this year, Mars announced that he would venture to Sin City to play series of select dates at the Park MGM in Las Vegas.