Tomorrow, those who celebrate #Festivus will engage in the "airing of grievances", otherwise known as "what Twitter does every day".
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) December 23, 2014
A festival for the rest of us! (and forever appropriate here on Balloon Juice). Per Wikipedia:
… In 2010, a CNN story featuring Jerry Stiller detailed the increasing popularity of the holiday, including US Representative Eric Cantor’s Festivus fundraiser, and the Christian Science Monitor reported that Festivus was a top trend on Twitter that year. In 2012, Google introduced a custom search result for the term “Festivus”. In addition to the normal results an unadorned aluminum pole was displayed running down the side of the list of search results and “A Festivus Miracle!” prefixes the results count and speed.
In 2012, a Festivus Pole was erected on city property in Deerfield Beach, Florida, alongside Christian religious holiday displays.[22] A similar Festivus Pole was displayed next to religious displays in the Wisconsin State Capitol, along with a banner provided by the Freedom From Religion Foundation advocating for the separation of government and religion.
In 2013, a Festivus Pole constructed with 6 feet (1.8 m) of beer cans was erected next to a nativity scene and other religious holiday displays in the Florida State Capitol Building…
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Apart from the Airing of Grievances, what’s on the agenda for the day?
.
And now it's time for the airing of grievances
#festivus pic.twitter.com/48bqPKmV8z
— Warren Whitlock (@WarrenWhitlock) December 23, 2014
raven
I keep looking at the weather channel forecast and it keeps not changing.
Mustang Bobby
I was awakened by distant angry shouting from one of the houses across the waterway from my backyard at 3:30 a.m. I guess my neighbors are starting Festivus as soon as they can.
raven
@Mustang Bobby: It might have been spillover from the brawl in the Miami Bowl yesterday.
satby
@@Mustang Bobby: oh, so that’s what woke me up! Pretty loud for me to be able to hear them all the way up here!
RedDirtGirl
I’ve got a 10-hour drive to Maine to look forward to…. But then I’m in Maine!
OzarkHillbilly
Heading back to STL again today. Had lunch yesterday with my niece who is in town from Japan, so that was an unexpected pleasure. Figure to have lunch with a long time buddy of mine today. I am sure there will be more than a little airing of grievances then. Taking tomorrow off so I can make the poteca. Between baby girl and son, wife and stuff, I never had a chance over the wkend, but tomorrow I will have the house to myself.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I had hoped to drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow but it looks like that won’t be the best route.
Mustang Bobby
@raven: And I thought those nice Mormon boys would be so well-behaved. Oh my goodness.
raven
@Mustang Bobby: The d-back from BYU that threw the incredible cheap shot looks to be Polynesian. My niece went to school in LA with a heavy Polynesian population and they can be a rough bunch.
AxelFoley
@Mustang Bobby:
At first, I thought you were gonna say, “As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.”
raven
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Plenty of rain, that’s for sure. Sucks. Probably have a low cloud ceiling too.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: And big sections are closed.
NotMax
Walt Kelly’s Pogo time. As per the Okefenokee Glee and Perloo Union Choir:
Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!
And a little Calvin spirit.
raven
How much damn money have they spent on these ads for “Unbroken”??? I was a bit interested but they have just about killed it for me.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Well, that definitely makes it not the best route. Have sections washed out?
Schlemazel
@raven:
This whole “sports as advertising for the school” thing has really gotten out of hand. I know it is used to bleed money out of alums but the whole things is moving to beyond ridiculous with the lengths schools are going to to compete. Ones of those lengths is making the games life-or-death statements of superiority. The surprising thing is that this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Sport is should be about producing a healthy, well rounded person, mens sana in corpore sano, but is just the opposite, mens contritum in corpus contritum. FOrgive the grammar I was going for alliteration.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Ice.
raven
@Schlemazel: “sports as advertising for the religion”
NotMax
@raven
Comin’ down in bucketsful here and expected to continue, with minor respites, through Thursday. Merchants must be royally p.o.’d.
Sounded like a phalanx of AT-AT walkers riverdancing on the metal roof earlier.
raven
@NotMax: No fishin today!
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Hmpp. Looking at NOAA (Woolwine VA) they show highs in the mid 40s today and tomorrow for those areas. Their forecasts are location specific tho and around there, being off by a few miles can mean being off by a thousand feet or more of elevation too. Again, sucks.
EconWatcher
I don’t really like Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David (Jerry Stiller seems like a great guy), but somehow that combination really made magic. I doubt we’ll ever see a comedy that clever again.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: The Real-time Road Closures map is good.
Sherparick
@NotMax: I always liked the first verse:
Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!
Nora’s freezin’ on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!
Don’t we know archaic barrel
Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don’t love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!
Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker ‘n’ too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloupe, ‘lope with you!
Hunky Dory’s pop is lolly,
Gaggin’ on the wagon, Willy, folly go through!
Chollie’s collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarm bung-a-loo!
Dunk us all in bowls of barley,
Hinky dinky dink an’ polly voo!
Chilly Filly’s name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly’s jolly chilly view halloo!
Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!
Schlemazel
@raven:
Well of course that goes on top of the school – “touchdown Jesus” and all.
I got myself in trouble with a boss at a job years ago when during a department meeting he went on about God planning a Notre Dame win the coming Saturday. I had to pipe up, “Well maybe if he care more about the world than Notre Dame football we wouldn’t be such a mess”
THIS SATURDAY ONLY SMU VS. ND TO DETERMINE THE ONE TRUE RELIGION! BE THERE!!
JPL
@raven: This morning is just wet but tomorrow morning when I want to shop for some fresh fish, I might need a boat.
Raven
@JPL: I’m wondering if we’ll be better off not leaving at dawn.
JPL
Another day of food prep and trying to decide what to do with the company. My grievance is, if I fall asleep on the sofa while watching a movie, don’t poke me.. bah humbug
JPL
@Raven: Initially, it was suppose to end tomorrow morning, but it appears not.
Be safe no matter what u decide.
Raven
@JPL: I roasted a turkey Sunday, cleaned it, browned the bones and made the stock last night. Gotta make a big batch of gumbo to take up for Xmas.
Raven
@JPL: Yea, we are in no hurry. Xmas dinner at the hotel Roanoke and the family gig is Friday during the Illini bowl game!
Tommy
@Raven: Can I come over to your house.
Raven
@Tommy: You can but we’ll be in Blacksburg!
NotMax
@Raven
Was gonna go with leg of lamb but now leaning to splurging, breaking the bank by cooking a prime rib roast, using the residual heat method.
In years past, recall the roasts being marked down late on Xmas Eve.
Baud
@Raven:
What do you do with the dog?
Iowa Old Lady
I’m making brown-sugar coated pecans today as a present for Mr IOL.
I gather there was an actual brawl at a football game? Not just the game? Like when the Palins come to your birthday party?
GregB
Yeah, you had posted some of your gumbo recipe a few days ago and it made me want to make some.
Gonna be a green and moist Christmas up here in NH.
JPL
@NotMax: Two months ago the whole foods closed a store. I purchased a whole tenderloin at thirty percent off. It was the only nice thing about the store closure. We are going to have a roast for xmas.
Tommy
@Raven: I know that area well. Spent a lot of time in Virgina. Lived their much of my life there.
WereBear
@JPL: I found a 3 pound bacon package on sale. So that’s what we’re having this week!
Cervantes
@raven:
Yes, wishing and praying — that’s the ticket.
greennotGreen
I’m happy to have a holiday that stemmed from a sitcom, but I’m glad to see people here aren’t airing grievances. Dwelling on things that make us unhappy isn’t helpful or healthy, and almost everyone at Balloon-Juice has so much to be thankful for.
Besides, we already have a holiday for the airing of grievances; it’s called “Election Day.”
WereBear
I adore Festivus, and my cat tweets today are about how they air their grievances.
We have a small aluminum pole for our apartment, and I will wear my holiday sweatshirt celebrating HP Lovecraft. (That’s just a bonus I found on Woot.)
NotMax
Announcement just made by National Weather Service that up to 5 inches of rain have fallen here since late Monday afternoon (currently 3 a.m. here). And it’s still a-comin’ down.
Ferdzy
I’m just having a few quiet minutes before it’s time to cook-cook-cook and clean-clean-clean like a maniac. Tomorrow we are driving 8 hours with my incontinent elderly dad to visit his partner who is in the hospital – and has been since April – so we can have a cold picnic in the hospital patients rec room. Oh yeah, food must also be suitable for someone on a pureed diet. But festive! This is going to be a trick.
After that we come home and I cook a turkey on Christmas for the rest of us. On Friday Imma gonna sleeeeep.
The good news is that dad’s partner is finally ready to graduate to a nursing home, and he gets to go to dad’s nursing home under spousal reunification rules (i.e. he floats to the top of the list), the nursing home will have a space for him by early January it looks like, AND he is eligible for some program called “Once in a lifetime” that entitles you to 1 free air-ambulance transfer in your, er, lifetime, which will eliminate a long and rather painful, not to mention expensive, ambulance transfer.
So while I would not say that I am in a grievance-free zone, the sense of muffled panic I have felt for the last 8 months is starting to lift. Now I’m just hoping all this rain they are calling for while we drive does not end up being snow.
greennotGreen
@Ferdzy: “Spousal unification rules,” a bit of humanity brought to you by the civil rights struggle that’s still in progress, but I have faith that this moral arc is going to be a rainbow.
WereBear
@Ferdzy: Good news, then!
I loathe muffled panic.
debbie
@raven:
No matter how good the movie is, the book’s among the best non-fiction I’ve read. Considering she’s basically house-bound, the author’s writing is remarkably powerful.
MomSense
@Ferdzy:
That is truly good news that your Dad and his partner will be together.
Sherparick
@Schlemazel: Well, Northwestern already scored for the Presbyterians this year against my old school. Even as an ND alum, I find it hard Brian Kelly’s team, what with the rapists playing http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2012/12/04/why-i-wont-be-cheering-for-old-notre-dame/ and killing the intern in order to get some practice film, and in both cases blaming the victims, I am usually happy to see my old school lose. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/sports/ncaafootball/19irish.html?_r=0
Omnes Omnibus
Since this is a Festivus-related open thread, I will air my grievance. I get tired of people bitching about Christmas. I love the holiday. In my experience, it has more to do with generosity, giving, and good wishes than anything else – a lot of work can be involved, but at least this time it’s in a good cause. I enjoy seeing the look on someone’s face when s/he opens a gift that strikes a chord. I enjoy traditional carols. I love the sense of anticipation that still lingers even though I am no longer a child. Maybe I’ve seen too many versions of A Christmas Carol or watched the original cartoon version of the Grinch too often, but I enjoy Christmas and I could do without the bitching. TYVM.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I like receiving gifts.
ETA: And FTFY.
Phylllis
Thought I was going to get out of a 120-mile round trip to deliver some paperwork, but looks like no such luck. On the upside, I can grab the last of our needed goodies for tomorrow & Thursday at Publix, instead of at the local yokel ‘maybe they’ll have something resembling a good veggie and possibly some half-decent bubbly’ store here in tinytown.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Who are you and what have you done with Omnes?
;)
(couldn’t resist)
ThresherK
Tweaked my thumb, which lessens my already subpar rolling pin operation. I’m pretty adept in the kitchen, and wonder at what age should one stop trying to master or at least apprentice on devices that one has never had success with?
What I’m grateful for this season: The scale which allows me to weigh cookie dough for equal portioning / same donenessness, and all the pan-cookie recipe method adaptations people have created.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: I will just add that, for all the people who work their asses off to get ready for the holidays and are tired and cranky as a result, there are people out there who really appreciate the result. Happy holidays to everyone.
@Baud: That too.
@NotMax: If you take my oeuvre as a whole, you will find that I fundamentally believe in people’s capacity to be decent (eventually) and that I do think that the arc of history bends toward justice (albeit too slowly). Pro-Christmas rants are not an aberration.
Josie
Today I will be baking – toffee, lemon bars, and stollen – and making soaps, lotions and sugar scrubs as presents for my family and in-laws. I have very little money to buy presents, so most will get homemade goodies and stuff. I feel fortunate to have moved recently and to be able spend the holidays with my sons, wives, etc. and therefore just refuse to worry about the shortage of funds. A cold front just blew in, so the house is nice and chilly for turning on the stove and making the stollen, my favorite baked good for Christmas.
greennotGreen
@Josie: Oh, stollen! Can you post some here, please?
Josie
@greennotGreen: Lol. I wish I could serve some to everyone. We always have it on Christmas morning with coffee and/or milk. The smell of cardamom and fresh bread is so enticing.
WereBear
@Josie: I think homemade is wonderful.
Our own gift-giving is modest; a fun gift for the Yankee swap at work, something for the four other folks in our apartment house, depending on closeness, a group gift of goodies for my husband’s family, and the like. I hope to have the energy to put up lights on our double window, and that’s about it.
I agree with Omnes: Christmas is a lovely holiday, and one I do embrace. While I am against most forms of institutionalization, a Winter Solstice holiday based on love is frickin’ awesome.
Ferdzy
@greennotGreen:
Yeah, I have to say I’m impressed. I’m in Canada, so I was not expecting the kind of thing I hear about from the U.S. (sometimes) but we all live in conservative little podunk towns, so I was not sure how all this would go down when it started.
The worst reaction was a doctor (of plainly non-Canadian extraction) who stood there blinking for 15 seconds before he absorbed the situation and pulled himself together and was professional. So not that bad! Everyone else has ranged from briskly professional from the get-go (plainly their ordinary modus operandi) to the really sympathetic and helpful. I think it actually helps to stand out from the crowd a little! People go into these kinds of jobs because they are interested in helping people, but it helps to be interesting people, lol.
stinger
Got my calendar yesterday. Thanks to all who contributed photos! I wish the owners’ noms de net were included, because the only pets I actually recognize are on the July page. But they all look wonderful.
About the time the call for photos came out, my little Norwich Raven was dealing with lymphoma, and by the time I got a couple of new critters from the shelter, it was too late to submit. Next year y’all can meet Josie and Murray!
bemused
@Omnes Omnibus:
I agree this is what the holiday season means to me and being with family. However, many conservatives bitterly resent extending generosity and good will to others not exactly like them. I am beyond fed up with the years of their bitching over saying Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays which openly exposes their mean spiritedness and deep-seated aversion to the concept of sharing.
Even in this season of good wshes towards all, these self-identified “Christians” aren’t happy unless they are spoiling it for others. Pathetic.
Ruckus
@raven:
My weather isn’t changing either. But I get to exchange a drought for 80 today. Cold ride to work though, it’s 52 out at 7:30.
WereBear
@stinger: I hope my Mithrandir got in:
Here’s his pic.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Ferdzy:
You probably already thought of this, but a sweet potato or butternut squash soup would be nicely holiday-ish while still diet-appropriate. I think TaMara had a recipe on her blog (she’s the one AL re-posts as Thursday Recipe Exchange).
stinger
@WereBear: Beautiful boy! I seem to remember that shot, but there are a LOT of photos in the calendar, so I’ll have to check when I get home.
WereBear
@stinger: Thank you! Yes, he is magical. Nine months old now, and TWELVE pounds. We refer to him as the Giant Mutant Kitten.
Josie
@WereBear: That is one magnificent cat, and he is not yet full grown. I remember how appealing he was as a kitten. He has certainly lived up to his billing.
WereBear
@Josie: AND he’s a remarkable cuddle bunny, as well.
Mr WereBear is a good kitten picker.
Ferdzy
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini):
Thanks for the suggestion. I do have a plan; I’m going to make a very thick pureed tomato vegetable soup that I’ve always loved, plus a whole bunch of dips and soft creamy cheeses. The rest of us get crackers. He gets to eat his with a spoon. Maybe some kind of trifle for dessert. It’ll be okay! Just got back from shopping; Mr. Ferdzy talked me out of making about half of the dips and into buying versions of them. Thank you Mr. Ferdzy!
IdahoFlaneuse
@raven: I was so excited to read the book, until the last couple of chapters when …SPOILER… made it all better. I’m not interested in the movie at all.
Tehanu
Airing of grievances: why did Ben & Jerry’s stop making Festivus the ice cream? God, it was delicious. Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ice Cream with Gingerbread Cookies & a Ginger-Caramel Swirl. They claim they brought it back as “Gingersnap” but ….
Helen
redacted