To bring you the ultimate Christmas Episode, we need a fantastic quartet. Shear Terror and JonnyPistolShot join The Real Brian and Captain Influence to dig their fingers into the holiday spirit. No better way to wrap up 2018 and usher in the holiday season than to have these guys have a fun conversation about all our favorite things! So, do as Shear Terror suggests and: “Put on Onesie and give up on life for the winter.” (My onesie resembles a pizza.) Make yourself some hot cocoa, turn on the Christmas tree lights, and wrap some gifts while you listen!
Christmas means a lot of things to a lot of people. To some, it may mean nothing. But whether you observe Christmas or not, the world as a whole is bombarded by the same thing during the month of December... MUZIK. Yes, that's right. Can't walk into the grocery store this time of year without hearing Jingle Bell Rock. It's so strange to me how, in spite of the brilliant musicians and artists that grace each generation, no one can come up with more classics than we already have. Not unlike the conversation we had last week about instant classic Christmas movies!
Check this list out. It's not a comprehensive list, more an overview, but looking between 1942 and 2018... here are the most popular Christmas songs and their release dates. We've got Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, Elvis Presley, The Jackson Five, Mariah Carey represented here.
With a more extensive study I might be able to provide a more objective analysis of Christmas songs, but in my search for the most beloved Christmas-time songs it seems that as the decades pass, there are larger gaps between hits. I left out Wham!'s 1985 hit "Last Christmas" and Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" from 1971. And then I didn't even touch on songs like "O Holy Night", which actually was written in 1847, or "Silent Night" from way back in 1818!
Did you know "Christmastime Is Here" was written for A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965? And "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" was written in 1934? The more I look, the more I find. And yet, I still don't see anything as incredible as the songs on my list above written in the last 2 decades. There are good ones, ones that make you go, "Oh, yeah! I forgot about that one..." But nothing that is hoisted to the same caliber as White Christmas.
I mean, look at this list from the last decade:
I tried to include more, but I've literally never heard some of the Christmas singles released in the U.S. over the past 20 years. If you're interested, check out this wiki page.
What do you think this means? There's nothing new under the sun? Personally, I feel like modern music is more concerned with producing hits than producing quality music, so new singles sprout up and do well for a season... then become lost in the obscurity of the internet. Hmm.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to write companion blogs for The Real Brian Show. We're 143 episodes in to an adventure that is only just beginning. Though my time writing blogs on a consistent basis is coming to an end, you aren't getting rid of me so easily. I'll be back to co-host with Brian and Tony, and hopefully a lot of other amazing guests! Thanks for reading and I'm sure we'll meet again.
It's not goodbye, it's see you soon!
What do you get when you pack the Queen of Ice, a Real Brian and a Captain of Influence in the same podcast? The most random opening to an episode you will EVER hear. That is a promise. But we’ve got a lot to talk about together, including Netflix’s Christmas Chronicles… Tom Cavanagh… and the balance between encouragement and criticism.
Let's be honest... sometimes we just don't know what we're doing. And sometimes, instead of owning up to it, we pretend like we do know what we're doing. "Fake it until you make it" is a saying for a reason... sometimes by faking confidence or competence, those qualities can become a reality. I used to wield this tactic a lot, and in hindsight I think I recognize that I knew I was capable of doing something but just hadn't learned it yet. So whenever I pretended to know something, I would leave the situation and throw myself into learning it.
Faking it isn't always a bad thing, but it shouldn't be a replacement for gaining knowledge. With the right kind of optimism and motivation, we should never be content to fake it in lieu of learning!
In case I wasn't clear on the podcast, since we talked about a lot regarding this espresso shot, I do think encouragement is essential to growth. If we aren't given any clue as to whether we are are the right track, or praised when we do well, there is no motivation to continue doing that... nor to push ourselves harder.
In that same vein, I believe that when encouragement exists entirely without criticism, arrogance and egoism prevent us from seeing other perspectives. It is difficult, in any situation, to see things outside the scope of what we know... but when we close ourselves off to feedback, especially when that feedback can be hard to hear, we make our circle of perception even smaller. Criticism can make us stronger, but it takes practice. It's something we both have to open ourselves up to and receive enough of before its true benefits can start to take effect.
I focused more on balance in the discussion, rather on the benefits of encouragement, but I do think encouragement is important! In fact, one of the habits I've come to adopt in my own practices of providing feedback is to always begin with the positives of my analysis or assessment. What was good? What worked? What did someone do well? And then jump into observations about what needs to be improved upon or fixed. Whenever I begin my feedback with negatives, it actually derails the whole conversation because (quite often) the recipient of my feedback perceives that I am attacking them. Even if that was not my intention.
None of us are perfect! While some people are good at providing feedback, others are not. Just because someone, or many someones, are bad at it does not mean we should close ourselves off to it completely. It is as much our responsibility to develop tough skin, sort through the criticism, and understand what was meant to be beneficial and what was intended to harm. Hopefully in doing so, we can become better at providing feedback to others.
We're not here for your entertainment, you really don't want to mess with us tonight... Actually, scratch that. We ARE here for your entertainment and, even better, to talk about the entertainment we love, share, and consume. We consume entertainment like it's Christmas morning, and that alone is entertaining. With us entering the Christmas season there are plenty of seasonal entertainment thingys to discuss, including Netflix's newest plethora of Christmas movies, but we've got the old faves for you too! So sit back and relax and let Brian and Tony navigate you through the black void of (fun) decisions.
I love soup. I also know that squash soup is an acquired taste, so this soup isn't for everyone. But it is souper good for you and souper easy to make.
Ingredients
fresh thyme
1-2 lbs of butternut squash (use less if the squashy taste isn't your fave)
1 white onion
6 gloves garlic
6-8 long carrots (you can use carrots to offset squash, if you want)
PLUS 32oz carrot juice (if you have a juicer, all the better)
1-2 cups of vegetable broth
(Optional: sometimes I also throw in green peppers or jalapeños and roast them with the carrots and onion)
...meanwhile
...then
After blending the contents together, the soup is ready to eat! It freezes and re-heats well.