2021 Holiday Season: Week 4!
Totally forgot that I was supposed to update After Dark last night! That post-Thanksgiving food coma will do that to you. Welcome to WEEK 4 of the 2021 holiday season. Now that we’re nearing December, it’s super official. Bust out the lights and suck down candy canes with impunity.
Thanksgiving was solid. I got all of my cooking done on Wednesday night, so I was free to enjoy the entire Macy’s Parade without stressing. I’m glad for that, too, because I thought it was an amazing parade this year. It was probably the first one in the modern era that I could see myself reviewing, whether on Dino Drac or on the podcast. (Tho not this year, obviously!)
There were a dozen people at the big family dinner, which was actually pretty small by our standards. (By comparison, Christmas Eve will involve close to triple that number.) A smaller gathering was perfect for this year, which has been nuts in so many different ways. Last thing I needed was total insanity.
Highlights from the party included getting my ass kicked by my nephews on the Nintendo Switch, which I’d never played prior to Thursday. I was also happy to discover an open Dunkin’ Donuts nearby, so I got to be the hero who delivered Boxes O’ Joe (and some stale donuts) during the dessert round. (Way over-tipped the two people working at Dunkin’, too, because I can’t imagine that they wanted to be there.)
Now that we’re doubly officially in the holiday season, it’s time to break out the big guns. Here’s one of my own commercial compilations, featuring 30 minutes of nonstop old school Christmas spots. (I’m sure I ran this last year, but it’s worth highlighting twice.)
On deck for this week: Purple Stuff bonus show, new (old) holiday toy catalog review, and then hopefully back on camera for a YT video, because it’s been a while!
Enjoy your week. This is your free-for-all thread. Talk about whatever!
2021 Holiday Season: Week 3!
Sorry about this week’s thread being a little late — we were busy recording the next podcast.
This doubles as The Thanksgiving Thread. Well, it does if you live in the States, at least. If you do, let’s hear about how you’re celebrating, what you’re eating, and how you’re spending the rest of the extended holiday weekend.
I’ll also add a secondary survey to this week’s thread. Since it’s Thanksgiving and all, name three things you’ve been thankful for this year. (Trivial stuff is fine! If the damned Spider-Man trailer made you happy, go with it.)
Here are three of mine:
1) I’m thankful for Halloween the Cat, a bright spot in a year that got pretty dark.
2) I’m thankful for HBO Max, especially RN, because I like having instant, eternal access to A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation and that Thanksgiving-themed third-season episode of The Sopranos.
3) I’m thankful for my remaining stock of Pecan Caramel autumn candles, which I bought extras of before Michaels switched over to pine. They calm me!
This week’s background noise is the 1990 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We covered this exact parade on The Purple Stuff Podcast back in 2019. It’s the one with the infamous Quik Bunny intrusion. Enjoy!
2021 Holiday Season: Week 2!
It was slow around these parts last week. Maybe people weren’t aware that After Dark would remain updated through the holidays, or maybe Halloween is just a bigger draw. Doesn’t really matter — whether a thread gets 300 comments or just three, I’m gonna keep a “build it and they will come” attitude.
So, here’s your thread for Week 2 of the 2021 Holiday Season!
This month has been busy as hell. The Funpacks and podcast are always on the monthly to-do list, but since everything kinda needs to be delivered before Thanksgiving to have any relevance, I don’t have my usual wiggle room. Still, it’ll get done. One way or another, it always does.
My fam finally locked their plans for Thanksgiving. It’s going to be a smaller party than usual, though “smaller” in my giant Italian family doesn’t exactly mean “small.” To be honest, I’m all for having a more low-key TG this year. After all of the exhausting craziness of 2021, I’d rather have a reflective, relaxing holiday.
This week’s background noise: Garfield’s Thanksgiving, the 1989 TV special that made us love Grandma Arbuckle that much more. (Bonus points: This is an official upload from Garfield’s people, so the quality is excellent!)
Oh, and since last week was pretty quiet on After Dark, maybe I can liven things up with a survey:
In the comments, name a holiday dish that you’ve always heard/read about but never tried. Preferably something you really want to try.
I’ll go with oyster stuffing. I’ve been reading about it forever, but to date have never even seen it in person, let alone had a chance to sample it. I followed a recipe for Stove Top with minced clams last year, and since that was surprisingly good, I’m betting that homemade stuffing with oysters has gotta be a winner, too.
This is your free-for-all thread for Week 2. Answer the survey question if you wish, but you can also talk about whatever ya want, all week long!
2021 Holiday Season: Week 1!
I hope everyone had a nice transition from Halloween into the HOLIDAY SEASON — if you’re ready for it, that is!
I’ve been taking it slow myself. Giving myself a moment to survey the landscape and figure out what I wanna do, both on the site and IRL.
For me, it kinda needs to be a low maintenance holiday season, so I’m gonna apply the same take-it-as-it-comes attitude to November and December that I did during September and October.
On the site front, I gathered up all of the Christmassy VHS tapes I’d purchased in the last year or so, and I’ve been mining them for old TV commercials and more. I’m glad I remembered to check, because I had some heavy hitters in this VHS batch. You’ll see some of those goodies very soon!
For tonight, here’s a wonderful compilation of Thanksgiving-themed TV commercials from the ‘80s. This isn’t one of my comps, but it really grabbed me. Such a fun mix of holiday and “general” TV spots from that decade. Should put you in a good mood!
I’ll be back next week w/ some new stuff. Working the kinks out of a few videos and articles, and of course we have the podcast on the horizon, too. For now, here’s your first free-for-all thread of the 2021 holiday season. Talk about whatever!
