Dirk Voetberg presents this holiday-themed squib.

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Gifts received, Beatle flexi-discs listened to, all is well here, hope you can say the same.

Jon decries the commercialization of the decrying of the commercialization of Christmas here. Some of Jon's humor pieces threaten to rend the fabric of time/space. This is one of them.

If you need visuals, try the video below.

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So I've finished the umpteenth draft of this Lennon/Beatles novel, which will be going out to editors after the first of the year. Positive mental imaging is, as always, welcome.

For reasons much too complicated to go into here, I found myself browsing YouTube for songs I first heard at Chicago's late, lamented Medusa's, an all-ages dance club at the corner of School and Sheffield, which I frequented in the mid- to late-80s. (Yes, I was by far the squarest guy in the joint; but one of the club's many virtues was how it accepted every kind of person, from skinhead, to punk, to sailor on leave, to chino-rific suburban kids like yours truly.)

Anyway, here were a few tunes I rediscovered:












I enjoyed being 17 again--a lot more than I liked it the first time around! Extra points to anyone who knew all the tunes.

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For reasons that must be all too obvious, the Xmas tradition around these parts includes unwrapping the presents to the accompaniment of The Beatles' Christmas albums. For some reason, no above-ground source exists for these tracks, which were end-of-year gifts to all members of The Beatles' Fan Club. (Apple released a vinyl LP in 1970, but no CD version exists.) It's a shame; they're fun, in a Goon Show sort of way.

For those similarly inclined--or attempting to mimic my life in every detail (in which case rest assured I keep the truly crappy parts to myself--there's no reason YOU should go through those too) I've unearthed a place on the 'net where the Fabs' Christmas records can be snagged. I believe this is the same compilation I got in digipak form down in the Village in 2003.

You'd be wise to stop and take a look around. Gonzo runs a great blog; lots of Beatles, and some interesting Prince, too.

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Jon turned me on to a new game called "Portal," raving about how sharp and entertaining the main character (a malevolent passive-aggressive supercomputer) was. Here's a YouTube video of the ending to give you a taste of how excellently it's both written and performed.

But that's nothing compared to the song that plays over the credits, which I've embedded below.



UPDATE: In this post Jon reveals that the song was written by Jonathan Coulton, truly a beautiful mutant if there ever was one.

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