28
December
2006

Episode 28 of Upon Further Review!

The holidays are officially upon us, and as always we’re ready to offer our take on them in Episode 28 of Upon Further Review!  In this episode we thank our loyal listeners for their active participation in our comments section (and ask for more, greedy types that we are) before heading into the main portion of our show:  first, we look at all things festive as we analyze, well, just about every major holiday we can think of (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, traditional Buddhist festivals, Neopagan, Native American, even atheist…and yes, there is one) with the exception of the Hindu Festival of Lights–not because it’s less worthy, but because we missed it on our list (which shows why you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew!); second, we discuss ways to get in the giving spirit as we check out a variety of click-to-donate sites; and finally, we break down all the consumerism we just got ourselves caught up in with our review of the underground hip-hop / social commentary stylings of Julien Smith and the In Over Your Head podcast.   As always, we are grateful for your support–and never more than now, in the holiday season.  We wish you a wonderfully peaceful holiday season–thanks for making this such a great year for UFR, and for spreading the word to friends and family in the weeks and months to come!  (As usual, podsafe intro is provided by Sharif (“You’re My Girl”), but NOT as usual the podsafe outro music is provided by a “mystery singer.”  Much respect to the person who guesses who it might be… :) )

Reviewed in this show:

Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice/And so on and so on…

Clicksites for Causes

In Over Your Head

8 Comments

  1. DrumIntellect:

    No review of Festivus or ChrismaHanuKwanzika?

    I disagree with your ratings.. I would give..
    Christmas a 9 – it’s a holiday looked forward to by people all over the world – especially children. (Think “Christmas in July”)
    Chanukah a 6 – it’s a minor yet important holiday, that causes too much confusion for many Jews.
    Ramadan a 2 or 3 – based strictly on the violence that is initiated by some Muslims, who use the month as a time of “Holy War”. (Punch in “Ramadan” and “Jihad” to google.) BTW, the Muslim calendar is based on the moon. Since a moon year is roughly 11 days shorter than a solar year (54 days to 165 days), the months drift through the seasons. This continues to this day.
    Kwanza a 7 – a nice non-religious holiday that anyone can celebrate without fears. It stresses the importance of integrity and family. It doesn’t get higher simply because it’s still relatively unknown.

  2. admin:

    Thanks for the info about the moon year, D.I.–that’s good to know. As for the Christmas vs. Ramadan thing, well, I suspect some Muslims might take issue with your rating (punch in “Christians” and “Crusades” to Google ;) ), but as always we’re happy to agree to disagree. Good point about Festivus–how could we have missed that?

    T.R.

  3. DrumIntellect:

    Obviously I made a typographical error. There are 365 days in the solar calendar, and 354 days in the lunar calendar.

    I agree, for “Christians” and “Crusade” you get horrible pages, but when I searched on google for “Christmas” and “Crusade” I got pages relating to buying gifts for the holiday. The point isn’t whether Christians have historically ever done wrong.
    If there was a Christian group that currently used Christas as an excuse to commit acts of hatred (as my grandfather once told me how they would have to hide in their basements on Easter, because it was a “day of anger” for his Christian neighbors in Poland), I would agree that its rating should fall.

  4. admin:

    That’s definitely a fair point. When Easter rolls around, we may have to take that into consideration as well…

    T.R.

  5. Shara:

    Probably too late to comment on this, but I just listened to it. I wanted to add that in Mexico, they celebrate January 6 as the Day of the Magi, also called Dia de los inocentes (Day of the Innocents) and that this is the day in which the three kings bring presents to all the good little children (although Santa is encroaching on their territory). Christmas itself is a weird hybrid holiday, with plastic trees and lights, and in the villages people go door to door asking for a room for the holy child.

  6. admin:

    Interesting…I’ve heard that the “religion melding” has happened in a number of places, actually, and often with some strange results–has anyone else heard about this phenomenon?

    T.R.

  7. classic chris:

    greg! clea!

    finally catching back up with my comments. hope i make it to the stargate between past and future this time.
    (btw, updating my comment name only to distinguish between the other chris. who would have thought two people with the same name posting on the site – especially with such a unique name as ‘chris’? but, yes, it’s me, the chris who took on the full boat of ufr shows from the start after being introduced by AJ – new email, got a lame website that’s in progress, but same classic chris. and, just so there’re no hard feelings, shout out to the other Chris!)

    this show is special to me b/c it was the first i listened to. if i said that about another show, i must have been lying (i feel like i might have said it somewhere, but this is the one).

    AWESOME! LOVE THIS CAST!!!! The mix of topics on this episode was just fantastic. Loved the holiday discussion across faiths. I still laugh about “Kwanzaa” as the catch-all for every other holiday. Funny b/c it’s true :-)

    Clicksite for causes is a wonderful idea. Do you all follow it to see how it’s doing in regard to its mission? I worry that things like that get lost or swallowed up in the infinity of the internet. But, in any event, what a cool way to make a difference.

    I was a big rap fan back in the day (that day being somewhere between 1984 and 1987). One of the best concerts I’ve seen to date – and didn’t even fully appreciate it at the time – Def Jam Tour 1987 bill of LL Cool J (my favorite), Public Enemy (who knew that 20 years later, Flav-a-Flav would be a mega-celeb – HEY! How about a review of the Flav and his VH1 enterprise?), Eric B and Rakim (kind of a one-hit-wonder of the 80s rap scene, but produced some great stuff in its element) and Whodini!). Looking forward to catching up on the new stuff that’s out there waiting to break thru!

    See you on 29!

    – classic chris

  8. admin:

    Hey Chris! Great to hear from you again, whether in classic form or not. Hey, we’re a big tent…all Chrisses will always be welcome here, even if there’s only one “classic” one.

    We have indeed checked in on the clicksite stuff, and it continues to be chugging along…and we hope will continue in that vein. Easy to do, and possibly a big impact in the long term. As for the rap…we hadn’t really thought of you as a rap fan before, but we’re glad to hear you are. Clea actually has a routine involving Flav-a-Flav, so your wish may be granted sooner than you think. :)

    T.R.

Leave a comment