Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

It’s a new episode, a new year, and an exciting new country for the Festive Fans!  For the start of 2024, we travel to Iceland -- a country with dramatic landscapes full of giant glaciers and fiery volcanos.  Such extreme contrasts also underscore the movie Echo.  This intimate film is equally humorous and heart-breaking.  It is a probe of contemporary Iceland at the holidays, with 56 separate scenes highlighting the minutiae, quirks and idiosyncrasies of daily life.  Once you get past expectations of a fluid storyline, Echo has a real-life poignancy with its authentic detail, nuanced emotion, and universal themes.  This movie leaves a lasting impression through its small and quiet moments. Plus, we also explore the magical Yuletide customs of this land, with its dark winter nights lit by the celestial Northern lights.  So get cozy, lick a spoon, put on your new duds, and put aside your book for our love letter to an Icelandic Christmas!  

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

Merry Christmas to all of our Festive Fans!  The boys celebrate Christmas today by considering the uplifting Ukrainian song and the movie Carol of the Bells or “Schedryk”.  The story takes place in the years preceding and during World War II and features three different families who are living as neighbors in a large house.  They are different nationalities and religions, and all experience death, violence and inhumanity.  It may seem like an odd choice for the holiday, but at its heart, it is a story about humanity, sacrifice, and kindness. What better message at Christmas than one about always having hope and finding light in the darkest of times, which was true then and is still true today.  Our effort this December was to feature Russia and Ukraine to highlight the spirit of brotherhood and unity that naturally exists in this region and throughout the world.  Our Christmas wish for the new year is for peace in the Ukraine and all of the areas across the globe currently under siege.  We can live as the families do at the beginning of the movie – each culturally unique but still sharing and enjoying our diverse music, food and traditions.  There is a healing power in joy, and so today embrace this simple, but compelling message:  glory to God in the highest and on earth  peace, good will toward men.  

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

The Festive Fans embark on their plan to spread Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men this episode as they journey to Mother Russia.  It’s a sincere effort to try to find some Christmas spirit in the former Soviet nation.  We watch a movie filled with class warfare, occultism, and pick pockets.  It is set before the Bolshevik Revolution, so you will see elements of the holiday depicted in the stunning surroundings.  St. Petersburg is gorgeous in 1900 and we get a glimpse at how the aristocrats and the servants celebrate and, trust us, you’ll want to be at the goth carnival with the peasantry.  Plus, we listen to an updated Christmas song based on a poem from 1905, but it sure doesn’t sound like it.  So don’t say Nyet, strap on your skates and join us as we go dashing through the snow.

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

In today’s episode we explore how true Americans celebrate Christmas – the Native Americans.  Yes, we make a visit to the American Indian nation, as a Thanksgiving Day salute to the indigenous people who saved the Pilgrim butts and got a big thank you dinner and European delicacies like smallpox and kidnapping. When we first learned to say Merry Christmas in the language of the Mi’Kmaw tribe during our Quebec episode, we wondered aloud if there was a Christmas movie featuring native people and we found a delightful one.  We thought it appropriate for this weekend to kick off the holiday season with a lighthearted romp at a Utah ski resort, that includes all of your favorite rom-com tropes:  convenient coincidences, obvious misunderstandings, and a beautiful snow-filled festive setting.  Sit back, turn off Yellowstone, and enjoy a cheery movie filled native people and without the stereotypical portrayal of casinos and substance abuse.   Merry Christmas!

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

It’s November and we are talking Turkey.  No, not those dim-witted, low-flying, tree-roosting birds that many of us plan to eat later this month.  We are talking the country of Turkey, which is the ancestral home and inspiration for Santa Claus – St. Nicholas.  Although this is a country that lies part in Asia and part in Europe, and is 99% Muslim, they do have a statue to Saint Nick himself, and his remains are in a sarcophagus there. Plus, they have a Christmas film and it’s a good one.  Neseli Hayat, which means "Jolly Life", and this is what you will be feeling after watching this film with its overwhelming Santa spirit. Ho-ho-ho. Now you know why St. Nick was born there   Also, enjoy the fabulous food of this region and their interesting holiday drinks.  Also, we learn about Radio Sharma and hear a song off the first Christmas album in Turkey ever.  So put on your red underwear, and if you like the podcast, do some pyramid marketing – you tell some of your friends, they can tell their friends, and so on, until we have a Festive Fans sales network and we all get a villa.

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

Happy National Christmas Podcast Day!  The theme of today’s special event is for the many different Christmas podcasts to cover a version of Charles Dickens Christmas Carol.  Since we are the Festive Foreign Film Fans, we needed a foreign adaptation and we discovered the 1953 Italian film Non è mai troppo tardi, which means “It’s Never Too Late”.   Now, we have to apologize to our listeners because the subtitles for this film were AI generated, so they are not exactly perfect.  It was lucky that we know the story so well, or we might’ve been in trouble.  We had a scene where our main Scrooge character -- Antonio Trabbi -- just shouted “Orange”, which did not seem particularly relevant in the context of the film.  Or, when he has reformed and yells to the boy in the street, he calls out "What vegetable is today?"  Again, compared to what I recall, this does  seem to track the book.  SInce we are only discussing the movie, and not customs or music, this is a much shorter episode. Take the extra time to find and listen to other Christmas podcasts.  They cover different topics and are all great, and I promise they will lift your spirits.  Just seach for Christmas on APple or Spotify and see what comes up.   We did this a few years ago and look at us now -- watching Italian movies about fruits and vegetables!    

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

Boo!  It’s spooky season for our Christmas podcast.  This episode we have Pastorela, and it is devilishly good.  It is the appropriate holiday film for October as it features demons, an exorcism, and an epic battle of Good versus Evil.  What more could you want from a film that plays like a Halloween-Christmas crossover event, let alone the corruption, sex and swearing?  All that’s missing is an enema.  Merry Christmas!  Plus, we discover Mexico’s famous Christmas beer – Noche Buena, discuss Pastorelas and Posadas (and no, you don’t eat them), and we learn (and sing) about the famous decorated branches from Veracruz.  And, to make sure we provide you with enough shopping days, Bob mentions his December birthday.  It’s a Trick and a Treat!       

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

Today is a "Bada Din" – which means Big Day in Hindi.  Mark and Bob explore the movie of the same name, which is the Indian term for Christmas. Bada Din was released in 1998 and is a holiday dance and song spectacle – it features murder, a GQ model-turned-actor, 10-minute chase scenes, and a dreamy music video with spider webs.  Merry Christmas!  

The Festive Fans totally enjoy their second holiday musical.  To get into the festive spirit of the movie, Mark and Bob do the whole podcast with backup dancers in colorful parachute pants, sitting on white horses, and distracted by the belly dancers moving throughout the studio. Plus, they decorate with banana and  mango leaves, and place a star lantern on the roof.  All that is missing is that regional go-to Christmas treat -- plum pudding, with fermented cashew apples, cudapah almonds, ghee, and royal cumin seeds.  Yum!  Even the Christmas song Jhoomo Naacho admonishes the boys  to “dance and dance happily as Jesus is born today”.  So get up and groove – we are celebrating Christmas Bollywood style!

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/ 

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)

You need to Czech out our latest episode.  It’s heavenly!  We review the 2005 Czech film Andĕl Pánĕ and it is a hellish good time.  This festive fairy tale features Patronel, a bumbling angel; his boss God; and, a handy squad of versatile Saints, all on call.  Also, we meet Patronel’s satanic guide Urias, who observes the escalating chaos with a knowing wink and a devilsh grin.  If that is not enough entertainment, we explore other celestial celebrities such as Jezisek, Baby Jesus who flies through the window on Christmas Eve to bring gifts to the Czech children.  Also, Mikulus, the patron saint who visits Czech homes to judge the children’s behavior, accompanied by two familiar friends – an angel and a devil.  Finally, all of this is capped off by Czech singer Ewa Farna and her 2017 holiday hit “Vánoce na míru” meaning  “Christmas in Peace”.  Even after five years, it hit the top of the charts again in 2022.  So don’t miss out on all the fun – it’s like a giant birthday party for Jesus in heaven!

Email Address: 
[email protected]

Instagram:
@festivefans

4F Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ccCbuBY0Yi7WAx6F0Gu8f?si=135ea2453ce645ce

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092522416848

4F Flair Shop (Festive Fans Merchandise)
https://festivefanflair.myspreadshop.com/