Greta's Sporadic Blog Carnival #5: Holiday Edition

And today, we have another round of Cool Stuff I Found On the Blogosphere and Elsewhere on the Internet. The holiday edition. Because I am a giant freak who actually likes the holidays. So sue me.

First, we have the return of a holiday tradition on this blog: The Best Christmas Song Ever. It's "Christmas Rhapsody," Pledge Drive's Christmas-themed parody of "Bohemian Rhapsody," written by my friend Tim Walters and his friend Steve Rosenthal. Sample lyrics:

Is this the Yuletide?
It's such a mystery
Will I be denied
Or will there be gifts for me?

Come down the stairs
Look under the tree and see...

I personally think it needs a YouTube video in the worst way. Videographers are encouraged to contact Tim through his Website, where he also has other nifty and odd holiday music.

Next, we have a lovely page of atheist Christmas carols. They're a little heavy on "why religion sucks" and a little light on "why atheism is cool" for my taste... but it's a good start. I especially like "There Is No Hell." And unlike many song parodies, these actually rhyme and scan. Via Ingrid, who got it via Berkeley Morris.

There have been lots of good blog posts this holiday season about the War on the Supposed War on Christmas. My favorite, though is The Roots of the War on Christmas, by Ebon Muse on Daylight Atheism -- which gets at the anti-Semitic roots of the WotSWoC.

Ebon also has an excellent Solstice Sermon, with a humanist look at a perpetual Christmas theme: feeding the hungry.

From Hemant Mehta at Friendly Atheist, we have a hilarious example of Christmas pareidolia: Seashell Jesus By the Seashore.

From PZ Myers at Pharyngula, we have what may be the funniest Jack Chick tract ever, in which a child's belief in Santa Claus leads to terrorism, murder, and the death penalty. Jack Chick on Santa.

From C.L. Hanson at Letters from a broad: a skeptic/ atheist defends the Santa delusion. The magic of imagination.

And finally, because there isn't enough sex in this post: From Violet Blue at Open Source Sex (via Eros Blog), we have the story of Playboy: Mexico running a photo spread of a nude model posing as the Virgin Mary. In honor of the Christmas season. Playboy Mexico + Virgin Mary nude spread = bad idea.

Happy holidays, everybody!

Comments

[C. L. Hanson]

Wow, cool roundup and thanks for the link! I'll have a look at some of the others.

BTW, I'm not really defending the Santa delusion in my post -- I'm just discussing whether believing that Santa is real adds anything to the fun of the Santa story. I don't think that it does, but I not arguing that as a definite conclusion.

[vel]

to add some more Xmas strangness: I introduce you to the Krampus, St.Nick's demon companion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companions_of_Saint_Nicholas

some cool images here: http://community.livejournal.com/steamfashion/1362779.html

[Norman Doering]

Happy Squidmas everyone!

[Parsnip]

You are wonderful. I consider myself worldly and knowledgeable, yet almost every post of yours I come across is enlightening, and provides a very humbling "I never thought of that" moment. As a queer atheist, I thank you for what you are contributing to the blogoshpere. Please keep a cool head and don't stop.