The Yonics-DickPix4Xmas Live at the 7th Street Space

12-06-14

Recorded from a phone, so naturally the quality ain‘t the best. Still rad as fuck, doe.

Taking the Day Off

Hanging out after Christmas Creatures practice. Nothing much to post today. Come see us look like jackasses at the House Cafe's Townie X-Mas December 20th!

Nollaig veterans The Yonics and D.Brawlins are playing the Space tonight. See ya there!

Santa‘s Pocket Watch

For the past few years my friends and I have had this tradition where we get drunk and watch Holiday cartoons. We never really plan it and it always seems to happen naturally. I touched on this a little bit in the initial post on this blog, but this is one of the many reasons why I love Christmas. I guess you can say I‘m a sucker for sappy, sentimental traditions.

We typically search for new cartoons to watch each Holiday season, but there‘s one cartoon that always falls into our rotation. In fact, we typically save it as our grand finale. I need to be at least six beers deep before we watch it.

Santa‘s Pocket Watch. 

I hate to say it, but I think our love for this movie initially started off as a little ironic, but its charm is really hard to avoid. The entire film is voiced by one surly English man, and the soundtrack sounds like something written by 2003-era Mike Kinsella (pre-neck tattoo). The story is extremely basic, but it has such a natural warmth that you won‘t really care or even notice. We love this cartoon so much that we plan to one day make our own live action version of it.

So grab a beer (or six) and watch what we at xCHRISTMASxFOREVERx consider to be the unsung hero of Holiday classics.

(BTW, if anyone can find a copy of the soundtrack I will give them a piece of Christmas Gold)

Vegan Christmas

Vegan Christmas

By Steve O

Being vegan, and before that vegetarian, I would always get the question around the holidays: What do you eat for Thanksgiving/Christmas? You know, like you can’t eat because the holiday meal has to have some meat as a base. (Those poor, horribly disfigured turkeys.) Well I’m going to show you how you can have a full, five-course Christmas dinner without harming (or eating) any animals. Hungry yet? Get cooking!

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pine Nuts

Ingredients: a package of butternut squash ravioli (I buy Rising Moon brand); 2 cups of frozen butternut squash (you could use fresh too), diced; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 1/3 cup pine nuts; 1-1½ teaspoons sage. Makes enough for 4.

Directions: Cook the ravioli and squash following the package directions. In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil. Add the pine nuts and sage for a short time, until the pine nuts just start to brown, then remove from heat. Add the ravioli and squash in the pan, and toss it around to get them covered with the oil, pine nuts, and sage. If you’d like you can drizzle more olive oil on top, along with some salt and pepper. Eat and enjoy.

Spinach, Orange, and Cabbage Salad

Ingredients: 6 ounces baby spinach; 2 cups thinly shredded red cabbage; 3 clementines, peeled and divided into sections; 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced; 1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar. Makes enough for 6 to 8.

Directions: Combine the spinach, cabbage, oranges, cucumber, and almonds together in a bowl. Mix the oil and vinegar together, and coat the salad as you wish. Eat and enjoy.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients: 1 whole head of garlic; 6 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced; 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance (or other vegan butter) or olive oil; 1/4 to 1/2 cup rice milk; salt and pepper, and thinly sliced scallion or minced chives for garnish. Makes enough for 6.

Directions: Remove some of the outer layers from the garlic, but keep each clove intact. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350° or until the cloves are soft. When the cloves are cooled, separate them and squeeze the garlic out of each clove, discarding the outer skin. Place the diced potatoes in a large saucepan with water and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the potatoes are very tender, then drain the pan. In a large bowl, combine the cooked potatoes with the Earth Balance and stir until it is melted. Add 1/2 cup of rice milk and the garlic, and mash the potatoes until they’re smooth and fluffy. If you need to, add more rice milk to loosen the consistency. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle some scallion or chives on top. Eat and enjoy.

Sweet Potato and Macadamia Nut Soup

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 onion, chopped; 2 stalks celery, chopped; 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 2 tablespoons lemon zest; 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped; 1 cup macadamia nuts, ground in a food processor; 6 cups of vegetable broth; 3 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped; salt and pepper, and some chopped macadamia nuts for garnish. Makes enough for 6.

Directions: Heat oil in a large pot. Cook the onion and celery until they’re soft, stirring often. Then add the ginger, garlic, and lemon zest and keep stirring. Add the sweet potatoes, your group up macadamia nuts, and the vegetable broth, and bring to a boil. Then let the pot simmer until the potatoes are very soft. Stir in the parsley, then remove from the heat. Let the soup cool for a bit, the puree it with an immersion blender or food processor. Season with salt and pepper, and chopped macadamia nuts, if you want. Eat and enjoy.

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients: 1/3 cup canola oil; 3/4 cup sugar; 1/4 cup molasses; 1/4 cup soy milk; 2 cups flour; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Spice blend is 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger. Makes about 16 cookies.

Directions: In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar for about 3 minutes, then add the molasses and soy milk. Sift in all the dry ingredients, mixing them up about halfway through. When all the dry ingredients are in, mix until a stiff dough is made. Flatten that into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it chill for at least an hour. (If you let the dough chill for much longer than an hour, let it warm up for about 10 minutes, it makes the rest easier.) Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly grease two baking sheets. Spread out a light layer of flour and roll the dough out on this to a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the cookies with whatever cookie cutter shape you want, and then place the cookies on the baking sheets. Bake for 8 minutes. Eat and enjoy.

Tales From Under the Christmas Tree by Connor McNerney

Santa Claus by Amy Giltner

What I Want For Christmas

What I Want For Christmas

By Me, BRICK RIPLEY

All you turkeys are always wondering what Brick wants for Christmas. What do you get the man who has everything? He already has the hardest abs this side of the Mississippi. He already owns the meanest biceps since Randy Savage. These guns aren’t going anywhere. Brick just bench pressed your Grandma after she ate a triple cheeseburger for breakfast. That was only the warm up. Where do you think that crater on the south side of town came from? That’s where Brick slammed a refrigerator after running a marathon carrying it over his head. That’s right. Brick has never heard of a half marathon and he only does 5K’s in blocks of nine.

Now that the adrenaline is coursing through ol’ Brick’s veins like a rager of an energy drink, he can finally focus on what he wants to see under the tree this December 25. First, on Blu-ray only, he wants the award winning film WADJDA. It’s about this dope kid in Saudi Arabia who wants to ride a bike. Everybody tells her: “You’re just a BIMBO, how are you gonna ride a bike with those little girly legs?” She says: “Hey, I want to ride.” They tell her: “You’re poor as shit. You have to be ready to make it rain if you want to ride a bike in this town.” She says: “I WANT TO RIDE.” So she enters a baller ass competition to win some Saudi Benjamins. She blasts her classmates so hard on the verses of the Koran and she rides that bike all over town. Living large. Roll credits.

Moving on, second on the list is a film Brick could do hundreds of pull-ups while watching. This one is in the spirit of the season. The film is HAPPY CHRISTMAS, directed by my main man Joe Swanberg. I know, I know. It isn’t out on Blu-ray yet. Well, Brick didn’t get where he is today by taking “no” for an answer! Get into Wal-mart and barge into that back stock room. Then bust some heads until you find the feel good comedy of the year. Swanny got some real babes lined up in this one. Anna Kendrick, UP IN THE AIR girl, and the naked chick from GIRLS. Anna Kendrick and UP IN THE AIR girl move in together, only problem is UP IN THE AIR’s boner of a husband is hanging around all the time. And that kid. PITCH PERFECT finally loosens her up a little bit. Merry Christmas, one and all.

Last but not least is the Oscar-snubbed KON-TIKI. Those Hollywood hambones had better not let me catch them alive or they’re gonna wish they had gone into basket weaving instead of film awarding. Brick needs to be clear on this next point. KON-TIKI is only acceptable in the original Norwegian. They filmed a version in English, but it is NOT RIPPIN. The movie is about a guy named Thor, so of course it should be in Norwegian. Anyway, Thor sails across the biggest, baddest ocean in the world on nothing but a slab of balsa wood. Well, you’re in for a surprise. I’m ready to announce, right here on this Christmas wishlist, that I, BRICK RIPLEY, am going on an epic quest of my own. I’m sailing to Polynesia. I’m sailing to the Phillipines. I’m sailing to Brisbane. All on a raft made of nothing but used pizza boxes. I’ll survive on crusty cheese and raw fish for weeks. Then, you, the audience, can decide. Who is the REAL tough guy? Brick or Thor? BRICK or Thor?

-Phil Collins