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Pod Warriors 21: Christmastravanza
6 Plays1 year ago
The Pod Warriors are back for their final episode of 2023 and they take a trip down Christmas Memory Lane re-visiting favorite music, movies, and family traditions. Merry Christmas Foley Fam
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Transcript
Festive Introduction and Christmas Spirit
00:00:08
Speaker
Rockin' around the Christmas tree at the Christmas party hall. This'll go home where you can't see every couple tries to stop.
00:00:24
Speaker
What is up, Foley fam? We had to let that one play out a little bit, get everybody into the Christmas spirit. We are back for a long overdue episode of the Pod Warriors. This will be the last one of 2023 and it's a follow up to last year. We're giving you guys a little Christmas special, man.
Reflections and Expectations for 2024
00:00:41
Speaker
So you remember last year we did a little kind of like a quick format episode
00:00:45
Speaker
just talking about some of our favorite Christmas treats and goodies that we like to snack on right around Christmas time and we're bringing you guys a little bit more of a filled out episode touching on all things Christmas and I could not do it without my main man, my best buddy Jordan. What's going on dude?
00:01:01
Speaker
Oh, you know, just ready for the Christmas season and just a peek behind the curtain. This is Christmas weekend right now. So we are we're ready to go, man. We're three days from Christmas. We're fully in it and presents are wrapped. Candy's made. We're ready to roll.
00:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, I'm actually going to go speed round on the post-production. So again, like Jordan mentioned, it is the evening of December 22nd as we're sitting down to record this. And I'm going to drop it tonight. So you guys have a chance to listen to this while you're on the road, anywhere you're having to be going for Christmas weekend, or if you're just sitting around stuck in a house because of cold weather, we'll have you guys all set.
00:01:41
Speaker
Want to remind you guys visit www.chickfoli.com to support all things related to the Chick Foley Show. This is the Pod Warriors theme. Feel free to go back. We got these clearly marked in the podcast feed. Again, these episodes are all kind of evergreen, as we like to say.
00:01:59
Speaker
doing deep dives on just different topics that happen to be on me and Jordan's mind, on our heart as it relates to the world of wrestling. And sometimes we just do life episodes like this one. It's end of year, so a good time for reflection. I want to thank you guys for all the support for me and Jordan's other podcast. We started this year, the Goal Line, both here on the Chick Foley show feed and on its own feed across all the podcast apps. So just thanks again for that, guys. It's been an awesome year for us here in the podcast world.
00:02:27
Speaker
We're looking forward to 2024 and we couldn't think of a better way to put a bow on the year than doing another Christmas special. So going to change it up a little bit.
Christmas Songs and Misheard Lyrics
00:02:35
Speaker
Typically, I'm kind of running point on the pause, but tonight in the Christmas spirit, you know, it's the season of giving. I'm going to give the ball over to Jordan and he's going to kind of drive the conversation as we talk all things about our favorite holiday, Christmas.
00:02:48
Speaker
All right. So, uh, we're going to do a lot of favorites tonight. So we're going to do, we'll start it off with our favorite Christmas song slash artists. Um, we, we let it off with rocking around the Christmas tree by Brenda Lee. That's one of my favorite Christmas songs. It just, it always gets me in the spirit. And, uh, if you listen through instead of her saying pumpkin pie, if you listen close, it sounds like she's saying fucking pie. So I don't, I don't know how you can get more Christmas than that, than having some fucking pie. So, um,
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's a I love Christmas. I love Christmas music So I'm gonna let Seth start us off on hit one of his favorite Christmas songs
00:03:28
Speaker
So probably my all-time favorite Christmas song, man. It's a traditional classic, dude. Elvis Presley's version of Blue Christmas, man. I always liked that one. I loved Elvis' Christmas album. That's probably my favorite as far as start to finish Christmas albums by artists. And I love Blue Christmas, man. It just gets you in the Christmas spirit. Elvis sounds great on it. And I think it's one of his best. And he's the king of rock and roll.
00:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great song. Whole album bangs. I mean, dude, that just sets you off for Christmas, man. Nothing better than a little Elvis during Christmas. One of my other favorites is White Christmas by Bing Crosby. I don't know why, but man, this song always just gets me in the mood for Christmas. It's so old, yeah, it's just such a classic song. Still hits the same today as it did probably when it was released. So that's still one of my all-time favorites.
00:04:22
Speaker
And I know we're gonna get into movies later on, but it's the soundtrack for just a really great scene on Home Alone when Kevin McAllister is getting ready by himself for the first time. He puts the aftershave on his face. I remember that scene scarred me, dude, for years. I thought that aftershave was just gonna burn straight fire if it ever touched my face. And really, it's kind of a nice little cooling sensation. Yeah, it's not as bad as you would think, so yeah. But you're right, that is just such a great moment in the movie.
00:04:50
Speaker
So some other Christmas music I want to toss out there at the risk of losing my man card. Five minutes into the podcast.
00:04:59
Speaker
NSYNC's Christmas album, man. Go back and listen to NSYNC's Christmas album. That thing is awesome, dude. It's a mix of their take on Christmas classics and then they got just some classic like Mariah Carey fashion, just some random Christmas pop songs that they recorded, but really, really good, man. I'll ride or die for NSYNC. I know they're
00:05:20
Speaker
They get just labeled as like boy band crap, but those guys could really freaking sing, dude. Listen to some of their acapella stuff. I put them toe to toe with Boyz II Men on like the vocal ability. They got an acapella version of Oh Holy Night on that album that is just absolutely impeccable. So yeah, I'll give a shout out to NSYNC's Christmas album, man. I guarantee you, dude, there's people that I'm sure are hearing this and rolling their eyes right now, but if they put it on, let it play a few songs, they will be bopping in the car, dude.
00:05:47
Speaker
Another album that me and Ari really love. It came out in 2012. It's CeeLo's Magic Moment. CeeLo Green does a bunch of Christmas songs. One of the biggest bangers on that album is All I Need Is Love. It's with the Muppets. It's a great Christmas song and the whole album is awesome. CeeLo is so underrated.
00:06:10
Speaker
This is definitely one of me and Ari's favorites. We actually bought this on CD, so that tells you how long this goes back. But yeah, it's a great album and I strongly suggest you listen to it. It's really good. Yeah, CeeLo is a super soulful dude, man. I have not heard that, but I can't imagine. That's not absolutely awesome.
00:06:32
Speaker
Um, I'm going to say one more. So last year we took Zoe to her first concert and was Pentatonix Christmas concert. That concert was like, honestly, one of the better concerts ever been due. It did make it more special cause it was Zoe's first Christmas or her first concert period. She loved it. Those guys are super talented. Uh, they came back through here this year, but it was like twice the price. So we didn't go this year, but strongly suggest you go to that if it ever comes through your town. Cause they are really talented and.
00:07:02
Speaker
They do all the Christmas classics, so I would definitely suggest seeing Pentatonix in person. I'll throw one more deep cut out there, man, just for a solo track. If anybody's wanting some country Christmas, Alabama dropped it. I'm pretty sure it was just a one-off single that they did back in the 80s. I don't think it was even part of any album, but they dropped a song called Christmas in Dixie that, if you like country music, like that classic 80s country sound of Alabama, it's just perfect, man. It's impossible to listen to it without just feeling nice and warm and toasty inside and getting ready for Christmas time.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention Ari's favorite Christmas song. It's The Last Christmas by Wham. She absolutely loves that song. Yeah, great song. Oh, it is a great song. It is one of the classics. I think we could go on and on about Christmas songs all night. Obviously, Mariah Carey is all I want for Christmas. Great song. I feel like that song is so unfairly hated on, dude. It does get played a ton, but the reason it gets played a ton is because it's a great fucking song.
00:07:59
Speaker
Dude, it's the number one song from November 1st to the end of the year for a reason. It's a great song. I don't understand how people hate on Mariah Carey. I feel like Mariah Carey is unhateable. Yeah, I love that one. And then her version of Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home, dude, that's awesome also, dude. I think Brenda Gleason maybe did the original one. But yeah, her version of that's awesome. I put that right up there with All I Want for Christmas.
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, Mariah Carey can't do no wrong in my eyes. So yeah, I'm all for it. I'm glad we both got our Mariah Carey love in there. Darlene Love sings the original version of that one. I don't know where I pulled the name Brenda Gleason from. Sounds like some sort of 60s pop star, dude. But yeah, Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home by Darlene Love. Great song. Seth just straight up made up a singer, Brenda Gleason. Hold on. Think of another Christmas song you like. I'm going to look and see if that's even a real person. There's probably some random Facebook friend.
00:08:58
Speaker
Another Christmas song I like. Trying to think. Yeah, I think I just pulled that name out of the ether, dude. That's not a real person.
00:09:12
Speaker
Um, I liked the Jackson five, all their Christmas songs as well. My favorite is price Santa Claus is coming to town. Um, that's a great, that whole album is great. The other Christmas album. So again, suggest going back and listening to it. I, I'm pretty sure anybody who's listening to this episode has heard all these songs we're talking about now, but if you haven't definitely go back and listen to these cause all good songs, man. And
00:09:35
Speaker
I get it. A lot of people don't love Christmas music, but dude... How do you not love Christmas music, man? It's just got a great sound. November 1st hits. I'm listening to Christmas music. Yep. I load up the Christmas hit. I got like five different stations that I throw in my Pandora shuffle mix, man. And yeah, I got another one, dude. I know we're trying to keep it moving a little bit, but at the end of the day, we're not on a time limit on these. Not necessarily a Christmas song, but one of my favorite Christmas music moments
00:10:00
Speaker
episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Will had been talking mad shit to his family that he was friends with Boys to Men from back in West Philadelphia. He had told them that he was going to be able to get Boys to Men to come to
00:10:15
Speaker
I wanna say it was like the baptism or something for his nephew or something. Some young child was getting baptized or christened or something right around Christmas time. And he had, Will had made the promise that he obviously couldn't keep, that Boyz II Men was gonna show up. And he's fallen apart. And just as he's about to tell his family that he lied about it. He didn't have the connections like he said he did. Freaking Boyz II Men come walking in the church singing Silent Night. And it's just awesome, awesome moment.
00:10:44
Speaker
Well, I mean, since we're going to keep this going, my actual all time favorite Christmas song is Mary Did You Know by Kenny Rogers and why not a Judd. I just don't know why, but I get it, man. I get it's funny, but dude, it just, I don't know why that song just always like, since I was a kid, it just always made me think of Christmas. Like obviously we're not a big church family. I mean, anybody who knows me knows that, but
00:11:09
Speaker
and I get it, it's more of like a church song. I didn't know we were going on the religious tip for Christmas tonight, man. Hey man, we're doing Midnight Mass on Friday the 22nd. Might as well get it rolling for the weekend. I don't know, I just, I love that song. No, it's a good song, man. Out of all the Christmas songs that exist, dude, that's probably in the last round of ones I would have picked to put money on. Jordan's gonna bring this up on the show tonight, dude.
00:11:36
Speaker
Well, Jordan's a different guy when it comes to Christmas. Yeah. I get in my feelings and I get all emotional at Christmas time. So this is who I am at Christmas, guys.
00:11:49
Speaker
All right. Now you got anything else you want to hit on a Christmas songs? I mean, you know, Jordan put together an amazing format for the show tonight. Now that we're getting into it, I feel like we probably could have took each one of these topics and just had Christmas specials for the next six years too. Cause we can keep it going. But I think we're good, man. We can revisit it. We'll go back and just revisit this next year. We can keep it moving.
00:12:11
Speaker
Here's the thing, man, they're never going to stop releasing new Christmas songs or movies or there's always going to be more. So it ain't like this is just like a one year thing. We can always go back and do it again. We probably should leave this next topic till last, but we're going to do it before we get into the bed break. Let's do favorite Christmas movies. I know this one could take like an hour alone, so we'll try to shorten it as much as possible.
00:12:38
Speaker
This is going to be me and Seth's friendship hanging in the balance, depending on what he says here. So because I've seen some really questionable things on YouTube or not on YouTube, but TikTok lately about like favorite Christmas movies.
Classic Christmas Movies Debate
00:12:51
Speaker
And one of the main ones getting excluded. And I literally just want to delete TikTok because people are just fucking haters. So me and your friendship hangs in the balance. So get us started, Seth.
00:13:02
Speaker
My all-time favorite is probably, it's got to be Home Alone, man. I feel like it still holds up pretty good. At the time when I saw it, it was just absolutely mesmerizing to me, this kid going toe to toe with the wet bandits, soon to be the sticky bandits. So I'll do a combo platter, Home Alone and Home Alone 2, man. I just love those movies. My kids enjoy those movies now. There was a time as a kid that I wanted to change my name to Kevin McAllister. That's how infatuated I was with these movies.
00:13:32
Speaker
And yeah, I'll toss those out as an opening salvo. I'm going to give you a hot take on that. I think Home Alone 2 is better than Home Alone 1, honestly. It's good. The New York, Christmas in New York adds a lot.
00:13:43
Speaker
dude and him writing out a hotel room like imagine being a kid that's 10 years old having your own hotel room with with room service and everything i just i can't imagine how awesome that would have been granted you were in new york by yourself but and he was out i feel like home only two he was out in the world exploring a whole lot more you know we got that a little bit in part one you know he goes out to the groceries one day he goes to that church on christmas eve but
00:14:09
Speaker
The vast majority of that movie, I mean, it's by design, but the vast majority of that movie took place inside the home where it's home alone, too. Like I said, he's just out and about, you know, having adventures. Yeah, it's a great movie. They're both great. I love both those movies. You can't go wrong with either one. So me and Seth's friendship still is OK. That's not my favorite. My all time favorite is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I just think like this movie to me is is just Christmas wrapped up in a box like
00:14:38
Speaker
There's nothing better than Clark Griswold at Christmas time. Yeah. The way he decorates his house. I mean, the gifts that he wants to give, all of his in-laws and stuff. He wants everybody to have their best Christmas ever, man.
00:14:52
Speaker
Yeah, and I just think everything that happens with, like I said, all of his in-laws and just the way everything goes down, it kind of makes you feel like your own Christmas. Sometimes you have problems with your in-laws at Christmas. Sometimes you have problems with your family at Christmas. It's part of Christmas, man.
00:15:11
Speaker
Yeah, I love that movie. It's just it doesn't get any better than that one for me. Yeah, we watched that one just a couple weeks ago. We actually had the Bretman stay up and watch it with us. And, you know, sometimes he's hit or miss on on sitting down for a live action movie, but he watched the whole thing start to finish. We had a lot of laughs and still holds up, man. You get the awesome laughs, but it's also got a ton of heart, man, like, you know, with
00:15:31
Speaker
cousin Eddie's kids not gonna have a Christmas and Clark saves the day for them and you know Eddie ends up coming through as misguided as he was you know kidnapping Clark's boss and I always love that scene when Clark gets stuck in the attic and he finds those old film reels and it's got like the Ray Charles Christmas song playing as he sits down to watch him. It just makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.
00:15:52
Speaker
It does. It's great. Honey, get the rubber sheets when they're going to sleep inside the Griswold house. There's just so many one-liners in that movie. Shitter's full, obviously. When he's all pissed off after he gets his jelly of the month club, does the hallelujah. Holy shit. Where's the Tylenol? It's just
00:16:14
Speaker
That whole movie is fantastic. And that's why that one's my favorite. But you can't go wrong, man. There's just so many Christmas movies that are so good. Dude, you want to hear something to make you feel absolutely ancient? I saw this tweet. It was a post came through on Instagram the other day. So you remember the girl at the lingerie counter that Clark's just infatuated with? Can't see the line, can you? Yeah. Nicolette Scorsese is the name. She's going to turn 70 years old next month. Oh my god.
00:16:45
Speaker
Yeah, dude. She was actually 35 at that time of that movie. She was born in 1954, man. She was smoking hot, though, dude. She still holds up also. Yeah, still a banger. I mean, I haven't seen her in the last 30 years, but just from watching it, you know, sometimes like you go back and watch those like 80s or early 90s movies and whatever, like who was supposed to be like the hot chick? It's just like, yeah, I don't know, dude. Like, why is everybody going crazy over her? Not this one, dude. She was still freaking. She could still get it. See how this one goes high up on the hip? Can't see the line, can you, Russ?
00:17:15
Speaker
I've been freaking out. The other line, I've kind of cribbed from that from the most recent watch that I had and it's just saying it was going to be, you know, the jolliest bunch of assholes, the side of the loony bin. That's what I've been saying. You know, anytime she is like, yeah, the side of the nut house. Anytime sheen is sweating like something for Christmas. I'm like, it's going to be fine, man. We're going to be the jolliest bunch of assholes, the side of the nut house.
00:17:34
Speaker
My favorite scene in that movie is when he greets his boss and his boss doesn't know his name and all the guys walk into the office behind his boss and he's like, kiss my ass, kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah.
00:17:46
Speaker
You know, the other part that I loved it like hit a lot funnier watching it like as a, you know, fully mature adult, you know, I guess as fully mature as I am that I never really laughed as about as much as a kid is when he offers to buy the Christmas presents for cousin Eddie and cousin Eddie's already got the he acts all surprised and he whips out already alphabetical list.
00:18:06
Speaker
alphabetical order starting with Catherine. If it's not too much, I'd like to get you something really nice. So what do you prefer out of at a Christmas vacation and just the original vacation, dude?
00:18:23
Speaker
Oh, Christmas vacation. I think that's the best vacation movie personally. I love vacation. It's a great movie, but dude, Christmas vacation just hits different. I think I like vacation better, but like the film critic side of me, I mean, I think I like Christmas vacation better. I think vacation is like the better movie though, dude. I feel like it's got a little bit more of an edge to it. And I don't know, it's just funny, man. They're both outstanding though.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yeah, you can't go wrong with either one. Vegas vacation is pretty good too, and European vacation. I would think there may have been some. Those are all good. Obviously, the two heavyweights are the original vacation and then Christmas vacation for sure. Yeah, they're good. All right, Seth, what else you got?
00:19:05
Speaker
So this is kind of like a just a personal cut for me and Sheena, dude I think this movie's gotten a little bit more of a cult following over the years, but we always love Christmas with the cranks man like oh, yeah I kind of like that movie I mean that movie did not do very well at the box office And I like I said I think it's gotten more of a following over streaming and stuff I kind of liked it when I mean I liked it Okay, when I first saw but she knows has just loved that movie You know since the first time she ever watched it you know I think we got it on blu-ray as soon as it it came out and stuff and
00:19:35
Speaker
Yeah, it's the fact that how much she loves it is kind of just like made me love it more over the years And I think it's just a good quintessential family Christmas movie It is really good We'd actually just watch that the other night because I think we watch it a couple times a year But it is really really good Tim Allen's dude Tim Allen is mr. Christmas He's in all the Santa Claus. He's in Christmas with the cranks like
00:19:59
Speaker
He's just Mr. Christmas, but yeah, that's a good one. I don't know whether you counted as a movie or not, but Rudolph is like one of the best Christmas movie shows ever. I just don't think it gets better than Yukon and Bumble. It's just a phenomenal movie. The animation is just so enchanting.
00:20:17
Speaker
Dude, that is, it's honestly amazing. Like they redid it in HD, obviously a couple of years ago, but it's still amazing how much that holds up. I mean, it's not like, obviously it's not as good as it could have been if they would have done it now, but it still holds up as far as the animation and everything. Yeah, it's still very beautiful. Bumble's awesome. I've always been stuck up for any kind of like claymation or like, you know, just like real life animation type stuff like that.
00:20:42
Speaker
And the music in that movie is just absolutely phenomenal. You got Burr alive singing the whole time, so can't go wrong with that. Yeah.
00:20:50
Speaker
Gotta hit Christmas story, man. I feel like that movie is so old at this point. I still don't feel like there's been a movie that captures the feeling of being a kid at Christmas as much as that one does, man. When you still believe in Santa and you just have that desperation, man. You may have 15 things on your Christmas list, but there's honestly only one gift that is gonna make or break your Christmas and you're just desperate for it. I don't feel like there's been a movie since that's captured that feeling.
00:21:18
Speaker
I would agree. Um, another one of my favorites is four Christmases. I just, I feel like that movie is so underrated. Uh, just the whole thing is just absolutely phenomenal. It's more of an adult movie obviously, but
00:21:32
Speaker
It's a great movie. I love how all their names are named after the cities they were conceived in, Denver, Dallas. It's phenomenal. I'm Brad. One for me as a figure collector that I've always loved is Jingle All The Way.
00:21:48
Speaker
Oh, yeah. That's a great one, dude. I feel like that one would hit even better now as a parent, man. I feel like there's so many more just interest for kids. And honestly, kids just want video games now. I feel like there's something that's missing nowadays. Back in the 90s, it seemed like every Christmas, though, there was some toy that every kid had to have. And parents would be going crazy for it. I remember one year, it was tickle me Elmo. As crazy as that sounded.
00:22:11
Speaker
We're just going nuts for tip of me Elmo and then it was PlayStation 2's in 2000 just different stuff And yeah, man, that was that that movie just does a really good job capturing Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad are both hilarious in that Yeah, that is a great movie. I feel like we definitely got to include the Grinch with Jim Carrey in this like that movie is absolutely incredible and Absolutely holds up to this day. It doesn't seem like it was made as long ago as it was but you
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah, man, I'm always like 23 years old, so and it still holds up to this day. Yeah, my kids love the animated Grinch that came out in 2018. See, dude, I'm a hardcore. I don't like that movie. I mean, it's a sweet enough movie on its own for the kids. But that one, they made the Grinch way too sympathetic and like you're rooting for you're almost rooting for the Grinch the whole time, right? Like the Grinch works because you have to despise this guy and then
00:23:07
Speaker
when Cindy Lou forgives him. It's like, okay, I can forgive him too, man. They made the Grinch, which I get it, dude. It was an animated film, directed the kids. They had to make him likable, but I just thought they made him too likable on that one. Jim Carrey did an outstanding job, man. I feel like that movie gets, I'm a hardcore Dr. Seuss fan, so I got some deep takes on this, man. I feel like that movie doesn't get as much love as it does because I think they went a little too zany on the direction. If you look, the camera is like,
00:23:35
Speaker
diagonal or like slightly off center on almost every shot in that movie. And I think it just makes you feel kind of like unsettled as you're watching it, which I guess they were going for. Right. I can appreciate making the bold decision like that. But all that was standing. Jim Carrey's performance is just awesome. And the set design was insane for that movie.
00:23:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's great. I agree with you about the newer one. I feel like it is way too accepting of the Grinch, especially the end. They're having him carve the wild beasts and everything like that. It's like he was just welcomed into their home immediately. No remorse for everything that he did.
00:24:13
Speaker
come on in and just sit down and have dinner with us. We all wanted you here. And I think they made the Grinch, and he still did mean things, but he had a sweetness to him and there was a warmth to him. I don't think you ever really believed that he was really this evil guy the whole time. I don't know.
00:24:34
Speaker
I just, I didn't like it, man. I would have liked, I appreciate them keeping Dr. Seuss in the Grinch alive, but I just would have liked something more authentic to the original cartoon, which I thought Ron Howard and Jim Carrey's version of it really was. Yeah. Did you watch, uh, I should ask this after you said Christmas story, did you watch a Christmas story, Christmas, the new one? No, I didn't. Was it any good?
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's good, man. It's actually way better than I thought it was going to be. Um, it actually tugs at the heartstrings quite a bit in the movie. I mean, they talk about the, they talk about the old man and everything. So yeah, it's definitely worth a watch. We, we really enjoyed it. We watched it last year and I thought it was really, really good. So I think you'll like it a lot. Like I just, I know how you are and I think you'll like it. So, um, yeah, it's definitely worth a watch.
00:25:21
Speaker
Got anything else that you want to talk about for Christmas movies? I mean, I feel like we go on and on, like everybody talks about Die Hard. I feel like Batman Returns is one of those movies that people forget happens at Christmas time. It's definitely at Christmas vibes. That's a phenomenal movie. Same thing with, you know, the first couple of Harry Potters, they're kind of like, you know, Christmas-esque movies, like Christmas plays a big part in those. Yeah. I think Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie, man. I know that debate's kind of worn out at this point, but I think it's,
00:25:50
Speaker
I feel like we severed it, man. I feel like it's definitely a Christmas movie. I might be alone on this. Like I like the movie, but I feel like it's like, I don't know. I feel like it's so overrated at this point. Elf for me is like, it's good, but like people talk about that movie, like it's the best Christmas movie ever. And I'm just not there on that. To me, Elf is like,
00:26:14
Speaker
pancakes with maple syrup, whipped cream, frosting, chocolate chips, you know, sprinkle some more, like a handful of powdered sugar on top just for the hell of it, man, right? Like it's, it's, it's likable, right? You're not going to hate something like that, but it's just, it's so sweet, dude. It just, it just wears you out, man. Like I've seen it
00:26:34
Speaker
I think I've watched it twice, dude. And I enjoyed it, but I've never felt the need to go back and watch it, man. Like, it's good. But there's definitely I feel like it's kind of like our generation, man, just adopted elf is like, we're gonna say this is the best Christmas movie ever. And it's just, it's kind of weird, honestly, if you really think about it, it's really kind of like exercise and like, you know, this guy who's just mentally ill, but we're gonna we're gonna make sure he has a good Christmas. Yeah, it that one just never like
00:26:59
Speaker
I just never was one of my favorites. I mean, there's so many more better Christmas movies than that. But yeah, I mean, again, I feel like we can go on all day about Christmas movies. There's so many good ones. There is a lot of bad ones, too. But I just I feel like there's so many good Christmas movies that they've done over the years. One thing I will say, I feel like they've really failed these last couple of years on like releasing a Christmas movie in theaters for people to go see. I felt like when
00:27:29
Speaker
we were growing up till about the time we were mid to late 20s. I feel like they always had like a really big movie during Christmas. You'd have a selection row, you'd have the rom com for the grown ups or for the chicks. You'd have you typically would have like a raunchy comedy for you know the adults who didn't want to do the rom com thing. And then you'd have something really good for the kids man.
00:27:51
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like they've failed on that lately. Maybe they'll get back into it as we go along, but yeah, it's just, it kind of sucks, man. Cause I love Christmas movies and seeing new ones come out is awesome, but yeah, I feel like they've really failed us these past couple of years as far as like Christmas movie releases. Another one we definitely left out was Bad Santa, man.
00:28:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah, absolutely. The best, the single best line ever uttered in a Christmas movie. You're not going to shit right for a week. Willie, last time I fucked with you, I've shitting pancakes. Yeah, beverage break. Yeah, let's do it.
00:28:37
Speaker
You know Dash with a dancer, Prancer with vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall? What's that? The most famous reindeer of all? Come on!
00:29:12
Speaker
RIP DMX, man. I'm pouring one out for him right now. Probably the best Christmas Carol ever recorded right there. How did we not mention that on our favorite Christmas songs? We had to leave them with a tease, man. You just got to leave them with more. We always got to be wanting more. You never tell me, man. Was Home Alone, was that the movie you were talking about? You were going to disown me if I didn't have it on my list?
00:29:36
Speaker
No, it's Christmas vacation. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Christmas vacation is great. I've been watching a bunch of TikToks and like they've been doing like the top 10 picks and a couple of them haven't even included Christmas vacation. I'm like, did you have a childhood? Yeah, I don't know what you're looking for. If you're not looking for that, man, like, yeah, it's hilarious. Top three. I don't know what the fuck you're watching.
00:29:56
Speaker
So, beverage break, I think this is a little bit of a historic episode of the Pod
Festive Beverages and Recommendations
00:30:00
Speaker
Wars, man. I think this is the first Pod Wars I've ever done sober, dude. I've only done like two or three Chick-Foli shows sober, but I had to get a Red Bull, man. I literally was driving all day, man. I spent about five hours on the road today. My beautiful children, Brett and Stella, they've been at the grandparents' house for the last week.
00:30:17
Speaker
My parents, they live up in Kentucky, and so we met halfway today to gather the children back up for Christmas weekend, man. So I came back home just in time to catch a catnap and pop the top on a Red Bull before we sat down to record this, dude. So Jordan, I hope you're drinking something stiff enough for the both of us.
00:30:35
Speaker
Oh yeah, we're drinking one of the Island of Misfit beers from Obscurity Brewing in Elburn, Illinois. This one is called Donner. It is a vanilla golden ale with holiday cheer. Dude, this is a four pack and all the beers were different. Absolutely phenomenal. Every beer has been awesome.
00:30:55
Speaker
They're all Rudolph decorated. So yeah, it's really hard to beat this four pack of beer. I want to give a shout out to Brewdog as well. All their Advent calendar beers have been phenomenal this year. So yeah, I've been really getting some Christmas drinking done lately.
00:31:13
Speaker
Hell yeah man I that's gonna segue into our next segment where we talk about our favorite Christmas beers and drinks so I'll get that started since I kind of kind of bitched out on the beverage break for this week man but I'm telling you guys I'm freaking worn out dude the my favorite it's a cocktail we've mentioned a few times over the years on
00:31:34
Speaker
Chick Foley show, but we lovingly refer to it as the drunken gingerbread. I think this is one of the best and most dangerous cocktails that you can have around Christmas time because it's stiff as hell, but you can barely even taste the alcohol. You know, there's people that I know that don't really like to drink booze that I've gotten straight up smashed off this at some of me and Sheena's Christmas parties over the years.
00:31:54
Speaker
but take you a solo cup or you can take a rocks glass, fill that bad boy with ice, fill about halfway up with coke, then hit it with a shot of Maker's Mark, a shot of gingerbread syrup, and then a splash of coke on top of that. And then if you really just want to set that motherfucker on fire, if you're like me, you'll throw another half shot of Maker's Mark right on top after you get done stirring it, right? Stir, get it all set up, and then just another half shot of Maker's Mark right across the top of that bad boy.
00:32:22
Speaker
But coke and makers is already a great combination. And then you mix in that flavor, that sweet, spicy gingerbread syrup on top of it. It just absolutely goes together perfect. The drinks go down easy, man, but they're still really strong. Don't drink a couple of these, then start doing some online Christmas shopping, dude, because you're going to be on the car commercials where there's a brand new Lexus waiting in the driveway for your wife on Christmas morning. You're like, how the fuck did I do this? So that's my Christmas drink recommendation for sure.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, so usually mine are beer related, but there is one thing that came out either last year or the previous year. I am a big eggnog drinker, but Screwball came out with their eggnog and it's a peanut butter flavor eggnog. Dude, it is phenomenal. It's so good.
00:33:13
Speaker
I know a lot of people don't like it just because of the texture of it and how thick it is, but I feel like the screwball one is really good. Just pour it over some ice, give it about 20 minutes, let it really cool down, melt some of that ice and it thins it out a little. I feel like it's way better. Dude, the peanut butter flavor takes away a lot of the eggnog flavor that people don't like. Sheena made a batch of... You would have loved to be here, dude. She made a batch of homemade eggnog this week, man.
00:33:40
Speaker
It was raw milk, right? Like straight from the cow's teat. And then the eggs, you know, were right from our chickens in the backyard, dude, and freaking mixed it up with the heavy cream and had some Captain Morgan rum mixed in there. So I got to imagine if you're into eggnog, this was probably like some of the best eggnog ever, but not for me, dude. Damn.
00:33:59
Speaker
It's unfortunate. I feel like my favorite Christmas beer probably ever is still Goose Island Christmas ale. They just do such a phenomenal Christmas beer. It's getting harder and harder to find though I've noticed over the past couple of years.
00:34:14
Speaker
Goose Island, their stuff's tough to find. I know, so they don't have the best distribution down here, but Corks is the name of the beer shop that I go to in Memphis, which if you are in the West Tennessee area, dude, it is an absolutely outstanding beer shop. When they get in their Goose Island, they have to limit two packs per person and stuff because it goes quick and they don't get a ton of it when they do get it in.
00:34:37
Speaker
Dude Goose Island is just, every one of their beers is phenomenal. They don't really miss. If you've done any of the barrel aged stouts that they release on Black Friday every year.
00:34:49
Speaker
Is it worth it, dude? I've always been so intrigued. I hate to sound like a poser or like a shallow person, but just seeing that price tag on a pack of beer makes me feel like, dude, I need to try this to see if it's really that fucking good, because I can't imagine they get away with charging that price unless it's just outstanding.
00:35:09
Speaker
I don't know how you can do it there, but here we can only buy it per bottle. It's 22 bucks a beer. They used to get it in. They didn't even get any in here, but when I was in Norfolk, Virginia, our total wine by my house would get it in and they sold it by whatever it is, the case or whatever it is. It was 120 bucks for the thing. Oh, so you got six of them. Yeah. Okay.
00:35:30
Speaker
Well, this year we did the, um, we got the bananas foster banana pudding. I don't remember what it was, but it was really good. I mean, you have to really like style beers and it cannot be cold. Cause if it's cold, it completely ruins it. I know that sounds weird, but you have to drink it at room temperature.
00:35:48
Speaker
Man, I'm not a huge style fan, but I like these. They're all really good. I still have like four or five of them in the kitchen for the past couple of years because they really never go bad. You can drink them whenever. I'm going to take a couple of those to Colorado with me because
00:36:05
Speaker
I don't know, man. This is the first time we've taken a vacation during Christmas week in a while, so I feel like I just got to treat myself next week and drink some whiskey and just have a week. It's just going to be a special week.
00:36:19
Speaker
The Christmas beer is usually a strikeout for me, just because I've never been a fan of Stouts, man. If one of my absolute favorite breweries, like O'Connor or Smartmouth out of Virginia, put something out, I would grab it. But I really don't care for Stouts, man. And that's typically what you see on the Christmas beers. I've got a six pack. I haven't tried it yet. There was a six pack of cranberry ales. It was a Christmas beer. I forget what the name was. It was by Wiseacre here in Memphis, though.
00:36:45
Speaker
And it was like a cranberry sour ale and it had like a little bit of cinnamon flavor mixed in also So we'll see how that is. But yeah, I'm just I'm not a big stout guy, dude
00:36:55
Speaker
There's no way that is bad though. The Chris, the, any of the cranberry ales are really good. I get it, dude. I'm not a huge stout person either, man. Like I understand what you're saying. That's why I always search for the different beers. Did you like that? Uh, the Sanders reserve that I sent you last year though. It was pretty good, man. Like I said, usually when I sit down to drink them, I typically will enjoy it. Right. But I just, uh, um,
00:37:20
Speaker
It's just I can never like I never like it enough to like buy a four pack over if I see it out, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's and dude, the problem is a lot of them are tough to find out too. Yeah, they're popular, man. It's really become like with Halloween and Christmas beers, you got to get them right out of the gate or else you're not getting them like they're gone immediately. I got it was a
00:37:44
Speaker
It was 12 pack of beers, but there was four different beers in it last year. They were all from Ohio and they didn't even do the pack this year, but one was like, you'll shoot your eye out. There was a ton of really good beers in there, but I got it the last weekend in October and I drank it by the first weekend in November. And then I went back to get like two more and they were already gone and they said they weren't getting anymore.
00:38:08
Speaker
Yeah, you got to be, you got to be quick on the trigger with those things. Like if you see them, you got to buy them right out of the gate. Yeah. Sheena had a, there was a gingerbread stout that smart mouth put out that Sheena liked that we always grab every Christmas while we were in Virginia. That's got to be good. Those flavors got to mix well together. Yeah.
Family Traditions and Nostalgia
00:38:25
Speaker
All right, let's let's close her out with your favorite Christmas memories or traditions. This can really be anything I just I feel like me and you don't really like open up about our lives enough about like, I know we talk about wrestling all the time, but I feel like
00:38:43
Speaker
we don't like let people into like how we were when we were kids and the things we liked and like things we did with our family. So I felt like this would be a good thing to close it out with. So as a kid growing up, man, the big stuff we always had advent calendars, it was always a big deal. Like my mom just loved getting me and my little brother advent calendar every year. It's like, honestly, to the point where I can still remember being like, you know,
00:39:05
Speaker
10 or probably a little over 10 probably like 1213 and like kind of just being over it but I would still like fake a little bit of excitement because I knew my mom was really excited to you know give us our get our advent calendar started for the year and then just I always loved opening that one present on Christmas Eve man like that you would look forward to that I'd almost be as excited for that as I was for Christmas morning right like just getting the one little taste on Christmas Eve did you guys do the the one present on Christmas Eve when you were growing up?
00:39:31
Speaker
We did. We always talk to my mom and not letting us do it. And as we got older, me and my sister always exchanged our present on Christmas Eve. Yeah, so that was always a big thing for us as well.
00:39:44
Speaker
My favorite one right now that we have is, it's not necessarily on Christmas, but it's how we kick off Christmas season. Thanksgiving night, we all sit down and watch Charlie Brown Christmas. That's just like our thing, dude. It's super easy. You know, it's only like 25 minutes long. And that's just how we transition officially from, you know, kind of like Halloween, fall, Thanksgiving time to Christmas time.
00:40:05
Speaker
Zoe actually watched that for the first time ever last week. She had never seen it. I felt like such a fail of a parent that she had never seen it, but she loved it, man. It's just, it's such a good show and, um, just kind of teaches you a lot about like what you should appreciate during Christmas.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah, I'm all for it. For us, my big thing was always on Christmas Eve, we went and hung out with my mom's family. So my mom had six brothers and sisters, so I had a lot of cousins.
00:40:37
Speaker
So Christmas Eve, we would always gather at one of my aunt or uncle's houses and have Christmas Eve. And I got to see all my cousins. I have like 15, 20 cousins. So we did a gift exchange among the cousins. My grandma always gave all of us something. It was just, it was really cool. Unfortunately, my mom's family kind of grew apart a little bit once my grandma passed away.
00:40:58
Speaker
so we don't do it anymore. We haven't done it in a really long time and I don't get to see my cousins as much as I used to, but I just remember as a kid thinking how lucky I was that I had that many cousins and I just had that cool of a Christmas Eve every year. So yeah, that was definitely one of my favorite things and we would all bust open our presents on Christmas Eve, whatever we got and
00:41:21
Speaker
play with them, whether it was like a Nerf gun or one of my favorites still was I got this Nerf like archery kit and we played with it in my grandma's house. And one of us broke her mirror and I just remember how pissed off she was on Christmas Eve. And I was like, it's Christmas Eve, relax. Like it'll be fine. But yeah, it was a, it was always exciting getting together with them for Christmas Eve. Cause that was the only time I saw all of them together. Like it was always just a special time, even though we all lived in the same city our whole lives, but
00:41:49
Speaker
Yeah, Christmas Eve was always really important to us. So yeah, we we'd always get a good football game going without with all the cousins. Also, that was like a Christmas tradition at my great grandma's house. Yeah, I remember so much fun. Me and my, you know, me and my little brother were only two years apart and we had this set of cousins.
00:42:05
Speaker
that were a couple years younger than us, right? They were cousins also. They weren't brother and sister. They weren't brothers. They were the same age, different parents. But me and I'd be quarterback for one of them, and my brother would be quarterback for the other. And we'd just get them fired up and just smashing each other's heads into stuff just for our own sick entertainment. So yeah, I feel kind of bad now because we would get them all fired up, like the one Derek Henry, stiff arms on each other and shit. But me and my brother are just cracking up.
00:42:32
Speaker
I feel like one thing that's kind of faded away as our generation gets older is a lot of the Christmas Eve get-togethers and just family get-togethers in general. I mean, there is still some people that hold it alive and everything like that, but I just feel like it's kind of dying with our generation, unfortunately.
00:42:55
Speaker
I don't ever hear anybody that's my age talk about getting together with their family on Christmas Eve or anything like that. They say they get together on Christmas Day, open presents, and that's really it. I just remember, dude, Christmas, Christmas Eve, day before Christmas Eve, Festivus, whatever you want to call it, it was always just a special time. Those three days, you knew it was going to be fun. You knew you were going to get into something fun that weekend.
00:43:20
Speaker
Um, and I just, I kind of feel like that's died out over the years. Like a lot of people don't even do anything for Christmas Eve. I'm kind of similar to you, man. That great grandma previously mentioned when she passed away, it was like, everybody's still close, right? There's not like there's any bad blood, but everybody kind of just drifted and like, instead of all the cousins getting together, like everybody would kind of just do their own thing with, you know, their, their immediate family and grandparents. You didn't have that, like that big combined extended family tree all under one roof for Christmas Eve. I feel like.
00:43:50
Speaker
I don't know, man. It's just it's so weird over the years. Like now you see like so many Chris or so many restaurants open on Christmas Eve. All the bars are open, which I think they always were. But that's the only thing that was open on Christmas Eve. Everything else used to close by like three o'clock. And now there was a Facebook post about there was like 27 restaurants in Omaha. They're open all night on Christmas Eve. And it's just
00:44:14
Speaker
It's sad, man. People don't do stuff with their families anymore. And I get it, man. Some people don't get along with their families. That's always been a thing. I know holidays are hard on some people, so I'm glad they have a place to go. I think a lot of people take advantage of that, but it is sad to see. A lot of people don't do anything with their families on Christmas Eve or Christmas.
00:44:37
Speaker
I don't know. It's just, it's wild how, how much the world has changed in the last, I mean, shit me and you're almost 40. So 30, 35 years has just changed so much. So it's, it's kind of crazy. It's sad. And man, a lot of people in there might, like my daughter, I'll never get to experience Christmas Eve. Like we did. Like we go over to Ari's family's house on Christmas Eve night and she has two cousins. So she gets to spend time with them, but
00:45:02
Speaker
It'll never be like when I was a big family. Yeah. Cause it'd be people that'd be the one time a year you'd see them, man. You know what I mean? You'd see them like then and like maybe like for a big get together in the summer and you just always look forward to it, man. It was like a big party and yeah, you're right, man. It's kind of missing. So I definitely would encourage anybody, you know, if it's a little late in the game now, man, if you got the chance to bring a few more
00:45:22
Speaker
family members under their roof. And if they say they're cooking at their house, dude, don't don't take that as a no, man. Like give a little gentle, gentle, positive peer pressure and tell them just bring whatever shit they're cooking over to your place, man. And everybody get together. It's going to be even if it makes it less organized and a little bit more chaotic, it'll be more fun and you'll remember it. Yeah, I feel like also like the last 15 years, a lot of people hold grudges against family members and stuff. And man, I just
00:45:50
Speaker
dude you only get one family ever and time comes for us all so like it's just like you just said I encourage people to spend as much time with their families they can because when they're not around and you think about it at Christmas time it's just it sucks a lot man like we miss my grandma so much and
00:46:10
Speaker
Yeah, Christmas Eve is not the same to me anymore. This year we're doing Christmas Eve morning at my mom's house and we'll do Christmas Eve night at Ari's family's house and it'll be fun but it's just it's not the same as it used to be like it always used to be a huge get together and just so much fun like you said seeing people that you're gonna see once a year and
00:46:32
Speaker
I just I think so many people have that opportunity and just pass it up and just take it for granted and I just I really encourage everyone to take full advantage of those moments because even if it's not the greatest time or like you said it's disorganized or chaotic whatever it's you can't ever get those moments back man especially if you have grandparents alive man
00:46:54
Speaker
value your grandparents. It's just because once they're gone, they're gone. I have no grandparents left. I'm not even 40 years old and all my grandparents have been gone for over 10 years. So I definitely encourage people to spend as much time with their grands as they can. It's heavy, man. Heavy into the show. Well, I mean, do this Christmas episode. You got to talk about like family and stuff like that. Jordan turned into the goddamn Ghost of Christmas Future there for a minute, y'all.
00:47:24
Speaker
No, it's just... No, I feel you though, man. I feel you 100%, bro. Life's short, dude. You only get one chance to freakin'... Yeah, this was a segment about memories and traditions, and I feel like not a lot of people have enough traditions for Christmas or any holidays for that matter. I feel like our generation needs to create these traditions again.
00:47:44
Speaker
Um, get their families together around Christmas time or any holiday for them, dude, it doesn't even have to be a holiday. Middle of summer, like to just, just do something with your family, man, that you'll, you'll remember forever. Cause yeah, you're not going to remember playing that video game at 10 o'clock at night in the middle of summer, but your damn sure going to remember having your family over for a night. And, um, and it's just, it makes me sad that a lot of people don't spend time with their family or on the holidays.
00:48:11
Speaker
I feel you, man. Well said, dude. Coming after a visit to Kentucky last week for me, I can definitely vouch. I definitely filled my cup up and energized me for awesome into this year and to kick off 2024. Let's end on a positive note, man. We'll do a quick bonus question. All-time favorite Christmas gift you ever got?
Memorable Christmas Gifts
00:48:33
Speaker
My mom and my dad actually got divorced when I was really young. So my mom did everything she could for us. But, um, there was one Christmas, I think I was about six. My mom filled a snow sled with GI Joes and one of the GI Joe tanks. And that was like one of the most special Christmases to me. It was just so thoughtful. And, um, yeah, I just, my mom did so much for us when we were kids. And again,
00:48:59
Speaker
Shit that you took for granted at the time and like the older you get the more you appreciate it So yeah, that's that's definitely mine
00:49:06
Speaker
I think I still got to go in 1992, man, when Santa brought me the Sega Genesis, dude. I think that's one that... That's a good one. For whatever reason, man, that one just really sticks out. It's kind of like just... That was my Red Rider BB gun, dude, for whatever. I wanted it because Mortal Kombat was going to be coming out on that system when it had blood. On Super Nintendo, there wasn't going to be any blood modes. I can't have Mortal Kombat without any fucking blood because I'd already been playing it at the arcade, right?
00:49:33
Speaker
And I just had to have a Sega Genesis man like it became my obsession and I remember getting it dude And I don't think I do I want to say I don't think I got any games until Mortal Kombat came out that summer dude I want to say Sonic the Hedgehog was the only game
00:49:47
Speaker
I think I had some of the hedgehog and Joe Montana sports talk football That was the only two games we had for like six months and we were fine. Yeah, like imagine that nowadays Did you know you got your systems come preloaded with like six games already on there? I had freakin Sonic and Joe Montana sports talk football and was happier than I've ever been as a gamer So I'll go with it with the Sega Genesis from 1992 man outstanding video game console
00:50:10
Speaker
It's a good choice. All right, so that's a wrap for our second annual Christmas pod warriors extravaganza. Well, I guess we got our own little Christmas tradition out there. We got to keep this going every year now, man. This was barely made the cut. Me and Jordan both had some very busy weeks. But we made it a point to get this one in. And so yeah, we'll come up with something unique for next year also. But yeah, it's two years in a row now. So it's a thing. We got to keep it going, dude.
00:50:38
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to keep this rolling. I'll come up with some more ideas of what we can do for Christmas episodes. The good thing is, even the topics we talked about tonight, it ain't like we can't bring them back up and talk about other stuff. We totally scratched the surface on all those. The music and the movies, man, we could have went miles longer. We can do an all-listener mail episode. We can do Santa's mailbag one year, dude. We can get Sheena to come on.
00:51:02
Speaker
and join in with us like yeah we'll have some fun with this thing but that's a wrap for pod warriors man goal line should be we'll be shifting down into you know third gear here in about another month so we'll be able to bring you guys a lot more pod warriors content there the first half of 2024 we already got some banger episodes lined up in the queue that we just got to sit down and record but it's going to be a good year for the pod warriors and another great year for the chick foley show
00:51:28
Speaker
You guys will hear from us again, but I do want to thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts for all the support throughout this year. Jordan hit us with some closing thoughts and we'll get out of here for our Christmas special. Enjoy your time with your families this weekend. Cherish it. If you don't have a lot of family, just spend time with people you care about. Just always remember, you're always part of our family.
00:52:02
Speaker
It's that time, Christmas time is here Everybody knows they're not a better time of year It's that sleigh, Santa's on his way He'll come to write for Christmas vacation
00:52:25
Speaker
We've got a tour of stuff to celebrate Now it's getting closer, I can't wait I'm gonna make this holiday as perfect as can be Just waiting to see this Christmas vacation This old house
00:52:50
Speaker
It sure is looking good. Got ourselves to find this new man in the middle. Can it work? Always on the run. That's how it's done on Christmas vacation. Let's go next to homes and lifers. Get a toasty fire.
00:53:22
Speaker
We'll sing this the warmest welcome that he's ever had. We're so glad it's Christmas vacation. And when the nights are peaceful and serene, we can cuddle up into our Christmas dreaming.
00:53:52
Speaker
you