Christmas Card From A Loser In Huddersfield...

...as opposed to a hooker in Minneapolis.

Over at Nige's Page of Rage, Nigel is discussing the thorny subject of Christmas cards, specifically the quandary of wanting to send a card to some of your work colleagues... but not wanting to wee on the rest of them even if their Santa hats are on fire. Not a problem for me this year as I don't officially have any work colleagues. I did receive a card from one person on my course (who thoughtfully sent one to each of us), then watched amusingly as another student spent half the lesson frantically scribbling out cards of her own... not to be outdone.

This is our third Christmas in this home. It's in a terrace row of five houses, and though we know our neighbours to say "hello" to, we don't know most of their names and we've never exchanged Christmas cards. Until this year... when the nice couple in the end house (our immediate neighbours) decided to send one to each house in the row. Within a week, the psychological pressure had boiled over and the cards were flying. In the end, we received one from every other neighbour (some just addressed to our house number with an apology for not knowing our names). Finally, Louise had to crack and return the gesture. Me, I quite liked the idea of being the only miserable bastards in the row... but it is Christmas, after all.

Beyond that, I've not sent a great deal of cards this year. Hey - I'm unemployed, give me a break! So, apologies if you've sent me one and not had one in return. Take this and like it...

I'll be back after the big day with my annual countdown on the best stuff of the year. In the meantime, peace and goodwill to you and your families... here's hoping 2012's a better year than '11 (apocalypse permitting).

My Week On The Web

Over at The Mixtape Lives On, we're gearing up for 2012 with my favourite songs about the End of the World. This week, that's included classic offerings from Johnny Cash, The Clash, The Handsome Family and Barry Maguire. We also played another great List Song by The Jim Carroll Band (about all his dead friends), new music from Low Roar - with the sublime title of "Friends Make Garbage, True Friends Take It Out" and continued my countdown of the best albums of 2011 with Noah & The Whale.

Elsewhere on the web this week, Dan from All That Comes With It broke his vow to never blog again by setting up a rival Slawit blog. Hey, I'm not worried - I can stand the competition!

Ryan and James Lindsay, my brothers from down under began their appeal to gather financing for their short film Soap - the story of a man who must wash his hands every hour, on the hour. Being a little bit OCD myself, I can sympathise...

Sam Johnson began teasing his new comic book...



And I discovered this year's heaviest Christmas record from Krashkarma...



...the music may not be to your liking, but the video's worth watching to see what happens when McCauley Culkin meets Freddie Krueger.



That was my week on the web - how was yours?

It's Clichéd To Be Cynical At Christmas

I wanted to write you something special for Christmas.

Perhaps a #fridayflash story about a political party who wanted to ban the season of good will because it merely encouraged people to demonstrate bad will through the rest of the year. And about the serial killer determined to stop their nefarious schemes because Christmas was the only time off he gets.

Perhaps a comic strip pitting the Punisher against a Terminator-esque rogue Santa Claus gone evil. (Oh wait, I actually did write that.)

Perhaps some poorly veiled excuse to plug PJANG #5 again to the three of you who haven't yet bought a copy...

Perhaps a list of bleakly humorous festive tunes, like A Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis...




But then I read Steve's hugely touching Christmas post and I thought... you know what...?

It really is clichéd to be cynical at Christmas.

And I hate to be a cliché on top of all my other many flaws.

And so, to everyone still reading this saggy old, baggy old blogpuss of mine... have a very happy one.

I'll be back next week with my favourite things of 2010. A whole week of lists! Yipee!