Festive Foreign Film Fans

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It seems remarkable that after four years of traveling the world in search of Christmas, the Festive Fans hadn’t been to Wales yet.  This is especially strange since Wale’s own famed poet, Dylan Thomas, wrote one of the most beloved celebrations of childhood Christmas ever written, the epic poem A Child’s Christmas in Wales.  While we were wandering across continent...

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The Festive Fans are starting out the fourth season with Venezuela, but we are feeling a bit sheepish.  We love the country but honestly feel like we just showed up with an uninvited guest or were overserved at the Christmas party.  I mean what do you say to a country that your President invaded in the middle night, arrested their President, and now he wants their oil.  It reall...

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When we last left our Festive Fans, the dynamic duo faced almost certain doom. Their wives had been swayed by the beefy charms of ancient hunks Rudolph Valentino and Peter the Great.  The Baby Pool Time Machine was on the fritz, and their taste buds were signaling a full-blown meltdown and beer emergency!  What to do? 

With a romantic reunion seemingly impossible, were the boys t...

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Oops.  We goofed but it is all fixed!

Sorry we're late.  We just got back from traveling --- time traveling.  Oh, and apologies for the sound in our cooking segment.  We were too excited baking to speak into our microphones.  Also, thank you to Sue Macinnes and La Belle Vie for her outstanding hospitality and holding our hands through the piragi process.

Onto our Star-Sp...

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What better way for the Festive Fans to celebrate the end of our third season, than by abandoning the snow-covered streets, roaring fireplaces, and winter landscapes of most holiday movies, books and songs to travel down south.  It is June, so we are off to a place known for its tropical warmth, rich cultural heritage and vibrant holiday music and dancing.  We wanted a party-like atm...

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Well, the Festive Fans have been toiling for three years, searching out celebrations, rich traditions, and delicious food from all over the world.  We find joy in all of the countries we visit, as we continue our search for the happiest and most magical places on Earth.  Like climbing a mystical mountain, we may have finally reached the pinnacle. Our podcast about the Philippines doe...

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For this episode, our journey unfolds under warm African skies and rolling green hills, as we venture out of the lingering winter cold and into the famous mountains of Volcanoes National Park.  Instead of tinsel and lights, we are surrounded by dormant volcanoes, dense rainforest, and bamboo groves.  This is the land where Dian Fossey lived for 18 years, studying and protecting the m...

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The Festive Fans are feeling a little tired.  We have been woken up by a little one, relatively new to the world. Like watching any baby, it can be a little messy, unpredictable, and joyful.  Our sense of time must have disappeared completely — April 6th feels exactly like April 18th — but we have been operating on very little sleep.  So join us tonight, as we tend t...

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As we arrive, the snow falls softly over the Alps, blanketing the jagged peaks and pine-covered slopes. This is a place of such breathtaking winter scenery, it is like a living snow globe.  There is a chill in the air but, even more so, there is the hardy aroma of … melted cheese.  Yes, this episode the Festive Fans are visiting Switzerland, with its small mountain villages an...

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Said the night wind to the Festive Fan

"Want to go where I go?"

An island in the sea, Festive Fan

"Want to go where I go?"

Witness Christmas, where it’s communist

They just keep it hidden from sight

They just keep it hidden from sight

Wow.  Spring has sprung.  The weather is warmer, the grass is greener, and two hairy bears have emerged from hibernation.  Yes, Mark and Bob are ba...

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As we kick off the second half today, you might be thinking that it is nearly the end of February and we are still not done with the Christmas celebration. We know it’s been a little bit of time, but we really wanted to share the recording with those who weren’t able to attend. There was something electric about this year’s live show — the space, the stage, the lights, ...

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Another two-part episode?  What’s next - a crossover podcast with “Deck Hallmark”?  

Nope, we decided to start 2026 with big things.  First, we kicked off January with our super-stuffed England episodes filled with extras and special guests.  Now we are presenting our recent live Christmas event in audio form. We don’t want you to experience it second...

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Hey, Festive Fans, let nothing ye dismay, we’re back with Part Two of our super-sized Festive Foreign Film Fans Special Royal English Christmas/New Year's Triple-Stuffed Podcast Episode Extravaganza!  Phew, if you think that’s a lot to say, just consider the exciting, action-packed show we’re describing.  It is a two-part journey across England and, along the way, w...

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Wait, don’t think the holidays are over!  They don’t have to be.  It may be the end of the 12 Days of the Christmas, but the Festive Fans want to keep the party going, all year!  We are starting off 2026 with a visit to jolly old England, the granddaddy of the Christmas holiday.  It is so merry, we needed an expanded two-part episode, with special guests, extra ...

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Better late than never.  We missed our episode drop date by 10 days.  That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.  It’s so much fun packed into a few short weeks.  Plus, the way the Festive Fans pine away for this holiday all year, we have to squeeze the most out of our season.  We’ve barely had time to make our Christmas lists.  You know ...

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Working in Alaska in the 1980s was no place for the fainthearted. It demanded perseverance and fortitude.  Work began before dawn.  The tasks were repetitive, backbreaking, and physical. Bears wandered close enough that you could hear their breath in the dark, or if the boom on the ship knocked you overboard, they weren’t coming back for you.  A seasonal job in the Alaskan...

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For this episode, the Festive Fans start the show feeling a little down.  Our current political landscape in the States has Bob upset with so many in the country living in a constant state of anger.  Then we travel to Colombia, a country with a notorious reputation from a vicious drug trade.  The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of the infamous drug cartels, whose illicit activities...

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The Festive Fans end their Creepmas in October with a review of the 2021 film “The Advent Calendar” and a salute to Belgium.  We also speak with Sabine Janisela, a diplomat at the Latvian Embassy, who helps us on our Piragi journey, offering both official cultural knowledge along with her own personal experience. 

The "Advent Calendar" is a horror film about a mysterious w...

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The Festive Fans are off to the “nicest place in the world”, a nation that looks like Christmas itself, with its pine forests, captivating snowfalls, and Hallmark worthy quaint little towns.  The people there are so friendly that the place is bursting with joy.  They even claim Santa as an official citizen.  Yes, that’s right, we are off to our neighbor to the ...