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The Jan Arden Podcast. And sure, it's Christmas time in a couple of weeks. And we're all ready. We've got rum on our cheeks and not rum on our cheeks. You know, songwriting comes so easy to me. Welcome. We are here with Caitlin Green, Adam Karsh. They're in their respective homes. I'm here in Rocky View County, south of Calgary, Alberta. We had a windstorm here the other night.
10 minutes from me, folks, I don't understand whether 10 minutes from me, this entire little neighborhood had about 200 trees down. My vet was showing me pictures of like giant 80 year old fir trees across the road. And people were out with chainsaws trying to help other people like get out of their homes and driveways. And the power was out for like, I don't know, 15 hours. I kept talking to my pal Donna yesterday and,
She didn't lose one tree in her yard, but literally 30 feet from her. Her friend had like five, six trees that one of them went through their little cabin, which I felt bad. It was like a homesteader's cabin from the turn of the century. Not the last century. For you youngsters out there, not 2000. Imagine. Yeah, 1900. So yeah, I had not even a breeze here. Nothing. Wow.
Oh my gosh. It's so weird when that happens. When you see, I lived in Halifax for two years and we, when I was there, Hurricane Juan hit Halifax and it, it really did a number on the canopy on that city. Like so many old trees would go down, but you would walk through streets and there would be two enormous trees that were pulled up right from their roots.
And then right next to them would be one just standing there like, hi, I did okay. And I'm just like, what's the rhyme or reason here? Why does one fall and the other stands? It's a philosophical question now, but I don't get it. Well, it really was strange. They're like, I hope you're okay where you are. And I'm like, what's going on? I don't even know what's going on. And she's like, oh, I'll send you some pictures. But anyway, to all you folks out in Bright Creek and south of here, I...
Any little breeze that comes up now, they're all panicking. So I hope you guys are okay. I don't have a chainsaw, so don't call me. I'll come and I'll bring you coffees. Oh. If you need me, that's what I'll do. I bring up the storms because interesting story that I stumbled across. There is a little tavern called the Tan Hill. It was built in the 17th century.
And it is the highest pub in the UK at 1,732 feet. I don't know why I'm bringing this up. It just sounded like an interesting little piece of trivia that this pub is obviously perched on the precipice of the United Kingdom. And in November, a crowd of 61 people had gathered in this pub to listen to an Oasis tribute band play.
And what was their name? It's Noasis. The band's name in the story is Noasis, which I just love. Do you already know this? I love this story so much, and I'm not going to... You keep telling it. You're telling it wonderfully. But anyway, one of the worst blizzards to hit, like, traps these 61 people in this freaking pub for three nights. These people are trapped in a pub listening to an Oasis song.
tribute band which i think is better than being stuck with oasis because i've not heard great things about either of those brothers they're kind of dorkle balls and um but yeah three night three night ordeal and i'm just thinking is there any band that you guys would like to be trapped in a small pub for three days i mean obviously they had nowhere to go but it sounds like they had some pub grub
Um, you know, and they, they were rescued. Nobody was maimed or injured, but you know how I, I would like to be trapped with ABBA. I'm obsessed with their new album, their new record called voyage. Isn't this the first Grammy nomination that ABBA has received as well? I've thought I recently read that somewhere that this was like, this album has somehow gotten them. I think you are correct. A monumental like Grammy nomination all these years later. Yeah. ABBA would be a great pick.
It's funny that you mentioned Oasis as being like not somebody that you'd want to be stuck in a bar with and you wouldn't for ease of living for three days. But I do think that it would like it would digress pretty quickly. Like you would it would become a bare knuckle boxing match between the Gallagher brothers. And I might enjoy that. I don't know. There's something about the chaos of that. Well, they would probably be really drunk unless unless there's some story out there that they've both found sobriety or something.
I just thought, what a way to go. Like you go out, you and Kyle head out or Adam, you and your wife head out. You're going to go to a pub night. You can do a little trivia, listen to a bad version of Wonderwall or maybe a great version of Wonderwall. And all of a sudden the storm hits and you can you literally as much as you try. You're like, honey, that car ain't going down that hill. And keep in mind, we're now eighteen hundred feet high.
But I just thought, what a debacle. Because the drunkness wears off at about 2 o'clock that morning and the reality sets in that you're going to be sleeping on a pub floor. Imagine that pub floor. So I'm dog sitting. We can take a pause for a second. No, we don't even have to pause. Do you need to tend to your ward? Well, until I tell her to calm down, she may not. You can tell her to calm down. This is real life, folks.
Yeah, I'm dog sitting and we have a, we live in a condo and any single person that goes by for an Amazon delivery or another dog, she wants to really let you know that she is on top of it. She's there. She's going to let everyone, I live here. There's someone coming alert, alert. So that was her little alert.
That's what I miss about Mitty is I don't have an alert. I have no alarm. I don't know what's going around here. I used to know every movement a neighbor made a mile away. I'm not kidding you. It's like a car just left the road three quarters of a mile down. Alert, alert. I swear she knows when my husband's coming home. Like I swear she knows when he's going to be home around because she starts pacing a little bit. She's only been with us for like five days. Oh, but you know what? You're really going to miss her.
I know we really are. We will miss her. And then you think about, again, back to the pub, the old Tan Hill pub. What did all the pet owners do? They were stuck there for three days. No one's walking their dog. What is happening? Well, I'm hoping that, you know, phone calls were able to go out over the interweb and that people were able to alert their neighbors and get stuff like this. I'll tell you what, and I think we've talked about this a little bit before, but in my building, I have a condo in Toronto, a little crash pad.
and down a couple doors down from me, there's a couple that have a little plaque on the door that said we have one cat and one dog in here in case of fire, in case anything else. And I don't, I think one of their neighbors has been given keys maybe to get in, but surely to God, there's a master key for someone to go in and rescue pets. Oh, I would think so. I bet I like to imagine at least that the fire department would have, there would be able to get into your place if they needed to, in case of an emergency. Yeah.
Well, food for thought, folks. If you do live, I don't care if you're in a house, I don't care if you're in a tent, let somebody know you've got a pet. A cat, a dog. Your gerbil? Is it a hamster? What do you got? We have a hamster. Muffin. Muffin the hamster. He turned one years old this week. You know, in some countries, that's a delicacy. I don't want to... Oh, no. You know, I'm vegan. I can't even... It's hard for me to even speak that sentence, but...
I made that discovery when I was in Peru that guinea pigs there are regularly consumed. And at some point you're like, okay, well, I guess if they're going to have it, they'll give it to you like it'll be a cut, let's say. It is not. It is the whole dang thing just sitting there on a plate. And you're like, what? This is alarming. Like it's just visually not. It's not. It is alarming. That's the best way for me to put it. So I'm glad. I don't know what that is in hamster years for muffin. What is one year in hamster years?
Well, I'm hoping Muffin lives a long, healthy life, but apparently they don't live more than a couple of years. That's fair. Keeping with the storm, we're going to swap. We're going to get out of consuming any kind of animal product whatsoever. This is something that I would like to have happen to me because it sounds fun. Another snowstorm. There's a lot going on in the world with storms. Trapped a bunch of customers and the staff of an Ikea to sleep overnight. Yeah.
They slept in the beds, you know, normally display beds. They all just slept on display. I mean, what a great place to get trapped overnight.
in Denmark when you did the when you read the story about being trapped in a pub you were like what band would you want to hear and then when I read it I was like where would you want to be trapped because I thought a British pub is actually not too shabby of a place to spend a couple days snowed in and we talked about it on the morning show and everyone said Ikea because you can have the Ikea food you can have the Ikea beds and everything can be set up for you it's not it's pretty good you
You know, as long as everyone follows the arrows, I'm fine with that, Caitlin, because I have an adverse, very rageful response to people going against the arrows in Ikea. I don't like it.
Stick with the flow of foot traffic, people. Don't just turn around willy-nilly. Plus, you get lost that way. Now, the real question would be, what's everyone consuming in Ikea? I think, Jan, you're going to be having the mashed potatoes with the creamy gravy and then lingonberry. Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, lingonberry. Yeah, that's the move. Yeah. Well, they also serve vegan meatballs. Oh, I didn't even know that. Ikea stops serving beef.
they stop serving, they don't do any beef meatballs anymore. All the meatballs that, Swedish meatballs, all the Swedish meatballs that Ikea serves now, now I'm going into Italian. I became Russian. They're vegan. They're plant-based meatballs. Amazing. And people eat them and they don't even have a clue because they're not looking up at what it says. They're just like, I'll take the meatballs.
And nobody knows. Yeah, if you're having meatballs in the first place, like that to me, ground meat has always seemed like the easiest possible swap for vegan anything. Because you're like, no one's eating a meatball and being like, you know what, this is rib roast right here. It's not. You don't know what you're eating. Oh, man. It's, yeah. Trap meat in an Ikea any day or night. I love Ikea. I haven't been for a long time. I haven't been since...
All of this happens. So what are we talking? 22 months? Ikea? You guys, I've inspired myself because I know we've got 60 seconds left in this segment, but I'm going to go to an Ikea this weekend. By the time you're listening to this, picture me in the aisles and I am going to load up on what? A, candles. B, those little crazy candies that are so fantastic and those little bags that they taste like
What's that chocolate bar? Butter something. Butterfinger? Butterfinger. Only their plant-based Butterfinger thing that you get at IKEA. Okay. Anyway, but I do. I need to get candles. And I usually leave there with a shopping cart filled with... They've got soy candles now. They've got all kinds of candles apparently. Yeah.
You're not supposed to burn regular wax candles anymore. I can't even get started. Listen, we're going to come back. We're going to talk about where we're at in our Christmas shopping, which one of you guys are keeners. Somebody tells me that Caitlin probably had hers done in August, but I'm going to find out. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. We'll be right back. Rocking around the Christmas tree. A Christmas bus. Mistletoe, how you can see.
Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast and Show. This is a pre-Christmas wind-up. I want to find out what's going on with how you guys Christmas show up, how you prepare. I'm very unprepared right now. By the time you hear this podcast, it will be December the 5th, episode 1-0-something-or-other in season one. No one does longer seasons than us. Longer seasons. Nobody. And we stand by that. Yeah.
Caitlin, where are you in your Christmas shopping preparedness? I'm nowhere and I'm going nowhere fast, baby. I am shocked.
Because I'm not doing it this year. I'm over it. I don't want to do it this year. This year is I'm anti-Christmas. So we're going away. We're getting out of Dodge. And so my husband and I decided that's the Christmas gift. Like, we'll get some clothes, like, you know, but my dad and I have opted out of, you know, Christmas gift purchasing. We're going to get, like, I think I've talked about this before. We're going to get dim sum and go see a movie. And then we're just going to hang out. And my mom is like, you know, I do not feel like going out.
braving the crowds, hunting online. The gift that you want to give to everybody this year, in my opinion, is the gift of not buying anything. Like I'm just over it a little bit. So we're not- You're a hot dog, Caitlin. And it's not like I'm going to a holiday party this weekend. Like I'm going and doing festive things. I'm not against going to a Christmas market. I love all this stuff. It's just, I find the rampant stress to find the perfect gift and send it in time. And then- Why does it happen?
to be the perfect you can give me something it doesn't have to be perfect you're right you know what this is this is I literally just talked about this in therapy was it was like okay but it's good enough you have to learn how to be happy with good enough instead of perfect so that is a good lesson for everybody I like getting anything I even like getting a singing card oh I do like those I like the
like a singing card. I've got one in my Christmas tree that has been there for like 10 years. I'm probably exaggerating, but every year I open it up just to see, oh, I wonder if the singing card's still working. And I open it up and this little elf kind of pops up and the song is...
silver bells and it's still working so it's hanging in my tree adam where are you in your you got kids so where's your christmas are they done is your wife done what's happening so we're being this week it's we're actually in hanukkah mode
being Jewish. I know. I say, I may, Christmas is a broad term for me. Well, if I may give you our perspective. So last weekend we celebrated Hanukkah with, with my parents and my sister's family and my two nephews. So we, we celebrated with them and we had potato latkes, which if you are familiar, potato, you know what potato latkes are? They're my favorite thing ever.
I'm sitting on one right now. I made them last night for dinner. They were really good. They're French. They looked great. Adam sent me a photo. They looked so good. I can send it to you, Jen, if you want. They're fried potatoes. Kind of like a hash brown, sort of. Yes. I make really good potato latkes. Anyway, so that was last week. And for Hanukkah, like presents-wise, it's more like a gift-giving for kids. I thought you got something every day of Hanukkah.
We don't do it that way. I think some people do get a little trinket a day, but typically we didn't do it that way. We had my family's last week party. We have my wife's family Hanukkah party coming up this weekend or this weekend. And it's really just like gifts for the kids. I don't give my sister a Hanukkah gift. I don't buy a Hanukkah gift for my parents. I don't buy them for my friends. That would be weird. It's more just like give it to the kids. That being said, I still, of course...
regardless of what religion you are, I of course get into the Christmas spirit. Of course, the songs and the holiday cheer and the food and the festive, like, of course I'm into it. And I love it. And it's, I love this time of year. Welcome to the world. Welcome to the world of whatever's morphed into Christmas over the last hundred years. I'm sure it's, you know, started out with just getting a simple red ribbon tied onto a twig and
In 1888. And everyone was burning the Christmas trees down because of the candles sitting in the tree. Yeah, we've come a long way in Christmas. One of my favorite, favorite Christmas things to watch, there's a program in the UK. It's like they take 12 people and they make them go back in time and they do like Victorian farm, Edwardian farm. And these people live there for like a year. What? And...
They always have a Christmas episode. Oh, that's kind of cool. So they have the Edwardian Christmas episode. They have the Victorian Christmas episode. And literally, you know, they're dyeing ribbons with urine. Oh, my gosh. And they're making stuff out of beef fat. They're rendering it down and making somebody's soap and wrapping it in paper left over from a
I mean, it was all homemade, handmade gifts. It was all... Every child got one little thing and they were thrilled with it. Like if they got...
A candy cane. A candy cane. There you go. Enjoy your day. That's what you're getting. And also, you know, a nice meal. But yeah, if you get a chance to look at Edwardian Farm or Victorian Farm, I know it's on BritBox or Acorn TV, pull those specials up. It is such a great family watch. You don't have to do the whole series if you don't want to, even if you just skip to the Christmas edition.
Man alive. It's so humbling to see what they used, what people kept. It was important back in the day. We've talked about hoarders on the show before, too. But back in the day, to keep everything and use it over and over and over again was the only way forward. So we need to kind of meet the old world halfway through.
with how we consume things. You know, you look at a kid now that they're open and have everything open by seven o'clock in the morning and there's 30 gifts. And I'm thinking, parents, come on, reel it in and find some kind of a balance. Even when we were kids, our big stuff was a hockey stick. It really was.
And we were so happy. I find that now, so this is why, like, I've just become a bit jaded about the quote-unquote traditional Christmas now. Because it feels like it just follows this formula. And I feel like it's being thrust upon us just kind of like Valentine's Day. So that part of it, I just let go of. Like, I don't, I'm not running around like a headless chicken to get every single person I've ever met in my life presents.
that's just going to wind up in landfills. And it just, I don't know, inherently there's something about it that kind of rubs me the wrong way. It's the expectations. I also know that it's a really hard time of year for people emotionally because we're dealing with the expectations of what you, you know, being surrounded by the loving family that might be really hard for you. And, you know, maybe you're single, maybe you're working, maybe you don't have enough money. Like, I think it comes, the expectations come with this flip side as well. And so I just like the
freedom of doing whatever you want and enjoying some days off. Like that's how I feel. And you know, we get a couple of stats here and hopefully you have a little bit more time that you can take off. Please just enjoy not working and don't then add a bunch of emotional labor that just depletes you even further. Just enjoy not doing anything, whatever that looks like for you. If you like to watch Elf, which I do, or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, or enjoy some vegan or regular eggnog, do that.
I encourage, I love all that stuff. I just, I don't like the pressure for people. And I just feel like we talk about it all the time. It's like, Oh, are you going to, and then we also talk about the weird stuff around weight loss at the holidays, which is so strange. You're like, Oh God, why do they bring that up? How to protect yourself. We, we touched on that with Meredith Shaw. Yeah.
Saying, you know, how to protect yourself going into the holidays. I'll tell you how to protect yourself. Put on some elastic pants. Don't wear anything with a button. Let's start there. You're not supposed to diet during the holidays. Like diet later, diet after. Like if I'm having a festive meal, I want, give me all the carbs, all the fat, all the sugar, all the salt. Give it all. Who doesn't?
I want to go to somebody's house and see the pot of gold dark chocolate assortment box open on a table and right next to it a vat of homemade nuts and bolts. Yes, yeah.
It's like it's the joy sucking stuff that drives me a bit. So that's that's when I say I'm done with it this year. I don't have the emotional bandwidth. I'm over it. I'm like going for dim sum. I'm going on a trip. That's what I want to do. And, you know, that's how it looks for me. But I just sometimes I feel I feel the pressure and I feel for my girlfriends, like my friends who have who have children who might have separated parents.
I have a friend who like she's from a separated family and so is her husband. And so they have to do four. They have to hit four Christmases. They have to get that many gifts. They have to see that many people. And it's like it's just it's enough pressure. It's enough. And it's like show everyone you love them by spending this much time with them and bringing this stuff and cooking these things and buying these gifts. It's a lot. It's a lot. And I just, again, want to return to please just enjoy not having to work. Yeah.
We're going to return to love when we come back after this break and to a calm approach to how to prepare for your holidays. And also, just a quick reminder here before we go to break, it's not too late to get an Advent calendar. Only the 5th of December. You can eat all five days and get caught up. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast.
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Here comes Hanukkah, so much fun to celebrate Hanukkah. Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast. Adam, Karsh, Caitlin Green, we're here. It's a little early to start, you know, really pounding Christmas, but I think this month we're going to dedicate to Christmas things with a few other unrelated stories. But for the most part, I feel like we deserve to talk about
Eating, the holidays, drinking stuff, watching our favorite television shows over and over again, and just celebrating being alive. Right? Yes. So screw it. We're not going to – this is not a self-help show, folks. So if you inadvertently stumbled across us thinking that we're going to help you,
With your finances, with your relationships, with your career choices, you can forget it. Right, Guy? Yeah, we have no idea what we're doing, but we do like food and fun. Food and fun and three people can't be wrong. That's right. Adam regaled us on our short break with a song that he wrote. I didn't know he was a songwriter. The man never ceases to amaze me. Adam...
You wrote a song for your children. You guys are Jewish? Yep. You know, it's a quandary. Do I celebrate Christmas with my Jewish children? I'm sure you guys go through it year after year. They love Christmas. Because all their friends, all their non-Jewish friends are getting stuff. Oh, yeah. Oh, they're super jealous.
Share with us your song you wrote. Well, I wrote it December 24th because I have dated. December 24th, 2018. That's when I wrote this song. And it's a parody. It's a cute parody. This is not serious. We would never have known that. Thank God you practiced it by telling us that it was not real. It's a real song, but it's not a serious song. And it's called We Don't Get to Celebrate Christmas. That's the name of the song. And the chorus, I won't...
I can send you all the lyrics because it's kind of silly, but. Well, Caitlin said yes. So don't, don't Boris get to the chorus. So here's the chorus. We get nothing. We don't get a thing. Ain't no presents cause Santa didn't bring. Don't see no pretty tree or stockings hung with care. Being a Jew on Christmas. Well, it's not fair. I,
I love it. I, why that isn't going to be destined for. Oh yes. You should sing. I could send you all the lyrics. There's a whole. It needs a bit of jingle bells. And, and you know what? You'll sing it once and then a choir of like 40 children that were minors, like in 1207.
We'll come on and then they'll repeat the chorus and sing it. We need a backed, like we need a backing chorus of kids singing. Being a Jew at Christmas is not fair. Cause I, that has to happen. And I want like festive horns. Yeah. I think this should get like the full Darlene love treatment, how she would sing her special every year on David Letterman. I would love that. I will text you guys the whole, there's like full choruses and verses and it's a whole song.
So thank you. Can I ask you guys something? This is a little, it's still related to Christmas. What is a Yule log? I don't know. I've heard of it. I've heard of it too. I always thought it was something you had on the fire, but now I don't know. Is it a log that burns for days during the winter solstice?
I was just taking a stab at it. I can feel, I feel you guys searching the internet. Oh, yes. I'm going to the Google. I got it. The tradition of the Yule log began in Norway, where a giant log was hoisted onto the hearth to celebrate the return of the sun each year. So there you go. That's how to make a Yule log. Hoisted onto the hearth.
So hearth would have been, so into the fire, the log would go. And it would just burn. And it would burn. And it says, in this time of darkness, we pause on the solstice and realize that something wonderful is happening. It's usually around December 21st, unless you're in the southern hemisphere. That marks the time when the sun starts to return and the days begin to get longer. So you praise God.
Yeah, exactly. So you hoist a Yule log up onto the hearth in your home. And is there anything better than thinking back to when your kitchen had just like a big open fireplace going? Anyways, and you can see there's like images of it. Yes, I'm looking. I mean, aesthetically, Scandinavians nail most things, but...
They really know Christmas. Like a Scandinavian Christmas, it is cozy. It is beautiful looking. And I just, I don't know, like we're a northern cold country and we haven't really figured out style the way they have and how to handle winter and make winter look good. But yeah, that's where the Yule log comes from. Neat. Well, it says here what I've just looked up.
The log can burn for 12 days, but they feast until the log burns out. Wow. I'm going to just yule. I'm going to yule it this year. You should do that. All those trees are down in Bragg Creek. Just hoist one into your hearth. The Norse people believe that each spark...
Okay. Human traditions quickly go into unhealthy superstition. Like, it doesn't take us long to go there as a people. But I think this sounds very nice.
Not to be confused with the Christmas cake, the Yule log. That's like the roll, the like chocolate roll with the cream filling. That's what I was picturing. Yeah, that's delicious and not at all what we're talking about, but I just want to mention it as well.
Yeah, no, who doesn't like a chocolate rolled up cream log? The best. You know, listen, I'm telling you, there are no end to the things that you can learn from the internet. I'm not even, well, I feel compelled to keep reading this about you all.
Um, it was a celebration in most areas of Europe. The Yule didn't say Christmas. Most cattle were slaughtered so they wouldn't have to feed them during the winter. It does make sense. And then they would be able to freeze the meat for the most part. It would just kind of get chucked into the snow. Honey, go grab some chops from the snow bank. Yeah.
And bring it in. Well, that does make sense. Yeah, it does. You're not feeding it yet. You can store your food. And probably a lot of salt curing, I would imagine, is going on as well. Yes. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. And from having been to parts of Scandinavia. Didn't they trade in salt? Wasn't salt like basically currency back in the day? Listen to the thing you are learning on this podcast. There are so many of you that had no idea what a Yule log was and that you could eat for the entire 12 days.
Listen to three people with ADD. Really just go deep. Well, the funny thing is, I mean, as you go through, now that I've opened up the internet and I'm looking at all these things, Scandinavia, everyone had their winter festivals. Christmas looks like it was fairly European and based around
the birth of Jesus. So there's that religious thing. But a lot of these countries, a lot of these areas of the world, it was really an agricultural, um, seasonal thing that really didn't have much to do with, with Jesus by the looks of it. And in Rome, there was something called Saturnalia and it was a holiday in honor of Saturn. And it was in December. Uh, it was the God of agriculture was celebrated. Um,
leading up to so it's definitely winter solstice yeah a lot of it is to do with light i think as well because like you know that's the hanukkah is the festival of light so is diwali which is the festival of lights it's kind of like the hindu i think version of christmas in that way although it happens in november but i think a lot of it is just recognizing that it is dark the days are shorter and we need something to look forward to whether that's a big meal or a bunch of lights
Oh, the Romans were so nice. For that month, the enslaved people were given temporary freedom and treated as equals. What? They did that for a month and then just took it back away again? Then they went back to life as usual. Talk about gaslighting. That's brutal.
I don't even really know what to say. Oh, my gosh. And they sounded so proud of themselves. That's so terrible. This is what I return to. If we think that we have it bad now, all you have to do is go back a little teeny tiny bit into world history and realize, oh, yeah, even though it might not be great today, it's definitely way better than it was. For sure.
There was a lot of gods born on December the 25th. It was also Mithra's birthday, another Roman god, the god of unconquerable sun. And it was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. Wait a minute. Mithra, the god of the untamable sun? Is that what it is? The unconquerable sun. An infant god of the unconquerable sun. It sounds like a metal band. Mithra is badass. I love it.
Mithra was a band. Mithra was a band. See, now I've learned something. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. We'll be right back. Welcome back. Jan Arden Podcast, Caitlin Green, Adam Karsh. I would be remiss if I did not mention
The new Bieber balls, Bieber bits. Tim Biebs. Bieber bites. Yes. Tim Biebs, right? Sorry. Knew it was something in there. Delicious flavors, I must say. And Justin Bieber, what a change, of course, for this young man to be lending his name
And his voice, his fabulous fame to Tim Hortons. And I'm just wondering, what did this cost them? A fortune. A dang fortune. Oh, yeah. Cost them a lot.
Although here's something that was pointed out on Twitter, which I completely agree with. And it's from someone I follow, longtime radio host here in Toronto called Mastermind. And he commented on the name of them. And he said that he thought it was a missed opportunity to call them Bieber bits or just Tim bits or just 10 bits.
You know, I feel like that sounds better than Tim Biebs. I'm with him on this. Just 10 bits or just 10 bits? Yes, that's better. Just 10 bits. Yeah, it's good. I'm like, I don't know. That's the only thing I'll say. Tim Biebs doesn't roll off the tongue. I was at the marketing meeting. They should have. They didn't. They're a great loss. I was just trying to think of what other celebrities might be great for.
Tim Bits franchise. But yeah, Justin Bieber, what a big deal. And apparently, they are selling like effing crazy. They cannot keep them in any store. There's three flavors. So the Justin Bieber bits are... Biebs Bits. There you go. No, that's a little lewd. It's
Beebs bits. Bee balls. Nope. Just further and further away. Anyway, they can't – the ones that you buy, there's three flavors. So there's the 10, the 20, the 50 pack or whatever. But they're selling out. So people are going in at like 10 o'clock in the morning and they're gone. Yeah.
What is happening? Well, any sort of like fandom, you know, is just instantly, you know, that's why it makes so much sense for these companies to align with a celebrity because their fans will line up and will obsess over this and do whatever it takes to get the merchandise or the food or whatever it is. So as much as it probably cost them a fortune, it makes good sense because people, you know, the believers are going to do whatever it takes to get their hands on this product. I'm a believer.
Believe it if I try. Well, there's also a whole line of merch. There's like fanny packs and like all that stuff. So that was selling out too. There's merch that goes along with the Beaver bits? Oh yeah, there's Tim Beebs merch. And Kanye West, for example, you know, you might think, oh, it costs like a couple hundred bucks to go see his shows. So he must be making a lot of money off tour. Where he's really making the money is the merch. His, you know, each show might have like, maybe there's a collector's edition tour concert or tour t-shirt. I can't talk.
And that's where he makes all of his money. He makes more money off of his merch than he does off of actual ticket sales. And so I think that's where the big dollars are for celebs these days. That's why Rihanna's not making any music. She's making lingerie and makeup instead because there's more money in it.
I don't know. I guess it's just the way things are now. I mean, they talk about Oprah's favorite things at Christmas time, that she releases a list of things that
She may or may not have enjoyed over the course of a year. I don't know. Is it, are they, are people paying in to be on? I mean, we really don't know what this list is and how it's configured. I'd like to think that it's actually stuff she likes, but I'm telling you that stuff sells out. It's a guarantee. Yeah.
That and the Kardashians. You get the Kardashians involved in anything. I can't even believe we're giving them even more air time. But if they wave their magic wand over, and imagine they get sent everything in the world, guys. They get sent every product in the world, every Gucci bag, every Chanel lip balms, eyelash curler. And if they mention it, which is, I guess, what all these people hope, oh my God,
Thank you so much, Avon. We love the bath balls. That's good. Then all of a sudden.
They're selling out of everything. With the Kardashians, what I'll say is at least they're doing it and getting paid. Don't you find it weird when like regular people you know have decided that they should go for that Instagram like influencer vibe on their own socials? And it'll be something as simple as they get like a free package of hot chocolate and all of a sudden they're like, hey guys. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. You're not an influencer. I don't want to watch a regular person play influencer cosplay. It's bumming shit.
me out. So at least with the Kardashians, I'm like, okay, this is a legit business for these women. They have made hundreds of millions of dollars and they've made a lot of money for other people too. So with them, I'm like, all right, well, you know what? You're business people. Just regular sad old average Joes are going online and they're just doing all this stuff. And it's like, that's the part that it has, it has like trickled down and poisoned everyone's brains into thinking that you're going to become a Kardashian that way. Uh-uh, not going to happen.
Well, I still am just really perplexed by the Bieber stuff with Tim Hortons. I think it's such a wholesome, family-oriented brand that, you know, and we look at his turmoil really over the last few years, he's been great. I mean, he's admittedly a reborn Christian, right?
and, you know, married his pal, his... Haley. What's her name? Baldwin? Haley, who's like a reasonable person, and they're still together. And, you know, he's very... He really has turned a corner. So if finding Jesus does that for people, then amen. The real question is, what would the Jan Arden product be, if not Timbits? Well...
Tim Hortons doesn't do anything vegan. There's nothing there that I can eat. Probably a bagel with nothing on it. But really at the end of the day, I don't even know if Tim Hortons offers any kind of plant milk with their coffee. Like I don't think you can order a double double with anything but homogenized milk or cream. I've never gone in there. I haven't gone there for quite a long time just because I know
I like milk in my tea even, like oat milk or almond milk, and I don't think they have it. So there's zero there. They have not in any way, shape, or form gone into that world. You know what? Now I'm lying. They tried a Beyond Meat breakfast sausage, but it was so bizarre because they offered it with cheddar cheese and an egg on it.
So it's sort of defeat, but they did try it and they took it off the menu, but you know, it wasn't, you know, you can't set it up that way. Cause anyone that's doing that kind of a diet or that kind of a lifestyle. Cause if I had to think of products for you, I would have thought like anything vegan, obviously, if you partnered with like a vegan company and did like a, say it was a vegan meatball and you'd like Jan's balls, people would love it. They'd be all over it. I think.
or I don't know, really great line of like, you know, comfortable like hoodies. Like you always have a cozy hoodie on. And if it was like a hoodie that was like, you know, very going towards a good cause, maybe there's a portion going towards charity. If there was an altruistic like vibe in there for you, I think that would be great. Yeah. No, I, I mean, I would love that. I would love to do something with Subway.
Like, I think I could come up with such a, even if like Subway and Veal Life, the cheese that I just love so much, that cheese company. And we are not paid by Veal Life, folks. We don't know. They're just so fantastic. But if Subway could do like some really great veggies or a meatball sub with either Gardein or Eve's or Bionic.
I would do a Beyond Meatball Sub at Subway in a heartbeat or just vegetables with, anyway. Sorry. Adam's winding us up. We would have had more time had we not done the song. Sorry about that. This is the month of December. It's the 5th. It's the 5th.
Go get an advent calendar. They have Harry Potter calendars. They have beer advent calendars. They have beauty calendars that you can do a product. They have coffee advent calendars. They have a friend's calendar. They have a love life advent calendar. Anyway, I want to go on and on.
I love that Adam wrapped us in the gym and was like, and now a list of Advent calendars. I don't care. Do what you want. Go get yourself an Advent calendar. Eat the first five days and then let's catch up and we'll talk next week. You're listening to Caitlin and Adam and Jan. And it's the Jan Arden Podcast. Merry pre-Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa to everybody.
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