The Time Warner Cable Yule Log
The yule log, warm and festive, or a little disturbing --you decide
Over the weekend we were flipping channels searching for a little holiday cheer -- maybe an old Christmas movie or some Aaron Sorkin holiday episodes. But it was one of those 1057-channels-and-nothing-on-days.
Then -- deep in the bowels of the system -- on the free movies-on-demand channel (1030), past the TCM, Hallmark and Sundance Options, we found the Yule Log Channel.
We're still not sure what to think.
Remembering the WPIX Yule log of our youth, we turned it on expecting a one camera shot of a yule log, burning in a fireplace and holiday music in the background. It's a roaring fire, and there's music, but this 2010 Yule log is a bit more -- umm -- highly produced with some sort of slow motion effect and some fading in and out.
It may not be for everyone, still, if you don't have a fireplace, and you think it would add to your holiday cheer -- it may work for you.
Perhaps the director's commentary will help you understand what they were going for.
Oh, and if things feel a bit too warm for you, TWC gives you two more holiday scene options:
The happy snowman scene:
And something called Wintergreen, an evergreen scene with falling "snow":
The quotes around the snow are because we're more than a little sure the snow is an effect. Otherwise it would eventually, you know... accumulate on the tree.
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Comments
Does the cable channel show the yule log in HD? Because I only accept 100 percent genuine 1080p in my home for my artificially-produced Christmas cheer.
... said Bob on Dec 21, 2010 at 7:12 PM | link
Yule logs all year round!
... said Michael Gottlieb on Dec 21, 2010 at 8:04 PM | link
The Yule Log, the Snowman, and Wintergreen are all available in HD on Channel 1801.
... said Mike LaChapelle on Dec 21, 2010 at 10:07 PM | link
How about 3D and sense-around? You know, a real fire in a real fire place?
... said Margie C on Dec 21, 2010 at 11:47 PM | link
Fake fireplace on the tv, family members on the computer via skype, pine scented candles instead of a tree... I am the ghost of your depressingly impersonal Christmas future. There's still time to change your ways, Ebenezer. And if you can't change your ways, at least change the channel.
... said Arielle on Dec 22, 2010 at 7:58 AM | link
My grandmother has the yule log on VHS...she puts it in her VCR on Christmas Eve since she doesn't have a fireplace. I love it! I bet the new updated version is even better.
... said Jen on Dec 22, 2010 at 9:06 AM | link
We left the Yule Log channel on for more than 4 hours last year and burned a hole in our television.
... said Barold on Dec 22, 2010 at 10:36 AM | link
We found a yule log on our Roku last night, too!! It is a little....um, different, but it was nice to drink hot cocoa and warm up by the crackling fire. ;)
... said Judi on Dec 22, 2010 at 11:08 AM | link
Arielle's post has me longing for the warm, personal burning yule log channel of my youth. My parents turned it on every Christmas morning while we opened our gifts. Oh and then the exciting phone call from my grandparents in which we shrieked our joy down the long-distance wires. And my mothers bayberry candle, or as I call it the Scent of the 70's.
Call me jaded but have things really changed that much? No, they have not, and thank goodness for that. I for one have no desire to go back to the good old days when Laura Ingalls was thrilled to receive nothing but an orange and a peppermint stick, and when she grew up and moved out of state she left knowing that she would never, ever, see her parents and sisters again. Ever.
Good times!
... said Elizabeth on Dec 22, 2010 at 2:14 PM | link
@Bob: Yes! If you check the HD tier, there is a Yule Log HD. :)
... said MH on Dec 22, 2010 at 3:02 PM | link
Not sure what to think!? This is the single greatest thing about Christmas. I got the DVD as a present from my brother as an early present...everyone else might as well return their gifts for me.
... said Brian on Dec 22, 2010 at 4:35 PM | link
Yay! My TV is in my fireplace (the fireplace is inoperable, and it's logically the best place for it- if you saw my living room you would understand), so this will be perfect.
... said Summer on Dec 22, 2010 at 6:03 PM | link
here it is....http://twitpic.com/3iilp7/full
... said Summer on Dec 22, 2010 at 6:13 PM | link
The Yule Log on TV is hardly new -- it's been around almost as long as I have:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Log_%28TV_program%29
Just the other night we were listening to Stan Freberg's stylish rant about the commercialization of Christmas, from 1958:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5IXlfJSEi4
... said Carl on Dec 24, 2010 at 11:46 AM | link