Mainlining Christmas

I've certainly heard of this show, but like most people who weren't eleven-year-old girls in 2003, I'd never actually seen an episode. While it was more or less as bad as I'd anticipated, nothing else about it resembled what I'd expected. It's hard to put into words just how bizarre this thing really was. The show was a smorgasbord of surreal sequences, slapstick, parodies, and animated side comments thrown against the wall in the hopes something would stick. It was strange and incoherent. It might actually have been impressive if anything - ANYTHING - they'd done had been remotely funny or amusing. This is one of those things that mistakes weird for clever. The plot is relatively simple: Lizzie is obsessed with winning a holiday parade float competition and expects help from her family and friends. Meanwhile, an old man shows up claiming to be Santa's lead elf. Pretty early on he effectively proves this claim by accurately recalling what Lizzie

DC Universe Christmas Various Writers and Artists Compilation released in 2000, Issues originally copyright 1940-1999 Premise: A collection of holiday-themed stories from across the first six decades of DC comics. Talk about hits and misses! This is a really interesting read, but it’s not always interesting because it’s good. There is a huge array of styles and quality here. It starts really strong, with a Denny O’Neil Batman tale from 1980 about an ex-con turned mall Santa, and a cute piece from the 90's about Flash (Wally West) shopping for a present for his girlfriend. Then we get a Wonder Woman story from 1943. There’s some historical interest here, but mostly it’s all kinds of horrible. Soon after it is a Teen Titans tale from 1968 with a hokey plot-line and a lot of ‘groovy jive-talking’. There’s a Robin story which is corny, but cute, a Legion of Superheroes bit that’s wild and kinda wonderful. I was really intrigued by a Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up that’s

What is this? Night 17? Anyway, every day between the 1st and 25th this month, I'm giving you a new piece of fiction. It's a little series I like to call "25 Christmas Eves," and today I've got something particularly special for you: a piece called "Department of Letters." This one opens in a mail room, the day before Christmas.... By: Erin L. Snyder Iyla’s joints cracked like breaking ginger snaps when she stretched her fingers, but the sound was lost in the noise of grinding machines and rippling paper. She was tired - they all were - but the season was almost done. The shipment had come in a few hours earlier: it was a big one - always was on Christmas Eve - but it was also the last. She was a Letter Specialist, 3rd class, in the mail subsection of DLWL (Department of Letters and Wish List). She knew six languages, which was why she was still third class: the leads knew at least two dozen each, and it was rumored the director could read every

Hey, Christmas is even in the title! This totally counts! I love Nature. Even if you don’t, I recommend you watch the first part of this. It has one of my favorite scenes that has ever been on Nature or any other nature program, ever. It’s the part with the fox. I love it. I’m not going to tell you more. The rest of the program is great too. It follows animals searching for food and shelter in Yellowstone National Park in the dead of winter. Bison, elk, wolves, bears, birds, otters and humans all make appearances. I was actually surprised how much I liked following the photographer Tom Murphy as he showed how he camps out in the snow, both to get amazing photos and just because he loves the area. The scene with the people who came out with telescopes to look for wildlife on Christmas day was pretty fantastic as well. The narration tips over the edge into pretentious once or twice. By and large I’m willing to overlook silly narration in a good documentary, but the bit about the

My first angel project is complete! (Well, she technically needs a coat of sealant, but it hasn't been dry enough to take her outside to spray her.) And yes, she's not currently hiding her face, but her eyes are closed, and I liked the Weeping Angels best when they were about implied danger. I bought three shiny angels this year for nefarious purposes: Here's a closer shot of the one for this project: I bought it very cheap on sale at a craft store. First I gave her a decent sanding, but didn't go overboard, since the dust created by the resin she's made of couldn't be good to breathe in. She got sprayed down with plastic-friendly primer next. I could still see "Hope" a little too clearly on her banner, so a little Kneadatite epoxy putty took care of that: And all that was left to do was paint. I first painted her all over a sort of medium gray, and then just kept going over her, adding darker grays to the inset p

Unless you watch a lot of ABC, you most likely won't have heard of this ABC Family made-for-TV Christmas movie about "Nick Snowden," the new Santa Claus, going in search of a missing reindeer named "Buddy." It probably goes without saying, but you're not missing much. The movie moves at a snail's pace as it alternates between the two leads, Snowden and his love interest, Sandy (I swear I'm not making this up, folks). Sandy works at the zoo which wound up with Buddy, courtesy of the movie's villain, Buck. Nick Snowden is bumbling and ineffectual in his attempts to break Buddy out of the zoo, and in pretty much every other respect. He's got one "super power", which is the ability to turn mirrors into portals. I'm assuming this was an artifact of an early draft of the script which didn't include reindeer, since he really shouldn't need to travel around the world by sleigh if he can just teleport from home to home. It

If you're just joining us, every midnight between the 1st and 25th brings a new piece of genre fiction, always about Christmas Eve. This series is called 25 Christmas Eves, and we're on night 16. Today, I've got something especially Christmasy: a piece of far-future military SF called, CHRISTMAS CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE! Enjoy. By: Erin L. Snyder Admiral Belle Samson stepped onto the lift, coffee in hand. A small, green holographic image of the Blitzen-6 appeared before her. The lift shaft was highlighted in red, and she motioned towards the bridge and braced her coffee as she began accelerating upward. “Would the admiral like to view Captain Yuleson’s report on the status of the Spruce Queen?” The computer’s voice was clear and brisk, as always. “No. No thank you,” Samson said, blowing on her coffee. She then removed a flask from her coat pocket and added a modest amount of Irish Cream. A light blinked while she put the flask away. “Notice. It is against regulations f