Garage Door Santa

I passed this cheerful fella while walking the dogs earlier in the week, and returned this morning to snap his photo. I don't know these neighbors, but their residence isn't one of the mansions of the über-rich that line the streets near Volunteer Park, so I'm tempted to knock on the front door and ask what the back story is. Maybe if he's still up in February I'll screw up the courage.

Queer Nation Christmas

My partner Mark found this card in a box of memorabilia in his office Sunday. It was sent to him by his boyfriend Tom (RIP) 21 years ago. The AIDS crisis is not over.

Got Whiskers?

You need to go spend a few minutes over at The Beardly.

"Rare Exports"

FESTIVE! reader Colleen—who lives in Tasmania, where they have to wear gravity boots year round and Christmas is in the middle of summer—alerted me to the recent Finnish flick Rare Exports this morning. Somehow it had completely escaped my notice.* I immediately e-mailed our Hollywood correspondents, Alonso Duralde and Dave White. Alonso hasn't watched it yet (what? He had a very busy December!), but Dave wrote one of his typically brilliant reviews for Movies.com here. More musings after I've gotten my mitts on a copy and watched it.

*This actually isn't so remarkable. I'm terrible about going to films in theaters, where other people are likely to congregate and disturb me. Festival screenings aside, I think the last film I saw in a theater was Blades of Glory.

Best Christmas Cards of 2010

As I tidy up the office and put away the last of the decorations, I wanted to take a quick look back at three of my favorite Christmas greetings from 2010.

Best Magazine Cover Parody

Best Activity Card for Snow Days

Best Family Photo

(Devotees of FESTIVE! may recall that this is not the first time the Bagley clan has claimed this prize.)

Vitamin C(hristmas)

I wish more folks arrayed their Christmas lights into displays of healthy fruits and vegetables. Then again, I grew up in a household where Mom gave out raisins and Trident sugarless gum at Halloween, so I may have a slightly skewed perspective on what constitutes "celebrating" a holiday.

Malachai Xmas Mix

As some friends know, lately I've been bugging out over the Anika record, which was produced by Geoff Barrow of Portishead. But Geoff was also one of the first people to jump on Bristol band Malachai (he put out their very first single in the UK), who are poised to release their sophomore album, Return to the Ugly Side, in the US on February 22. Over the holidays, the Malachai guys put together a super-groovy holiday mix—it's only 16 minutes long, but crams in all sorts of fun Christmas bits-and-bobs from the Beatles, Biz Markie, Badly Drawn Boy, Wizzard and more (finally, somebody put all those odd segments on the Band Aid B-side to good use!), plus commercial spots and library music. Download or stream it here before it goes away!

Another Rough Guide to Christmas

In the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I overlooked the latest edition of Parenthetical Girls "Rough Guide to Christmas" holiday mix. Mr. Zac Pennington's Christmas music collection rivals my own in weirdness and diversity (he's the only other person I know who owns the Golddiggers Christmas album), as represented by the two eclectic mixes found here.

On a related note, Parenthetical Girls have compiled all their original holiday singles, including last year's masterpiece "The Christmas Creep," into a digital album. Christmas is available from Bandcamp for the insanely reasonable price of six bucks, and comes with an additional download of Christmas music by pre-PG outfit Swastika Girls.

S. Carey Christmas

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" - S. Carey + White Hinterland from S. Carey on Vimeo.

S. Carey made one of my favorite albums of 2010, All We Grow, then took it to the next level by captivating a packed crowd of folks waiting to see The Tallest Man On Earth (who seems to be in danger of becoming the new Jack Johnson) at Neumo's by playing basically 50 minutes of avant garde classical music. *cheers* While researching another band (Wolf People, highly recommended) I just stumbled across this clip of the S. Carey boys collaborating with White Hinterland on a humble rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." I love when the boys start "playing" the muted horn parts. God bless geeky music students!