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Generosity, Love, Forgiveness: 'Mr. Dickens and His Carol'

Rather than once again exploring the all-too-familiar territory of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Samantha Silva's debut novel contextualizes the work's origins and gets inside the mind of its creator.

Books

Surprising Results From a Marathon Viewing of 'A Christmas Story'

Even if you don’t give a hoot about Christmas and haven’t seen A Christmas Story seven million times, you may find The Triple Dog Dare shockingly charming.

Books

'Bitter' Is Another Brave Exploration Into the Gustatory Outlands

Jennifer McLagan loves a controversial ingredient. Her cookbooks include works on bones, fat, and the scary bits. Now it's time to get bitter.

Books

Kelly Clarkson: Wrapped in Red

Kelly Clarkson plays it safe, and spends too much time showing off her upper register, but Wrapped in Red is a warm and romantic addition to the Christmas pop zeitgeist.

Music

Christmas Is When People Go Nuts: 'Silent Night Deadly Night / Silent Night Deadly Night: Part 2'

Santa Claus slices, stabs, and slays in one of the most controversial films of the '80s, which finally gets a long-overdue deluxe re-release just in time for the holidays.

Reviews

ISO Yuletide Celebration: 15 December 2012 - Indianapolis, IN

When it comes to our intake of Christmas media, we seem to put aside our normal artistic filters, both in terms of content and in terms of presentation, and simply partake in enjoyment. And that’s absolutely okay.

Reviews

Willie Nelson: The Classic Christmas Album

A new collection of Willie Nelson Christmas songs provides a warm, rustic accompaniment to your holiday activities.

Matt Arado

Music

Ten Great Musical Gifts for the Holidays

This year saw the release of many truly stellar box sets and re-issues from the Holy Grail of Western pop music (the earliest Louis Armstrong recordings and the Beatles remasters on vinyl) to indie heroes like Sugar and folk pioneer Woody Guthrie. Here's ten of our faves.

Music

Geri Allen: A Child Is Born

Christmas jazz album showcases much facility, some invention, a couple surprises.

Josh Langhoff

Music

Frank Sinatra: A Jolly Christmas

Frank Sinatra's first full-length Christmas album remains his best.

Philip Majorins

Music

A Holiday Season Awash in Competence

What this holiday season in gaming seems to lack is not polish -- in fact, some of these titles might be too polished.

Games

On Making that Holiday Music List and Checking It Twice

It's that time of the year, again. Music fans are making their lists of what they hope to find wrapped in pretty paper at Christmas, and music publications are making their lists of what should be on those lists. Now, I have something to say about lists.

Music

Sonos: December Songs

How many versions of "O Holy Night" do YOU own?

Josh Langhoff

Music

The Superions: Destination... Christmas!

My reluctance to enjoy this album may prove that I lack a sense of humor. If that's true, Fred Schneider’s Christmas music killed it.

Josh Langhoff

Music

Indigo Girls: Holly Happy Days

Fear not, skeptics of holiday music: it gets better!

Josh Langhoff

Music

Tunes from Christmas Highlight the New K Records Singles Zip-Pak (MP3) (PopMatters Premiere)

Christmas' gritty, pop noise headlines the latest K Singles Zip-Pak releasing this week.

Music

Pop Ten

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 5: 20 - 1

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 2: 80 - 61

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 4: 40 - 21

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 3: 60 - 41

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

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Mixed Media

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