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Seen any OLPC news stories for christmas??
posted by jeffburdges at 10:05 PM PST - 77 comments

Time to kill while waiting for Santa to arrive/dinner to digest/family to leave? Well, here's a Very Special Holiday Episode fpp just for you. God bless us, every one. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster at 8:56 PM PST - 49 comments

It's easy with the excessive shopping, TV specials, nonstop music, etc. but tomorrow we honor one of mankind's most important people. A man who told parables to the masses of how the meek shall inherit the earth, how to serve man, and how to face our own personal demons. People have built monuments to him, even died in his name. I am, of course, referring to Rod Serling (born 12/25/1924). Merry Serlingmas!
posted by champthom at 8:33 PM PST - 19 comments

A motherlode of ancient TV has been found at a web address near you! Journey now to the dim, poorly produced, and poorly preserved, but somehow incredibly sweet primitive ancestors of today's tv travesties. See Captain Video hawk his amazing ring. Or gape as Foodini and Pinhead perform acts impossible for mere flesh-and-blood creatures. And these are not 10-second clips--they're whole shows.
And ads.
And Variety (that means a bunch of unrelated entertaining music, dance, or comedy segments, each a few minutes long)--in English, not Spanish like nowadays (cf Sabado_Gigante) [more inside]
posted by hexatron at 8:31 PM PST - 3 comments

Pictures of writers in a thread on I Love Music. Lots and lots of pictures of lots of writers. Another thread from the same board with more pictures (some duplicates). Author photos are most often seen on dust jackets or in the back of books, a practice Frances Wilson wishes to see abolished. One famous connoisseur of pictures of writers is Javier Marías who wrote a whole book on the subject, Written Lives. Here are a few excerpts from the book: William Faulkner, Isak Dinesen (pen name of Karen Blixen) and an edited extract covering a whole lot of authors. [more inside]
posted by Kattullus at 6:17 PM PST - 11 comments

Site for Henry Sene Yee, book designer. Site includes finished pieces and rejected proofs.
posted by dobbs at 5:13 PM PST - 9 comments

The King William College Quiz, apparently now my only FPP in a year (since the last quiz), hopefully as hard as ever, but unlikely to reward my brand of laziness. Merry Christmas! See previous posts for laying out answers, I'll post the Guardians' answer sheet in January.
posted by biffa at 2:46 PM PST - 101 comments

Merry Moustache Monday!
posted by homunculus at 1:10 PM PST - 16 comments

Alice illustrations other than Tenniel [more inside]
posted by carsonb at 12:44 PM PST - 7 comments

Ho, ho, ho! Santa visits Iraq. Seen via NORAD. [more inside]
posted by zerobyproxy at 12:19 PM PST - 20 comments

Oscar Peterson passed away last night. [more inside]
posted by bluedaniel at 10:53 AM PST - 80 comments

Peace on Earth - 1939 Disney animation directed by Hugh Harman. And Goodwill to Men, a 1955 remake by Hanna-Barbera.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:37 AM PST - 30 comments

What to my wondering eyes should appear but the suggestion that "A Visit From St. Nicholas," the classic poem which has defined the American Santa Claus, from red suit and big belly to reindeer and chimney-delivery method, was written not by classics professor Clement Clarke Moore but by poet and military man Henry Livingston. Though some think the authorship controversy is sugarplum vision of Livingston's descendents, other scholars the claim: literary 'detective' Donald Foster agrees (though his sleuthing record is not unblemished). Leading historian of Christmas Stephen Nissenbaum, says that either way, St. Nick is the product of the same social world, that of the wealthy white elite in the New York of the early Republic. If the claim is true, then in the convoluted history of the manuscript we've gotten some reindeer names wrong.
posted by Miko at 7:59 AM PST - 17 comments

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, in 22 parts on YouTube. (Previously)
posted by Wolfdog at 7:43 AM PST - 36 comments

Potrait of an internet troll (with actual potrait of the internet troll). Includes one-bedroom apartment, dead-end and part-time jobs, and not-so-secret underground lair.
posted by orthogonality at 7:25 AM PST - 93 comments

Alexander Overwijk draws a perfect circle. Is it really "perfect"? Hell, I dunno. But if it ain't, well, it's pretty close. And see big Al get rounder than everyone else, as he takes top prize at the 2007 World Freehand Circle Drawing Championship. WARNING: Pearl Jam audio on 2nd link. Volume mute is advised.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:41 AM PST - 37 comments

Santa's Ghetto: Stirring art from behind the Jerusalem Wall.
posted by thewalrusispaul at 5:41 AM PST - 14 comments