Jay Gabler

Slavery is the epic tragedy of the American story; the profound horror of generations of human captivity can scarcely be imagined, and two of the season’s most talked-about movies are by great filmmakers who attack the subject with vigor and purpose. Both Lincoln and Django Unchained open discussions of America’s past, but I wonder what discussions moviegoers will—and won’t—have about our country’s present.

White Bear Lake author John P. Lynch is nothing if not immodest: the press release for his new online "book" Extreme Thinking (A Theory of Everything) says that the book "literally covers everything." What does he mean by extreme? "It is EXTREME because the THINKING is like snowboarding a McTwist."

When I was a freshman at Boston University in the 90s, one of the guys on our dorm floor was the dorm’s token Republican—you know, That Guy who worships the Rat Pack and likes to argue politics with all the hippies and hipsters. This guy was smart enough to out-debate most of us on most issues, and he had a dark sense of humor. When December arrived, he bought a couple strings of Christmas lights and put them in his window, spelling three letters for all of Nickerson Field to see: NRA.

Ghost of Christmas Past: Betty White in the Christmas episode of Golden Palace. In the holiday episode of this short-lived Golden Girls spin-off, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia appear as ghosts to bring the holiday spirit to their cook Chuy. Rose, appearing in veil and halo, briefly confuses Christmas dreams with wet dreams before escorting Chuy first into his bathroom and then into his past, where it's revealed that Chuy's hatred of the holiday stems from his father's making him dress as a giant Navidad cake.