Christmas is a time for peace on earth and good will towards men. Whether it holds a deep religious meaning for you or you hope to receive this year’s hottest gadget in a gaudy box under your tree, Christmas is a time to gather with family and friends, eat, drink and make merry. It’s also the time when an entire genre of television shows and movies are watched—from “Miracle on 34^th Street” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” to How the Grinch Stole Christmas  and Merry Christmas Charlie Brown to “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “Elf,” millions of people watch their favorite Christmas programs faithfully every year. For many, that includes “A Christmas Story,” the 1983 tale of a 1940 mid-American holiday season widely regarded as a classic.

As I write this, Christmas isn't quite the day after tomorrow... but CHRISTMAS ICETASTROPHE is.

The small town of Lennox, which is celebrating Christmas with artificial snow and a farewell to the small business of its downtown district in the wake of a buyout by mogul Ben Crooge (Mike Dopud), is ready for anything except a meteor strike. But this is no ordinary shooting star. It splits in two as it enters the atmosphere, and the part that lands on nearby Mount Dickens is cold. Really cold. So cold that it causes ice crystals to start spiking up through the ground, lacking only the cold voice of Jor-El to tell us how life used to be on Krypton. With each rumble of the ground comes a new wave of a flash freeze, turning several poor denizens to ice sculptures that sometimes break into pieces when you look at them.

So a couple weeks ago I was fooling around on YouTube, and I made the rookie mistake of actually reading some of the comments on a video. (I know, I know. Sigh).

Anyway, in the comments of a particular video, I noticed a user with the name of “Lucky” advertising his channel and asking people to come check out his videos. I was feeling particularly snarky, so I went to take a look, preparing myself to blast the user with both petulant barrels for wasting my time.

I’m glad I went. Over the next several days, I listened to every video on the channel. Sometimes twice, often more. My regular Pandora stations were completely neglected, and my iTunes account got a reprieve.

I had to try and learn more about Lucky, but didn’t really learn a whole lot. I learned his first name, I learned he has a Facebook account, and I learned he records all of his own stuff on a laptop in a closet. That’s it.

It's a day for building relationships. President Obama has just opened the door to normalizing relations with Cuba, and Live Nation and Hollywood Casino have come together in a multi-year agreement allowing Hollywood Casino to be the new name-in-title sponsor of the (now former) Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, which as of today is the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre.

On hand for the live announcement were Dave Gerardi, President of Live Nation Midwest, and Todd George, Hollywood Casino General Manager.

Peter Jackson is a talented director, but he’s got to know when to say when. After seeing to “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” I’ve now spent almost a full 24 hour day (including the extended cuts of the original Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the two previous Hobbit films) in his vision of J. R. R. Tolkien’s  Middle Earth. For the most part, it’s been enjoyable. The Hobbit, just off the top of my head, is probably less than a fifth as long as the Lord of the Rings epic, and yet it takes nearly as long to tell cinematically. If you’re a regular reader of mine you can probably predict where I’m going with this: Less is more.

Joshua Mills has been in the recording business for fifteen years now, but only this year released his first Christmas album. Focused on a theme of miracles -- and the desire to bring miracles back to Christmas -- affected not only the album title, CHRISTMAS MIRACLE, but several of the tracks, which are a blend of original songs and traditional standards.

With Christmas fast approaching, we spoke with Mills about his album as well as the unique production methods involved in making it happen.

How daunting is it to set out to do brand new music for a seasonal niche that's packed with some pretty long-standing standards?

Title: Cinderella: Age of Darkness (2 of 3)
Publisher: Zenescope
Creative Team: Joe Brusha and Pat Shand (story), Pat Shand (writer), Ryan Best (artist), Thiago Dal Bello (colorist), Micah Myers (letterer), Nicole Glade (editor)

Picking up where he left off on this twisted version of Cinderella, Zenescope scribe Pat Shand continues his story. Cindy is off on her quest to assassinate Hades, the last surviving God, while the Dark Queen has plans of her own. How Cindy plans to find Hades, while the aforementioned god is mounting his own attack is anybody’s guess.

Well, unless you read the book that is…

The Story

Jeanine (Kate Winslet) has "the box." Now what does she plan on doing with it, and what does it have to do with the Divergents? Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her allies are about to find out, because Jeanine needs the right Divergent to open the box.

This trailer for the Summit Entertainment film from Director Robert Schwentke has a lot of action shots in it: people making split-second timed jumps, things exploding, glass shattering. There's even some intriguing plot bits here, and a huge vista of dystopic scenery. But is that going to be enough to see a resurgence (see what I did there?) in viewer interest, after DIVERGENT's less-than-stellar reviews? We'd love to know what you think. Use the Disqus comment section below and help us gauge whether INSURGENT is going to be better, worse or the same as DIVERGENT after you check out the trailer below.

This contest has ended. The selected winners are:

Kenneth H. of Elkins, WV (signed copy)

David S. of Denver, CO (standard copy)

Now here's something we don't get every day: a signed DVD!

We have available two copies of Nick Kroll's KROLL SHOW: Seasons One and Two. One of them is signed, the other not. Our first randomly selected entry will received the signed copy, and the runner-up will get the unsigned one.

Zenescope has carved out a niche in the comics industry through their unique and sexy adaptations of fairy tales. In their Grimm Fairy Tales universe, they've established realms for adaptations of Wonderland, the titular Brothers Grimm characters, Neverland, and others.

Standing apart from these intersecting worlds of fantasy is Zenescope's THE JUNGLE BOOK, now entering it's third miniseries with FALL OF THE WILD, In anticipation of the advent of this new chapter in the adventures of Mowglii on the island jungle of Kipling, we corralled series writer Mark L. Miller for a little Q&A about some of the mysteries of Mowglii.

THE JUNGLE BOOK: FALL OF THE WILD is advertised as the third book of the trilogy. Was it planned to be a trilogy from the beginning, or is it something that just evolved that way after it had begun?

South Korean girl group Girls' Generation (or SNSD, if you prefer) may be down to only eight members now after the shocking departure of Jessica but rest assured that they are set to release a new Japanese single in 2015 as an octet.

Be prepared to keep all press releases and promotional material organized with this nifty Girls' Generation Team Logo Paper Clip Fashion Bookmark!

This contest has ended.

The winner is KAREN P. of Adams, NY.

If you read my recent review of the Garth Brooks concert in St. Louis, you would recall that I don’’t consider myself a country music fan. Except for Brooks, perhaps Kenny Rogers and Jimmy Buffett—if he even qualifies as country, I’ve never been sure what genre label best applies to the founding father of Margaritaville—I’ve had no use for it. The greats like Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins are resting in peace, and the modern country I was subjected to my various girlfriends in their cars was all bad yodeling and hillbilly overkill. Chattahoochee is an Indian word given to a river, not a four-word sentence. Everybody sounded like they were describing a “tore nay doe” on the local news. And every song boiled down to four topics: boots, trucks, women and beer. How could anyone listen to such a depressingly limited genre of music?

There’s only one thing better than happy hour after a long, difficult day at work and that is going to the Happy Hour Tour of Straight No Chaser at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. I’ve seen the boys from Indiana University four times now, and I take a little something different from each show. I expect the next four times I see them will be just as entertaining.

Ventriliquist acts have been a novelty niche of comedy since vaudeville. It takes a special kind of talent -- not just to say things without moving the lips, but to convince an audience that the words are coming from the puppet, even though deep down they know they're not.

Jeff Dunham excels at this on a technical level. He has an array of voices that make each of his characters distinct from each other, and can "converse" with them, even "argue" with them, with a rapidity that staggers the audience as to how he can switch back and forth between voices, even interrupt himself. It's easier to believe the puppets are alive, especially when he begins to work with them in multiples.

After what seems like an interminable wait -- always the sign of an anticipated comic -- AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE returns to the shelves with the seventh issue of the horror series.

It's been a month since the zombie apocalypse originated out of Riverdale, and the zombie plague has been spreading with alarming, exponential speed. On their own, and left to their own resources, Archie, Betty, Veronica and a handful of other survivors of Riverdale decide to make camp and observe a Thanksgiving. But the threat of the horde -- led by their former best buddy, Jughead -- is always out there, and it's been following them.

Christmas time is here, and with it yet another excuse for a useless list that nobody will ever agree with -- at least, not wholeheartedly.

I don't care. It's my list, and if it does anything at all, maybe it will get people talking. That's why we have the Disqus comments section, so that people can offer alternatives.

There are countless Christmas movies out there, but so few of them are ones that guys can watch and retain their self-respect. (Trust me, if you get caught watching THE CHRISTMAS SHOES at an emotional moment, you may as well consign your testicles to your wife, because you've just subscribed to a year of watching Lifetime movies with her.) So presented here are our Top Nine Movies for Guys Who Hate Christmas Movies.

Why Top Nine and not Top Ten? Because of the classic line from "The Twelve Days of Christmas" -- Nine Ladies Dancing! And here are our nine dancing ladies to introduce each title.

You're welcome.

SUPERGIRL hasn't even made her appearance on CBS yet, and already there's another DC Entertainment project in the works for television. Now, in addition to ARROW and FLASH on CW, HELLBLAZER on NBC, GOTHAM on FOX and the aforementioned SUPERGIRL, Syfy and Warner have jointly announced their new project: KRYPTON, a one-hour drama series project which will reveal a chapter of the DC Comics universe that has rarely been told.

Years before the Superman legend we know, the House of El was shamed and ostracized. This series follows the Man of Steel's grandfather as he brings hope and equality to Krypton, turning a planet in disarray into one worthy of giving birth to the greatest super hero ever known. 

For a good portion of Americans these days, when you mention Arnold Schwarzenegger, images of Conan the Barbarian, a killer cyborg from the future, an action hero or an aging California politician come to mind. Few, I would bet, remember him prior to all that when, in his prime, he ruled the world of professional bodybuilding with a dominance that made him a legend. Oh, sure, you may remember him as being big and muscular, but do you remember just how big, muscular and defined he was?

PUMPING IRON is a documentary movie, narrated by Charles Gains, the author of the book “Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding,” chronicling the Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia competitions of 1975. Released now in Digital HD, the movie gives new life to the legend that is “Arnold.”

If you’re a writer, the only thing worse than a blank page is a blank page with a deadline.  If you’re an actor, having an extremely short window to learn your lines is surely daunting. What if you put those two challenges together? What you get is the 24 Hour Play Festival, a fundraising event for Theatre Lab and The Players Project Theatre Company. The annual event is a perfect storm for theatre talents: writers are given one week to write and polish their scripts for a short, one act play. That may not sound that bad to the average theatre fan, but a week can feel like a short hour if you’re struggling to find your muse.

Tim Mahoney was a contestant on Adam Levine’s team during the inaugural season of NBC’s The Voice. However, the musician is branching off into an unexpected direction this holiday season, with an instrumental-only EP, Peace of Winter: Live at MacPhail.

“I've always wanted to make something like this. I've been playing piano for years; I learned by ear,” Mahoney explains of his foray into an instrumental direction. “I don't even really think of myself as a player, I just really love the raw simplistic sound of the piano.“

The six-song EP was recorded live for an intimate audience, using a nine-foot Steinway Grand at Antonello Hall located in the MacPhail Center for Music. Mahoney, who teaches rock camps at MacPhail, describes the locale as “Just a very cool space overlooking Minneapolis…It was inspiring.”