Dream on, fair maiden!

This Christmas week marks the 70th Anniversary of the premiere of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Disney animator Clair Weeks' enchanting scrapbook of material related to the picture is a gift that can be unwrapped at ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.

Six to Eight Black Men

Now that Santa has come and gone, the immediate danger has passed, and it's safe to tell dark tales of the Christmas Eve in the Old Country.

Curious Expeditions warns us of the "maniacal Santa's helper known by many different titles, from Krampus (which comes from the Old High German word meaning “claw”), to Zwarte Piet or Black Peter in the Netherlands, to Knecht Ruprecht or “Farmhand Ruprecht” in some German speaking lands. Sometimes he is a servant, sometimes a slave, and sometimes a helper to old Saint Nick."

For a more contemporary take on these strange folk ways, David Sedaris says it best. Here's an excerpt of his essay Six to Eight Black Men:

"...While eight flying reindeer are a hard pill to swallow, our Christmas story remains relatively simple. Santa lives with his wife in a remote polar village and spends one night a year traveling around the world. If you're bad, he leaves you coal. If you're good and live in America, he'll give you just about anything you want. We tell our children to be good and send them off to bed,where they lie awake, anticipating their great bounty. A Dutch parent has a decidedly hairier story to relate,telling his children, "Listen, you might want to pack a few of your things together before you go to bed. The former bishop from Turkey will be coming along with six to eight black men. They might put some candy in your shoes, they might stuff you in a sack and take you to Spain, or they might just pretend to kick you. We don't know for sure, but we want you to be prepared."

Also celebrating birthdays today

Christmas babies Rod Serling and Sir Issac Newton
via The Filter

The Christmas Call of the Cthulhu

Years ago when I was reading H.P. Lovecraft in the nacreous light of the Kato Outdoor's front gate, I never imagined that in the future outdoor theaters would be extinct and Cthulhu would be considered Christmassy. Life turned out to be full of surprises!

For those of you who had better ways to misspend your youth, in the story The Call of the Cthulhu(pronounced kathooloo), Lovecraft says the "thing cannot be described," but then goes on to say that it is "the green, sticky spawn of the stars," with "flabby claws" and an "awful squid-head with writhing feelers."The phrase "a mountain walked or stumbled" gives a sense of the creature's scale. So, right away you can see how the Cthulhu/Santa connection came to be commonplace.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn," which translates as "In his house at R'lyeh dead, Cthulhu waits dreaming."

And to all, a goodnight!

Taking back Christmas

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Not even Santa Claus is safe as the violent Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro celebrates the Christmas season.

Drug traffickers in a Rio slum opened fire on a helicopter carrying a Santa to a children's party, apparently mistaking it for a police helicopter, police said on Tuesday.

"They thought it was a police operation and started shooting. Luckily, nobody was hurt," a police official said.

Santa's chopper shot at over Rio Slums, 12/18/07

Santa's Slay, more Lego assault vehicles here

Santa hitches sleigh to Russky rocket

Russian Progress spacecraft blasted off Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan delivering vital supplies, as well as presents and goodies for Christmas and New Year's, to the International Space Station.

Packed with fuel, food, oxygen and technical gear, the craft successfully entered orbit and began the three-day journey to the permanently manned ISS.

Although the Progress will arrive a day late for Christmas, it is carrying presents for US commander Peggy Whitson and NASA flight engineer Dan Tani.

In addition to the presents the crew were to be treated to nuts and honey and we also traditionally send the station fresh citrus fruits -- grapefruits and oranges. Russian Rocket delivers Christmas presents to space station

Turns out they were helping Santa all along. Check out more of these vintage Soviet space-themed Christmas cards at Mazaika.com.

Breakfast at Epiphany's

Twice blessed: Lovely to look at; too late to send. A collection of equally brilliant Christmas cards can be found here.

Extreme shopping

Remember, it's not about what you want. This clown driven toy sewing machine may old and slightly creepy to you. However, to the right person it is a prize above all reason. According to List Universe the mechanical toy was auctioned in London, England, the bidding went quickly to $12 thousand and then was down to two strong bidders, neither wanting to give up on the chance of having this toy sewing machine. The last two bidders were an English industrial sewing machine dealer and a German millionaire. Finally, when the Englishman bid a whopping $13,600, the German quietly did not bid.

Yes, but then the German went home and built an army of computerized sewing clowns, but that's another not very Christmassy story. So, here are nine other pricey objects that may inspire your shopping for those hard-to-buy-for names your list .

"These are the droids you were looking for."

Yoda, stormtroopers, ewoks, no matter where you find yourself in the universe there is a species filled with Christmas cheer to spare. For the last 30 years, Lucasfilm has created special holiday greeting cards for for its employees and business partners. A envy-producing selection of them are pictured here.

Dasher

“I am sure some people will be a bit sceptical about this because of the time of year, but it is absolutely 100 per cent authentic,” said Mr. Alan Blacklock, cloud photographer for New Zealand's Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

I believe, Mr. Blacklock.

A "Cather in the Rye" Christmas tour

Experience the joy that eluded poor, sulky Holden Caulfield by taking a 'Catcher in the Rye' walking tour of the landmarks Salinger's angst-ridden hero mentioned as he wandered around Manhattan at Christmastime - the Rockefeller Center skating rink, Radio City and the Rockettes, the zoo and carousel in Central Park, Grand Central, the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 'The things that he chose tend be crowd-pleasers,' said Matthew Postal, a researcher with the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 'In a city where so much changes, there is a tendency, especially with institutions, to protect the crowd-pleasers.'" Yet, ironically, Holden himself remained impossible to please.

They say it's your birthday

One of a dozen British, religious, bizarre gift suggestions from the London Telegraph's Twelve days of Kitschmas. "The items have been selected by Stephen Goddard, a former Church of England press officer, and Simon Jenkins, the Telegraph's website editor, to highlight the absurdity of religious kitsch."

Who would know better?

Wonderland

"When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy," Matthew 2:10

In the new Hubble image of the galaxy M74 we see a smattering of bright pink regions decorating the spiral arms. These are huge relatively short-lived clouds of hydrogen gas which glow due to the strong radiation from hot young stars embedded within them; glowing pink regions of ionized hydrogen."