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For New Year's Eve in Ecuador, massive paper-and-wood figures known as "años viejos" (Spanish for "old years") are burnt to usher out the past 365 days. These elaborate sculptures depict everyone from Chucky the evil doll to Cable from the X-Men, who are all summarily incinerated as the clock runs down. More »
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For their latest X-Mas film, design firm 39 Degree Studios has put together a 5.5-minute homage to the buddy cop genre in the vein of Man's Best Friend. If you're going to run with a single insane visual gag, run with it until you see the whites of the audience's eyes. More »
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Here's another burly Christmas tradition to complement the Krampuslauf (and the even more obscure veneration of Japanese Robotic Velociraptor Santa Claus). In Guatemala, effigies of Satan are burned on the evening of December 7 to kick off the Christmas season. More »
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Here's further proof that basically everything goes better with Portal. Check out Ryan Kelly and his coworkers' Portal-fied Christmas tree, which certainly beats the hell out of the 20 years' worth of musty tinsel I festooned all over my folks' Tannenbaum this very evening. Also, learn how to make this Aperture Science-infused arbor for next year. More »
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IN 1989, Neil Gaiman and Sandman artist David McKean collaborated on a 100-word Christmas card story titled "Nicholas Was." Since then, this story has been transformed into a short animated feature and this hyper-detailed pop-up book by Vimeo crafter Nomsa. Here's the full text of the story: More »
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December brings along the hiatus of several current cartoon series (I miss you, Young Justice & Star Wars: The Clone Wars), but we can always look to the past (and particularly the 1980s cartoon explosion) for some amazing holiday specials. More »
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The annual Venture Bros. X-Mas track is here, courtesy of the mellifluous voices of Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer. Listen to supervillainy's premier couple argue their way through a rendition of the creepy holiday staple "Baby, It's Cold Outside." The henchmen learned to play jazz! You can download the MP3 with but a right-click here. You can find a full list of past Venture X-Mas singles at A Site Called Fred. More »
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In this heartstring-tugging short, singer and Star Wars fan Darren Hayes recalls the Christmas of 1980, when times were lean for his family. When you're eight years old, an Ugnaught can mean the world. Hayes grew up to be the lead singer of this band, so things worked out pretty well for him. Hat tip to Jeff Newelt. More »
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This letter to Santa, written in 1911, was discovered by John Byrne while puttering about inside his home in Dublin, Ireland. Penned by a pair of siblings (10-year-old Hannah and 7-year-old Fred), the letter miraculously survived inside a fireplace without being burned to bits. For 100 years. More »
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Conan O'Brien is celebrating the Festival of Lights by stitching a bunch of poor souls together butt-to-face — thus creating the first ever Human Centipede Menorah. Watch the unveiling now. More »
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In this short animation for the pre-Monty Python TV series Do Not Adjust Your Set, Terry Gilliam cut up treacly Christmas cards and transformed them into deranged scenes of yuletide chaos. Here's Terry's method for creating these animations, in case you were wondering. More »
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"A long time ago in a chalet far, far away," the Gleeks mixed two especially nerdy Christmas specials together, The Star Wars Holiday Special and the Judy Garland Christmas Show — and what they got was sweet, sweet, egg-noggy heroin. Watch what happens when you mix scifi nerds and theater kids together. It's a Christmas Miracle! More »
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A little while back, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration programmed its emergency automated voice service to warble a yuletide staple. Here's your cyber-chanteur's biography: More »
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T-shirts always make the best presents, plus they're a way of gift-wrapping yourself and your friends in cool images and slogans. We've put together a collection of classic, seasonal, and downright insane tees for you to bestow upon your loved ones — and yourself. More »
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It's good to be prepared for all contingencies — so here's a holiday zombie survival guide! From the great minds at Team Unicorn. More »
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The holidays are coming right up, and you're still trying to figure out what the heck to get for friends and family. Don't panic! We've got gift guides for everything from the best DVD sets, to the coolest nerd t-shirts. More »
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We kind of adore the idea that Santa has a dim-witted son named Arthur. But more than that we love the new flying saucer sleigh Santa is sporting. Check out the trailer for Arthur Christmas. More »
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While you slept off your Thanksgiving dinner, the people over at Utah Aerials decided to engineer a turkey quadricopter. As an added challenge, they made it strong enough to carry and drop pies on the people below. More »
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Check out this amazingly geektastic wrapping paper — your gifts of DVDs and memorabilia shouldn't come wrapped in anything else. All we need now is a claymation Chainsaw Maid riding zombie Rudolph, and we're good to go. More »
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Watch this terrifying clip from the horrific live-action Nutcracker adaptation, in which an evil wooden boy feasts on the entrails of Father Christmas. Or something. We're not sure because we started crying and ran away. Christmas is canceled, everyone. More »
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One hundred years ago, the Summit County Journal in Logansport, IN made some predictions about what Christmas would be like this year. Some of their predictions are still wishful thinking, but they did manage to predict both online shopping and YouTube. More »
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Celebrate the birth of Jesus with an army of heavenly angels, slaughtering each other in the clouds. Legion brings in the yuletide cheer, with a new comic trailer and game. Don't forget to reload after shooting granny. More »
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Not content with crying at Ground Zero, Latveria's most famous tin-plated tyrant continues to show his softer side by allowing his Christmas Letter to subjects to be made public, letting everyone see the man behind the Reed-Richards-Hating mask. Awwww. More »
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Today is a good day to watch the Klingon translation of A Christmas Carol, or just to eat some Starfleet cookies. And in other Trek news, J.J. Abrams' alternate timeline has spawned its own line of alternate-universe tie-in novels. More »
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Did you know that yesterday was Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Day? Neither did we. But apparently there's a new movement to celebrate SF authors on June 23. Just next year, give us a heads-up? More »
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If you are curious about how to dress during what the humans call "holidays," refer to this picture. Basically, you need to look like this and take the day off. See you tomorrow! More »
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If you'd like to donate to a geek cause this holiday, we've got a big list of fifteen organizations you might consider helping out with a charity gift. More »
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Ah, irony. It is as delicious as turkey. And Thanksgiving - the day we offer thanks for all the things we have - is perhaps the most ironic of American holidays, in that it is immediately succeeded by Black Friday, the day we trample people to death in pursuit of all the things we want (which is more or less how it happened back when it started, with the Indians, too). Yes, as our chubby, gravy-stained hands click the TV away from reports of terrorist attacks and over to football, it is hard not to wonder quietly if the end times are upon us, and if we don’t deserve them. Well, they probably are, and we almost certainly do. But in keeping with the spirit of irony, here are some reasons to be thankful for the inevitable apocalypse. More »
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Some have expressed poorly-worded consternation that savage monsterfest Aliens vs. Predator II is coming out on Christmas. Last year's Black Christmas also provoked outrage (especially from Christ-worshippers), but a rep from its production company Dimension Films responded blithely that gore-drenched mayem is "counter-programming to the more regular yuletide fare." In sum, horror is a holiday tradition. Movies like Child's Play and Gremlins teach us the valuable lesson that toys can be evil, while Jack Frost (along with the much-anticipated Jack Frost II: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman) show us the dark, intestine-munching side of jolly old snowmen. But what's the most completely demented holiday science fiction nightmare? More »
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