SPECIAL

Obey Santa: A few nights back, as visions of Holiday Guide deadlines danced in our heads, we settled in before the brightly burning teevee log for our nightly fix of The Daily Show, featuring that adorable elf Jon Stewart. | Holiday Guide Intro

Present Perfect: What to get and where to get it before it's too late | Holiday Guide Gifts

Nogged: Mixing the Holiday Cocktail That Drinks Like a Meal | Holiday Guide Feature by Brennen Jensen

Think Gobally, Buy Locally: The Importance of Shopping Small | Holiday Guide Feature by Andrew Reiner

List Servers: Browsing the Best Online Holiday Cards | Holiday Guide Feature by Natalie Davis

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NEWS

Polka Parlor: Oompah music drifts into the liquor store. A couple dances beside the dusty, half-empty shelves. | Charmed Life by Charles Cohen

From Here to Internity: In a futile attempt to avoid working on the annual Holiday Guide, the Nose volunteered to represent... | The Nose

The Mail | Mobtown Beat | Mobtown Beat

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COLUMNS

Our Father: Who the hell needs a $15,000-a-month consultant—be it that "controversial" proponent of... | Underwhelmed by Sandy Asirvatham

Nine Lives: On Nov. 9, President Bill Clinton presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the Little Rock Nine,... | Urban Rhythms by Wiley Hall III

Game Over: This is truly the age of cyberspace conquistadors. Last summer, Billy Mitchell became the first person in the world to achieve a perfect score on the ... | Cyberpunk by Joab Jackson

Fools' Gold: American meritocracy, like medieval Christian chivalry, is more valuable as a myth than as a description of actual values or human behavior. We speak ... | 8 Upper by Tom Scocca

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ARTS

Falling Dark by Tim Tharp | Review by Frank Diller

My Kitchen Wars by Betty Fussell | Review by Eileen Murphy

The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide by Robert Pinsky | Review by Gwydion Suilebhan

Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon | Review by Scott Carlson

Art | Bones | Zine Pool

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MUSIC

D-I-V-O-R-C-E: Prior to TLC's Halloween-night appearance at the Baltimore Arena, the question on everyone's mind was whether or not the show would actually happen. | Feedback by Vincent Williams

The Circuit Rider: The clean-cut type two seats down from us lost his stomach contents just as Phil Lesh and Friends wandered into the first scattered notes of their set. | Feedback by Lee Gardner

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FILM

It's All True: But RKO 281 Fails to Capture How Welles Raised Kane | Television by Adele Marley

Sleepy Hollow | Review by Ian Grey

Liberty Heights | Review by Heather Joslyn

Once Upon a Time in the West | Review by Andy Markowitz

Naked Lunch | Review by Ian Grey

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EAT

Karpathos | Review by Susan Fradkin

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