Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter

Arguably the best Star Trek movie (don’t even talk to me about the Voyage Home. Time travelling whales, c’mon!) redone as an opera by the stop-motion geniuses at Robot Chicken.

Hat tip to my sister via her friend Serge Gonchar (no, not the Russian hockey star, although he gets that a lot)

I spotted the gorgeous Uppercase magazine at my local independent bookstore.

From their site:

We’re inquisitive: learning from other artists, illustrators, designers, photographers, filmmakers and musicians, whether they’re upstarts or icons, famous or shy, verbal or visual.

We’re inspired: enchanted by great ideas and strange inventions; by colour and pattern; things fancy and frugal; the charm of vintage in a modern life; the ridiculous and the sublime.

We’re adventurous: traveling to destinations both real and imagined, peeking into creative spaces and discovering magnificent people and memorable places.

We’re eclectic: curating souvenirs, collecting treasures and celebrating the extraordinary in the everyday.

We’re playful: delighting in visual amusements, intelligent distraction, entertaining wordplay and sweet indulgences.

We’re UPPERCASE: a magazine for the creative and curious!

I’m also happy to say that they’re from Calgary. It’s nice to see great work from outside of the Toronto-Montreal nexus. Also their quirky-retro aesthetic is right up my alley.

Apparently the editors also run classes, a gallery and a shop. Those not in Calgary, myself include, can admire them from afar via their blog.

I almost always prefer to get books for Christmas than other fall-back gifts (tacky sweaters, socks, ties). But buying books can be a tricky proposition. Giving Michael Crichton or Dan Brown to your Alice Munro loving aunt might get you taken off her Christmas card list.

To avoid this unpleasant fate, check out the Advent Book Blog. Julie Wilson and Sean Cranbury have asked some of their favourite bloggers and literary people for book recommendations. The list is pretty eclectic, everything from poetry and graphic novels to a history of money.

Enjoy and remember to support your local indie bookseller.

Listen Hollywood, I know you don’t like New York because it reminds you of a real city where you don’t actually have to drive everywhere to get around but you don’t have to take it out on the poor city over and over again do you?

Or maybe all you cheeky special-effects mad directors are just trying to tell us how much you love New York?

If you are worried about New York’s future, take heart: The city is being destroyed at a theater near you. The best thing for New York might be the sight of King Kong tramping through the streets of Manhattan on his way to a fateful appointment at the top of the Empire State Building. For if there is one thing that symbolizes New York’s preeminence, it is that so many still want to imagine the city’s end. — Max Page, Boston Globe

You can also get all of this destruction in a convenient list.