Santa Claus

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Whispers of immortality

'Twas the night before Christmas.
Failure
By KARL STEVENS | December 16, 2011

The diametric opposite of the Antarctica-set Happy Feet Two , or at least geographically, Sarah Smith's revisionist Santa Claus tale still delivers the same kind of offbeat holiday animation.
Sarah Smith's revisionist Santa Claus
By PETER KEOUGH | November 25, 2011

The magic of mushrooms

It's a hot, sticky July afternoon and I'm riding shotgun in Uncle Bob's pick-up truck. We've just spent the past couple hours walking off-trail through the woods, and we're doing much better than I had expected.
Traversing Maine's myco-culture in search of delicious treats
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | August 05, 2011

The man in the yellow fur coat

The cultural critic Mark Dery worked as a clerk for Manhattan's Gotham Book Mart in the early '80s. One afternoon, he was taken by surprise.
As the Boston Athenaeum stages an Edward Gorey retrospective, his biographer reflects on the artist's lasting legacy
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | February 04, 2011

Photos: Santa Speedo Run 2010

The Santa Speedo Run charity fundraiser made its way down Boylston Street on December 13, 2010.
Santa Speedo Run 2010 | Boylston Street | December 13, 2010
By NINA MASHUROVA | December 17, 2010

Holiday Gifts for People We Hate

The North Pole has become the most depressing and perverted hole on Earth.
When a lump of coal just won't do
By SANTA AND MRS. CLAUS | December 10, 2010

Review: A Radio City Christmas at PPAC

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular , at the Providence Performing Arts Center through November 28, should be called Santa Claus and the 18 Leggy Showgirls . They could have packed the place with hubbies.
High-kicking holiday spirit
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 19, 2010

Real talk

"If you're not writing about yourself, you can say anything you want, and it will probably be more revealing of your personality than if you're writing openly about your own life."
Stephin Merritt and Magnetic Fields consider Realism
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | February 05, 2010

Review: Tooth Fairy

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson dons a pink tutu and wings as Derek, a hockey player who's earned the nickname "The Tooth Fairy" for his knack for knocking out opposing players' bicuspids on the ice.
It bites
By BRETT MICHEL | January 29, 2010

Meet Santa

He can't stop the violins, either
Hoopleville
By DAVID KISH | December 25, 2009

Holiday shorts

I have nothing against A Christmas Carol , but there's a lot of it out there right about now.
Dark Water's five-piece celebration
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | December 18, 2009

Merry Christmas...

from Henry Santa-toro.
By Charlie | December 17, 2009

Sterling-Cooper sells the season

The Guide to the Season isn’t about any particular gift, just like it’s not about any particular holiday. It’s a feeling. A sensation. A supplement.
Behind the scenes of the Phoenix' s Gift Guide, starring the cast of Mad Men
By CLEA SIMON | December 11, 2009

A JP Christmas

Boy, things sure did change when I found out there was no Santa Claus
What's the purpose of this holiday, anyways?
By KARL STEVENS | December 11, 2009

The Carols of Christmas

One can't just break out into Christmas carols, even in this warm and fuzzy season.
The song’s the thing in The Gift of the Magi
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 11, 2009

Tech Support

"Lo! Men have become the tools of their tools." So wrote Henry David Thoreau, a long time ago, in Walden .
Stereo equipment is so passé. This year's unnecessarily awesome gadgets will stir coffee and turn T-shirts into guitars.
By MIKE MILIARD | December 11, 2009

PODCAST: Gregory Mone, "The Truth About Santa: Wormholes, Robots, and What Really Happens on Christmas Eve" [MP3]

The Truth About Santa author Gregory Mone speaks at Google's Boston headquartersPlenty of authoritative geeks have weighed in on Christmas and its patron saint of...
By Shaula Clark | December 09, 2009

The Big Hurt: Season's beatings

Taking advantage of your seasonal obligation to buy stuff for people, the music industry unleashes its annual torrent of giftable crap: holiday albums, greatest-hits packages, high-profile releases, deluxe reissues.
The Big Hurt holiday shopper
By DAVID THORPE | December 04, 2009

10 memorable moments from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an unapologetic, cross-promotional cheese-fest. But whether you love or hate it, you have to admit that its giant balloons are nearly as synonymous with the holiday feast as turkey, cranberries, and indigestion.
From historical to horrific to humorous, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is iconic
By ASHLEY RIGAZIO | November 27, 2009

Glenn Beck's unhinged Sweater saga

Hello, America. A special Glenn Beck Program tonight: I'm speaking to you from somewhere in the North Pole, and let me tell you [adopts cartoonish yokel voice with rubbery exaggerated shiver] it is coooooooold up here.
Knit Twit Dept.
By MIKE MILIARD | November 27, 2009

Make-believe Main Street

WaterFire, bocce, oh my!
Lifestyle centers create public squares in private places. Can a nation undone by sprawl be saved by the Mall?
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | November 06, 2009

The Brother Thomas Fellows

“Art is something seen about something unseen,” is one way Brother Thomas Bezanson described his calling.
Good news for a change
By JEFFREY GANTZ | October 23, 2009

Yule be sorry

It eventually occurred to me that most if not all of the Christmas music I listened to, I did so in the service of some ulterior message.
Little gifts lurk among holiday horrors
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | December 11, 2008

30 on 30

The Providence Phoenix celebrates 30 years with 30 interviews
30 local luminaries look back on 30 years of the New Paper and the Providence Phoenix
By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX STAFF | October 22, 2008

Sex on wheels

Subcultures all need their touchstones: entities that over time assume the stature of full-fledged institutions.
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult just never get old
By BARRY THOMPSON | September 16, 2008

The T and the Tube

From time to time, upon discovering that I moved here from my native London, a well-meaning Bostonian will make the conciliatory observation that our two cities are not, after all, so very different.
London’s Underground is seething with danger. Boston’s T has cuckoo juice
By JAMES PARKER | April 30, 2008

Crossword: ''90-Degree Turnz''

One letter gets shifted
By MATT JONES | March 19, 2008

Going to Hell

“Abandon all hope, you who enter here” are the words we find inscribed across the gate of Hell at the beginning of the third canto of Inferno.
Bread and Puppet tours Bush's inferno
By GREG COOK | January 29, 2008

Stormy weather

Phillipe + Jorge are not upset or disappointed that Governor Don “Laughing Boy” Carcieri was out of the country, in Iraq, during the recent winter storm imbroglio.
Snow cleanup undermined by incompetents and flying monkeys
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | December 19, 2007

The best of times

Holidays and their attendant celebrations foster memories — of all kinds, to be sure — but it’s the good ones we strive to re-create.
Local notables share their favorite holiday traditions
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | December 14, 2007

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