Free Christmas CD for (Less Than) 48 Hours

The country's beacon of goodness and light, Oprah Winfrey, tells us what to read, and kindly selected a President for us, but her generosity doesn't end there. Apparently, she dedicated an episode of her show to the topic, "How to Have the Thriftiest Holiday Ever!" yesterday, and part of that moneykeeping guidance involves offering us a free Christmas compilation download, available for a whopping 48 hours (the clock probably started ticking Wednesday afternoon.) Hey, record industry, Oprah is encouraging people to download a Christmas mix this year instead of buying a new album to fulfill our merry music needs. Shouldn't you be demonizing her?

The songs in Oprah's mix can only be downloaded individually (which is rather convenient if you're only interested in checking out one or two of the songs.)

The compilation is titled Holiday Hits 2008, but don't let the name fool you, it's chock-full of Christmas songs. Specifically, these ones:

1. Faith Hill - "Joy to the World" (from Joy to the World)

2. Tony Bennett - "I'll be Home for Christmas" (from A Swingin' Christmas)

3. Il Divo - "O Holy Night" (from The Christmas Collection)

4. Josh Groban - "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (from Noel)

5. Brian McKnight, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (from I'll Be Home for Christmas)

6. Amy Grant - "O Come All Ye Faithful" (from The Christms Collection)

7. Harry Connick Jr. - "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (from What a Night! A Christmas Album)

8. Aretha Franklin - "Silent Night" (from This Christmas)

Baby, It's Cold Outside, & You're Just Wearing a Gap Sweater, Scarf, Hat...

Singing for The Gap's holiday ad campaign, Rainn Wilson and Selma Blair opt for a nontraditional take on "Baby It's Cold Outside". Wilson's the one who "really can't stay" and it's Blair who urges him to remain, plying him with drink, and cooing that, "Your eyes are like starlight now." Whether or not it moves people to purchase sweaters, scarves, and such, it's a cute clip.

But, say, shouldn't Wilson feel toasty-warm as bundled-up as he is in all that Gap cold-weather clothing? He's wearing an aviator hat, a thick scarf, and a wintry sweater over his shirt. The video might imply that the answer is no, Gap's cold-weather clothes won't necessarily keep you warm when it's really chilly outside. If the Gap is willing to risk sending that message, even in tough economic times, purely in the name of entertaining us with a jolly little Christmas tune, hurrah for them!

"There's the key, your adventure for today"

I believe my shirt is wearing thin
And change is what I believe in
- "I Believe"



Ack, Michael Stipe needs a shirt! Here's one. It's funny because —well, you know. He deserves lots of hilarious t-shirts.

On the last night of their world tour, R.E.M. played extra songs for their Mexico City audience, including a rendition of "Country Feedback" that might be the most beautiful song they—or you will hear this year. Staggering guitarwork by Peter Buck.

The band has posted well over half an hour of Mexico City concert footage, including that gem. "This song is actually a request," Stipe said, in introducing "Country Feedback", "but it's a request on the part of each one of us because it's one of our favorite songs that we ever wrote and we love to play it." That's lucky, because a lot of people probably love to hear it.

Stipe cited the end of the tour as one reason for the extra songs, as well as fondness for the audience. Future concert-goers wondering whether there's anything they can do to increase the odds of extra songs might want to note his specific words of praise and follow their example: "You guys have been awesome and you look great too and you smell pretty good up close and you know the words."

The "set" as posted (i.e. a portion of their concert):

1. "Supernatural Superserious"
2. "Losing My Religion"
3. "I Believe" (Stipe, afterward: "Well, thank you. That was kind of goofy, but that was fun.")
4. "Country Feedback"
5. "Life and How to Live It"
6. "Man on the Moon"