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Last Minute Gift Guide

All Shopping, No Stopping

You think you’ve got two weeks left before Christmas, but you’re fooling yourself: Factoring in other holiday obligations—that is to say, parties—you’ve got about one solid weekend left. This is the moment in which the implacably organized thrive and the rest of us shiver to pieces under the pressure.

Last Minute Gift Guide

Page Turners

by Phoebe Nicely

These December holidays are a perfect excuse for browsing bookstores for gifts. During the past year, many books have crossed my desk, and listed below are the ones that made the cut. These are all nonfiction because giving novels is a bit dicey. Fiction tends be received with a sense of obligation that’s hard to overcome, and, unlike nonfiction, it can’t just be browsed.

Week in Review

Anti-Frackers, Start Your Engines: New Public Comment Period Underway

by Buck Quigley

Antoine Thompson? Really?

by Jim Heaney, InvestigativePost.org

Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital Auction

by Buck Quigley

Teachable Moment: J. Edgar Hoover Film at Burning Books, Wednesday, December 19

by Geoff Kelly

News Analysis

Debts, Jobs, Weather

by Bruce Fisher

While Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video has had 934,317,696 hits on YouTube as of mid-December 2012, an hour-long video of an Englishman talking about climate change is not, sadly, going viral.

Guest Essay

SUNY Bureaucrats Undermine Rational Tuition Agreement

by Ted P. Schmidt

In August 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation to support SUNY’s so-called rational tuition policy. Rather than unpredictably raise tuition to support ongoing state budget cuts, the legislation provided SUNY colleges and universities with tuition increases of $300 per year for five straight years. This plan was considered “rational” because it allowed both institutions and students to plan their future financial needs with some degree of certainty.

Artvoice B.O.O.M!

Round 1, Week 1: Randle and the Late Night Scandals vs. Wise Medicine

Ladies and gentlemen, Artvoice is pleased to announce the 7th installment of the greatest local battle of the bands in all of the Niagara Frontier. Let the listening and voting begin!

Art Scene

War of 1812 Remembered

by Jack Foran

Jane Marinsky's Book Illustrations at Daemen College

by Jack Foran

Meridian West Gallery Opens

by J. Tim Raymond

Haudenosaunee Collaborative Arts Program Opens at the Jung Center

by J. Tim Raymond

Theater Week

Broadway for Christmas

by Anthony Chase

No, Virginia, you can’t get tickets to The Book of Mormon on Broadway for Christmas week.

Film Reviews

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

by George Sax

The Other Son

by George Sax

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Movie Times (Friday, December 14 - Thursday, December 20)

Film Now Playing

Featured Events

See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's pick for the week: the Spiral Dance, this Friday, December 14 at Asbury Hall.

You Auto Know

Room, With a View

by Jim Corbran

Back in 1978 I was in the market for a new car. A friend of mine had just bought—horrors!—a new Datsun 510, and I was very impressed with the fit and finish. So I put Japanese cars on the short list to replace my (ugh) Mercury Bobcat. Eventually I found myself at a local Honda dealer, behind the wheel of a new Accord hatchback. (Yes, they made them back then.) Again, very impressed with the car. The dealer? Not so much, so no sale.

Letters to Artvoice

Difficult Task of Fixing County Legislature's Unbalanced Budget Begins

by Mark Poloncarz

Old Boys Network in the Erie County Sheriff's Office

by Larry C. Garrison, Jr.

The Back Page

In Memoriam: Chris Schorb, a.k.a. DJ Christ Sinister

Chris Schorb (DJ Christ Sinister) was a founding member of Knowmatic Tribe Soundsystem and Galaxie NYC, a pioneer of Buffalo’s underground electronic music scene, and loved by all for his outrageous sense of humor and unique outlook on life.

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

Plastic surgeons in Turkey and France told CNN in November that mustache implants have suddenly surged in popularity as Middle Eastern men use their increased lip bushiness to convey power and prestige. Surgeons extract follicles from hairier parts of the body in procedures that cost the equivalent of around $7,000 and show full results in about six months.

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): For the last six decades of his life, Pablo Picasso created art that was adventurous and experimental. He didn’t invent abstract painting, but he was instrumental in popularizing it. And yet in his early years he was a master of realism, and had an impressive ability to capture the nuances of human anatomy.