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Last Minute Gift Guide

Cheap, Fast, and Finished

You’ve been there, and I have too: It’s four in the afternoon and Christmas Eve. You’ve got about eight people for whom to buy gifts. Which is to say, you haven’t started holiday shopping at all.

News Feature

The County Budget Crisis

by George Sax

About 4pm on Tuesday, an Erie County employee said he’d just heard loud and angry voices from behind a closed door to one of the Erie County Legislature’s back rooms as he passed by. This man—who didn’t want to be identified—thought he recognized Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz’s voice, among several others, and the conversation snatch he heard didn’t sound polite.

Week in Review

Seven Days: The Straight Dope From the Week That Was

by Geoff Kelly, Brian Pietrus, Louis Ricciuti

Scorecard: The Week's Winners and Losers

by Zachary Burns

Getting a Grip

Wikileaks and the End of Democracy

by Michael I. Niman

Perhaps the biggest revelation to come out of the Wikileaks story doesn’t emanate from leaked documents themselves but from the Obama administration’s reaction to the leaks—a reaction that bares a disdain for democracy and a free press naked for the world to see.

Last Minute Gifts

Gifts For the Hearing

by Donny Kutzbach

The supposed big news for 2010 was that Apple’s iTunes finally got the Beatles catalog. Hasn’t everyone at this point ripped their stash of these discs—even the ones we re-bought again last year when they were remastered—to listen to on their iPods?

Last Minute Gifts

Head Shopping

by Buck Quigley

Holiday shopping got you down? Tired of all the crowds, and the tightly wound shoppers pushing ahead of you in the checkout line? You, my friend, need to relax. You gotta take a minute to reflect on the big, important things like peace and love. That’s what the season is all about, man.

Last Minute Gifts

Basket Cases

by Jill Greenberg

Buffalo is known for a few things besides snow, mainly great food and drinks. If you are looking for a last minute gift for a Buffalonian, chances are they will be thrilled to receive an edible gift, especially if beer is involved.

Last Minute Entertaining

Last Minute Holiday Party

by Katherine O'Day

I once helped with catering a Christmas party for a friend who is a consummate professional, but who had, in the turmoil of the season, allowed this particular job to slip her mind. She called me at five o’clock wondering if I could rush over, grab some things from her house, and get to the address by 6:30 for a seven o’clock cocktail/shindig kind of thing.

Food for Thought

Broth, Bouillon, Brodo

by Joe George

Soup is delicious and nutritious, no doubt, but it’s also exceedingly easy to make. If you can boil water, you can make soup. Even soup’s foundation—stock or broth—which is often perceived as laborious, is simple to make.

Theater Week

Theater Books For Christmas

by Anthony Chase

There are people who will latch onto any conspiracy theory. For those who would make themselves seem erudite, the most popular has been that William Shakespeare did not write the plays that are attributed to him. This proposition irks Fred Keller.

Theater News

Stagefright

by Javier

Finally, after a few postponements, the new Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark had its first preview performance on November 28. The $65 million production stars Reeve Carney as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

B.O.O.M!

Round 2, Week 3: Coterie of Stern vs. Black Heart Republic

Congratulations to Canoe! They collected the most online votes this past week, earning themselves a spot on our next live battle of the bands at Nietzsche’s on January 14, 2011.

Left of the Dial

Various Artists - In the Christmas Groove

by Eric Kendall

Shelby Lynne - Merry Christmas

by Donny Kutzbach

Film Feature

Darren Aronofsky's Dance of Delirium: Black Swan

by M. Faust

Its been a long, hard autumn, film fans, and you’ve had to suffer through too many movies that seem like leftovers from the summer sunstroke season. But Christmas is almost here, and while it’s got its share of avoidable fare (a Yogi Bear movie? Really?), two of the year’s most satisfying films are opening in local theaters in the next seven days.

Film Reviews

How Do You Know

by M. Faust

Tiny Furniture

by M. Faust

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Movie Times (Friday, December 17 - Thursday, December 23)

Film Now Playing

Featured Events

See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's pick for the week: Lemuria, who performs at Sugar City on Thursday the 16th.

Art Scene

The Digital Revolution

by Jack Foran

An unofficial theme of the Beyond/In Western New York biennial art exhibit is what could be called the digital world. Digital is more than just a topic for discussion, however. It’s the medium of the discussion. And it’s a revolution.

Puck Stop

"This is Going to Be Huge"

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

Fasten your seatbelts, Buffalo, because in the next week or so the streets of downtown are going to be filled with fans, with visitors from 10 countries, many of them Canadians descending en masse to reclaim a title that they feel is rightfully theirs. Hotels will be filled to the brim, restaurants will be humming, and HSBC Arena will be rocking as the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Under 20 World Junior Tournament comes to our city.

5 Questions With...

Kate Holzemer: Hockey Blogger, Violist

It wasn’t until Holzemer became a fan of the Buffalo Sabres that she finally felt like a Buffalonian. Six years after moving to town in 2001 to join the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra as a violist, Holzemer got swept up in playoff fever, and shortly after started the Willful Caboose (willfulcaboose.wordpress.com). [Before you ask, the name is nonsensical.]

Letters to Artvoice

Pine Grill Reunion Delivers the Economic Development Chris Collins Talks About

by Erie County Legislator, Betty Jean Grant

Tax the Rich!

by Jane Piazza, Joe Gerken Jr.

Canal Side: Lift All Boats

by Mark Manna

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

Cell phones and GPS devices have led national-park visitors to do “stupid” things, confident that they will be saved from themselves, a Grand Teton National Park spokesperson told The New York Times in August—such as the lost, cold hiker who called rangers to ask for hot chocolate or the visitors flummoxed by cold weather who wanted a personal escort back to their campsite.

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): My favorite news source, The Onion, reported on a proposed law that would prohibit marriage between any two people who don’t actually love each other.

Advice

Ask Anyone

I am sorry for this odd request because it might get to you too urgent but it is because of the situation of things right now, I am stuck in London with family right now, we came down here on family vacation, we were robbed, worse of it is that bags, cash and cards and our cell phone were stolen at GUN POINT, and it is hard to get hold of a phone here in London it is such a crazy experience for us.