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For the first time I can remember, I find myself, at year’s end, underwhelmed by the quality of films released in the year gone by.

Sure, there are some high-profile films still to be released — “The Hobbit,” “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Django Unchained,” to name a few — but even they are unlikely to buoy what has been a down year for Hollywood.

It seemed like a year of safe bets.

“The Avengers,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Dark Knight Rises” were expected to pack cinemas all over the country and did.

Albuquerque hosts a Walter White look-a-like contest. 

The best movies you didn't see in 2012.

Kris Humphries gets stuffed -- by an NBA referee.

Try as I might, there are just some Christmas songs that I've never warmed to.

Not because I think they're cheesy or trite. I mean, is there really such a thing when it applies to Christmas music, most of which is cheese personified?

But I just couldn't dial into the sentiment and when I heard the song, I was more apt to skip it then crank the stereo and sing-a-long.

Today's song, "Little Drummer Boy," is one of those songs. In fact, this song is probably my least favorite holiday song ever yet I don't think Christmas would be Christmas without it.

If I’ve learned anything since setting out on my own in 2006 — a phrase more Horatio Alger-y than “moved out of my parents’ house when I graduated college” — it’s that my folks did a lot of things for me that I never even knew about.

You have to buy paper towels and toilet paper, for example, because apparently they don’t simply appear from beneath your sink when you run out.

How to eat like a hobbit. 

Sitarist and Beatles collaborateur Ravi Shankar died yesterday at age 92.

So, it seems we're going to average a great, new Christmas record a year henceforth.

Last year, Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler released the totally awesome "This is Christmas" and actress Zooey Deschanel and her partner in twee, singer/songwriter M. Ward, released the Starbucks-ready "A Very She & Him Christmas." Truth be told, it's not at all bad.

This trend continues this year with the release of Cee-Lo Green's "CeeLo's Magic Moment" and "Holidays Rule," a compilation I stumbled upon recently and believe to be one of the best Christmas albums of the last 10 years.

The AV Club has its list of the best comedy releases of 2012. Aziz Ansari, Tig Notaro, John Mulaney and Louis CK all made the cut. 

Hope everyone in Columbia is vaccinated against Bieber Fever. Justin Bieber playing Colonial Life Arena on Aug. 5.

There's something so wonderfully cheesy about Christmas music.

Some of our favorite holiday tunes contain some downright corny lyrics and themes but we love them in spite of, and maybe even because of, that trite stuff.

We let Christmas music get away with stuff we would never let other kinds of pop music get away with during the other 11 months of the year.

But it's easy to understand why.

A modernized version of "White Christmas" would include something about climate change and Al Gore reference.

Ben Savage talked to RollingStone.com about the Boys Meets World sequel.

The lineup for Charleston's Spoleto Festival USA has been announced.  

I love me some Christmas commercials as long as they don't start in early November.

But there is something so seasonal and terrific about seeing holiday-themed commercials that remind you every time you flip on the tube that Christmas is upon us.

One of my personal favorites, though it's a little obscure, is the holiday jingle at the end of holiday spots for the Midwestern hardware store chain, Menards. Sadly, I could not find a YouTube clip to share that little ditty with you all.