Here. No, really, take it! It’s the new Christmas episode of the “Beg for Mercy” podcast starring one of TheDirk.com’s VPs of Marketing and John Patrick Nelson as well as one Alison Star Locke Nelson.

You gots Santa laughing, The Jack Price Comedy Hour Holiday Treat episode from 1938, The Werewolf’s battle with The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and you got the ZookeepaZ with their new rap, “Thug Chriztmaz” (contains a sample from The Mormon Tabernacle Choir)!

Click up in it to get the episode!

Tenor Booed Off Stage in Milan, Showered with Thunderous Applause in Des Moines

Des Moines, IA - French tenor Roberto Alanga, who was booed from the upper balcony in Milan, Italy, Sunday evening, was vindicated as he bowed to thunderous applause after singing the “Che gelida manina” aria from Puccini’s hit opera La Boheme only two days later at the Des Moines Civic Opera House. “He was so good! His voice is all loud!” exclaimed Hillary Bryant of Iowa City. “I don’t know how anyone can get up in front of all these people and remember all those words, especially in that different language. He was really good,” soybean grower Geoffrey O’Bryan of Bettendorf, IA, said.

Others who attended this, the annual Des Moines “Fancy Music for the Holidays” showcase of symphony, choral, and opera music, were even more unequivocal in their praise. As Troy Weinschlager stated as he warmed up his car to drive home through new fallen snow, “I just thought that guy was real good. Barely any times where his voice cracked. And just real loud like real opera singers do. Just real nice.”

French tenor Roberto Alagna yawns during a performance in Chicago in 2004

Joanna Newsom’s new album, “Ys,” blends classical harp with hardcore punk vocals (not the latter, though). Our in-house Amazon reviewer has something to say about it!

Click for his review.

Hey, Dr. Science-Patterson! What is the history behind kids hanging stockings at Christmas for Santa to fill with toys and candy? - Christmas Cheerer, Biloxi, MI

Dear, Christmas Cheerer - This tradition reaches as far back as at least the early 1980’s in the United States when children would hang stockings at Christmas. The idea was that Santa Clause would fill them with toys and candy and other assorted goodies.

‘Tis the season…for the holidays, that is! And greeting cards provide words, which are a way of conveying those holiday sentiments that just can’t be fully expressed through mere silence or acts of compassion and love. And what better words than those of our most classic songs and films? Huh?

from Dr. Dre’s song “Let Me Ride”

DIDYAKNOW that the Oedipus Complex is not limited merely to your desires regarding your parents? That’s right! According to Freud, not only do you want to sleep with your mother and kill your father, you also want to shake hands with your uncle and MOLD YOUR BROTHER-IN-LAW IN CHOCOLATE!