Pop Candy will return Jan. 2

I'm taking some time off, but I'll be back before you know it! Have a joyful, relaxing holiday season and a merry new year. See you in '07 with lots more Candy ...

If you need something to tide you over, check out this week's "Best of Pop Candy" podcast, featuring The Submarines, Veronica Mars' Rob Thomas and more.

- Stream it (as a Windows Media file)

- Download it from iTunes

See my RSS feed for other options, and go here for the archives. Thanks for listening!

Don we now our bad apparel

This holiday card sent by Jennifer B. may be the final shot in our series of readers' scary holiday sweaters.

"It's amazing what sounds like a good idea when you are a little short on time," she writes. "Hey, I know! Let's get some Christmas sweaters and get our picture taken at Sears! The response was a collective 'Yeah!' The folks at Sears humored us, and a good time was had by all."

The Candy mailbag: Answering your questions

The mailbag is back! I'll be taking your questions for the next couple hours, so send 'em on. Let's get started:

My roommate and I are in a disagreement over a DirectTV commercial. It's a parody of Jessica Simpson's role in The Dukes of Hazzard. He swears that she re-filmed the commercial. I'm positive that the dubbing is horrendous, and the way her mouth moves is fake. Can you give us a winner? -- Sara M.

Sure thing -- this info comes straight from Darris Gringeri, vice president of public relations at DirectTV: "Jessica re-shot that scene on a soundstage at Universal Studios Hollywood back in October. The marketing folks at DirectTV and Deutsch Advertising painstakingly recreated the scene exactly as it was done in the film, filmed the new footage for the ad with the DirectTV messages and then edited it and matched it with scenes from the original Dukes of Hazzard movie. We used the exact same set (which was taken out of storage), put Jessica in the exact same wardrobe and did her makeup the exact same way as it was when she shot the film.

"This is one in a series of ads DirectTV has produced where an actor re-shoots a scene from one of their films. Others have included William Shatner (recreating a scene from Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country); Bill Paxton (recreating a scene from Twister) and Ben Stein (recreating a scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)."

So there you go. Sorry you lost the bet!

Now that HBO's The Wire has concluded its fourth and arguably best season ever, will it once again be ignored come Emmy time? It seems to me that shows with predominantly black casts about urban issues and neighborhoods might as well be sci-fi shows, because no matter how many critics call this the best television drama ever, they are generally ignored come award time. -- Sean C.

I have to agree with you, Sean -- I don't expect the show to get a lot of attention come Emmy time, but another reason for that is because by the time nominations come out, The Wire could be pretty much forgotten by voters, since its season has already ended. (The Emmys don't air until late summer.) But yeah, like you said, tons of good series and actors are omitted from the Emmys, just like the Grammys omit pretty much every musical act I care about. The fact that Battlestar Galactica keeps getting ignored is astounding to me, but not surprising.

Question for readers: I'm in MAJOR trouble with my girlfriend and you're my only hope. For her birthday last month I gave her that big set of every season of Sex and the City. For some weird reason, she was keeping a log of how many times each girl had sex with a different guy. ... Well, I sorta spilled coffee over her yellow legal pad and completely ruined her tally. I’m in deep dog doo-doo! Since you are the bomb with pop culture, could you PLEASE point out a website that has a "sex log" for the Sex girls? This could literally save my relationship! -- Scott K.

Wow, that's a pretty intense problem -- and right before the holidays, no less! Unfortunately, I was unable to come up with a site that mirrors your girlfriend's log, though if you're really desperate, you could consult some show recaps or summaries instead of watching all of the eps again.

If any readers can help poor Scott, shout out in the comments.

Update: Scott, a reader named Rebecca has come to your rescue! Race to the comments.

Hey, where's Santa?

If you (or some small people you know) want to track Santa on Christmas Eve, bookmark this link. Thanks to some very advanced radar technology, NORAD is able to pinpoint St. Nick's whereabouts ... and they anticipate he'll be departing the North Pole in about one day and 16 hours. Thanks to Pop reader Kendra S. for the tip.

A classic cartoon collection

Check out this list of the 50 greatest cartoons -- with video links. The list was compiled in 1994 by the animation industry and includes classics like What's Opera, Doc? and 1928's Steamboat Willie. (This marks the first time I've ever seen Bambi Meets Godzilla, and I'm very glad I did.)

Storytime with Bob

Here's a festive feature you may enjoy: It's Bob Dylan reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas on his XM radio show. (Scroll down the page for the link.) If that doesn't put you in the holiday spirit, nothing will!

Early buzz: 'Grindhouse,' online shows and more

Holiday greetings from Tennessee! Let me tell you, it was a struggle to get out of my cozy guest-room bed this morning, but I managed (and I'm still sporting my pajamas). I'll be opening the mailbag around noon, so feel free to shoot me any questions.

Some headlines:

- How awesome was the showdown between Stephen Colbert and The Decemberists? If you missed it, ComedyCentral.com has a bunch of clips.

- The teaser trailer for the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse is up.

- Want a matchbox twenty reunion? Don't hold your breath.

- What was the best indie album of the year? Stereogum has announced the winners of its Gummy Awards.

- Everybody loves a montage -- especially when it's a Rocky montage.

- HDNet aired an Arrested Development marathon on Thanksgiving, and it saved me from boredom and insanity. The G4 network will air one on Christmas.

- ABC is putting a bunch more shows online, starting Christmas Day. (What About Brian and Brothers & Sisters will join its batch of streaming series, and full seasons of other shows will be available.) Also, the full season of 30 Rock is now on NBC.com.

- Guess who may be returning to Lost?

- Speaking of 30 Rock, here's an interview with Tina Fey and The Office's Jenna Fischer.

- Congrats to Dodge, one of Pop Candy's People of the Year -- he's a new dad!

- And finally, I feel like I should comment on the nasty fight between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell, but it's kind of hard to care when I'm surrounded by Christmas cookies, presents and tiny ceramic houses. Come on, celebrities, it's the holidays -- try not to be annoying for once.

More coming soon ... after I eat some biscuits.

Early buzz: Pre-road trip edition

Greetings, all! In a few minutes I'll be hitting the road to see my in-laws in Nashville (and it's gonna be a looong drive), so you won't hear from me for the rest of the day. I did wake up extra-early to compile this supersize edition of headlines, though -- and I'll be back tomorrow to open the Candy mailbag.

Have a terrific Thursday, and wish me luck on the highway. (Fortunately, my husband will do most of the driving, so I can tell you all about the books I read and videos I watched on my iPod tomorrow, too.)

- A fire destroyed the home of Lost's Evangeline Lilly yesterday. Those kids don't have much luck in Hawaii, do they?

- The Oceans 13 trailer is now online.

- Check out the trailer for Fast Track, starring Zach Braff, Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman.

- Are you ready for Desperately Seeking Susan: The Musical?

- Smokin' Aces director Joe Carnahan has started a blog about his new film, which stars Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman. Right now he has posted some rejected movie posters.

- SNL's Andy Samberg dreams of making an album.

- Jake Busey, Chris Klein and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst: Is that a winning cast, or what?

- Sarah Michelle Gellar has joined the cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

- Conan O'Brien's Pale Force has unveiled a two-part Christmas episode.

- If you missed it the first time, Rudolph airs again tonight on CBS.

- This week Syntax of Things is spotlighting the underrated writers of 2006. Go there to find out about the books you should've read this year.

- Film website The Reeler has just posted a bunch of features devoted to Woody Allen.

- The Onion has posted a "Best of 2006" edition this week.

- That Sex and the City movie? On again.

- It appears Betty and Veronica got some plastic surgery.

- Go ahead, pimp a nutcracker.

- If you haven't gone into Wolfgang's Vault yet, do it while you still can.

- If you're a Ryan Adams fan, here are a bunch of good live tracks.

- Halle Berry is working on an album?

- Yahoo has a preview of tonight's OC. (Seriously, it's good now!)

- A few folks list their favorite DVDs of 2006 in this podcast, including me.

- Bored at work today? Listen to the first-ever blogger online holiday concert. Thanks to Elaine for the tip.

See you Friday ... Tennessee, here I come.

What an artful year

I love Artforum's end-of-the-year issues -- they're always so huge, they take me about three months to get through. The magazine's website has posted some of its content online, including some obscure music choices and John Waters' picks for the 10 best films of the year. (Warning: His commentary, like his movies, is not for the faint-of-heart.)

On Inside Man: "Handsome bank-robbing outfits -- so chic, so scary, so fashionably conformist."

On Jackass Number Two: "If this isn’t cultural terrorism, I don’t know what is."

On Sherrybaby: "Maggie Gyllenhaal plays an ex-convict drug addict (the kind I see in Baltimore every day), and the film is so depressing and great that I wish I could see it with an all-female prison audience."

Way to go, John -- most people would just pick The Queen and Babel, give a little shout-out to Clint Eastwood and be done with it.

An exciting 'Lost' update

A new face has joined Lost's writing staff, and I couldn't be happier: It's Brian K. Vaughan, author of many comics I love.

So, to everyone who has ignored my pleas that you read Y: The Last Man, are you more interested in reading them now? "I'm very grateful to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for having so much faith in me," Vaughan writes on his MySpace page. "There are a lot of Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina fans at the show." Perhaps he can inject a little life into the second half of the season -- just as long as he doesn't kill off all the men.