In this age of economic apocalypse, social unrest and the genetically engineered plague I released in the produce section of an area Whole Foods yesterday afternoon, it can be hard to know where to spend your Christmas dollars. Rejoice! For I have made the decision for you.

Read this!

Looking for a good-natured web strip about a modern American family? Stay 500 meters from Odori Park at all times. Chris Watkins’ dark, troubling serial about a mixed race couple (a normal-colored woman and a pasty white man) and their child–who walks the razor’s edge between two worlds while belonging to neither– would make David Lynch squirm.

Okay, maybe I am reading a little into this strip. On second glance, it  is kinda cute and well drawn, and  If you are into that kind of stuff I suppose you will want to buy the book as well. But if you know how to read subtext, you’ll realize that the kid might go Dexter at any moment.

Put this in your ears!

I recently discovered Rochester-area musician Benjamin Jameson Morey and now demand 10% of all his future profits. I am not good at dissecting musical styles, so I guess if I describe his sound as The Moldy Peaches spliced with Cake it means no more or less than if I described it as the Rolling Stones covering the Bugaloos. He describes himself as “anti-folk rock”, but I think he is keeping a little piece of folk ass in a studio apartment downtown. Just listen.

[iframe http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=2811059052/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/ 400 100]

Find his music here and at his personal website. I definitely recommend.