SPIDERMAN & FRIENDS Make a Plate Kit

The Comas play imaginative, hazy alt-pop on their debut. Winsome is an adjective often used to describe this kind of underground rock, sometimes implying a certain amateurishness as well, like when it's applied to recordings on the K label or the Raincoats. Those reference points aren't totally out of the ballpark, but there's a deeper level of accomplishment than there is on most K releases. Whether stressing the vocals or the instrumental passages, there's a lulling buzz to these tunes, with the...

It's not easy to make a Christmas classic. For every A Charlie Brown Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street , there are countless films that put special effects where their hearts ought to be. Elf is a rare exception. With genuine charm and the immense likability of its star, Elf gives holiday cheer a good name. Will Ferrell stars as Buddy, a human raised by elves at the North Pole. But the over-six-foot-tall Buddy literally does not fit in, and he ventures to New York (via the seven levels of the...

VIC DARKWOOD is a writer, traveler and bon viveur, whose past projects include co-founding The Chap magazine in 1998 and co-writing several tomes, including The Chap Manifesto and Around the World in Eighty Martinis. Mr. Darkwood is currently working on a concise history of marmalade. He is married to Mrs. Darkwood, with no issue.