Calhoun Kersten

I’ve always hated that unspoken rule about “after Halloween, it’s fair game for holiday shit” but this week? I’m okay with it. Why, you may ask? The Muppet Christmas Carol came out on Bluray (yeah, I’m aware that I’m a 25 year old single man talking about Muppets). In celebration, I’ve been watching this little diddy…like, on repeat. Go ahead, be jealous of my awesomeness.

Ben Kessell

A huge fan of Tumblr and any of the photography-centric sub-reddits , I love to feed my ADD by whizzing through as many new photos as possible. Some are beautiful, most are worth a good chuckle-snort. Unfortunately, most are simply Instagram photos of some chick’s latest meal or some awful teen photo-shopping some equally awful “#yolo wisdom” on top of their extra awful self-portrait. I survive and browse on and, occasionally, somebody points out a true gem.

Young Souls Magazine is precisely that. Using the powerful tools included within Issuu, two girls from disparate locations work together to create expositions of young photographers from around the world. It is evident even to the hobbyist that the editors, Sarah and Sam have a deep respect for composition and the craft. There’s no pithy phrases over an underage couple holding hands and there certainly isn’t anyone blowing smoke rings. Stuff like this gives me hope that the Facebook generation will survive and give us some real talent.

Shelby Shaw

I can’t get enough of the poster or vague “spot-trailer” for Curious Theatre Branch’s new show, Evanston, Which Is Over There. Maybe it’s because it opens tonight that I’m excited, or maybe it’s because it’s the brainchild of Beau O’Reilly, or maybe it’s because it’s a modern parody of Evanston inhabitants, or maybe it’s because I play this chick who is, like, a teenage barista. Either way, you ought to check it out between now and December 16th, tickets are pay-what-you-can so it’s practically/basically/if you need it to be free! What more could you ask for as we snowball into holiday spending?

Amy Dittmeier

Dear Michael Ian Black, please do more things like this: