While we are preparing for the Christmas season by singing carols, decorating our houses and Christmas trees, giving and receiving presents, and spending countless happy hours watching a kid in a pink bunny suit, people all around the world are preparing a little bit differently.

Have you ever woken up on Christmas morning and wondered, “Hey, where the heck are all of our brooms?” If you have, you probably live in Norway. According to strangecosmos. com, on Christmas Eve it is custom in Norway for all the brooms in the house to be hidden because it was believed that witches and other creepy Halloween-reminiscent creatures would come out and steal the brooms for riding.

Nearby in Ukraine, they also tend to combine the Halloween and Christmas traditions. They decorate their Christmas trees with spider webs. They believe that a spider web found on Christmas morning is supposed to bring good luck.

At least these two countries don’t have the same custom that Japan has for Christmas and funerals. Everyone there refrains from sending out red Christmas cards since funeral notices there are normally printed in red. “Merry Christmas, and by the way, its okay that this is card is red because your aunt just died” would make one heck of a Christmas card.

One of my favorite strange traditions however is that of Venezuela. In Caracas, the capital city, they actually block off the streets on Christmas Eve so that people can rollerblade to church. How cool is that? I’m pretty sure I want to move there solely for that reason.

There is also an interesting holiday game that the kids would play in medieval times. One person would be blindfolded and one of the other children blows on them. The blindfolded kid then has to guess which person blew on them. It’s like a very strange version of Heads Up, Seven Up.

Now if you just want to be incredibly daring on Christmas morning, but probably have quite a bit of fun, you can head over to Britain and join over 200 people as they swim through an icy lake. There is the Peter Pan Swim at 8 a.m., and there is also the Brighton Beach swim at 11 a.m.

You want the creepiest tradition? As claimed by raisingkids. co.uk, in Yugoslavia, on the second Sunday before Christmas, children will creep into their mother’s room and tie her feet to a chair. They will then go on to shout, “Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day, what will you pay to get away?”

And regardless of the fact that she is being held hostage by her own children, the mother will subsequently whip out her bag of presents and distribute them. The kids do the same thing to their father the following week, receiving yet more presents.

Giving this Yugoslavian tradition a run for its money in creepiness is a food tradition from Greenland. This gastronomical “treat” called “Kiviak” is made from the raw flesh of an auk, which is a type of black and white seabird.

Now wait, it gets better. This meat has not only been buried beneath a stone, in sealskin nonetheless, but it has been there for several months, so this it has definitely achieved an advanced stage of decomposition. Evidently, it smells like “old blue cheese” and tastes “very pungent.” Sounds delectable, does it not?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I can safely say that I have a new found respect and love for our own Christmas traditions. No matter how sweet rollerblading through town at night to church is, you couldn’t pay me to eat a decomposed and rotting bird. Happy holidays!

The Bill Koehler photography exhibit will be featured in the Rankin Art Gallery from Dec. 4-20. A reception will be held on Thursday, Dec. 6 from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. According to the gallery website, all works will be available for sale with prints available.

The gallery website said that Koehler is a local wildlife and nature photographer. Koehler is based in Stanwood, Mich., near Canadian Lakes. Koehler is affiliated with the Mecosta County ArtWorks just downtown, as well as with other organizations around the state.

Koehler’s website said that he began photography as a hobby in 1954. Soon after that he married and started a family. After his wife passed away, Koehler decided to pursue photography more passionately.

“It was like riding a bike, never having forgotten how to see thru the eyes of the lens,” Koehler said on his website.

After the long hiatus, Koehler started what he calls, “Nature Photography.” Koehler exhibits and sells prints of all of his nature photography at billsnaturephotos. com. Koehler also does personal photography as well. His services include portraits, weddings, family gatherings, sporting events, restorations, and various other photo services. More i n f o r m a t i o n about Koehler’s photography services can be found at billkoehlerphotos. com.

“A good picture is what one sees with lasting memories and a record of vision,” Koehler said.

For more information about the Bill Koehler exhibit at the Rankin Art Gallery please contact Carrie Weis at x2536. If special accommodations are needed to attend the event, please contact Weis at least a week in advance.

With the holiday season so rapidly approaching, I cannot stand to hear one more person nag me for ideas on what to get the special people in their life. To be truly honest, I do the majority of my holiday shopping at the last minute and therefore put little to no thought into the gifts that I purchase. However, as hindsight is still 20/20, I have become terrifically adept at deciding what I should have gotten instead. Below I have tabulated a protocol that is nearly foolproof in the purchase and gifting of items for this joyous holiday season.

Girlfriend:
This is always difficult because the type of gift is dependant on the intensity of the relationship. Those who have been dating for only a few months can get away with something small and mostly thoughtless. Anything that comes in a basket from Bath and Body Works is acceptable. The size of the basket may vary. I suggest the Sweet Pea, my mother loves it.

However, if the relationship is on the greater end of a year or more, you’ve got quite the task. A safe bet is always pajamas. I am referring to those warm fuzzy flannel ones with penguins on them, a pair of matching slippers and a snuggly blanket. While this gift won’t get you any extra smooches under the mistletoe, it also won’t get you kicked in the “mistletoe”.

An extra tip, throw a gift card to Victoria’s Secret in there. She’ll probably buy body wash or perfume with it, but you never know; this could be one of those gifts that will keep on giving.

Boyfriend:
I can sum this up in just a few letters. DVDs. Your man doesn’t have a copy of ‘Old School’? Perfect! How about ‘Super Troopers’? Classic! A few DVD’s and you are well on your way to making his Christmas both holly and jolly. (Mostly just jolly though.) This gift is not reliant on the age of the relationship. You could also look into purchasing him a season or two of his favorite crime drama. Sure, he already has loads of movies, but that doesn’t mean he can’t make room for one more.

I bought myself a copper wire head massager called ‘The Tingler’ and have not regretted it. They are about $8 and usually come in a fancy red bag.

Another good bet is to supplement anything you are getting him with something that shoots a foam ball, disc or dart. Nerf guns for example will take him back to a time before the stresses of finals and bills. He’ll appreciate you even more if you get a Nerf gun for his best friend too. That way, they can play for hours and hours together.

Parents:
As a college student you are commonly devoid of cash, but with the coins frozen to the bottom of your car’s cup holder you can purchase some coffee mugs for your parents that have the Ferris emblem etched onto them. Sure, there isn’t a lot of thought in this gift, but that icy cold spot where their love for you used to be will be replaced with hot cocoa when your parents are thrown out onto the street because the exorbitant tuition rates destroy their personal finances.

Siblings:
Your best bet in this situation for an older sibling is usually something to do with an inside joke. If you have a brother that really likes Coke (the beverage, not the drug… that could really ruin the holidays for your family) then maybe get him a neck tie in the shape of a Pepsi bottle.

Actually, that is a terrible joke, only a jerk would do that. Your real best bet is to just tell your parents you don’t know what to get them and ask if your Mom will just pick something up for you to give them. If she seems uneasy about it, just tell her you are really stressed about exams. They always fall for that line. For a younger sibling, get them something you would like. They’ll love it because you say it’s cool and the youth of this country are highly impressionable.

Girlfriend or Boyfriend’s Parents:
Again the need to actually purchase this gift is determined by the amount of time you’ve been with what my mother calls my ‘imaginary friend.’ If you don’t have enough time to get something for your significant other’s parents, it’s okay, they still won’t like you. But, if you surprise them with something donning a big red bow, you’re getting brownie points. The best one I have ever seen is a copy of the book ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ by Mitch Albom. Whether or not they will read it doesn’t matter, but when they leave it on the coffee table to impress their friends with their deep understanding of modern literature, they’ll be secretly thanking you. Make sure you get the hardcover and read the plot summary so that if they ask you what it is about you can pretend like you know.

Roommates/Suite mates
How about a timer so he doesn’t spend six hours in the shower when you’re trying to get ready for class?! But seriously, Facebook is running a sale on ‘Healing Crystals’ right now in the Facebook Gifts application. They are only a $1 and they have the same magical abilities as real healing crystals… none. Get them a chocolate Santa Claus and call it good.

While this list may not be detailed, it will at least destroy any excuse you could possibly put together to defend your purchase of Guitar Hero III for yourself. Regardless, a gift is about the thought and most importantly the emotion you put behind it. The holiday season is about giving of yourself. Put on a festive sweater, grab a spoonful of Figgie pudding, and enjoy some eggnog in moderation. Even if you don’t get the right gift for someone this year, you’ll have another 360 days to re-read this article and make the necessary improvements.

Entertainment Unlimited (EU) wrapped up the semester’s last five star speaker series with Kevin Lyman, creator of Warped Tour, last Tuesday, Nov. 27.

At the start of the show, Lyman played a 60 second video summary of the Warped Tour’s 13 years of success and how it helped bands like Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance and Sum 41 gain exposure.

Lyman made the audience a part of his show by encouraging everyone to ask questions. It was good to see the amount of interaction and how everyone was genuinely interested in how he started a music revolution.

Lyman’s involvement in the music scene began when he started selling items in a parking lot outside of Grateful Dead concerts and by working as a stage manager for a Los Angeles club.

“It was interesting to learn that his Warped Tour fortune started off as selling egg-rolls and apple pies to stoners,” said Jessica Atteberry, a freshman in the music industry management program.

Lyman, who was burnt out in the music business by the early nineties, made the Warped Tour his last chance. If things hadn’t gone as planned, Lyman intended to use education as his safety net.

“Musicians need to learn how to go out on a limb,” said Lyman, “But an education is concrete, not a music career.”

After filling in the audience with his background, Lyman talked about some of the memorable experiences he has had with the tour.

In 1999, Lyman made Eminem one of the tour’s main acts. But, after several death threats from unhappy tour-goers, Lyman learned you can’t mix hip-hop into a punk rock show.

In 2005, Warped Tour saw a new kind of crowd. Lyman described them as the ‘pop audience’. He had booked the bands Hawthorne Heights, Fall Out Boy, and All-American Rejects.

Although the lineup seemed like a great idea, the tour’s core fans didn’t want to come back. There were too many stages and the crowd got too crazy.

Lyman was also happy to give advice to many of the audience members who were interested in how to get on the path to success in the music industry.

“The first advice I’d ever given to a band was Blink 182,” said Lyman. “I told them to go buy a house, and look, now they have several houses.”

Lyman revealed during the show that bands aren’t making any money with their records.

“Bands can’t afford to get off the road,” explained Lyman, “which is why you see so many of them on tour.”

Lyman’s advice was that bands should monetize everything they do. He encouraged students following a traditional career, like accountancy, to get involved with the music industry.

Lyman thanks Los Angeles for his roots, but does not recommend aspiring musicians to go there looking for stardom.

“Los Angeles is a waste as a business place,” said Lyman. “If you want to get in, you need to go to New York, where people won’t waste your time, or Chicago, where the people are sensible.”

Lyman’s biggest advice for the hopeful was to not go and try to get signed by a record label. “It won’t happen,” said Lyman, “there is no quick buck in a major label. Right now, Universal Records is making their money by going around and suing college kids.”

As far as managing a band, Lyman recommended that students who are friends with musicians should sell their music and shirts and look for alternative ways to deliver the music.

“Music has been going through a lot of changes,” said Lyman, “I think video games will even help a band sell its music right now.”

As far as future plans for the Warped Tour, Lyman just wants to put value back into the music. “The best part of my day is going out to the gate and watching kids leave the show.”

I have loved “Miami Ink” from the first episode I saw. I got caught up in “LA Ink” because I love Kat Von D’s work. However, when I heard the show was taking a jump across the Atlantic with “London Ink”, I was skeptical. How could this be any different than “Miami” or “LA”?

However, the first episode of “London Ink” showed that it was different than its two predecessors.

For those of you have not watched “London” yet, the show is based around David Beckham’s personal tattooist, Louis Malloy. Because of the artist’s success, Malloy decided to open up his own shop.

The first episode shows the new hired help: a graffiti artist having a hard time finding himself named Dan Gold, a chick from New Zealand who specializes in oriental tats called Nikole Lowe, and an American named Phil Kyle, who doesn’t appear much in the first episode.

Some tattoos are made. The first is a remake of Beckham’s tattoo and a couple minor pieces appear, such as the breast cancer ribbon with flowers.

The tattooing session that caught me the most off guard was the pink Buick on a guy’s forearm. It wasn’t because it was a guy getting a pink Buick, but because of Gold’s reaction when the client asked for a different graffiti-styled text. Gold was stunned and hurt. Maybe Gold should realize that this is not whatever he wants to do. The customer comes first, kid.

Then, we see Malloy’s true colors. I’m not talking about inkin’ someone, I’m talking about where Malloy breaks out some criticizing comments on Gold. Sure, Gold has to buck it up a little bit and realize that things aren’t going to go his way, but to throw words at Gold’s line art when Malloy just hired him? You’re making yourself look stupid, Malloy.

Malloy has snotty comments throughout the show.

Stereotypically British? Maybe. The part where Malloy talked to the new girl recruit, Lowe, about doing tattoos out of her style, I felt slightly bored. Sure, we discover that Lowe has a style she really believes in, but I felt it was a waste of airtime.

More stereotypically British? Look at the portion of the episode where Malloy tries to find an apprentice. Two poor blokes come and are given a simple drawing test, then we can easily tell that neither of these boys know how to draw. The British are known for being blunt, and here’s your prime example: Malloy immediately tells the boys that they are not worthy and shove them out of the shop. I don’t think Ami James from “Miami” would have been that blunt about it!

One of the main things I like about the show is that it isn’t always a continuation, like “LA”. When showing off the finished tattoo, there isn’t a still frame of the finished tattoo. It’s different and that’s good for me.

I don’t mind the slowness of certain areas, the difference in format and the fact that Malloy can be a bit of a jerk sometimes. If you’re like me, then you may want to watch this show, which is on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on TLC.

If you are in the market for a new music and video player, choose carefully and do your homework. I have been in the market for a video/music player for the Holiday break to entertain myself on a few airline flights. I have been prowling Newegg.com and keeping my ears open to what other people are using.

While shopping at Staples, I found the 30GB Zune on sale and picked it up. The price was cheaper than other comparable 30gig video/ music players on the market.

I was disappointed that the first computer I plugged it into (running Windows XP Pro 2002, SP2) would fail to properly recognize the device on its own – without installing the Zune software.

I took the Zune home and hooked it into my own PC and began installation. This took about half an hour and another half an hour for the device to update its firmware. I used the software to select the directories that I wanted to sync, and let it begin.

The software was simple to navigate and didn’t take much time to get used to. There are a few tabs at the top, one for the media on the computer, one to access the media on the Zune, one for buying music at the “marketplace,” and “Social” where all Zune users can communicate in a an online community. It features drag and drop simplicity to add songs and movies.

The Zune has a much larger screen than the 30 gig iPod video and the controls are very similar to the iPod with a circular button (Apple’s “Click Wheel”) around a central button. The Zune adds a back button to the left and a play/ pause button to the right of the circle. It didn’t take too long to get used to the controls, since I was already familiar with iPod controls.

When I used the Zune software to sync my music library to the device, I was actually surprised and impressed that it was able to find album information and download the album art onto the device.

However, the player let me down as far as videos go. A quick tally on my computer found 185 video/movie files. 5 percent are .wmv format, 5 percent are .avi, 34 percent are .mov, and 56 percent are .mpeg. Although Newegg.com says the Zune can play an mpeg, this is not listed on the box. Despite my best efforts, the program can’t recognize the mpegs, and cannot add them to the device. This means that I can only play 5 percent of my videos (10 files). From what I’ve found online, most players can support mpegs and avi files, but not the Zune.

The Zune offers other nice features like WiFi and an FM digital radio. You can share files with other Zunes in the same LAN or sync it to your computer wirelessly. The radio is able to receive digital signals with artist and song name, although the antenna is weak – but I didn’t spend $200 for a radio.

The Zune and its software are easy to use. It plays music well and has a pleasing interface. The inability to sync the device without using the software, and not being able to use it as a storage device, along with the ability to only play .wmv files however were major letdowns.

In front of 200 people, the Boys of the Lough entertained an audience of young and old with Celtic history, humor, and music on Friday, Nov 30.

The Boys of the Lough consist of 5 gentlemen playing numerous instruments. Dave Richardson plays the mandoline, cittern, English concertina, button accordion, and composes. Kevin Henderson plays the fiddle, Cathal McConnell plays the flute, whistle, and does vocals, Brendan Begley plays the button accordion, melodeon, and does vocals. Finally, Malcolm Stitt plays the guitar.

Each song that was played came with a story of how the song was written.

“Christmas Day in the Morning” was written by John Stainer, and according to Celtic history, Stainer was a sail man and wrote the song after being ship wrecked. The second story behind the carol is that Stainer’s ship men became so sick of him playing his fiddle they threw him and his fiddle overboard.

The “Boys of the Lough” would play three songs bridged together and then tell an anecdote about the next series of songs.

The concert began with six traditional Celtic Christmas songs, three from the pagan side and three from the Christian side.

The Boys next played “King of the Pipers”, a slow air from Kerry, inspired from the whales songs. Begley, told a story about being out in California and playing the song. “There were no whales when I began, but they soon showed up, and when I finished they disappeared.” The song began slow and I couldn’t help but have visions of oceans and rolling green hills. The song quickly picked up pace and turned into a quick dance, the audience quickly got into it clapping to the beat.

McConnell kept the audience entertained making fun of the English.

“What is the difference between an Englishmen and a coconut? You get milk from a coconut.”

Richardson from Northumberland, a county in the North East of England, quickly interjected with “It’s hard to be an Englishman with this group; they won’t let me sleep in the same bed as the rest of them.” The band members looked at each other and quickly began playing.

The last song before intermission was an Irish song sung in Irish Gaelic by Begley. Very few songs have remained in the original Irish Gaelic because they have been translated.

The song was about the night in Bethlehem and it began with the Swedish version and bridged into the Irish Gaelic.

McConnell also gave a history lesson, telling the audience when it was illegal to celebrate because England was in power, people would go over to the continent (Europe) and record songs and bring them back.

After intermission the band played songs found on their Christmas album, “Mid Winter’s Night Dream.” The first song they played was a Greenman’s tune that was supposed to resemble the rocking of a ship.

“Only we speed through it so it sounds like a speed boat,” Henderson joked before he raised his fiddle to play.

The next song was a march that went with the Christmas tradition of marching from house to house and then would dance inside the house. The next couple of songs were fast passed and if there was a higher Celtic population, the audience would be up dancing in the aisle.

The concert ended with a standing ovation, and the Boys were happy to oblige the audience with an encore of Celtic Christmas tunes.