XBox Writes Santa Letter for Your Kids

JeanneSager — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:06:00 GMT

Vista may not be Microsoft's biggest flub of the year. Hard to believe, I know, but a form letter generator for kids begging for their XBox this holiday might just beat the blue screen of death bombing operating system for the Worst Attempt At Being Useful Award.

To help convince doubting Thomases and Thomasinas that life without an XBox is a fate worse than having Mom pick them up from school in her PJs and curlers, Microsoft is letting kids choose their words from multiple choice drop-down menus. The XBox site lets them pick a recipient, a holiday (Festivus is on there for you Seinfeld fans), a means of celebration and list of four Microsoft products (talk about a monopoly). It even lets them clue you in on why they really deserve your major cash investment - ie. they've been "oder-free" all year long.

Ralphie's ode to his Red Rider BB gun this isn't. The results of my husband taking a spin to convince me he really needs an XBox (sadly, he's only half joking!) were amusing in that Mad Libs kind of way. But if one of these came from a kid, I'd be tempted to send them back to the drawing board to write a proper Santa letter one hundred times. Sorry kiddo, if you can't summon the passion to write your own letter, Mommy can't summon the $200-something it would take to bring home one of those babies.

On second thought, let 'em "write" it. A half-assed attempt on their part should earn them a half-assed attempt at holiday shopping, right? Coal it is.

Image: XBox (the husband's attempt at humor)

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Rich or Rehab: Whatever Happened to Ralphie From 'A Christmas Story'?

Jen Chaney — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Most of us see him at least once a year -- more if we watch the "A Christmas Story" marathon on TBS -- when he professes his annual love for the Red Ryder BB gun. His name is Peter Billingsley, and he is best known as Ralphie Parker, the bespectacled, dimple-cheeked protagonist of one of America's most beloved holiday films.

Of course, a few of us remember the gig he had prior to that, as a delightful little scamp named Messy Marvin:

So what happened to young Mr. Billingsley after his "You'll shoot your eye out" days? He continued to act in movies and on TV throughout the '80s and '90s. And the pop-culture savvy no doubt know that he eventually grew up to become a producer who frequently works with his good buddies, Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. He can be spotted in mostly brief cameos in some of the movies he produced, including "Elf," "The Break-Up" and this summer's "Iron Man."

In addition to remaining a major player in Hollywood, the FoF (that's Friend of Flick) celebrated his 37th birthday earlier this year. Strollerderby salutes you, Ralphie (see picture below), and promises that we would never, ever shoot your eye out.

Photos: Turner Broadcasting via MSNBC.com; reversemonster.org