HOT
Cyber Caroing

Sick of "White Christmas" and "Jingle Bells"? Rejuvenated, Cincinnati-based online radio station woxy.com has gotten into the holiday spirit with a very cool, 24/7 Christmas music stream, accessible for free through the station's Web site. The "Holiday Mixer" features classics from Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and Vince Guaraldi, but Alt music fans will be attracted to the more esoteric selections from artists like The Fall, Mogwai, They Might Be Giants, Coldcut, Sufjan Stevens and, uh, Spinal Tap. Roast some chestnuts, spike the egg nog and gather 'round the ol' PC -- this is a holiday mix for all hip little boys and girls, naughty or nice. For something far weirder in the holiday music department, check out the noisy, psychotic Christmas mix at monocultured.com, which features around 2,400 Xmas songs distilled into one head-spinning, 75-minute collage. Burn it, bring it to the family Christmas party ... and look forward to your family sending over the men in white coats and putting a straightjacket in your stocking on Christmas morning.

WARM
Erin Go ... Blog?

It's somewhat of a miracle that The Pogues' hard-living singer Shane MacGowan's body and mind haven't rotted away as completely as his teeth due to his superhuman alcohol and drug intake over the years. Check out the disturbing but fascinating MacGowan documentary, If I Should Fall From Grace, from 2001 if you don't know what we're talking about. MacGowan has been performing with The Pogues again (getting kicked out of the Pogues for over-indulging should be wake-up call No. 1 to slow down), but apparently he still has some free time. He'd probably be the near the top of a list of people least likely to live past 30, let alone "blog" (or turn on a computer), but MacGowan is doing just that for Brit newspaper The Gaurdian's Web site (blogs.guardian.co.uk). "Shane's Yule Blog" is a surprisingly coherent collection of random thoughts ­ in his first couple of posts, MacGowan rails against the smoking bans in Ireland and Scotland (something he's ignored while onstage recently) and pays tribute to the late singer Kristy MacColl -- who sings on The Pogues' "Fairy Tale of New York," one of the all-time greatest Christmas songs -- and whose death six years ago remains a mystery. The only disturbing moment so far has been MacGowan's mention of a recent photo session with head-case musician Pete Doherty, where the two were photographed together naked (ewwwww!). We can only hope "Flossing Tips With Shane" are coming soon.

COLD
Boys Hate 'Girl'

Though he seemed perfectly fine with the horrendous The Times They Are A-Changin' Broadway musical featuring jazz-hands versions of his songs, Bob Dylan is reportedly none too pleased about the forthcoming movie, Factory Girl, about his one-time girlfriend and Andy Warhol ingénue, Edie Sedgwick. Dylan's people reportedly sent a letter to producers expressing concern over the character "Billy Quinn," who is portrayed by Hayden Christensen as a popular, Dylan-esque singer who breaks up with Sedgwick and sends her in to a downward spiral of heroin and eventually suicide. Dylan's lawyers have asked that the movie's release be postponed until they have seen the film and determined whether Dylan is defamed (producers had hoped to have the movie out by the end of the year to be considered for the Oscars). Meanwhile, old Warhol associate Lou Reed is also none too happy with the flick. Reed has reportedly read the script and was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying "It's one of the most disgusting, foul things I've seen -- by any illiterate retard -- in a long time. There's no limit to how low some people will go to write something to make money." Oddly enough, they both absolutely loved National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj.