I was planning to mention the WPIX (NYC Channel 11) Yule Log again this year, but what I didn’t plan on was having more than nostalgia on which to base the topic. As fate would have it, a Seattle station, KCPQ-TV, is taking a page from sister station WPIX-TV’s programming schedule and also airing a Yule Log on Christmas morning. Back in New York, WPIX is adding two more hours and additionally transmitting the blazing log on a High Definition channel. Imagine that, the Yule Log in HDTV. Amazing. And lest you scoff at the perceived popularity of a fireplace on television, note that the Yule Log regularly wins the ratings in its timeslot, and not just in New York. The Yule Log.net has a list of stations that will be broadcasting the fire this year. Maybe in a few years everyone will be able to tune into television fireplaces for a lovely Christmas Day. And no, it’s just not the same watching it on the Internet (heck, it’s just not the same watching it on cable TV. Luckily my parents’ TV is still wireless).

For all the Wagner buffs out there who know “The Ring” mythology didn’t begin with Tolkien, Alex Ross of The New Yorker muses over the connections between Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien for his part denied any influence, stating “Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceased.” But, consciously or not, the threads are there, in the cursing of the Wagnerian ring with “the lord of the ring as the slave of the ring,” in the sword that is broken and reforged, in the return of the descendant hero to fulfill a quest, and in the woman who gives up immortality for the love of a mortal man. Ross doesn’t turn his musings into a list of similarities or heavy political conjecture; the books have been around long enough for this to be a well-trod topic. After wandering through a brief music lesson and compare-and-contrast exercises, Ross ultimately aims to place Peter Jackson’s movies with music by Howard Shore in the context of opera versus film music. In film, the visuals provide the cues for the soaring score. “But in opera the music takes the lead, generating an imaginary landscape that directors and performers struggle to realize however they can.”

New York Times culture reporter (and self-admitted “Lord of the Rings” geek) Jesse McKinley delves into a subject that’s been bothering me for some time now: the overuse of standing ovations. I have a simple rule for standing up during the applause portion of a show or concert. If I feel extremely emotionally moved by the performance or consider it an outstanding display of technical prowess, I stand up. These days it seems almost more of a statement to stay seated than to rise out of your seat. Audiences stand up as a matter of habit when they are pleased and happy. And maybe that’s as it should be, for the performers certainly work hard and enjoy the ovations no matter how common they have become. I suppose I can reserve screaming “BRAVO” for the moments I used to reserve for standing up. After all, peering at the curtain calls from between rows of backs is a fruitless activity. But I’d rather there was a return to the true value of the standing ovation and the high compliment it symbolizes.

Ever wonder about the photos that come with the photo frames? Who are those people? Models? Images from stock photography? Some frames hold the photography of Dawn Wilde, who once worked in a photo shop and placed her casual portraits of relatives in a few of the frames for sale. The frames holding her photos sold better, and a representative from a frame company recommended she send her work in to his firm. Burnes of Boston has bought a few dozen of her photographs and not only does she get a percentage of sales, so do her subjects, who are nieces, nephews and children of friends. Older now, her models often see their younger selves looking out from store shelves.

How would you like to live in a house built entirely out of books? Well, actually, how about a house that just looks like it’s built entirely out of books? Venetian artist Livio De Marchi created a wooden house that appears to consist of many books of all sizes. The furniture is made out of wooden books as well. And books are not all he carved for this house; there are also dishes and clothes. Surreal art of this sort is his forte. He also has a wooden Ferrari that is actually a boat he pilots down the Grand Canal. (thanks Jen!)

Diamond-grower Gemesis has decided to submit each of its lab-created diamonds over 0.25 carats to the International Gemological Institute, an independent testing and appraising firm, for laser inscribing. Their diamonds will thus be identifiable as not natural, satisfying customer and industry concerns. Placing an inscription on the stone also follows the new trends in diamond branding to clearly label gems that would have otherwise lost their provenance and perhaps some of the perceived value that marketing creates through differentiation.

Cute cat alert! The oncilla is a wild cat from South America. It has some legal protection from hunting in certain countries, but it is still being killed in large numbers for its lovely fur. The males don’t get over 6 lbs, so these are small felines! In researching the oncilla I came across the rusty-spotted cat which is even tinier. It makes its home in Central to Southern India and Sri Lanka. Both are significantly smaller than our “big-boned” domestic house cat who now weighs in at a pudgy 15 lbs.

Grown Up Soda? Well it’s called GuS for short and it’s designed for the sophisticated, foodie-cultivated palates with flavors like “Dry Meyer Lemon” and “Extra Dry Ginger Ale.” With cane sugar instead of the usual high fructose corn syrup, it scored high in BevNet reviews.

“Cheese Nun” Mother Noella Marcellino of The Abbey of Regina Laudis has been the subject of a New Yorker article and a documentary about her work in cheesemaking. An expert in cheeses made from unpasteurized milk, Mother Marcellino holds a doctorate in microbiology and received a Fulbright Scholarship to study cheese fungus in France. This week she journeyed from her convent in Connecticut to France and received the French Food Spirit Award from the Senate in Paris. She isn’t planning to brave the cheese-sniffing beagles at U.S. Customs and will leave the yummy raw milk cheeses behind in France.

There’s a Wallace & Gromit video game out, Project Zoo. It’s available on PS2, XBox and GameCube.