Christmas Links #11

Counterfeit Christmas: Fears over fakes on sale:
"Lucy Lane ordered what she thought was a Nutribullet blender on eBay in February 2015. It turned out to be a counterfeit. "I bought it from eBay and I paid £124.99 for it. I think they retailed for £150. That eBay [seller] came up as one of the cheapest but not by a dramatic amount. [...] I didn't think for a minute that it could be fake - I mean £125 is still quite a lot of money. It's not like I'm paying 25 quid and hoping that it's real."

We Called Shia LeBeouf’s New Hotline And This Is What Happened:
"This aside, what are you supposed to do? What is my role in this, when (or if) I decided to give Shia a bell? There is a sense of excitement, starfuckery almost, about being granted access to a ‘movie star’. Are you to enact the typical fanboy role? I’m sure many of us have indulged in a celebrity friend fantasy. Whether that be actor, musician, artist, we tend to confuse the enjoyment we gain from their work as a connection. Through this we create a personal simulacrum from that celebrity; an imaginary friend that other people would recognise."

Some kids taking Christmas snooping up a notch:
"Liz Ripking of CyberSafety Consulting suggested parents should change their email and online passwords, keep them private, and close all windows on the computer when finished browsing the Internet. She also said parents need to have ongoing serious talks with their children about what is and is not allowed online."

What a map of the UK's 1,650 branches of Greggs can tell us about the British high street:
"But then the questions started rolling in. Why only one in Northern Ireland? Why so many in northern cities like Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester? Why none in Devon and Cornwall? And what, exactly, is a second-hand Greggs?"

Why Aren't Christmas Ads as Big a Deal in the U.S. as They Are in the U.K.?
"But mixed in with the warm and fuzzy holiday feelings these ads stirred up, Devra Pyrwes experienced another emotion: frustration. Because Pyrwes is an American marketer who works for a U.K. firm, the Unruly Group, which specializes in Web video content, and every year at this time she ponders the same question: If U.K. retailers are generating such enormous Web traffic and overall goodwill for their brands with touching short films, why don't their U.S. counterparts do the same?"

How ‘Turner and Hooch’ helped Pixar convince Tom Hanks to star in ‘Toy Story’
"On Thursday (Dec. 10), ABC's "Toy Story at 20" delighted fans with a trip down memory lane. The special served as a history lesson for those unfamiliar with the humble beginnings of the beloved movie that started it all."

'A Christmas Story' museum in Cleveland gets Red Ryder gun from 1983 movie:
"Now, visitors to the adjacent museum will get to lay eyes on the Christmas gift Ralphie longed for most of all: the "Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time."
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