But over the years, Hollywood been gracious enough to place a few truly un-Christmassy lumps of coal under the cinematic tree as an antidote to all that sentiment.

For those choking on sugarplums, then, we bring you THE 9 MOST OFF-BRAND CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER >>

An activist group at Princeton is calling for the elimination of Sabra Hummus from University Stores, claiming that Sabra's partial owner, the Strauss Group, sends care packages to the Golani Brigade of the Israeli Defense Forces. The Strauss Group official website currently has no mention of sending care packages, but they used to trumpet the association, as seen in Google Cache. The Observer was unable to reach a spokesperson from Seymour PR, which represents Sabra Hummus, for comment. The Princeton Committee on Palestine claims the Golani Brigade is guilty of human rights violations, and is calling on the University to supply an "alternative hummus."

A rival Facebook group has popped up in support of the dip, deriding the anti-hummus sect's focus on Israel and claiming that PCP's efforts are "far too overbroad a means of challenging human rights violations."

Those wishing to avoid the complexity of mideast politics altogether have taken to debating the quality of the hummus itself.

"Sabra Hummus is an insult to Israeli hummus by anyone's standards. If we boycott it, then the company will improve its ingredients, like with Dominos [sic]," wrote one commenter on the "Save the Hummus!" group wall.

"sabra hummus is just not a good hummus. there MUST be alternatives available," wrote another.

"Just bought some and placed in my refrigerator... Plans are to share it with my 13 month old grandson who is already a fan!" piped in one supporter.

First Four Loko, now this. Is there any there anything left that college kids can consume without stumbling into a political firestorm? 

"Fashion, every year it changes," he said. "Take a look at a guy like Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren has been for 30 plus years at the top of his game."

Bloomberg, in a Zuckerberg-esque navy sweater, showed a bit of cross-Valley allegiance. He brought his iPad to the podium, holding it up twice and calling it a "gamechanger."

"Apple is a company that every single day innovates and keeps working hard, and when somebody passes them they come back the next day with something even better."

He waxed nostalgic about the early days of Bloomberg LP, in a time pre-PC and Internet ("I know most of you don't know there was a period before those two things"). Several questions from the audience seemed fitting of a company entering adolescence: How does Bloomberg LP maintain transparency? Are there problems maintaining majority ownership?

On these question, Bloomberg demurred, saying his time these days is spent running a city, not a company

Still, the employees of Facebook nation still had more questions.

Where does innovation come from in the public sector? Are you going to run for president? (No.) 

The queries were interrupted by the occasional "Go Yankees!" cheer.

"Somebody this morning gave me a San Francisco Giants cap. Do they have a baseball team? They also gave me a Stanford hat. I'm going to wear it this afternoon and Facebook it to them."

This morning, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan responded to accusations of a weak response to a series of leaked racist and pornographic emails, sent by ticket mate Carl Paladino. Donovan said that even though he hadn't seen the emails, he definitely didn't condone them.

This afternoon, his campaign manager Marcus Reese released a statement with stronger language, emphasizing Donovan's record of championing diversity:

"Let's make the record clear: Dan Donovan condemns any form of anti-Semitism, prejudice and/or discrimination against any race, creed, color or religion.  But unlike State Senator Schneiderman, an expert in the ways of talking the talk without walking the walk, Dan Donovan has an actual record that proves his claims."

He then likened racial attacks from the Schneiderman camp to the kind of race baiting used in civil rights-era Alabama politics, not forgetting to accuse the Schneiderman camp of not walking the diversity walk:

"A few final questions for Team Schneiderman: Recent reports indicate you have hired a number of new people to your team, are any of them people of color?  Is there anyone of color among your senior staffers?"

Shortly after, the Schneiderman camp responded with a similar claim of being above the whole thing, comparing Donovan tactics to those used by McCain in the 2008 presidential election:

"Is it Eric Schneiderman's fault that Dan Donovan said he couldn't say whether comparing an orthodox Jew to the antichrist was offensive? ... We will put up Eric Schneiderman's record on and commitment to racial justice and equality for all up against Dan Donovan's any day of the week and win every time."

Look forward then, to 39 more days of this.

• Cindi Leive, editor in chief of Glamour. Her favorite things: a black Chloé dress and her wedding ring.
• Bruce Weber, photographer and regular contributor to Vanity Fair. His recent work includes a five-part photo essay on Robert Pattinson. His favorite fashion purchase of 2010 was a Carhartt jacket.
• Lorry Newhouse, of the Newhouses, artist and accessories designer. She's married to Advance Publications executive Mark Newhouse, nephew of Si Newhouse Sr.
• Alexandra Kotur, style director for Vogue. Her father's vintage Tiffany tank watch is her favorite piece of jewelry.
• Julia and Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, children of Carine Roitfeld, editor in chief of French Vogue. Their fashion idols are Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg, respectively (if you had any doubts about their Frenchness).

Yoko Ono has voiced her opposition again in a letter to the the parole board, according to her lawyer Peter Shukat. Ms. Ono has written such a letter every two years, and in years past has solicited concern for her family and herself.

The last time he was up for parole in 2008, Mr. Chapman's parole board noted that although his disciplinary record had been clean since 1994, their interviews with him showed a clear premeditation of Mr. Lennon's murder. At the time, Mr. Chapman was living in isolated quarters out of fears for his safety.

The three-person parole board is scheduled to interview Mr. Chapman during the week of Aug. 9.

In today's Observer, we looked at the funds raised thus far in the 2010 gubernatorial race, gaping in awe at Andrew Cuomo's staggering lead. Most of the money-raking corporate donors seemed pretty de rigueur for Mr. Cuomo: law, commercial development, real estate. But one strange outlier contributed a hefty portion of individual corporate donations, with at least 50 confirmed in a rough Googling of each donor: chiropractors.

The individual chiropractic donations weren't exactly plush -- ranging from $25 to $2,000 -- but together, rounded up to about $9,000 (not including non-corporate donations made by doctors). Some also donated to Chiropurpose, a political arm representing New York chiropractors.

Mr. Cuomo, to our knowledge, does not have any job-threatening spinal condition, but apparently sees a chiropractor regularly. His dad, too. These were selling points for him at a March fundraiser hosted by the New York Chiropractic Council and New York State Chiropractic Association. More than 50 local doctors sat in a small Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side, listening as Mr. Cuomo excoriated insurance abuses and emphasized the need for better patient rights to access care. According to NYCC vice president Ken Gonoud, a practicing chiropractor in the Bronx, the Cuomo camp brought the idea of a fundraiser over to them.

"As Attorney General he championed many causes of insurance abuses and that caught our attention," Mr. Gonoud said.

The chiropractic agencies also showed their support at a breakfast reception in September hosted by former Senator Nick Spano's lobbying firm, Empire State Planning.

Incidentally, the Cuomo Family Chiropractic Center operates in the Bronx, near Morris Park. A receptionist who answered the phone there said the center's owners bore no relation to the first family of New York politics. And, she added, they had not heard about the fundraiser.

George Pataki announced today the start of a cross-country "Revere Rides Again" tour for his anti-healthcare legislation group, Revere America. Four brothers from Florida, all between the ages of 19 and 22, will travel through the Midwest and East Coast in a Mustang convertible collecting signatures in support of a repeal of the health care bill. The tour and its accompanying website -- already equipped with social media integration and YouTube videos -- seem to be designed to drum up publicity and support from young voters, who could be key in a presidential run by Mr. Pataki. 

The Wideman brothers, who with more hair and fewer polo shirts could pass for the Jonas Brothers, are called the "Young Reveres." While they all list Orlando as their hometown on Facebook, each attended a different private high school, some in New York City: Chris, 20, attended Trinity before heading to Fordham, while Eddie (listed as Edmund Charles on Facebook) will be a senior there next year, according to Revere America's press release. Matt lists Lil' Wayne as a favorite musical act, while Chris prefers the likes of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Obama-haters: they're just like us! 

In their first YouTube video, the brothers take a "man on the street" approach to collecting signatures and angry soundbites, with an ear for expletives. "I think it's bullshit," said a stocky young man wearing what looked to be a puka shell necklace. "Bullshit" was bleeped out.

The whole real-elephant thing seems a little familiar. And the fact that the elephant looks like it's about to eat her bare feet evokes more dirty than sexy, in our humble opinion.

Ms. McCain has yet to address the cover on her Twitter—she is apparently in Vegas, where she said Saturday she planned to "make this blackjack table [her] bitch."