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 At a pivotal point in Saving Mr. Banks, Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) explains that the purpose of storytelling is to supply the happy endings that real life often denies us. Of course, you can’t say that about all storytelling. The Coen brothers, for instance, revel in stories in which happiness is a rare commodity. Inside Llewyn Davis is but the latest example. Other filmmakers may leave their characters happy, but they don’t necessarily leave their viewers happy. In American Hustle, director David O. Russell supplies a denouement that can be celebrated only if you share his peculiar conception of right and wrong. But the average Disney film leaves everyone happy. Saving Mr. Banks—a Disney film about the making of another Disney film, 1964’s classic Mary Poppins—stays true to form. That helps to explain why, while it may not be the best film opening this pre-holiday weekend, it may well leave the most people the most satisfied. To find out whether you’re “most people,” read on: Inside Llewyn Davis When we first meet folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), he’s holding forth in a Greenwich Village club in 1961.

Leave it to Sarah Palin, of all people, to play unwitting court jester, and speak aloud that which we all would rather have left unsaid. On November 11, in an interview on NBC, she said “I love the commercialization of Christmas because it spreads the Christmas cheer.” This statement of course, is rather gauche for us concerned liberals, who like to concern-troll about about the “true meaning of Christmas” and then turn around and snark on Christianity itself. But part of the reason her statement is so horrifying is that it's not wrong. The commercialization of Christmas helps spread the Christmas cheer because they are one in the same. Indeed, the commercialization of Christmas is seen to be a universal bad, the only time it is socially acceptable to rail against capitalism. Inasmuch as we expect Christmas to be about some actual values, commercials that tell parents to give up on any gift that involves personal effort, or some form of unquantifiable love, and instead just buy the the new phone from Verizon churns our stomachs, and rightly so. They seem in violation of something, some ineffable spirit of this time of year. But what is the true meaning of Christmas?

R. Stevie Moore transformed Double Happiness into a grandpa’s living room Friday. Before settling into a mixture of warm but warped melodies and stream of consciousness poetry the revered, and influential outsider musician walked around the stage, peered out the window into Front Street and waved at whomever was outside the window in the Brewery District. After a surveying and claiming of his surroundings, R. Stevie Moore took out a phone and called who he claimed were the Columbus Police, and had a brief discussion about the fact he was going to perform. If you aren’t familiar with R. Stevie Moore; he is a 61 year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee whose output of 400 plus home recordings places him as a godfather of “lo-fi” music. He is Ariel Pink Haunted Graffiti’s dad for sure. From the stage at Double Happiness he busted out random mutterings that sometimes mixed hip hop referencing like “word is bond” with vague but succinct statements of fears and resonating aspects of the human condition mixed with almost commercial phrasings. Next, R.

If you don't know Grumpy Cat, chances are you haven't spent much time on the internet. Grumpy Cat is everywhere. His mug pops up in chat rooms, comments sections, in emails, videos and even, it turns out, in Columbus. Not in the flesh, but in spirit. Grumpy Cat has lent his name to Cat Welfare, the Columbus based cat shelter, and it's efforts to land a major donation from pet food giant Friskies. In an email last week, Cat Welfare Program Manager Gail Harbert told supporters, “We’re thrilled to announce that our good friend @RealGrumpyCat chose us to receive a very large donation. You can help us earn up to 100K cans of Friskies wet cat food by watching Grumpy Cat and other celebrity cats in their holiday music video debut “Hard to Be a Cat at Christmas” in support of wet cat food for all cats this holiday season at http://bit.ly/CWIYFM.” In addition to Grumpy Cat, the video features Oskar, the Blind Cat, Nala Cat, Colonel Meow and Hamilton, the Hipster Cat.

SEIU press release Columbus area janitors are partnering with cleaning contractors to protect good jobs and restore balance to our economy. By an overwhelming margin, the janitors approved a new union contract on Saturday that preserves their ability to support their families. About 1,000 working families will benefit from the new three year contract. “Today we proved that when workers join together, we have strength. This is a huge victory for all hard working janitors,” said Claude Smith a bargaining committee member and janitor who works for ABM. “With this new contract, our families can live a little better.” The new union contract, which goes into effect January 1st, protects the gains service workers have achieved and builds a foundation to raise standards in the future. Cleaning companies originally wanted to eliminate full-time hour guarantees. The agreement reached ensures the majority of the workforce remains full-time. Maintaining a majority full-time workforce is a major victory especially when coupled with a $.20 wage increase in 2014.

If you’re a taxpayer and have ever felt guilty about not supporting the local professional hockey franchise Jonathan Beard and the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government (CCRG) have some good news. Surprise! You’ve been doing it all along. Don’t you feel better? The CCRG is looking to change a 2011 council ordinance it believes has circumvented the will of the voters, leading to them paying for Nationwide Arena despite not having agreed to doing so at the ballot box. “This is about public trust and accountability of public officials,” said Beard, who is president and CEO of Columbus Compact Corporation. “Are they accountable to what we say as voters?” In Oct. of 2011 Columbus City Council approved using casino revenue to purchase Nationwide Arena for $42.5 million and provide millions more to operate the facility through 2039. This despite the voters having said no to public-financed sports stadiums on multiple occasions, most recently in 1997. The CCRG is looking to put an initiative on the ballot in May that would require voter approval to continue the relationship behind 2016.

This event was created to call attention to hate crimes committed against sex workers all over the globe. Dr. Annie Sprinkle and the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA began this event 10 years ago as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle Washington. It is now an internationally recognized event to raise awareness towards hate crimes committed against sex workers. It also works to remove stigma, discrimination and to reform laws against sex work, in the hopes of diminishing violence towards sex workers. A red umbrella is the symbol for the event. After using it for an anti-violence march in 2002, the red umbrella now symbolizes resistance against discrimination of sex workers around the world. The Sex Worker Outreach Project (www.swopusa.org) compiles a list every year of sex workers who have lost their lives. These names are then read and recognized at vigils and altars created around the world.

Greetings from Liz Lessner President Obama (brilliantly) assembled a Business Council back in 2010 that engages the small business community nationwide. We were invited to a day long briefing by senior advisers and staffers as well as given the opportunity to voice our small biz concerns to White House staff. Hopefully, Mayor Coleman will one day assemble a Citywide version of this council, as small business concerns are often overlooked in Columbus. The Truman Bowling Alley was not included in this meeting but I was able to sneak in there for a quick peek. Harold and I had our rehearsal dinner in the bowling alley in the basement of Columbus Athletic Club, I got a thing for old timey basement bowling alleys. Thanks! Liz

The Columbus Metropolitan Library is, for the fifth straight year, displaying the Huntington Holiday Train in the Main Library atrium. The Huntington Holiday Train is on display through Friday, Jan. 3, 2014. The impressive display spans 600 square feet and includes four trains running on more than 280 feet of track surrounded by more than 50 pounds of snowflakes. The miniature buildings – which are all made from leaves, bark, seeds, pine cones, fungus and moss – are modeled off of actual structures in Germany. This marks the 22nd year of the holiday attraction, which was built in 1992 by Applied Imagination founder Paul Busse. The train was originally displayed in the lobby of the historic Huntington bank building at Broad and High streets; however in 2009 Huntington graciously loaned the train to CML. Highlights of the train display include a 6-foot tall cathedral, an 8-foot tall castle and a waterfall that pumps 600 gallons an hour. Each building in the display took between one and three weeks to create.