by Lance Zarimba

Winter is starting to show and so is Christmas. Snow is in the forecast and holiday festivities are getting into full swing.

The box office in 2005 must be the year of the remake. With all the new books and authors out there, one would think that Hollywood would be able to find some original scripts. The Fog , King Kong , Yours, Mine, & Ours , and Fun with Dick and Jane , are only a few of the many remakes out. After the small blockbusters of the summer, The March of the Penguins still seems to be the best and is still playing in places.

The end of the year is near and this time, it looks like an avalanche of winners.

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick move from Broadway to Hollywood when they take The Producers to the silver screen. The much-anticipated Rent is also on the big screen after its Broadway success. Books coming to film include: Memoirs of a Geisha , Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain , Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice , C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe . Old stories are made new with Heath Ledger playing Casanova , and Hoodwink retells the Little Red Riding Hood tale. New to the screen is Transamerica with Desperate Housewife Felicity Huffman playing a very confusing switch.

On the tube, Desperate Housewives is still living up to the funny story lines and wild women of Wisteria Lane. The main mystery in the neighborhood is still locked in the basement and the writing continues to be extremely clever. Lost started off slow, but with an influx of new characters and the loss of a few from season one, new relationships and problems are sure to arise. Nip/Tuck's “Carver” storyline promises to reveal the slasher at the end of this season, and the killer being someone we know. CSI in all its various forms is solid every week.

In musical terms, Madonna has a new CD, Confessions on a Dance Floor , which brings dance music back to adults. Diana Krall has a Christmas CD worth checking out and Garth Brooks is on the horizon.

The bookshelf is adding a few old favorites. Frank McCourt returns with Teacher Man where he retells of his 30 years teaching in New York City. He reveals his life from age 20 to 50. Amy Tan has a new book out Saving Fish from Drowning . A tour group disappears on their travels and true to Tan's unique voice, an enjoyable journey is underway. Grand master P.D. James has a new Adam Dalgliesh mystery, The Lighthouse . Check out the UK edition's cover, they know how to make an impression. And for something completely different, Cover Your Assets by Patricia Smiley is getting a lot of positive buzz.

Hopefully, your Christmas shopping is almost done, the turkey is thawing, and the weather is whatever you want it to be for your holiday. Good luck finding the perfect gift for that hard to buy for person.