Five frosty flicks to keep you warm by the tube this winter season

Even when the winter chill forces you indoors there's still a way to enjoy the frosty weather. Plenty of snowy flicks abound to either celebrate the icy romance of an all-white landscape, or bemoan the cold, stark isolation that comes with darker days. On the days you just can't bear the outdoors, trade that blanket of snow for a cozy cover on the couch and settle in with one of these winter-set classics. Here's a look at five snow-bound flicks to keep you toasty by the tube: "Fargo" — Writers-directors Joel and Ethan Coen capture all the beauty and harshness of a frigid winter season with this brutal 1996 crime thriller. It's full of striking images that linger long after the final credits, many of them featuring a barren northern landscape instantly recognizable to most Canadians. Who hasn't had a near-mental breakdown while scraping ice off of a frozen windshield? Star William H. Macy is pitch perfect as bumbling car salesman Jerry Lundegaard, who hatches a brazen kidnapping that goes horribly awry. "Into the Wild" — The unforgiving elements of winterfeature prominently in this 2007 adventure tale about a young wanderer, played by Emile Hirsch, who sets his sights on a solo excursion to Alaska after graduating from university. His foolhardy odyssey takes him across the continent in search of enlightenment and solitude, and he meets a range of friendly eccentrics along the way. But a cold hard truth awaits this idealistic loner, and his anguished journey — based on real events — is hard to shake. "The Shining" — Chills abound in this 1980 horror classic about a young family that is hired to look after a creepy old hotel that is shuttered for the slow winter months. Cabin fever predictably sets in for the crazy-eyed dad, played with unforgettable zeal by Jack Nicholson, and that's just when the hotel starts to reveal it may have a cold, dark past. The weirdness mounts as the snow falls, culminating in a memorable blizzard chase scene and one character's icy demise. "Cold Mountain" — It's pretty cold up on Cold Mountain, and we're reminded of that constantly in this 2003 period drama about a Civil War soldier, played by Jude Law, who trudges through a harsh landscape to return to his faithful sweetheart Ada, played by Nicole Kidman. This is a good old-fashioned love story, where the burning ardour of separated lovers sustain them through a barrage of hardships that continually work to keep them apart. "The Empire Strikes Back" — OK, this kid-friendly classic makes the list largely due to that disgusting blizzard scene where Han Solo cuts open the belly of a passed out tauntaun and stuffs a delirious Luke Skywalker inside to keep him from freezing to death. But of course, that's not Han's only brush with deadly cold in this beloved 1980 "Star Wars" instalment, there's another chilly scene that's spawned all sorts of quirky merchandise including Han-shaped ice cube trays and Han-shaped chocolate bars.

Bringing a ‘buddy’ home for Christmas

Recently we asked you to share the worst or oddest gifts of holidays past. Can you top these just in? “It was Christmas eve, no gift for my first ex-wife. I was panicked so I drove to a sporting goods store, ran in, grabbed a tennis racket and some balls and raced home.” “You do know I’ve never played tennis and have absolutely no interest in learning,’ she snarled. I wonder where that racquet is now. Wonder where she is too.” “The first year we were married I gave my wife for Christmas two aluminum ice cube trays. wholesale Granite Whisky Stones from China She turned as cold as ice and I didn’t understand why she was not thrilled. They were deluxe models with extra large cubes and a lever to expedite extracting them. And we needed new ones. “We’ve been married now for fifty-five years.” Our guess is, somewhere along the way he broke the ice. Our nominee for creepiest Christmas present ever doesn’t seem creepy to the recipient, cheap 11 in one Credit Card Size Multi-function Knife nor to the giver. “I wanted something very different to surprise my wife and found it in a holiday gift catalog — “Safety Man.” Seriously? Yes, it’s a cross between a fun house scary guy doll and a ventriloquist dummy, designed for women driving alone to put in the front seat to represent a companion. “You put clothes on him, strap him in the seat belt and you’re ready to go. The legs are optional,” the hubby explains with a straight face. His, not the dummy’s. “It has a two-day growth of beard and big, blue eyes that never blink.” To us it looked stunned. We checked a few websites and “Safety Man” dolls are real. But the new ones are inflatables and one model is labeled, “Tall, Dark and Handy.” Buddy has been with its flesh and blood adopters for thirty-plus years and he has a sort of weird cult following around town. “If I want to take Buddy to an event,” says the husband, “I have to check with the wife first because she might already have booked Buddy for a gig.” Seriously.

It shows dramatic improvements in capacity

His failures could be overlooked during the euphoria of the 3-0 Ashes win in England because they did not hurt us. Somebody else always rose to the occasion and we were able to pass off his dismissals as just a blip or a temporary loss of form. Prior needs to perform better or go.We need to use Adelaide as a chance to rehabilitate. It is vital England bat well in both innings, restore our confidence and deal with Johnson and Harris, if the latter plays. Whatever happens, if we cannot win the match because the pitch is too flat to force a result, we have to make sure that we come out of it with our confidence high, because around the corner is the third Test at fast and bouncy Perth.If we get into a good position again and get Australia down as we did in their first innings in Brisbane, Cook has to stop being cautious. He has to find a way to finish them off. He cannot sit back, wait for things to happen and be careful. You have to grasp any chance in Australia with both hands.Calling the improvements "night and day" from October, the Obama administration says it has met its goal of getting the troubled HealthCare.gov site working for a "vast majority" of users. But that's only part of a complex technology system that is designed to end with insurance companies providing coverage for millions of consumers.We've detailed the eight-page HealthCare.gov progress report . In short, it shows dramatic improvements in capacity, processing and speed. In October, only 30 percent of consumers could get all the way through the online application process for the federal insurance exchange. Now, after nine weeks of furious fixes, about 80 percent of users are able to make it through the process."It says my application was reviewed and processed, and I can view my results. Before, it always got stuck right here," says Kendalyn Thuma, a Kalamazoo, Mich.-based consumer who had been trying unsuccessfully to enroll throughout October.Thuma and other consumers we checked in with report a smoother overall experience - but not a perfect one."Everything is relative. This is a site that has been plagued with problems from the outset," says John Engates, the chief technology officer at the server and software company Rackspace. He's who's seen the HealthCare.gov command center from the inside."I think what they focused on, to a large extent, was the consumer view from the outside looking into this website," Engates says.