Dreaming of a White Hanukkah To grown-ups, John Cho is famous for his roles in "Star Trek," the "Harold and Kumar" movies and the NBC sitcom "Go On." But his celebrity is lost on his 4-year-old son, Kage. "I tried to explain to him: "You ever see the TV? There are people on the TV who are playing those people," " Cho recalls. "He said to me, "Daddy, I never see those people in life." He was having trouble with the concept that a person in the TV would not be in the TV sometimes. The science of . . . Wool hoodies The N.H.L. lockout Caribbean cruises Bradley Cooper The sixth night of Hanukkah "Limited-time offer"* Submitted by @CMac123 via #mehlist Willie Nelson wears a Santa hat on the cover of Texas Monthly. Inside, holly in the shape of marijuana leaves is a wink to his activism and arrests. But Nelson was surprised at the statue his adopted hometown, Austin, erected in his honor on an unofficial holiday for weed-smoking. "Maybe you don't want to be known as a "pot town,"" he says. BY Hope Reeves Demeter Fragrance Library, the Long Island-based olfactory company behind scents like "Dirt" and "Turpentine," recently introduced its latest fragrance, "Sushi." According to the company, "Sushi" offers a delicate essence of "just-cooked sticky rice and straight-from-the-seaside seaweed." The company's chief executive, Mark Crames, said: "The idea was to do something conceptually disruptive while also creating a nice scent. What you really get out of it is the sticky rice - we figured if we went anywhere else with it, it wouldn't smell good. BY Matt Bai My favorite thing about Showtime's "Homeland" is how totally nonessential Hollywood thinks a congressman's job is. Damian Lewis's character, a representative from Virginia, finds time to run with terrorists, plot with the C.I.A. and drop his kids off at school, and all he ever seems to miss is the occasional yawner of a banquet. His chief of staff has no idea where he goes for days at a time; no one else even notices when he's missing. Now that's a job worth running for. During late-winter afternoons, I get in the mood for a rye cocktail. I muddle an amarena cherry with a sugar cube and a dash of Peychaud's bitters. I coat this elixir around the bottom half of the glass, add 2 ice cubes, 2 to 3 ounces of High West Rendevous rye and stir with vigor. By Taffy Brodesser-Akner Christmas is a good time to recall the role Jews have played in writing the holiday's music. First there was Neil Diamond's 1992 "Christmas Album." Now there's ""Twas the Night Before Hanukkah," holiday music created and sung by Jews through the years - it's one disc for Hanukkah, one for Christmas. The set is about good cheer, not assimilation. "When Irving Berlin wrote "White Christmas," he wanted to mainstream the holiday to be about snow," says Courtney Holt, co-founder of the Idelsohn Society for Music Preservation, which issued the set. Not about Christ. MELL-ann-hah-lee Holiday-season blues. Remembering her mother trimming the tree, Anita was struck with an ineffable melanholly. See also: Bawliday (tearful moment); Trawliday (seek party invites). SCOTT WRITES: My girlfriend thinks that pleated khakis are acceptable for a "nice" outfit (e.g., church, a graduation, etc.). I think they are horrible in any context. Can you adjudicate? I am inclined to stipulate to your good taste, but the court must also urge you not to confuse khakis for dress trousers. Khaki was the rough-and-ready fabric for the uniforms of the British Indian Army. Just because they were borrowed for more genteel country pursuits, like drinking at yacht clubs, no one should confuse them with formal wear. If you would not wear jeans to an occasion - like fancy dinners and church services that do not also welcome folk singers - do not wear even flat-front khakis. Listen to the podcast and submit questions for adjudication to www.maximumfun.org/jjho. Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left, by Martin Duberman: The New Left is now quite old. BY Raoul Felder Start out by saying, "You're unhappy, and you deserve better." Also say, "I think we both ought to get lawyers." There's something sneaky about saying, "I already have a lawyer."