"Trying very hard to sin..."

Track 1: Sparks, "Thank God It's Not Christmas"

My opinion: this is the perfect start to any holiday mix.

I'm not taking credit for the brilliance, mind you—all of the credit goes to Ron and Russell Mael. But really: could you imagine anything more fun than these operatic vocals? More fitting—for the whole holiday season, & Christmas—than the somewhat troubled undertones of the lyrics against the immensely anthemic pop music?

No: this is perfect, in that really fucked up & weird way that Sparks perfected oh so long ago!

Buy Kimono My House.

And for something fun & bizarre, take a look at this photo shoot of Ron and Russell at the Louvre. Make sure to read the captions underneath the photos, like this:

An amateur artist is trying to reproduce Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The work is not so bad but Ron Mael has discovered what is wrong: The forger uses Cobalt blue instead of Prussian Blue. What a pitiful mistake!

Those crazy brothers!