Real Christmas

Actor/country singer Billy Ray Cyrus will be starring in the upcoming Hallmark Channel holiday film, entitled “Christmas in Canaan.”

According to an article on HollywoodReporter.com, “The telefilm, slated to air in December, is based on a novel co-written by another country star/actor, Kenny Rogers, and Donald Davenport.”

The movie is set in 1960s Texas and its plot revolves around the unlikely friendship that evolves between two boys, one who is white and the other who is black, as they bond over their mutual concern for an injured puppy.

Zak Ludwig, who starred in the 2007 John Cusack drama, “Martian Child,” plays DJ, the white boy, and Jaishon Fisher, who starred in the 2008 Samuel L. Jackson thriller, “Lakeview Terrace,” plays Rodney, the black boy.

The HollywoodReporter.com article goes on to say, “Cyrus plays DJ’s dad, who, with Rodney’s grandmother, concocts the puppy plan after the boys get into a schoolyard tussle.”

While Davenport wrote the script, the story was a product of Rogers. Neill Fearnley is directing the project. Fearnley previously directed several episodes of “1-800-Missing,” the Lifetime drama series, which aired between 2003 and 2006 and starred ex-“ER” cast member Gloria Reuben.

Shooting on “Christmas in Canaan” has already begun in Vancouver.

With Christmas just a few months away, Toys R Us Inc. is boosting its holiday lineup with hundreds of new toy shops.

The toy giant is expected to announce plans today to open about 350 Holiday Express toy locations throughout the country by early October in an effort to drive sales and grab market share from other toy sellers.

The expansion includes more than 80 pop-up stores in shopping centers nationwide and more than 260 toy shops within the company’s Babies R Us stores. The Wayne, N.J., retailer currently operates 847 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores in the U.S.

Pop-up stores are temporary locations that are usually tied to a specific event, such as Halloween or the back-to-school season, and close after a few weeks or months. They have become more popular lately as prime retail spaces sit vacant during the recession.

The company said the Holiday Express shops would offer the “hottest gifts,” including dolls, action figures and educational toys, at “great values.”

“We’re aggressively expanding our toy-selling footprint to make Toys R Us more accessible than ever for busy shoppers this holiday season,” Chief Executive Jerry Storch said. “The foot traffic in these popular shopping destinations provides a considerable opportunity to assert our toy authority position, increase our brand penetration and drive incremental sales.”

The shops are scheduled to close in mid-January.

Disney’s “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” is getting in on the holiday spirit a little early this year. Before Halloween is underway, a new Christmas-themed holiday special, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Choo Choo Express,” is set to premiere on Disney Channel on Sunday, October 25th.

Based on the #1 “Playhouse Disney” series, the all-new primetime special features Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and the rest of the gang in a new adventure as they plan to have snow delivered to the clubhouse from Mistletoe Mountain to play in it all year long. Santa and Mrs. Clause as well as other Clubhouse characters like Clarabelle and Chip and Dale also join in on the fun.

The cast of characters will also perforn a brand new song, while Grammy-winners They Might Be Giants will contribute new music to the special as well.

Following its DIsney Channel premiere, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Choo Choo Express” is set to hit DVD on December 1st, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Gene Simmons is starring in an upcoming holiday film, titled The Christmas Movie.

The movie is about a young, well-to-do Mary living in modern times, who gets pregnant and ends up in a trailer park. The KISS bass player plays Mary’s Jewish truck-driver father.

Other actors to star in the film include Elliott Gould, Linda Gray, Lainie Kazan, Cloris Leachman, Della Reese, Oleysa Rulin, Cybill Shepherd, and Fred Willard.

The Christmas Movie was written and directed by Dan Gordon, who is probably known for writing the script for The Hurricane.

No release date has been announced, but the Internet movie database at IMDB.com indicates the film is in post production.

Most people in western New York may be wondering when the summer weather will start, but the workers at Stokoe Farms in Wheatland couldn’t be happier with the cool conditions.

“Usually the kids are out in the heat all morning working on the Christmas trees, and that is tough,” said founder Larry Stokoe, 73. “This year it is like Washington- and Oregon-type weather. That is why those states are the Christmas tree capitals of the country.”

The Stokoes grow Christmas trees on 75 acres of their 4,000-acre farm. In June, July and most of August, the family hires 8 to 12 high school and college students to shear and trim the trees so that they will be formed well for the holidays.

As soon as a tree turns 3, it must be trimmed each summer until it is ready to be sold at 8 to 10 years old.

“It is an art form to get it in the right shape,” said Suzanne Stokoe, 43, of Wheatland. “This has been a nice year for working outside. The cooler weather is better for the tree, and the workers, than the hot and humid weather.”

Suzanne said their biggest worry this year is that all the moist, cool days have caused second growths on the trees they have already trimmed.

“That usually isn’t a problem around here, but the Douglas firs are getting secondary growths on them,” she said.

The Stokoes, who have run the farm for 22 years, grow about 1,200 trees on each one of their acres. Besides the Christmas trees, they grow pumpkins, corn and soy beans on the rest of the farm.

“This is a great summer job,” said Ben Hogan, 16, of Wheatland, as he hacked away at a tree. “A lot of my friends have worked here and my brother worked here for a long time.”

MJ was a gamer. He loved video games. At least that is what developers are saying in advance of an expected Christmas 2009 release of a new Michael Jackson game for the Xbox360 and PS3. Critics are lining up to bash the release as an opportunistic exploitation of the Jackson tragedy.

The game features the likeness and artistic talents of Jackson and has reportedly been under development for some time as part of the “This is It” concert tour.

Life isn’t exactly peachy in the world of retail but Christmas 2009 looks far less dismal than 2008. Consumers will be able to find bargains — and retailers themselves may just be a little busier.

Eastman Kodak today said in talking with their biggest customers orders look good for the Christmas season.

Chief Executive Antonio Perez said retailers the company deals with “believe Christmas will be much better than last Christmas.”

Kodak, like many other makers of consumer electronics, last year saw fourth-quarter sales fall 25% to 30% from the prior year. Mr. Perez, speaking to Wall Street Journal editors in New York, didn’t give a specific forecast.

He said retailers have been telling Kodak that they think the just completed second quarter “is the bottom” for the economic downturn. “We all expect the third quarter will be a little better,” he added.

Meanwhile, some retailers just can’t wait to get into the Christmas spirit. Kmart launched their Christmas Lane products this week online, complete with glitzy flash animation that will make you want to run out and build a snowman.

In other news from the world of “what you could be buying for Christmas 2009″ consider a new feature in cell phones to be called “projector phones“. Instead of watching video on a tiny handheld screen you could project that video on a wall for larger viewing — and it could be under your tree this year.

The must have electronic gizmo for 2009 will be much the same as it was in 2008: the Blu Ray high definition player. The difference between Christmas last year and Christmas yet to come will be an entry level price below $100 — thanks to the Chinese.

The Blu Ray Disc Association reports that in order to induce Chinese manufacturers to make the units they had to not only share the technology but also had to create a licensing format which would provide them the edge on the low end of the retail price scale.

These new low end players could be leading to the speculation surrounding Sony’s Playstation 3, which has been rumored for a while to be dropping it’s price by as much as $150 before the 2009 holiday season.

In a down economy, these fast moves in a hot format are sure to make Black Friday a more predictable event.

Christmas 2009 got off to a big bang in retailing as the singular hot channel of video gaming has charged with rumors that GameStop has been asked by Nintendo to save major shelf space for a new product release. While Nintendo isn’t saying anything many are hoping for a new release in their Zelda franchise.

There is also a lot of buzz over the potential reduced retail prices in popular game systems — with the Wii targeted now at $199 and the much-rumored reduction in Sony’s PS3 to $299 a possibility.

The nation’s retailers got a much-needed sales boost during Black Friday’s traditional shopathon as consumers, lured by deep discounts, spent nearly 3 percent more than they did last year.

Sales on the day after Thanksgiving rose to $10.6 billion, according to preliminary figures released Saturday by ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets.

Last year, shoppers spent about $10.3 billion on the day after Thanksgiving, dubbed Black Friday because it was historically the sales-packed day when retailers would become profitable for the year.

While it isn’t a predictor of overall holiday season sales, Black Friday is an important barometer of people’s willingness to spend during the holidays. Last year, it was the biggest sales generator of the season.

But experts caution that this year’s sales growth may be hard to sustain for the remainder of the holiday shopping season, which has 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas instead of the 32 last year.

Still, the sales boost was surprising in light of data showing shoppers are scaling back on discretionary spending because of a recession fueled by uncertainty related to turmoil in the world’s financial and credit markets.

“Under these circumstances, to start off the season in this fashion is truly amazing and is a testament to the resiliency of the American consumer, and undeniably proves a willingness to spend,” ShopperTrak co-founder Bill Martin said in a statement.

Across the country, sales in the South were up 3.4 percent from last year while they climbed 2.6 percent in the Northeast as shoppers began scouring store aisles at midnight hoping to snag the best selection on early morning specials.

Patty Saal, 60, of Mogadore, Ohio, began her Black Friday shopping at 5 a.m. when she and her daughters went to a Sam’s Club to purchase iPods.

“We’re doing fine,” she said.

Fifth grade teacher Daphna Stepen, 42, spent Black Friday hunting for deals inside Macy’s and at the Limited Too clothing store and headed out again on Saturday. The Chicago resident said she was surprised by the discounts as well as how many coupons she’d received from stores, which helped her save even more money on already marked-down items.

“You can get almost 40 percent off stuff if you work the coupons,” she said.

Separately on Saturday, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said business was strong in its sites across the country as customers responded to sales. Some of the department store’s best sellers were smaller electronic gadgets and practical gifts, such as sweaters, boots, coats and luggage.

But the chain said it wouldn’t provide specific sales figures.

“In light of the challenging and volatile economic climate, and shifts in this year’s retail calendar, we don’t believe that reporting sales data for any one day (or weekend), including Black Friday, would provide a meaningful barometer of our business,” the Plano, Texas company said in a statement released Saturday afternoon.