Regarding my praise of "Avatar".

If it weren't for the visuals, the movie would suck. The dialog is laughably bad, the acting wooden and stilted, and the plot itself is such a close cousin of "Dances With Wolves" as to be about 80% plagiarism, but...


BUT...

Film is a visual medium and the visuals in this movie are nothing short of awesome, and in fact are so awesome as to render meaningless any complaints I might have about the shortcomings of the film in the areas of plot/acting etc.

Music hasn't been a priority this year. It's been good, but I've discovered a lot more old stuff than new stuff released this year (and a lot of trance and house musics). As per usual, this is a list of the good albums released in this year. Unlike in years previous, there is no ranking. I don't think there are ten, though, but that makes up for the years where there have been like twelve or fifteen.



Fanfarlo — Reservoir
This one has the “Harold T. Wilkins” track.

Röyksopp — Junior
The companion to this, Senior is due out in 2010.

U2 — No Line On The Horizion
Best U2 since Achtung Baby

Franz Ferdinand — Ulysses
Especially disc 2.

Ziggy Stardust Remixed
Bowie remixes with a haunting remix of MGMT's “Kids” that's better than the original.

Fireflies — Butterscotch EP
No, you're probably thinking of Owl City's “Fireflies.” This band is called Fireflies, has no relation to Owl City, and sounds a lot like Polaris.

Jens Lekman — THE SUMMER NEVER ENDS
This is the 49:00 of this year — that is to say, it is both excellent and obscure.


These are not all the new albums I got in 2009. Some of them just weren't amazing. Some simply do not deserve to go on the list. Others were compilation albums. So yeah. And it's not like I can pick any one that's best because they're all different.




And since it's 2009, aka the end of the decade and the start of a new one:
( My favourites of the last 10 years (2000-2009), in which I disagree with Pitchfork a lot )

This is a bit too late to be of any use to you, but...

For a perfect Christmas Eve, go see the 18:00 showing of Avatar up the road, and then have dinner in the nearby Turkish restaurant.

Ok, Christmas Eve is past, but if you get a chance I highly recommend seeing Avatar on the big screen.

Awesome, beautifully awesome film.

http://gapingvoid.com/2009/12/26/untitled-091226a/

http://gapingvoid.com/?p=10333

[About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Hire Hugh. Buy Hugh’s Art. Car­toon Archive.]

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/uclick/redmeat/~3/ztyCdan4NeA/480613

Red Meat for Saturday, December 26, 2009

• 10:40 Here's hoping Robo-Santa was good to you this year: bit.ly/6Gebsc #
• 10:53 For Xmas eve, Amy made Indian food and we watched 6 episodes of Twin Peaks. Ah, tradition! #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

http://www.dorktower.com/2009/12/25/so-this-is-christmas/

http://www.dorktower.com/?p=4262

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone!

Here’s the final version of the card they chose, in the end:

John

I hope you all have a pleasant Friday. :D

Hey, merry Christmas from Vancouver!



This is a bit disingenuous, it's been unseasonably dry and mild in Vancouver this last week, but I'm sure it will be dark and wet again in no time.

Has everyone seen A Year Without Santa Claus? I think that it maybe didn't make it on TV up in Canada when I was a kid, I didn't see it until a few years ago,


So I've opted out of Christmas this year (I'm having kind of A Year Without Santa Claus myself, hur hur) and it is a real relief. I'm staying in Vancouver by myself and I'm away from my family for the first year ever. On Christmas Eve I made myself a lil' chicken and went alone to a bar. On Christmas morning I'm eating eggs with back bacon and playing videogames.

Hope things are going nice for you guys this holiday season!

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091225

The Girl Genius comic for Friday, December 25, 2009 has been posted.

And, with the house cleared and shit wrapped and an unwise number of wine bottles emptied, I’m out. See you on the other side of little Winterval. Have a good break. Try not to stab anybody important.

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)

It being Christmas Eve and all, I was thinking of this Christmas story and drew it up. I meant to draw it nicer, but didn't get time.  It's about family.

( under the cut, because it's big )


If it helps to understand it better, I am the second oldest of four girls.

Merry Christmas, everyone! To you and yours.