Movie | Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh / Miramax
Along with “Man on Wire,” “Happy-Go-Lucky” was one of my favorite films of 2008, if only because I left the theatre with a general sense of contentment and belief in the greater good of all of mankind. Now that it’s out on DVD, none of you have an excuse to miss this charming character study about an irrepressibly cheerful young British woman named Poppy, played by the wonderful Sally Hawkins. Hawkins crouches Poppy’s optimism in neither naivety nor blind stupidity; instead, Poppy just seems naturally, wonderfully and infectiously exuberant. Everyone deserves a friend like her, and the world would be a much better place if everyone was like her. Go. GO! Rent this film NOW.

Music | Radio Wars
Howling Bells / 101
Fuck you, Australia. Stop sending me music. Don’t you guys have kangaroos to molest, or shrimp to throw on a Barbie doll, or something to that effect?

Music | S/T
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart / Slumberland
My, my, isn’t this band just TWEE AS FUCK. For chrissakes, I thought we left that all behind a couple of years ago, when we collectively decided that disco-ass-punk was the new hotness. At times, when they sound like Talulah Gosh, the band is almost bearable; at other times, when they sound like the shit-stains left in Calvin Johnson’s toilet, I’m tempted to drive down to Olympia and burn down the K Records building through the sheer power of my hatred. One day, they will burn. Oh yes, how they will burn.

Movie | Let the Right One In
Tomas Alfredson / Magnolia Pictures
Never has a film with so many scenes of brutal murder and dismemberment been so tender and heartwarming. Superficially, the flick’s about a lonely, bullied little Swedish boy, and the young, pretty vampire girl that lives in the apartment next to him. Underneath, it’s a treatment on the awkwardness of youth, the fallout of divorce amidst the working-class, and the inherent loneliness of teen angst. The movie is brilliantly casted, gorgeously shot, and sweetly haunting. God bless the Swedes and their lovably quirky obsession with death.

Book | My Little Red Book
Various / Twelve
Are you there, God? It’s me, Jacob. I’d like to ask you why I get sent some of this shit. I mean, it’s an entertaining read featuring some very talented writers, and all the proceeds from the sale of this book are going to a very good cause, but really now—DO I SEEM LIKE THE RIGHT PERSON TO REVIEW A COLLECTION OF STORIES ABOUT WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR WOMEN TO GET THEIR FIRST PERIOD? No. No, I am not. But for everyone else—go ahead and pick it up, if only to support some pretty worthy charities.