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Albums
The Shortwave Set - Replica Sun Machine (Wall of Sound)
London’s soft-psych popsters The Shortwave Set had almost finished recording this second album, then Danger Mouse called and asked them out to Los Angeles to do the whole thing again.
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (Last Gang)
Live, Crystal Castles’ singer Alice Glass holds the attention, but generally it’s machines man Ethan Kath who calls the shots.
Dagha - The Divorce (Lewis)
Skits from films and TV shows, A Tribe Called Quest-like jazzy productions cooked up by DJ Real and that easy, round rhyming style… The Divorce is a real early nineties-style second album and it’s a real fine one.
David Karsten - Daniels Fear of Flying (Fat Cat)
A talented songwriter who largely escapes being po-faced because he always has something to say.
Films
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Hands up everybody who expected loathsome chin-actor Ben Affleck to reinvent himself as a sensitive and astute director with his debut film?
Taxi to the Darkside (2007)
So there you are, driving your cab in Afghanistan, when a squad of local militiamen hand you over to the Americans on trumped-up charges, and five days later you’ve been beaten to death in your cell.
Killer of Sheep (1977)
Not exactly your average popcorn flick, Charles Burnett’s 1977 neorealist-inspired tale of a black slaughterhouse worker drifting through his own ‘private hell’ represents the birth of socially conscious black filmmaking in America.
DVDs
The Band’s Visit (2007)
Overlooked as Israel’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars – ostensibly because too much of the dialogue is spoken in English, but more probably because of its deeply humanist approach to the Middle East crisis – The Band’s Visit is a warm-hearted comedy about the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra’s disastrous visit to Israel to play a goodwill concert.
Water Lilies (2007)
The story of three young friends coming to terms with love and desire against the backdrop of a synchronised swimming club in a Parisian suburb might not sound like fertile dramatic territory, but Céline Sciamma imbues it with rare insight, sensitively handling the sexual maturity of teenage girls without patronising the pain of their awakening.
The Terence Davies Trilogy (1976)
There are many reasons to be embarrassed about the British film industry but surely the most toe-curling reason of all is the fact that Terrence Davies struggles to make films in this country.
Rambo (2007)
So let’s see: you live in a country whose military junta have just led a brutal crackdown, imprisoning monks and torturing political opponents.
Games
Lego Indiana Jones (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, DS, PSP)
While the geriatric Harrison Ford is resurrected for the latest film instalment, us gamers are spared such a sight as Dr Jones has gone all Lego.
Haze (PS3)
Playing a mercenary contracted to kill communists or the like in South America, you go a bit mental and turn the war back on the man!
Bully: Scholarship Edition (Xbox 360, Wii)
Taking you back to the days of wedgies, bundles and smoking behind the bike sheds, you play as fifteen-year-old Jimmy Hopkins surviving his first year at Bulworth Academy.
Books
The Book of Surfing - Michael Fordham (Bantam Press)
Original things, that’s what it’s all about, right?
Dora Lives: The Authorised Story of Miki Dora - C.R. Stecyk and Drew Kampion (T. Adler Books)
There are a number of books right now bearing his name, and rumours of a film epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio are doing the rounds.
28 Day Winter: A Snowboarding Narrative - Jeff Curtes, Dean Blotto Gray, Adam Moran (PowerHouse Books)
In August 2006, the Burton crew journeyed southward to Chile and New Zealand seeking an antidote to snowless summer days.
Blek le Rat: Getting through the walls - Sybille Prou, King Adz (Thames and Hudson)
Trace the origins of the ubiquitous stencilled figures pasted across your city’s walls, and you’ll stumble across a man called Blek le Rat.
