...In which our heroine has recent raves.

I consume a lot during the semester. Things you should observe, in a sentence or two:

Films-
Black Swan better get Natalie Portman her goddamn Oscar - a beautifully shot, perverse fairy tale, like a female version of The Fly.
Cronos is Guillermo del Toro's first film, and really yucky and sweet, a good companion to The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth. Currently on Criterion Blu and streaming in Netflix HD.
Whip It is a much better movie than it should be - well-written, decently acted - and hey, who doesn't like badass roller-derby foxes?
The Lovely Bones is a shitty adaptation of a really great book, and a waste of the talent within.
John Waters: This Filthy World is a delightful, raunchy trip through film and his own personal history.
I Love You, Beth Cooper wasn't as adorable as the book, but definitely not as bad of a movie as reviews would have it.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is infinitely better than the last two films, and made me get back into that world wholeheartedly. NERD.

Music-
It's kind of pathetic that it's the end of the year, and I don't have a favorite album of original music. Really pathetic, actually.
All Day, Girl Talk's latest phantasmagoria, is pretty excellent, though I don't think as good as Feed the Animals. My favorite mash-up is Rihanna + Fugazi.
Jeff Mangum might play with the Elephant 6 collective, maybe, but of course I have to grab a ticket just in case.
Jim James in Louisville the day after Christmas needs to happen for me.

Books-
The Things They Carried is an amazing collection of war stories, but an even more amazing collection of human stories.
Ishmael could be alternately titled the bible for "hippie granola living," but made me question some of my very core beliefs.
Touching from a Distance, a post-script on Joy Division's Ian Curtis by his widow Deb, makes him out to be such an asshole I haven't listened to his music since.
Natural Health, Natural Medicine is a good practical guide to living healthier without suggesting seaweed for every meal and nine hours of yoga a day.
Eating the Dinosaur is more brilliance from hipster everyman, Chuck Klosterman. You should check it out for the Primer/time travel/Shane Carruth essay, ChemGuy.
The Books of Blood 1-3 collection lost my interest after book 1, but maybe I'll finish it.
Currently, there's the interview collection, Lynch on Lynch.

TV-
The Walking Dead had a really compelling, if uneven, first season, that needed a better finale.
Boardwalk Empire totally lost me, despite the gratuitous sex and violence.
Eastbound & Down had a lesser second season than first, but the finale was perfectly touching and hilarious.
Winter is coming to HBO in the form of A Game of Thrones in April. So excited to see what they do with the most well-written fantasy books ever.
And the ladies of Cathouse, who espoused the essential life lesson of "No Romance Without Finance," will be back for a new season.
Still have to watch the Twin Peaks homage episode of Psych.
Glee's writing has gotten lazy, and infuriating.

Etc.-
Tumblr really needs to get its shit together and stop crashing.
DVD sale at Facets Cinematheque tomorrow and Sunday with $10 Criterions and out-of-print discs - it's a must.
New tattoo photos soon, I promise, especially since I'm modeling it for my friend Abby today.
Two parties today, two parties tomorrow, and it's finals week. Give my liver strength.
New favorite beer: Pacifico.
Year in Photos from Life Magazine - lots of fantastic photos.
The AV Club fucked up.
Managed to write a term paper on Twin Peaks, adapt a Stephen King short, pitch the teen girl sex comedy, and have an instructor tell me to grow my own pot this semester, not bad.

Nothing like a little This Mortal Coil to cheer you up...