So, it is nippy outside, the trees are bear, and there is a certain chilly mist laying over a breeze. It must be that time of the year, Christmas.
As I go to see my family at Christmas, and over New Year and have little internet access, as with last year, I am putting together this amazing blog, to wish you all individually a merry Christmas. It is sort of becoming a yearly tradition for my blog. So faithful readers, in the un/likely event that I forget you off the list, please stick a comment down telling me off, and I'll be sure to get you on the list 
After the cards will come the year in review.
So let's get started : Christmas Cards.
uncledeath2005 : I assume you'll find yourself on here over the christmas period, so have yourself a great one.
LJS9502_basic : Hope you have yourself a great Christmas, I can't imagine how great it must be to see your kid's eyes light up as he opens his presents.
btaylor2404 : Nice to see your family are together for the holiday, to me, Christmas is a time for family, so I'm happy that you are all together for it. Happy Christmas
Lord_Daemon : I don;t know if your computer is back in action yet, but I know you'll be looking around here over Christmas, so have yourself a great one... maybe you'll soon be able to get those repairs/replacements done
Travo_basic : I wish you the best for your first Christmas in your new home Also your last Christmas before the wee one comes along. Have a great time.
sammyjenkis898 : Have yourself a good Christmas in New York, I hope you get some snow to add to the fairytale in NEw York effect.
SaintLeonidas : If you get many DVDs for Christmas, be sure to review them for us. Have yourself a very merry Christmas
Zakkro : Have a great time, and don;t forget to fill us in on the Christmas details via the zakkro zone
2nd Wonder : In the unlikely event that you read this, have a great xmas.
Jandurin : Have a great time, and make sure your friend with the beard gets some of that precious christmas dinner, bears can't eat it all you know 
Dark_Knght6 : Hope Santa is good to you this year Incase you didn't already know it existed, this is my gift to you
DrSponge : I'm not sure if sponge's celebrate Christmas... but here is a card anyway. Although, don;t soak up too much booze, you may be porous, but you aren't immune to alcohol poisoning
DeeJayInphinity : I hope to see you around the boards again in the new year, have yourself a good Christmas.
Soulless4now : Have a great christmas holiday, I still hope Jingle All the Way is on this christmas 
dissonantblack : Have yourself a merry christmas and a happy new year
Inyourface_12 : Have a nin-tastic christmas... I still expect a DVD to download, but you never know...
aaronmullan : Merry christmas, hope it's a good one.
Jaks_Secret : Hope to see you posting more around the boards in the new year as well. Have a nice Christmas... if I knew where you lived I would have sent you a pork pie.
Klax : You might be upset that NIN seemed to win that poll , but even so, have a great christmas, with room for both Trent and Thom
Xaos : I heard Santa was bringing all the gifts you wanted... *cough*... yeah, so have a very nice Christmas and a great new year.
Staincoldlp : Yes, I still remember you, have a nice xmas, hope to see you around in the new year, even in the form of a simple blog.
Kikouken : I wish you all the best this time of year, have a good one.
msi276 : Nice to see you now have joined the NIN avatar club Have a great christmas as well.
foxhound_fox : I'm still trying to think of individual messages, so this one is in italics to make its generic message seem different... merry christmas my homeslice
horgen123 : I almost forgot about you with your new avatar... anyway, have yourself a good holiday
Film-Guy : I assume DVDs are coming your way, I await further reviews in the post christmas period.
Official_Jab : Have yourself a very merry christmas and kudos for looking so far down the list.
Genetic_Code : Soon you'll have to remove that santa hat, but until that moment, happy holidays
The_Zoid : I'll still be voting you for best username come OTcars. Have a merry christmas.
double_decker : 2009, a year to break 200,000 posts? Perhaps.
_LiquidFlame_ : Merry christmas my forgotten blog reader
Hallenbeck77 : Merry christmas to you sir. There don't appear to have been many christmassy films out this year... probably for the best.
Quadraleap : Where have you been these days? Oh well, in the unlikely event that you read this, happy christmas.
ShuLordLiePei : Merry christmas to my favourite lurker. Will you come out of the shadows to post? who knows
super_mario_128 : Merry christmas sir, hope we get a white christmas this year.
solidsnake35 : Let's hope that 2009 holds great things for you. Merry christmas.
markop2003 : Another fellow Englishman, three in a row ain't bad. 'erry Christmas to you too meight *Does Dick Van Dyke cockney leap*
CommanderShiro : Merry Christmas fine sir.
Megagene : Happy christmas, have a good one.
and last but not least...
Overrated_Hero : Have a very merry christmas, and don't be disheartened that you are last, if anything, you can take me leaving the best till last from it
An now that that took me like 45 minutes... it's time for the year in review.
2008 was a year of change in many ways, for pretty much everyone. It will go down in History as the year America elected it's first black president, a year of economic decline, and a year of Trent Reznor productivity... well for me anyway. All in all, despite the bad that has come out of this year, I'd say it was overly a good year, one of hope for what the future holds. Roll on 2009 is all I say.
Best Albums of 2008 :
5. Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow
4. Modern Guilt - Beck
3. Velocifero - Ladytron
2. The Slip - Nine Inch Nails
1. Ghosts I-IV - Nine Inch Nails
Best films of 2008 (although expect an Oscar season re-write)
5. 4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days
4. The Boy in The Stripped Pyjamas
3. Wall E
2. Hunger
1. Waltz With Bashir
So there we have it. 2008 has come to a close in my blogs. Expect another to wish in 2009... maybe... at some point. It is more likely you'll get me being excited like a school girl at whatever Trent Reznor's christmas gift is though.
Have a very merry christmas and a happy new year
That's right. I noticed a lot of people were making their sigs and avatars christmassy by sticking santa hats on all the people in them. So I figured I'd do the same. Look out for TR with a poorly photoshopped santa hat
Also, last night I went to see the new Clint Eastwood film "Changeling" which was decent. I would write a review but it is a lazy sunday and I can't be bothered. In short it has an interesting story, Angelina Jolie will probably win Best Actress this year and Clint Eastwood has a no frills style of direction which is actually quite boring to watch. Overall I'd give it a 7/10.
I have also spent much of this week comforting NIN fans on the nine inch nails website. Trent Reznor's "Curtain Call" blog has caused mass hysteria. First time you read it, it does seem like he is giving up touring for ever, but on further dissection he is just saying he needs a break. And that break is well deserved.
My next blog, will probably be my Christmas cards and best of 2008 blog, so I look forward to putting that together, as much as I hope you will all read it
I know, I know, Hunger's time at that top spot was very shrot lived. I know, I know I spoke too soon, but nothing could ever prepare me for the powerhouse of a film that was "Waltz With Bashir". I'm giving away my judgement on this film now, before you have even read my review, because it is very important that you see it. Even if you have the slightest appreciation of film as a medium. It is not only the best film of the year, but is one of the best of the decade.
And here is my review:
Waltz With Bashir is an animated documentary from Israel exploring the first Lebanese war of 1982... but don't let that put you off. It sounds like strange source material, and it is, but it is ground breaking and innovative in ways you wouldn't believe.
The story follows the actual director of the film Ari Folman as he talks to fellow soldier during his time in the Israeli forces in 1982. Folman himself has no recollection of his actions during the war, and so in finding his fellow soldiers and hearing their stories he beings to piece together his own memories, and to learn what part he played in the massacre at two refugee camps. The trailer can be seen here.
The first thing that strikes you is the visual $tyle On the back of other animated features from the same region, for example Persepolis, Waltz With Bashir establishes itself as a very important film in an accessible $tyle The colours are often vivid and bright, contrasting at times, very heavily with the films content. The animation is made using similar techniques to that of "A Scanner Darkly" however, the look of this is more colour based creating scenes, for example, entirely out of yellow colouring. The way the film unfolds, using this documentary feel means there are several points where documenatry $tyle interviews occur the animated nature of the film makes this look groundbreaking and endlessly innovative. Interlaced with highly detailed flashbacks of the war, the animation is simply stunning. The quality of colours and characters really adding to the films effect tenfold.
The film itself is very personal, as it is entirely based in the truth of the director's experiences, however this doesn't make it inaccessible, if anything having a character, real or not, explore his early life, makes the film accessible to all people. And finding the reasons why memories were repressed gives us a further insight into his life allowing for a personal connection with the director himself.
And as far as the story goes, it may not sound particularly interesting, I mean it was a subject I knew very little about and only the visual feel of the film grabbed me, but the fact that it is a story that unfolds through dreams, visions and other personal accounts, it has an almost mysterious quality to it. This keeps the film endlessly interesting even if the subject matter is not one that appeals to you.
A beautiful score pieced together by Max Ritcher really adds to the films haunting nature. Sombre, but with period pop added in, which may seem strange, but again, much like the animation medium, contrasts heavily with the film. And it is the pop contrast that really portrays the mindset of some of the soldiers before the fighting begins. They are young and aren't expecting the all out violent carnage that comes with the war.
Sure it could be another war is hell picture but it is so much more than that. It shows the facts in a blunt manner, where the Israeli army certainly don't come off clean. It also shows, using its contrasts in music, colour and the attitude of the young soldiers the loss of innocence through war, and the confusion of war, the brutality of it all, when the leaders really lack a reason for the massacre. It is innovating in its look, as well as its way of portraying the events.
From one soldier waltzing through the streets firing a machine gun into tower blocks of Beruit, to 26 dogs chasing a man in his dreams, the imagery the film holds will stay in your mind, you will never forget the vivid imagery that the film brings up. Only adding to the provokative nature of the film.
What it all amounts to is a very sobering, yet very very important film, that really drives its points home with a true emotional intensity. Ending with real news reel footage after the massacre really drives everything the film has to say home. It is Israel's official selection for best foreign language picture, and I hope it wins like it deserves to do so. It is innovative, striking, thought provoking, poignant, sad, and unforgettable. The fact that it is an animated feature never feels like a gimmick and it is a very balanced documentary that humanises and makes clear the just one of the atrocities that have occurred in Israeli conflicts with Palestinians where nobody gets off clean, and everyone is a victim, except those who failed to care.
Truly astonishing, you would do yourself a favor by seeing this film. Find it in a cinema, wait for the DVD, but whatever you do, make sure you see it.
10/10
