14. PTP.

2008 in Film: The Worst.

1 Righteous Kill
2 Star Wars: The Clone Wars
3 The Foot Fist Way
4 Mirrors
5 Quarantine

2008 in Film: The Best.

01 Rachel Getting Married
02 Wall-E
03 Synecdoche, New York
04 Let the Right One In (Lat den Rätte komma in)
05 Make-Out with Violence
06 The Headless Woman (La Mujer sin Cabeza)
07 Forgetting Sarah Marshall
08 [REC]
09 My Winnipeg
10 Phantom Love

Honorable Mention: Christmas on Mars, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Guerilla, Happy-Go-Lucky, Inside (A L'Interieur), The Midnight Meat Train, Paranoid Park, Pineapple Express, The Strangers, You The Living (Du Levande)

Actor: Sean Penn (Milk), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky)

Supporting Actor: Danny McBride (Pineapple Express), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Supporting Actress: Misty Upham (Frozen River), Dianne Wiest (Synecdoche, NY)

Director: Steve McQueen (Hunger)

Original Screenplay: Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall)

Adapted Screenplay: Tomas Alfredson and John Ajdve Lindqvist (Let The Right One In)

Cinematography: Jody Lee Lipes (Afterschool), Christopher Soos (Phantom Love), Peter Sova (The Strangers)

Documentary: One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story

Music Video: Mylene Farmer's "Degeneration," Grace Jones' "Corporate Cannibal"

Coming in 2009 and worthy of attention: All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (hopefully), The Class (Entre les Murs), Martyrs, Summer Hours (L'Heure d'Ete), three different 3D R-Rated horror films (My Bloody Valentine, Piranha, and Final Destination 4), and David Cronenberg's first book.

A big smile, a lot of laughs: "Shall we begin?"

A chat with Lisa Coleman. A hell of a way to start off 2009, with one of the most brilliant people in the music bizness.

R.I.P Eartha Kitt.

Politically active, sexually charged, distinctive in voice, and one of the most enduring and unique of icons. She will be missed.

A holiday season thought.

Be more patient.
Use your turn signal.
Slow your roll by a good 15%, and you will find yourself much less angry and tense.

Why I do not wrap gifts.

There's something dishonest and cruel about wrapping presents. It represents hierarchy and process, which seems to impede the receiver and add tantalization for the giver; this is all well and good if we're talking about a relationship built on power dynamics or some S&M thrills, but it complicates things with friends and those whom you love.

This is especially the case with children. Wrapped gifts are a useful device for keeping the youth in line. They're like brightly-wrapped time-delay explosive devices that turn children into agents of espionage.

Another reason why I don't wrap gifts is because I am terrible at it. Some people have a gift for aesthetics and design and they use it in the presentation of gifts and it's gorgeous and amazing, and I just feel like an oaf in the process.

There are people who derive a great deal of joy from wrapping gifts. There are people who earn a decent seasonal income from doing it. But not me.

So there you go.