Sunday Afternoon Club Christmas edition

A quick walk round Etherow Park in the cold.

49 films to watch out for in 2009

Total Film has done a big list of "films that will define 2009", including The Wrestler (pictured), Watchmen and State Of Play. You can read the full list by clicking here.

Christmas with the family

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

State Of Play trailer

State Of Play was originally a BBC series starring the likes of David Morrissey and John 'Life On Mars' Simm, with a plot that revolved around a news reporter and the police investigating a suspicious murder. Now it's turned up as a Hollywood blockbuster, with most of the same plot elements, and will be hitting the big screen in April.

They are massive though

Silent Night

Dad turns 65, Amy makes a cake

See more cakes here.

Margot At The Wedding (2007)

"Make sure you can handle rejection. I can't."

The follow-up to The Squid And The Whale from Noah Baumbach (yes, the very same Noah that Noah And The Whale are named after). Margot (Nicole Kidman) turns up for the wedding of her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Malcolm (Jack Black). If you enjoy family tension, insecurity, angst, emotional breakdowns and psychologically cripped characters, you will love this. IMDB

Music Recommendations For Christmas

Some bands you might want to get into over the festive season. Featuring glowing recommendations from the crazy reviewers on Amazon.co.uk. If you are reading this on Facebook you might have to click View original post to hear the music.

Belle & Sebastian (Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying)
"These simple, gentle, confessional tunes are real growers, and they stay with you long after the CD has gone back in the case."


Neutral Milk Hotel (Holland, 1945)
"I think this is the best album I own, and probably will ever own, and that everybody I know who is fortunate enough to have found In The Aeroplane Over The Sea feels the same way."


Two Gallants (Anna's Sweater)
"Unpretentious, rocking, modern blues at its absolute best coupled with fantastic lyrics telling of ripping yarns and heartbreak."


Mates Of State (Hoarding It For Home)
"I love these guys! ALL their albums are amazing. If you feel sad, it makes you feel happy. If you feel happy, it makes you feel happier!!"


British Sea Power (Carrion)
"British Sea Power are extraordinary. They are doing something quite beyond what other guitar groups are doing in England at the moment."

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)

"Don't toy with me, Doctor Jones!"

There was no need really. IMDB

Messy messy Sheffield Pizza Hut wagon 41

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Casey Affleck plays a private investigator looking for a missing girl, uncovering corrupt cops, child neglect and drug dens along the way. IMDB

Common misconceptions

So, Wikipedia then. Is there anything that it can't do? While away a few minutes of your life by checking out this List of common misconceptions, just one of many bizarre pages on the online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit.

One Life, Six Words

The Guardian has been challenging its readers to sum up their lives in a six word autobiography. You can read some of the best entries here.

11,000 street corners in New York

If you've ever been to New York then you might be interested in this collection of photos of street corners in Manhattan - all 11,000 of them. Plenty of them are available online here.

Mashed In Plastic

The films of David Lynch are weird and wonderful and usually feature a great score by Angelo Badalamenti. Someone who works not very far from where I work has helped to put together a mash-up album based around Lynch's work - it's free to download from here.

Here's one of the accompanying videos for you to enjoy:

MP3s for sale at Amazon.co.uk

Amazon's MP3 download shop has finally been launched in the UK. New albums for £3! Go there now! Click here.

On The Road on the road

The original manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On The Road - all 127 feet of it - is now on show at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham. If you live nearby... go and take a look. There's more on the story here.