Obligatory Best of the Decade post

Favourite Book
No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
I Love short stories. I love Miranda July. So this was kind of a no-brainer.

Something That Needs Nothing is probably my favourite story in the collection, even though its heart-breaking.

"This made her so angry that she did the dishes. We never did this unless we were trying to be grand and self-destructive. I stood in the doorway and tried to maintain our end of the silence while watching her scratch at calcified noodles. In truth, I had not yet learned how to hate anyone but my parents. I was actually just standing there in love. I was not even really standing; if she had walked away suddenly, I would have fallen."

Like most of the stories in the book, it touches on love and loneliness, and does so beautifully. Ever devote months or years of your life to someone who never thought of you as a permanent fixture in theirs? Every emotion at their whim. Every action committed with them in mind. I reccomend you read this story. And then the rest of the book. Its prescribed reading.

Favourite Film
Little Miss Sunshine

California. Intense heat. Miles and miles on the road. I love this film more than is healthy for a man to love a film. I don't want to use a cliche, but if I said this film didn't change my life, I would be a liar. I watched it for the first time as a fourteen year old girl, and that was it. Everything was different. It was the birth of my passion for cinema. And American indie-folk. All things go, all things go... It made me realise that, if looked at in the right way, there is so much beauty to be found in my own life. And its hilarious, too. I could go on about how much love I have for this film, but it'd get sickening.

Favourite Album
Oh, Inverted World by The ShinsShortly after having watched Little Miss Sunshine at fourteen years old, I heard 'New Slang' for the first time and had yet another transcendental experience. I don't have much else to say about this album, except that listening to it will make you feel as though you've been lying in a field all Summer long, and that thats just fine.