Christmas carols guaranteed to jingle your bells A festive soundtrack rth your holiday season By Jacey Gibb appy holidays everyone! The season is already upon us and what better way to celebrate this time of year than with some great Christmas music! Whether you’re struggling to get into the spirit of things or feel like making a mix for someone on your list, here’s a collection full of festive cheer: Is This Christmas — The Wombats — The indie-rock marsupials chose to record an anti-Christmas track in the form of “Is This Christmas?” but I can’t help feeling like its counter- productive, considering no matter what time of the year it is, the song gets me pumped for the holidays. She Came Home For Christmas — Mew Father Christmas — The Kinks A classic that’s been covered many times over the years, this catchy jingle tells the story of a department store Santa that gets beaten up by a group of kids who demand he hand over his money in place of toys. Tis’ the season. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) — Deathcab for Cutie Released back in 2002, the cover doesn’t bring anything new to this already Christmas classic but it does add that touch of Ben Gibbard that goes so well with a cup of cocoa. I Won’t Be Home For Christmas — Blink 182 A play off the well-known “I'll Be Home For Christmas,” this punk- rock original expresses the more honest, realistic side of the holidays. A man tired with Christmas resorts to assault and then gets arrested. I'll let the lyrics do the rest of the talking: “And even though the jail didn’t have a tree / Christmas came a night early / Cause a guy named Bubba unwrapped my package...”” A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss) — Glasvegas The Chipmunk Song (Christmas _ Don’t Be Late) — Tegan and Sara I know what you’re thinking. Though it doesn’t hold its own to the Christmas classic, it manages to be somewhat less annoying. Plus, it’s a Tegan and Sara song, so I’m counting it as a win. Christmas at the Zoo — The Flaming 8 Lips I guess it’s arguable whether this is a holiday track or not. The song itself deals with the narrator attempting to free animals from captivity but SPOILERS they choose to decline the offer. Oh well. The presence of Christmas in the title leads me to believe it’s more festive than it really is. The Christmas Song — The Raveonettes Jingle Bell Rock — Arcade Fire Have you ever wondered what it would sound like to hear one of your favourite bands butcher one of your favourite carols? Looks like Christmas came early for you this year. Twelve Days of Christmas — Belle and Sebastian Another track that doesn’t exactly scream groundbreaking cover, but some of the sound effects used for the animals just crack me up. Also, the fact that it sounds like it was recorded during a family Christmas party gives a relatable feel to it. A Christmas Duel — The Hives and Cyndi Lauper Quite possibly the greatest Christmas song, old or new, that I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. This track is as infectiously catchy as it is vulgar. The lyrics follow the story of a couple dealing with their relationship by using passive aggressive (and eventually, full-on aggressive) behaviours. Their actions include acts of adultery (with relatives), arson, hiring a hit man, and then more adultery (with more relatives!). You know, all the things that the Christmas season is REALLY about. In the end they decide to ignore all the wrongs they’ ve committed and spend the holidays together. I feel like there’s a moral buried underneath all this festive irony. Nolan’s hit in time for the holidays Inception on DVD and Blu-ray By Aleisha Husolo nother brilliant idea expertly Ass from the mind of critically acclaimed, and widely lauded, writer/director Christopher Nolan. With Inception, recently released on both DVD and high definition Blu-ray disc, Nolan has provided us with what could be one of the most original ideas put to film in recent years. For those who missed out on its theatrical release, Inception’s shining star is one Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of Dominic Cobb. A suave rogue who is, essentially, a highly-trained raider of other people’s thoughts, Cobb manipulates the minds of others by entering into their dream worlds and strategically placing an idea or key phrase into the depths of their subconscious. On the cusp of retirement, Cobb is brought back into the game and asked to do one last job and place an idea into the mind of a wealthy businessman. Given an offer too good to refuse, he assembles a crack team made up of: a master of deception, an ingenious chemist and his long-time “business” partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). He also adds a new member to his team, Ariadne (played by Canada’s own Ellen Page), as the pivotal-to-the-plan architect. Working together to navigate through the layers of their target’s treacherous dream world in an effort to place-an ides deep within the farthest reaches of his mind, the team’s most critical and deadly hurdle is introduced early on in the form of the constant, obtrusive, and reoccurring presence of Cobb’s wife (Marion Cotillard). Unable to shake the memories of his past, Cobb is wholly haunted which, without spoiling anything, causes the team to suffer some “minor” setbacks in their plans. The movie is all about a process; the process of going from reality to within another person’s dreams and facing the unknown. Thanks to clever orchestration throughout the course of the movie, you’re left wondering whether the characters are dreaming or if what we’re seeing as the viewer is truly reality. It leaves you playfully wondering the “what if’ of it all. What if this was possible? What if we’re in a dream right now? Speaking to the otherworldliness of it all, the special effects in the movie make the dream world truly that, a dream. A masterpiece and one of this year’s best; it’s no wonder it took Christopher Nolan 10 years to write it! The intricacy and painstaking detail put into explaining the complexity of the dream worlds, and the possibilities therein, are truly astounding. With so much going on, you’ll have to (and want to) watch it more than once this holiday season in an effort to understand.