Milton Caniff's last page on the comic strip Terry and the Pirates, which was published on December 29, 1946.

Jane Birkin is on the celebrated recording and in the promo film, but Serge Gainsbourg wrote horny scandalabra heartbreaker Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus for Brigitte Bardot, and she was on its first unreleased recording. They were deeply involved, but she also had a husband. youtu.be/GlpDf6XX_j0?...

The Storytellers reading of Dracula on BBC Radio has been a Christmas treat. Michael Fassbender reads Jonathan Harker’s entries. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

'Midi Minuit Fantastique' Extravagantly illustrated French horror/fantasy film zine that ran from 1962-71. Now collectable & very expensive.

#NowPlaying Like a collection of lost #LaurelAndHardy soundtracks.

Jon Pertwee and his wife Ingeborg Rhoesa entertaining Pertwee’s brother and his wife, Boxing Day, 1966.

#NowPlaying Santa knows me for a jazz fiend.

Star in the Night is a marvellous nativity parable short set in a desert motel. This was Don Siegel’s first film, but don’t go in expecting something characteristically hard-bitten - this turns me to mush every time.

A masterpiece of festive non-cheer.

Edward Hopper, Christmas card, 1928 whitney.org/collection/w...

#AdventDoor Day 24. Kara ta ni, Kong! O taro vey, Rama Kong!

One of the many pleasures of this lovely film is trying to spot which bits are Billy Wilder / Charles Brackett additions from their script-doctoring work. The hat, for certain - straight out of Ninotchka. The dry line “Who do you see as the dragon?” is another contender.

December 23rd 🎄🎬 #filmsky #moviesky #cinema #movieadventcalendar

#AdventDoor Day 24.

Here’s my soundtrack as I potter around in the kitchen of a morning. youtu.be/_D2Iw2pwspY?...

Mothra bends the angry charcoal portrait of Godzilla into an MGM musical, and boomerangs the post-nuclear devastation back from Tokyo to “New Kirk City”. Odd touch of Christian propaganda in the final stage.

#AdventDoor Day 22.

In many ways, Lady in the Lake’s cinematic experiment doesn’t work (the 1st-person long-take approach cuts off pace and performance naturalness at the knees), but its weird wrongness (esp in nocturnal driving scenes) and that uncanny choral score make it a Christmas film I keep coming back to.

#AdventDoor Day 21.

Me and My Pal is one of the most perfect #LaurelAndHardy shorts because it gets to the heart of their relationship. Ollie’s to be married, and to come into a fortune, but he can’t drag himself away from playing with Stan, even though Stan invariably ruins everything.

Gorgo is a fantastic English-accented take on the classic kaiju plot in which it’s not Tokyo but Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Piccadilly Circus that get trodden underfoot. Also operates as an allegory of the looted and brutalised Irish biting London on the arse.

On 18 December, @reaky.bsky.social chose L’Assassinat du Père Noël (Christian-Jaque, 1941).

#NowPlaying Under the hide of me. #NilsFrahm

Sea Birds, 1995. Jamie Wyeth. Oil on panel.

#AdventDoor Day 20.

this might be the greatest Christmas photo ever

The #1 movie when you were 10 years old is how your 2026 is going to go. Aren’t we there already?

#NowPlaying I’m 16 years late, but my album of the year is Fuck Buttons’ Tarot Sport. Propulsive, hypnotic and bristling with hooks.

#AdventDoor Day 19.

#AdventDoor Day 18.

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#AdventDoor Day 16.

Nine albums - the complete studio works of the first Red Garland trio - for fifteen quid. Amazing. Jam-packed with tasty swing and lustrous ballads.

#AdventDoor Day 15.

#NowPlaying To be honest, I bought it for the cover, but it’s a great collection of early bebop. I wish henceforth to be known as Professor Bop (track 2, by Babs Gonzales).

#NowPlaying For that 60s London Christmas feeling (I imagine).

# NowPlaying The cosmically great Blue Brazil series from Blue Note. This encompasses samba, bossa, funk, orchestral, big band and animal sounds. They can be had online for peanuts.

I had Paris Pick-Up (Le Monte-Charge) lined up for a while to watch near Christmas, and while it delivered on the Christmas trappings, I wasn’t prepared for the kind of film it was.

#AdventDoor Day 14.

#AdventDoor Day 13.

Fir Forest I https://botfrens.com/collections/109/contents/28487

#AdventDoor Day 12.

Vince Guaraldi on Radio 3. Now we’re talking.