On Dec. 3 1998, Josh Jackson, Nick Purdy and Jordan Feibus launched PasteMusic.com, a retail site for independent music. The company began with the release of the first-ever live album from Vigilantes of Love. The website grew over the years, selling music from artists such as Pedro the Lion, Over the Rhine, Innocence Misison and Marzuki (a late '90s indie-folk band featuring Sufjan Stevens).

When Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak dropped last week, so did Stephen Colbert's Christmas spirit (as well as his album's place on the iTunes chart). As West sits at #1, the Colbert Christmas soundtrack hangs tentatively at #16. But the Comedy Central pundit has a master plan to change the fate of his disc.

When Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist came out this October, TheMovieBlog posted a short lamentation: "Already Bored With Michael Cera." They were neither the first, nor the last, to voice such opinion—film and TV critics had long been noting the stark similarities among the roles of his career—but they did state the concern with a certain amount of pith:

The debate for what exactly constitutes an "independent" film is as old as the studio system itself and doesn't seem likely to end anytime soon. This year, the Spirit Award nominations seemed to honor films that seem a little bit more independent, with an emphasis on truly small films instead of the arguably studio-funded pictures by Quentin Tarantino or Ang Lee that have done well in the past. Not one of the best pictures nominees were above $8 million in budget, sending the message (intentionally or not) that what it takes to make a great movie is vision over financing. Keep in mind that the awards stipulate based on "Percentage of financing from independent sources," thus further blurring the lines between indie and non-indie.

Atom Egoyan is best-known for his non-linear films focused on alienation. He's perhaps equally well-known for being really Canadian, and is in fact one third of what I like to call The Canadian Contingent, which is a filmmaking/crime-fighting supergroup with fellow canucks David Cronenberg and Guy Maddin that I just made up. Together they travel to high-profile film festivals to fight against their arch-nemeiss, the evil master of cliches Dr. Commercial Success.

Release Date: Nov. 21
Director: Ellen Kuras
Co-Director: Thavisouk Phrasavath
Writers: Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
Cinematographer: Ellen Kuras
Studio/Run Time: Pandalino Films, 96 mins.

Ellen Kuras is probably best known as one of the strongest cinematographers to come out of the '90s, due to her work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Summer of Sam and Personal Velocity. Her directorial debut shares little in common with her most of her previous work, though, either in content or form. The Betrayal is a not quite cinema-verite (featuring voice-overs and interviews) documentary that deals with the United States’ extrication from Laos following the Vietnam War’s resolution and its effects on Thavisouk Phrasavath and his family. 

Perhaps that project Anand Tucker announced recently—The Danish Girl with Nicole Kidman playing a transsexual—was a bit too heavy for his liking. While he's still attached to the project, Tucker's announced he's in talks to direct another picture that's, shall we say, a bit more commercial.

As streaming films became more commonplace online, the drive was to offer the highest-profile titles possible to entice consumers to the new format. But Netflix and other providers seem to have concluded that the titles themselves are only half the allure, and have also focused on new platforms—streaming video for TiVo users, in one instance.

David Lynch once called film “a magical medium that allows you to dream in the dark.” Walking the carpeted hallways and miniature lobbies of a Times Square megaplex, then, is like stealing between people's private visions. I've paid $12.50 for admission into a movie theater with lax security, giving me freedom to roam the various screenings, and the movies I see constitute a Lynchian avant-garde composite. I glance at the audience’s faces before I sit. It’s comforting to see people laugh at the same time at the same punchline; comforting that an emotional majority can still be measured inside a multiplex.

Early announcements are being made for San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival for 2009. The 17th annual film and music festival is set for Feb. 24-March 1 at venues sprinkled throughout the city.