We're year for our end-of-year check in and not short of recommendations across the field. From pop star mockumentaries and rock'n'roll memoirs to YouTube vlogs and Nick Cave adaptations – this is exactly what the RUSSH Editors have been watching, listening to and reading in the month of December...
Sophia Serafin
Implementation Manager
Watch … Trailers for films I’m excited about: The Moment by Charli xcx, Wuthering Heights by Emerald Fennell (on my twelfth-or-so rewatch), Bugonia by Yorgos Lanthimos (I loved Poor Things by him), and Mother Mary by David Lowery. Alongside that, lots of YouTube like Actors on Actors new season and vlogs from my faves Claudia Sulewski and Devon Lee Carlson.
Listen … I discovered electronic punk / bass band SEXTILE in the closing credits of Ep.6 of I Love LA. I’m obsessed specifically with Contortion and Disco. Have also rediscovered Triple J Like a Version playlist on Spotify – always a fail-safe. I am equally excited for the Wuthering Heights soundtrack…
Read … Currently reading Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (even though I have an irrational fear of space).
Jaime Carmody
Digital Marketing Specialist
Watch… Love Actually. Need I say more?
Listen… This month has turned me into an Audrey Hobart superfan. I’ve also been revisiting The Sundays, the perfect soundtrack for slower mornings and reflective evenings.
Read… Lorrie Moore’s Self Help has been one of my standout reads of the year. Wry, sharp and tender, it’s a book I know I’ll definitely come back to.
Stacey Gaskin
Consumer Revenue Manager
Watch … How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Home Alone and The Holiday – for obvious reasons. And I am sat and ready for the fifth season of Emily In Paris, out December 18th.
Listen … You Can Call It Yours by Breathless – on repeat – along with The Downtown Lights by The Blue Nile. Also, NF’s new EP, FEAR.
Read … I have The Dressmaker's Gift by Fiona Valpy and Katabasis by R.F. Kuang on my TBR for this month.
Cassandra Dimitroff
Features and Production Editor
Watch … Obviously, Stranger Things S5. I’m holding out for the next ep drop on Boxing Day.
Listen … Revisiting Real Estate’s In Mind album (a perfect Indie classic). And finally listening to Sombr’s I Barely Know Her (12 to 12 and Come Closer are my picks).
Read … Cameron Crowe’s memoir The Uncool. If you’re a fan of Almost Famous, this acts as a kind of extended cut.
Alys Hale
Music Editor and Creative Producer
Watch … The minutes go by until we’re all on holiday…? I jest, perhaps. I watched The Death of Bunny Munroe, the series based on Nick Cave’s 2009 novel and adored it. Parts of it were incredibly silly but the performances were so genuine and Cave’s cameo with that moustache: perfect. The new documentary on The New York Times is on my list, and I learnt a lot of new theories on the scene from the Sean Combs documentary, along with some truly harrowing behaviours. However, I will be needing some festive joy and I’m trying to convince the 7-year-old in my life to watch The Muppet’s Christmas Carol with me.
Listen … Anything but Mariah Carey, under any circumstances. I do not get behind much Christmas music so it will be business as usual over here. Tom Waits’ Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis is the only exception to my rule.
Read … I’m still on my Jonathan Frazen moment so have been reading Crossroads, a family saga set in the 70s with affairs, christian youth groups and women with secret pasts.
Kirsty Thatcher
Digital Editor
Watch… A24’s Eternity. I had such high expectations, and it really feels like a classic rom-com. I’m also rewatching Veep for the millionth time. It never fails to make me laugh, which feels very needed at the moment.
Listen… Emma Chamberlain’s guest appearance on In Your Dreams with Owen Theile. IYKYK.
Read… Heart The Lover, by Lily King. I zipped through this in a few days, it’s a great one to kick you off if you’ve been in a reading slump (like me). Next on my list is Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams.
Samantha Corry
Social Media Coordinator & Assistant to Editor in Chief
Watch … Oh What Fun. It’s a new Christmas movie with the best cast: Dominic Sessa, Michelle Pfieffer, Havana Rose Liu, and plenty more. Also, Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man, with Josh O’Connor – do I need to say anything else? You already know it’s a 10/10 film. Also giving his character, a priest, a neck tattoo is so cunty.
Listen … A little bit of Mac DeMarco, Robyn and Jensen McCrae.
Read … Nothing – I have been so busy I haven’t touched a book!
Mia Steiber
Digital Strategy Director & Associate Publisher
Watch … I’ve been rewatching some of my favourite travel-themed movies. Call Me By Your Name, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants and Only You. They’re the perfect movies to have on in the background for the scenery. Over the Christmas break I am planning to do a watch of the Oscars shortlist
Listen … I discovered Stand Atlantic after attending Good Things earlier in December. I technically did know them but only one or two songs. Now I’ve been listening to their whole back catalogue, they’re great.
Read … I’ve been stocking up for the December break. A Wuthering Heights reread is on my list. I’m hoping to finish the Throne of Glass series. And also, I want to make my way through the Crescent City books in preparation for the next ACOTAR book which should be coming out at the beginning of 2026.
