2B - Thursday, December 6, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 0 2B - Thursday, December 6, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom ~ ARTS RECOMMENDS In this feature, Daily Arts writers will give their endorsements for the arts you need to experience to help you deal with current events. "His Dark Materials" Polar bears, aurora borealis, young love and cute animals: In certain ways, "His Dark Materials" is the perfect trilogy to peruse over break. Of course, there's the whole trying-to-kill-God thing, but let's just ignore that; after all, it's called winterfbreak for a reason. Controversy aside, these are the books, not "Harry Potter," that every child should secretly read. A mature adventure that questions authority, KNOPF "His Dark Materials" is a masterpiece for any age. Life in Cartoon Motion - M IKA If there's one thingyou need rightnow, it's a pick- me-up. December is a long, treacherous month full of endless exams and pitiless papers. So, in order to properly keep your sanity and some semblance of a smile on your face, kick back and enjoy Mika's debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion. Full of feel-good tunes and exciting lyrics such as "Suckingtoo hard on your lollipop / Or love's going to get you down," Mika will put then'u' back in fun. CASABLANCA "Love Actually" So what if it's a rom-coin. So what if it's just another shameless celebrity-filled scheme. "Love Actually" has heart, humor, Hugh Grant as the English Prime Minister dancing to the Pointer Sis- ters and Keira Knightley wearing actual present- day clothing. The film haphazardly chronicles eight different storylines of Londoners finding and losing love in the month leading up 'til Christmas, and UNIVERSAL while it's inane, it's thoroughly enjoyable. "NCAA Football 13" There have been better football games in recent years, and at that, there have been bet- ter sports games even released during this year. But no other game developer has ever captured the free-for-all known as recruiting. quite so well as the makers of "NCAA Football 13." Brag about your school's best features, make promises, schedule visits - do whatever you can to ensure an elite freshman class. e eJUDGING BY ITS Daily Arts writers go against the famous idiom, choose a random book and make assumptions - about its contents based on the cover art. SIMON & SCHUSTB to boycott anything and every- Ann and Flan staged an inter- thing life-related. vention, took Jan by her night- Flan and Ann were con- gown and threw her in the car. fused. After going through They were going to the strip their share of unhappy trials club for a nightof wild and dar- and tribulations, the two felt it ing adventures. Jan struggled. was necessary to be optimistic Jan resisted. And then she saw and keep a level head, the boys. After all, they weren't dead, In classic Linda Lewis fash- were they? ion, "We Hate Everything But "Might as well be!" came Boys" hones in on the delicate Jan's response from under- lives of three women and the neath her duvet. magical, touching relationship It was then that Flan had they share. Based on a true a stroke of genius: Everyone story, the novel takes readers loves sex. No one can resist on a quest of self-fulfillment, the tantalizing temptation of a living life on the edge and good roll in the sack. pants-less parades. So, after very little thought, -ANNA SADOVSKAYA ig Nothing was going well for sisters Ann, Jan and Flan. After a harrowing divorce, an abduction and two trips to the E.R., the girls were readyto settle down in quiet suburbia and live out their days as spin- sters and cat women. And then Jan, the ringleader and the eldest, decided to hate everything. No longer did she love DVRing "Grey's Anato- my" and hunkering down to watch with her two sisters. She wasn't interested in cook- ing, shopping, going to work or even swimming in their kiddie pool. No, Jan was done with life being unfair, so she decided a I 6 A I I 0 s