A few end of the year lists. (Observant readers will notice that some of these are from 2007, which shows you how out of touch I really am.) (I'm going to do a separate list for books.)Album of the Year
1. Made of Bricks - Kate Nash
2. Rockferry - Duffy
3. Only By The Night - Kings of Leon
4. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
5. Dear Science - TV on the Radio
Film of the Year
1. No Country For Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Waltz With Bashir
4. Juno
5. Man On Wire
TV of the Year
1. Mad Men
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. 30 R0ck
4. South Park
5. Project Runway (dont say a bloody word)
YouTube of the Year
1. Larry54
2. Battle of the Kruger
3. Alpe D'Huez
4. Aron Ralston
5. Chris Matthews Munich
Sandwiches of the Year
1. Classic cheese on toast
2. Roast beef po boy
3. Spicy tuna with mayo
4. Roast turkey & ham with provolone
5. Classic BLT
34 comments:
Irish tough guys watching Project Runway...
O tempora,o mores
I think you may have saved your chance at getting a copy of that 50G galley by quoting the Latin, Marco. Me? I say nothing. Nothing at all.
Except those sandwiches make me hungry.
Marco
My favourite bit "in fashion one day you are in and ze next you are out..."
Or Tim rolling his eyes.
v word perec - my second v word author.
Seanag
Ok you're in too. But everyone else is going to have to compete dammit!
1. No Country For Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Waltz With Bashir
4. Juno
5. Man On Wire
I haven't seen Waltz or Man on Wire yet. I'll have to check those out. Man on Wire sounds really cool.
I enjoyed No Country, but I thought There Will Be Blood was last year's best. No Country's plot kept it from being great, IMHO.
I know that TWBB diverges wildly from Sinclair's novel, Oil. But still, I think it would be an interesting experiment to compare the source material for both films.
I'm looking forward to Frost/Nixon and Benjamin Button this year. And Nothing But the Truth looks decent too.
No, I wasn't trying to score a galley, as I think I have a pretty good shot at getting one from our sales rep. Anyway, I've asked. I was just cautioning Marco against recklessness before he actually gets his hands on a copy.
Somewhat incredibly to me, I haven't seen a single one of the movies, which means I've been going a lot less lately. A couple that stood out for me this year, without racking my brain about it are Let the Right One In, the Swedish vampire movie, which is also supposed to be a very good book, and The Visitor, which is a showcase for Richard Jenkins. The one I want to see most right now is Slumdog Millionaire.
Cloud Cult put out the best album of the year in my opinion. Feel Good Ghosts, if you haven't heard it you are missing out.
I like reading lists,not compiling them-but this year brought with itself the revelation that Youtube it's not only an interesting theoretical concept,but also the place where many of my favorite songs by long disappeared bands have been uploaded.
In this spirit,I'll cheat and join together the music of the year/youtube of the year lists for a ten parts (mainly) nostalgia trip.
I believe all are more or less acknowledged by the copyright owners and therefore safe for linking.
1) The Triffids,Spanish Blue
This beautiful song has never been included in an album
2) The Triffids, Raining Pleasure
I could probably make out a top ten (or twenty,or...) of Triffids songs only,but I'll limit myself to these two.This one is sung by Jill Birt.
3) Hüsker Dü Could you be the one
The Grandafthers of hardcore.
4) Minutemen This Ain't No Picnic
Ah,the brief period in which Minutemen didn't mean one of many rightwing militias,but rather one of the greatest American (not only) punk bands.
5) Pixies Caribou
Yes,they've recently reunited,but...
6) Wire Practice makes perfect
Someone asked about Wire?
7) Yo Yo Mundi Tredici
This song is a part of a collection dedicated by the band to stories of the Italian Resistance movement.The thirteen of the title are the members of a partisan brigade who were tortured and killed in front of the population,and whose dead bodies were left to lie in the snow for days.
8) Modena City Ramblers Un giorno di pioggia
A song dedicated to Ireland from an Italian band who has been strongly influenced by Irish music and culture.
9) Tocotronic Sie Wollen Uns Erzählen
My favourite German band,fond memories of Hamburg,simple song and beautiful video.Also useful if you want to refresh your German.
10) Nine Inch Nails Closer nsfw lyrics
I was just cautioning Marco against recklessness before he actually gets his hands on a copy.
I'm definitely risking here.The song is used here as soundtrack for a Star Trek fan video.
I'm not a great Star Trek fan by any stretch of the imagination, but someone in this blog is...My site of reference for everything science-fictional,SF signal,pointed me to it,and after all
historically the Kirk/Spock pairing invented slash fanfiction.
Hope I'll still be on speaking terms with Adrian after this.
v-word:busness
Oh,and I forgot:
The Triffids and Friends Play the Songs of David McComb - a gig coming to the Arts Centre, Hamer Hall, Melbourne, 29 January 09. Its a tribute to the fine talents of David McComb from Rob and the rest of the band (Jill Birt, Martyn P Casey, Graham Lee, Alsy MacDonald).
Just saying...
Christina,
Long time no hear.
Will definitely check out Cloud Cult and may even pay for a song if there's a personal connection (otherwise its the torrents for me).
Brian
What was it about No Country? The ending?
I'll admit Kelly McDonald koping it was hard to take. She should have tried her lovely Glaswegian accent on the evil hitman - guarantee he would have buckled.
Seanag
Hmmm, you've got more faith in Holt's marketing department than I do, but we'll see. They managed to get that Benjamin Black fella into every dog house, hen house and outhouse in the country.
marco
I will check on all of them and get back to you later.
A...
Sadly I'm so media unsavvy the only thing I recognise are the sandwiches.
9) Tocotronic Sie Wollen Uns Erzählen
This is the correct link.
And,like Stephen King,I'll add an eleventh: Dream Syndicate's Boston
Adrian-
SPOILER ALERT
I read NCFOM as well, and no matter what everybody tells me (even if it's McCarthy himself telling me), I still see Brolin's character as the focal point of the story. I don't get the decision to kill him off-screen (or off-scene in the book). Not that I'm against killing off the main character, but after that happened in NCFOM, I felt like the story stopped being about what it had been about for two hundred pages. I don't know how else to describe it.
I think the film adaptation makes this even more clear that it's Brolin and Bardem's story, not Jones's. Jones's scenes, as well-acted as they are, are almost unnecessary in the grand scheme of things in the film. While I wasn't put off by the last scene, I can understand the reaction of the audience I saw it with, most of whom just said, "Huh?"
Brian
I thought the film was superior to the book. They cut the anti abortion rants and made it funnier but I can certainly see your point of view, in fact you may have convinced me to flip one and two.
There's no way I'm going to see the movie version of The Road. I dont think I could stand it.
Marco
Much enjoyment there. Especially the Triffids. I'd heard them before years ago. YouTube is great for that stuff.
Tocotronic - I can live with that.
It was good to hear Wire too. I dont think Elastica totally ripped them off, but of course the courts thought otherwise.
Michael
Well as Warren Zevon said "enjoy every sandwich"
Tocotronic - I can live with that.
Well,not all their songs are like this-in fact more recent ones are very different,and sometimes actually sung.
But I like this song,the video,I was in Hamburg in 97,they're my age,and so...
In fact,come to think of it,most of these bands have written good complex and multilayered songs at some point in their career,but in my selection I've gone for simpler ones.
I dont think Elastica totally ripped them off, but of course the courts thought otherwise.
I do.The intro of their song is identical to the beginning of this one:
Three Girls Rumba
What did you think of Modena City Ramblers's love song to Ireland?
Marco
Yeah you may be right about Elastica, but (not your cup of tea of course) Justine Frischmann's so damn adorable with that swishy hair cut I can let her off.
I liked the Modena City Ramblers though those kids give me the creeps. They looked like West Belfast street urchins who'd put a brick through your window as soon as look at you.
Warren who?
Never mind. :)
end of semester kicked my ass and i've been busy fretting over the fact I'm moving to Limerick for five months on Jan. 19th.
Hey, you can feel good about yourself if you end up buying the entire album, they run their own distribution and everything's recycled, even the jewel cases. and You know they have to be good, they come from Minnesota! (course i might be biased :D) You can listen to pretty much their entire cds on myspace for free.
Are you unhappy to be going to Limerick, Roisin, or are you just fretting over preparations? Because if it's the first, maybe I could take your place.
Adrian, I doubt that you have less faith in the publishing industry than I do, and I may not snag a copy this way, but I may get one, and it would be wrong to get two when the goal is to spread it around widely. At the very least, showing avid interest to my sales rep gives her some tiny sense that there's already some presale interest. And I can always enter the competition and try to win a galley if Holt falls down on the job. I'm quite willing to cheat if it will help.
I think it's quite reasonable to get Marco a copy because it will help him pitch the book(s). I really don't have sufficient clout to merit that.
Also, I still have a bit of backlist to read...
definitely the latter there seanag, sorry! My university is giving me the run around with finances!
No problem, Roisin. It would only work if this was really a sim universe anyway, as without a lot of modifications I would definitely not pass as a university student.
I hope you have a fantastic time, once the finances are sorted.
BIG MISTAKE:
I forgot Flight of the Conchords.
TV SHOW OF THE YEAR.
I'm going to have to bump 30 Rock.
Christina
You'll have a blast. Great city, great place. Say hi to Ken Bruen for me.
Seanag
I have an impending feeling of doom.
This may be my swansong for a few years. Dairy farming takes a lot of work.
My dad grew up on a dairy farm in Illinois during the Great Depression, which may be why I treat your 'Plan B' with some skepticism. Running a dairy farm off the grid, I think you are going to have to follow Brad and Angelina's model and start adopting a lot of children, as those places require a lot of unpaid labor. And I guess you'd better start acquiring cats also, since you don't seem keen on the overrun with mice scenario.
Luckily, I don't think your impending sense of doom means much one way or the other. I think the world gives us all an impending sense of doom just now, but that doesn't mean the future is necessarily going to play out our worst fears.
Adrian-
Flight of the Conchords is a hilarious show. I can't wait for Season 2 to start up.
I think you're right about NCFOM (the movie) being better than the book. Strange, but I don't remember the anti-abortion rants in the book, b/c that's something that would normally catch my eye.
I haven't read The Road, but only b/c I wasn't crazy nutso overboard about NCFOM when I read it. I take it you recommend it. I was interested in seeing the film adaptation because of Viggo Mortenson and Guy Pearce.
Brian
The Road is grim. Good but grim.
I think the early CMCC is universally excellent though.
favs:
Child of God, Outer Dark, Blood Meridian.
I think what disturbed me most about the Road is that it all seems pretty believable to me. If the comet hits we're screwed big time.
Yeah he's not too happy abortion in NCFOM.
Seanag
way to skewer my dreams...
is this also part of your Festivus misnanthropy?
Might be. Although I have been pretty dead set against this project from first hearing about it if you recall. But maybe for the New Year, I'll take a different approach.
Like how about this, just to warm up to it:
What--you can't see your way to sheltering a couple dozen deserving kids and cats? Where's the obstacle here, really? It's a win-win situation. You get slave labor, they get to survive. Maybe.
Okay, I'm still working on it...It's hard to be kind in the off hours when you work holiday retail.
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