As the year has now come to an end, I think it's time that I, for the sake of king and country, prosperity and the what-not, compose some sort of list. That's what New Year's is for, isn't it? Lists and ridiculous resolutions that you really have no intention of keeping?
Let's start with Literature.
Since I read an incredible amount (of books no one really cares about) for work, I'll try to limit this "Best of" to books I hadn't read before, that I enjoyed and that I believe others, somewhere, might benefit from.
1) Neil Gaiman. Read a few of his books this year and they were all fantastic. If you like fantasy and you've not heard of this man, get some of his books. American Gods and Neverwhere were personal favourites.
2) Evelyn Waugh. Read a couple of his books for my last comprehensive exam and I really like his dry wit. Taught Vile Bodies this past semester, and though not everyone liked it, I believe most of them read it - which is something of a minor miracle.
3) Graham Greene's Ministry of Fear. Hadn't read this one before. Great psychological thriller set in WW2.
4) post-rapture radio by Russell Rathburn. Christian fiction that wasn't set either 1)a hundred years ago or 2) a rural town with quirky characters. Smart, funny.
5) Cavell on Film. My advisor turned me on to philosopher Stanley Cavell a couple of years ago. This is the latest volume of previously uncollected material. Heady, but there are few people producing the kind of quality work in film studies as Cavell.
6) Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. Two Christian books on one list? That has to be some sort of record. If more Christians approached questions of faith with the insight, honesty and humanity that Miller does, people wouldn't tune them out.
7) Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers. Few books make me laugh out loud and want to throw them down in frustration all at the same time.
8) Colin MacCabe's Eloquence of the Vulgar. A bit heady, but a brilliant analysis of culture/pop culture.
9) Notes from Underground. Am I a 19th century Russian bureaucrat?
10) Long Way Down. It's the new Nick Hornsby novel, which, in all fairness, I've only just started but I think it'll be good. I wasn't crazy about his last one (How to be Good), but so far this is more About a Boy/High Fidelity.
New Movies
1) Chronicles of Narina. Damn.
Honourable mentions: Pride and Prejudice. Call me a sissy, this was a solid film. King Kong. This was a ridiculously long film, which occasionally felt like watching someone else play a video game, but it was good. It just needed about an hour cut out of it. Serenity. Still bitter about Wash and Book, but an entertaining film. What Star Wars: Episodes 1-3 SHOULD have been.
Television
1) "Veronica Mars." Pick it back up, CTV-morons!
2) "House." If there's a better actor than Hugh Laurie on regular, week to week TV, I'd like to see it.
3) "Smallville". Superman cum Dawson's Creek. And that Lana is just so darn cute!
4) "Kitchen Confidential." I have no idea if this show's still going or if it's cancelled, but this was a smart and inventive show.
And the "What happened to that show?" mention: "Alias". Okay, so you kill off Vaughan after implying he's been a bad guy all along; the lead actress gets pregnant with an Affleck-spawn, but you write the pregnancy into the storylines so that a cool, kick-ass spy CAN'T DO THE COOL ASS KICKING WE ALL LOVE HER FOR!'CAUSE SHE"S ALL KNOCKED UP: then you stick in a bunch of new faces for what you've admitted is your FINAL SEASON! J.J. Abrams: please stop ignoring you shows. You're going to need as much as possible to fall back on when Mission Impossible 3 tanks at the box-office.
2 comments:
IIRC, I heard that Kitchen Confidential is cancelled.
I just started watching House, and I'm digging it so far, but it seems to be pretty formulaic.
I figured it was cancelled.
As for the House being formulaic, you're right on the money. I love the show, but the main problem I have with the show is that they tend to stick to a limiting formula (patient gets sick, no one can figure out what's wrong, House tries soemthing crazy that fails, then tries something else against everyone's better judgment, that fails, then he figures out the real problem in an epigphany-like moment while talking to Robert Sean Leonard. That said, there have been some really good episodes that deviate from said formula - last season's second last episode where we learn what happened to House's leg is a particular favourite. All this makes me believe that the show has limited, short term appeal. Hugh Laurie, however, is an inspiration. Man, i wish I could say things like that to people.
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