I was more out of touch with Clutchfans when I visited Houston over Christmas than I a normally am in New Zealand, so this kind of thing may have been covered ad naseum. I want to know what flipped in your switch last year. My list o' stuff: Music: 1) S/T, Franz Ferdinand Music you can dance, ****, or look cool listening to on yer ipod. 2) S/T Eagles of Death Metal Music you can dance, ****, or get into a bar fight to...the sound of Meth Lab America! 3) Smile/ Brian Wilson Gorgeous...only that vegetables song isn't perfect. 4) The Delivery Man/ Elvis Costello The best EC album since 1986, beyotches. 5) The Slow Wonder/ AC Newman Peerless power pop from one of the New Pornographer fellas. An album made for phrases like "peerless powerpop," in fact. 6) Van Lear Rose/ Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn is God-like. Great Production here, too, from Jack White. 7) Cee-Lo Green is the Soul Machine/ Cee-Lo Green Warm and groovy Southern hip-hop. 8) The Grey Album/ Dangermouse (Beatles+Jay-Z) A mash that works for a whole album....fun stuff! 9) Happiness in Magazines/ Graham Coxon Blur lives! 10) Final Straw/ Snow Patrol Coldplay lives (yikes)! 11) Rubber Factory/ The Black Keys The White Stripes with a good drummer! Movies: Mostly documentaries and a few comedies. I have yet to see several movies that are probably wonderful (The Aviator, Sideways, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Baby Geniuses 2, etc.) 1) Old Boy- A Korean movie that is part bad-ass revenge fantasy snuff film and Chinatown psychodrama. Great date movie... 2) The Battle of Algiers- Re-released 1962 movie about the French occupation of Algeria...I hate to sound flippant, but if five important people in the Pentagon had watched this movie the US might have approached things differently (in Vietnam, Mogidishu, Iraq). Well, probably not. 3) Los Angeles Plays Itself - Informative and medatative look at how Los Angeles (and mid-century architecture!) has been portrayed and distorted in film. 4) The Incredibles- Right-wing subtext be damned...great fun! 5) Bad Santa- Scuzzy and wonderful...like Christmas! 6) The Corporation- Great technique and packed with information...it just ran out of steam. 7) Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst- Crazy **** man...the 70's were almost us messed up as now! 8) The Fog of War- Only released here in 2004. I guess McNamara shows the limits of rationality. For all of his candor and attempt at intellectual honesty (the "lessons") he just cannot come to grips with what happened in Vietnam and his role in destroying so many lives. Maybe that's the fog you can't lift for the sake of personal survival. 9) Ron Burgandy- News Team Assemble! (Arrrrroooooooowwwww) 10) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou- "What do you want, Old Man?" Funniest line of the year. Anderson does what he does...he's treading water (rim-shot) here, but I still like his big themes, attention to detail, whimsy and underlying melancholy. Personal things that ruled this year: 1) My wife, family, friends and pets...healthy and lovely! 2) Teaching rules! 3) Late entry: the IRiver H320 mp3 player...dear God, this has changed my life. 4) Sydney, San Francisco, Queenstown, Houston and Simmesport, LA in one year..yes! 5) Franz Ferdinand, David Bowie, Jurassic 5, Elvis Costello, Neil and Tim Finn, Flaming Lips and James Brown in concert rawked in concert! 6) Mexican food, snow on Christmas Eve at the San Jacinto Monument and seeing the Rockets at the Toyota Center...nice way to round up a great year.
"Antics" - Interpol "Franz Ferdinand" - Franz Ferdinand Those were the 2 best new music albums I bought in 2004, IMO. However, all I have been listening to (and buying now) is jazz. "Tricycles" by Larry Coryell was released in 2004 and is a great jazz album.
Movies: 1) LOTR: ROTK EE 2) The Incredibles 3) Shaun of the Dead 4) Bad Santa Personal stuff: Got myself lots of courage to talk with girls! Left me wondering what had held me back all those years. Writing (and watching) for a TV show. Even though it wasn't great, it was an enjoyable and educational experience. Friends/family/health/education etc... My life is great right now.
Music: Bleh... Movies: Spider-Man 2, Shrek 2, Meet the Fockers - proof that sequels don't have to suck and can be exponentially better than the first film Dawn of the Dead - pleasantly surprisingly watchable remake
Q and Not U - Power (maybe their best album yet) Franz Ferdinand - Self Titled Interpol - Antics VHS or BETA - Night on Fire Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One is One
Albums: 1) Butch Walker - "Letters" 2) The Wildhearts - " ... Must be Destroyed" 3) The Wildhearts - "Riff After Riff" 4) Eddie Spaghetti - "The Sauce" 5) Eagles of Death Metal - "Peace, Love, Death Metal" 6) Val Emmich - "Slow Down Kid" 7) Lit - "Lit" 8) Monster Magnet - "Monolithic Baby!" Songs: "Best Thing You Never Had" - Butch Walker "Vanilla Radio" - The Wildhearts "Speaking in Tongues" - Eagles of Death Metal "Set Me Free" - Velvet Revolver "Killer Weed" - Eddie Spaghetti "Looks Like They Were Right" - Lit "Almost" - Bowling for Soup "Privacy Attracts a Crowd" - Val Emmich Movies: Napoleon Dynamite TV Shows: 24 Curb Your Enthusiasm Reno 911 Da Ali G Show DVDs: Seinfeld
Music: Franz Ferdinand The Used Incubus Jurassic5 Movies: Harold and Kumar Anchorman Collateral TV Shows South Park 24 Poker Tournaments DVD's South Park Family Guy Games (x-box) Halo 2 NHL 2005 Madden 2005 Fight Night 2004 New Items my mp3 player new digi-camera
Movies: My Architect was my favorite. I probably won't re-watch anything else from this year. Maybe Super Size Me. Control Room was good, too. (The Year of the Documentary, I suppose.) Music: Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Orso, Plastic Constellations, Devendra Banhart, Vetiver, Joanna Newsom, Juana Molina, Black Eyes, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Sonic Youth, Death From Above 1979, Ghost, Adem, The Album Leaf, Automato, Cee-Lo, Arcade Fire, Fiery Furnaces, Mutual Admiration Society, Chris Thile, The Gris Gris, Isis, Old Man Gloom, Avhak, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Bjork, Black Ox Orkestar, Black Forest/Black Sea, Triosk, Interpol, Mirah, and about two dozen others I can't think of off the top of my head. TV: Chappelle's Show, of course. Though I really think it may have already peaked. I'm addicted to The Real World and I don't know why. These people are boring. Someone shoot me.
We can do re-releases? Well count me in for La Dolce Vita! No, wait...don't. That movie is really long. I saw tons of great shows this year. The Decemberists were lights out at Rudyard's and I got to scratch Neko Case off my short list.
Not all of it's new but it's stuff that I just now discovered/liked this year... Songs: Eminem- Like Toy Soldiers Jay-Z/Linkin Park- Numb/Encore Kanye West- Whole damn album! Tupac- Ghetto Gospel Twista/Anthony Hamilton- Sunshine Video Games: NBA Live 2005 X-Men Legends Mortal Kombat: Deception GTA: San Andreas WWE Smackdown vs. Raw Movies: Spiderman 2 I Robot Shrek 2 The Incredibles DVDs: Seinfeld Chappelle's show Season 1 Simpsons seasons 4-5 lots of NBA DVD's Personal: This has just been a big year for me...nominated for Winterfest king, finishing top 5 in the state in Marketing competitions, turning 18, senior prom, high school graduation, starting college at BGSU, meeting my new (potential) girlfriend....its been HUGE. Biggest year of my life
Holy Schnikes are they back together again? Milo Goes to college pwns. I haven't been keeping up with punk much these days...
