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Most memorable book I read this year is a few years old: Random Family. It pretty much blew me away. There's a good interview with the author here.

I have never heard Kanye West, but that cd is on my "to do" list.

I could use a recommendation for a stereo that doesn't suck. My computer acts up if I play music while I try to do anything else.

I didn't read any new books or buy any new music. I may have gone to a movie or two. Mostly I continued my hermitization trend.\

Thanks for asking!

I did not see a single movie this year. Not one. Nor bought a single CD. I draw musical sustenance from free mp3 blogs and the charity of mix-making strangers.

I read assloads of books, though. Eco's "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana", about memory and dying. "The System of the World," the last of Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, the culmination of several thousand pages of excellent historical fiction; Ackroyd's "London: A Biography"; Bakunin's "The Winter Queen" and "The Turkish Gambit"; Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations"; "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell"; Lucien Febure's "Life In Renaissance France" and Holmes' "Daily Living in the 12th Century; "Stanislaw Lem's "His Master's Voice"; Simmons' "Ilium";...

Books are the only way a person can live more than one life.

One movie I saw this year that really grew on me: Broken Flowers. Ambiguous, frustrating, imperfect - but not easy to shake off. And has some good naked bits in it, too.

Constant Gardener: Not exactly your bowl o' popcorn lighthearted afternoon, but a very strong film with pretty amazing acting.

Oliver Twist - Polankski did a brilliant job with the setting of this classic, and Ben Kingsley is a perfect Fagin.

What should you add to your Netflix queue?
Shogun. The Japanese actors completely steal the show, and by the time you watch all 4 discs, you learn a couple basic vocabulary words. Konichi wa, Anjin-san.

I'm in the same boat as Fes, music & movie wise. Although I did see The Philadelphia Story, Night Of The Hunter and Dog Day Afternoon for the first time this year, all of which I loved. Tome Perrotta's Little Children and Richard Price's Samaritan were probably the two best books I read this year.

As usual, didn't buy/read/watch/listen to much new stuff.

But here were the highlights:

Text:
"Last Dance: Behind the Scenes at the Final Four", John Feinstein;
"Life With Jeeves", P.G. Wodehouse;
"Walk On Water", Michael Ruhlman;
"Hotel Kid", Stephen Lewis;
"The Devil Problem", David Remnick;
"Julie and Julia", Julie Powell;
"Complicated Shadows: The Life and Music of Elvis Costello", Graeme Thompson;
"Spook: Science Tackles The Afterlife", Mary Roach;
"Skyscraper: The Making of a Building", Karl Sabbagh;
"Robbing The Bees: A Biography of Honey", Holley Bishop;
"The Groucho Letters", Groucho Marx;
"Moab Is My Washpot: An Autobiography", Stephen Fry;
"Off Main Street: Barnstormers, Prophets & Gatemouth's Gator (Essays)", Michael Perry;
"London: A Biography" (me too!), Peter Ackroyd.

Flicks:
"The Thirty-Nine Steps"
"Edge Codes"
"Steamboat Bill, Jr."
"The Aristocrats"
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
"Sing Faster: The Stagehand's Ring Cycle"
"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
"The Third Man", projected on the big screen at the American Museum of the Moving Image. It comes alive on film.
"Band of Outsiders", ditto

Tunes:
"Yoshimi Battles The Hip-Hop Robots", Kleptones
"NYC: December 11, 2004", Pixies (so cool to get a well-recorded CD of a concert I attended)
"Newport: August 6, 2005", Pixies (acoustic Pixies!)
"The Delivery Man", Elvis Costello
"Winged Life", Shearwater (I would absolutely love this record even if a friend weren't in the band)
"Takeoffs & Landings", Rilo Kiley
"100 Broken Windows", Idlewild

Concerts:
Shearwater, Northsix, Brooklyn
Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris, Summerstage, Central Park
Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Beacon Theater
Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Hudson River Festival
Evelyn Glennie, Town Hall
Earl Scruggs, Steve Martin, Tony Ellis, & Charles Wood, New Yorker Festival
Gillian Welch, New Yorker Festival
The dB's, Maxwell's, Hoboken

Trips:
Marietta, Ohio, to see the parents and the Flood of 2005;
the Rivah, in May and again in July and this past weekend;
Louisville, to go to LebowskiFest with Tizzie;
Newport, RI, at the end of June
Atlanta, on business, in September

Oh, and my girlfriend moved in with me in April. So it was a good year.

I want to know what media you've been consuming all year.
The end of the road in TX’s Judicial System.

What I enjoyed this year, by Kaf Ka Esque, age 7:

movies, best:
Broken Flowers
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Batman Begins
Alucarda
The Motorcycle Diaries
Shaun of the Dead
My Life as a Dog
Batman Begins

movies, worst:
Napoleon Dynamite
Trouble Every Day
Team America: World Police
2046

books, best:
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
Outside the Dog Museum, Jonathan Carroll
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri

books, worst:
House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski

CDs, best:
Jazz at the Philharmonic 1944-1949 Box Set
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Brian Eno - Another Day on Earth
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Trojan Reggae & Ska Box Sets
Low - The Great Destroyer
Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration

CDs, somewhat disappointing:
Tom Waits - Real Gone
Secret Machines - Now Here is Nowhere (I should metion that this album contains a great, great song called "Nowhere Again", but the rest of the album didn't do much for me)

special mention of great show:
Dead Can Dance at the Paramount, Oakland

You didn't like 2046? I haven't been able to get my hands on it yet, so I haven't seen it, but I'm a huge Kar-Wai fan. Do you like his other stuff?

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada did me right. I liked Caché and Heartworn Highways, too.

And The Arcade Fire and Amadou & Mariam.

And once again I was reminded that much of the best old stuff gets worse with age, which is reassuring.

John, I'm a huge Wong Kar-Wai fan, which is probably why 2046 was so disappointing to me. It's purported to be a sequel of sorts to In The Mood for Love, which is in my top ten of all time, but it's just meandering and vacuous. There are a lot of things in the movie which are just left unanswered, and not in a cool "What is he saying into that Cambodian temple wall?" sort of way...more like nonsensical and unfinished. The production, as you probably know, was delayed innumerable times, and the movie reeks of it. It's as if Wong just threw up his hands and said "It's a mess, but I'm done editing this bastard!"

In that way, it kind of reminded me of what I hated about the last few Wenders movies, another guy who's consistently let me down after producing some of my favorites...as if the movie was chopped down to two hours from about six.

Anyway, see it if you must, but I found it infuriating. I do think that it's not valid to judge Wong on that film in particular, fraught as it was with so many problems. Watch the Criterion In The Mood for Love eight times instead.

Also also, I got the Criterion of The Man Who Fell to Earth for Christmas, which is tasty.

Also also also, they have 2046 on Netflix, Lupo.

The Man Who Fell to Earth - I loved that movie! Bowie, Buck Henry... and it foretold the invention of disposable cameras.

What a shame. I'm a huge WKW fan myself (well, except for "Ashes of Time", and it has its moments), and I've really been looking forward to seeing 2046.

Movies:
Crash
Syriana
both movies that made me think a lot and stayed with me
Napolean Dynamite
sorry kaf, but i think it's hilarious, even though i'm not one of teh mormons anymore

Books:
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
it didn't come out this year, but it's pretty fantastic, especially if you like opera at all
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
also didn't come out this year, but i just read it and i can't stop thinking about it

Music:
Madonna-Confessions on a Dance Floor
Black Eyed Peas-Monkey Business, and yes, I've even come to enjoy "My Humps". So sue me.
Hot Hot Heat-Elevator
Green Day-American Idiot
Gwen Stefani-L.A.M.B.
Keane-Hopes and Fears

Netflix bounced 2046 from the top of my queue to the "Coming Soon" pile. I'm gonna have to call someone and bitch.

*sues witchstone*
(if ya know what I mean)

The only movie I saw in the theater this year was Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit. It didn't disappoint. Going to a 10:00 showing on a Monday night ensured the complete absence of snot nosed screamers.

Music: (can't guarantee all of these came out in 05, but in my mind, that's where they'll be placed)

Devotchka - How it Ends
Dangerdoom - The Mouse and the Mask
The Old 97's - Alive and Wired
Lyrics Born - Same Shit, Different Day
Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame
Ratatat - s/t

Recently purchased but in heavy rotation: Matisyahu - Live at Stubb's

Books:
I'm a certified (and degreed) econ nut, so I really dug Freakonomics, although I wish it had delved further into the hard science. I guess it wouldn't have been near as successful if it had, though.

I've been reading They Marched Into Sunlight off and on all year. It's really fantastic. One of the better Vietnam era books I've read (and I've read quite a few).

The Economist - my weekly obsession.

2005 was pretty good though. I very well may cap it off by going downtown and bringing this sweet girl home with me: http://www.spca.org/cgi-bin/pet_details.cgi?petID=1775098

Ufez, my hero! About the pup, of course - even though I was an econ major, too, heh.

I just fell in love with ufez's puppy. Did you stay with Mitzi, or does she have a new name?

OK, not love. Mostly lust.

Update: She's home now. I got to the shelter before it opened, and it's a good thing I did. As I was leading her out of her pen, a volunteer with some other family looked at her and goes: "Oh, that's Mitzi". I just smiled and walked off with her. Suckas.

She's explored the house though, and eaten some food (she's skin and bones at the moment, so that's good). We've got her crate set up and now she's just kind of chilling.

Did you stay with Mitzi, or does she have a new name?

Well, not sticking with Mitzi (too damn cutesy), but we haven't settled on a name yet. Quick rejects included Shoshonna, Brandine, Roshelle Roshelle, and Condoleeza. Nicorette may work, since I'll likely have to quit smoking in order to feed her.

Mostly lust.

Well, she did just get fixed last week...

Nicorette may work, since I'll likely have to quit smoking in order to feed her.

Double plus good. {/mom}

What kind of "auld lang syne" shite is going on?

Where has ColdChef been? I should think he's ready to kiss this year goodbye!

Exploding Zamboni on Long Island!

One more reason Ufez is my hero.

It's a tile that I found sitting on a client's kitchen counter. I was quite pleased.

My name is Tizzie, and I'm a cuteaholic.

I forgot the following books and movies, some of which came out this year, some I just discovered.

CDs
---
Steve Earle - Train A Comin'
Bob Dylan - Folksinger's Choice (maybe the best thing I heard all year)
Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic
Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together

Movies
------
Ju-on The Grudge
Shaun of the Dead
Chungking Express
Kagemusha

I'm bored. Can someone entertain me, please?

Hey, I know what'll cheer you up...

You know, I really liked Ju-On the first time I saw it, but I think it's a one-timer.

I can entertain you by ranting about the MLS, which I am boycotting. Would that help?

The Multiple Listing Service?

Major Losers' Society.

Also, I think Steve Earle's a jerk.

I'm sorry to hear about the Quakes, kaf. And I'm sorry to hear that someone peed in your cornflakes, Fes. :-)

Not my personal cornflakes, but he was incredibly rude to someone very close to me. She's a huge fan, and he was a real prick. So there you have it. Up yours, Steve Earle! :)

Bonnie Raitt was rude to me once.

But I like Steve Earle. His music, anyway.

Christian Laettner once told me to fuck off.

And I like Steve Earle too.

Christian Laettner once told me to fuck off.

Now *that's* a badge I'd wear with great pride.

I can entertain you by ranting about the MLS, which I am boycotting.

You all got a raw deal, kaf. That said, I'd be happy to welcome you to the people with a personal vendetta against H-town club. Hell, fly into Dallas, grab a musket (they're 66 cents at the 7-11) and we'll march down I-45 and eradicate the crabs that live in the crotch of the US.

I reckon we can spare Cyrano.

I'd say you could join the loyal legions of FC Dallas, but they moved so far into the suburbs that it may as well be Houston. Who in their right mind besides some middle-management fucknut at PepsiCo thought "Pizza Hut Park" would make a good stadium name?

Now if you'll pardon me, I've got to reserve the rest of my bile for the shelter that let me adopt a heartworm postive puppy.

Ufez, check your gmail.

I still don't know what MLS is.

Men with Lesbian Sidekicks?

Men with Lingering Stiffies.

MLS

Men with Lesbian Sidekicks?

Finally, an organization I'd consider joining.

If only for the golf!

Oh my god, I have his autograph. Honest. My mom took my friends and I to see them perform, and Barry was my favorite. John, of course, was the cutest, but I thought Barry was the smart one.

As they say in the blue, .

Men with Lesbian Sidekicks?

You called?

That was me pimping 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada' a ways upthread. I recommend it highly when it arrives at your local movie palacette. Tommy Lee Jones' eyes keep getting sadder with age. At this point they contribute a whole melancholic subplot by themselves.

Crash, if you want to see Brokeback Mountain, looks like you've got to take a road trip.

I guess it's a good thing I don't want to see it, then.

(I'm still boycotting the Jordan Commons theater anyway, even though the only time we've ever gone there was for the IMAX anyway, but that's beside the point).

Best of 2005:

Books
With a new baby, didn't have a lot of Book-Reading time. I bought plenty of books, just never read any of them.

Music
Plenty of showtunes: Wicked, Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Producers, Spamalot...American Idiot was in heavy rotation

Podcasts
I'm ashamed to admit that I listen to The Distorted View. It's truly vile, but I can't turn away. I also love Le Show, The Ricky Gervais Show, The Muppet Movie Reviews, and the NPR story of the day.

Movies
Nothing made me laugh more this year than The 40 Year Old Virgin, but coming in close were The Wedding Crashers and The Aristocrats.

Television
The best show I saw this year, the one I could not turn away from...was the non-stop coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Seriously compelling television.

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