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Thursday, January 16, 2003
Here's To You, Two-Thousand and Two...
Another year down, which means it's time for a bunch of useless little lists. Just taking a little stock, if you will. Like last year, I'm not even going to try and put this stuff in order, and in a couple of cases, I couldn't stick to just 10 things. I'm flexible like that. These lists are more for my own future reference than anything else, so don't go thinkin' my opinion matters or anything. That'd just be silly. And awaaaay we go...  Favorite Films ... LOTR : The Two Towers Bowling for Columbine XX / XY (technically out this spring, saw a preview) Secretary Lovely & Amazing Adaptation Spirited Away The Ring Igby Goes Down 24 Hour Party People 13 Conversations About One Thing Honorable Mention: Spider-Man (for not screwing it up too badly), One Hour Photo (incredible visuals), Far From Heaven (ditto), The Good Girl (Mike White & Jake Gyllenhaal rule), Signs (nearly made the list), Road to Perdition (RIP Conrad Hall), Minority Report (nice try), and Equilibrium (almost). There are a bunch of movies I wanted to see but didn't... Auto-Focus, About Schmidt, Narc, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the Hours, 25th Hour, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and Solaris. Blame most of it on the year-end Oscar rush of potentially good stuff. I don't have enough free time, or extra dollars, to see all that. Maybe some o' those will end up on next year's list. By the way... Maggie Gyllenhaal knocks my socks off. Favorite Discs ... Interpol - "Turn On The Bright Lights" (mp3) Jason Loewenstein - "At Sixes and Sevens" (mp3) Silkworm - "Italian Platinum" (mp3) Audio Learning Center - "Friendships Often Fade Away" (mp3) Pedro the Lion - "Control" (mp3) Hot Snakes - "Suicide Invoice" (mp3) Low - "Trust" (mp3 excerpt) "20 Years of Dischord" Box Set Cinerama - "Torino" (mp3 excerpt) Mary Timony - "The Golden Dove" (mp3) Flaming Lips - "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (stream) Interpol snuck in under the wire and is blowing my mind. Sucker came out in August, and I should have been listening to it all along. Now that's the good stuff. Best Boston-Area Live Shows ... Mission of Burma at the Paradise, January 19th Death Cab for Cutie at the Middle East, March 16th Ted Leo at the Middle East, April 11th Fugazi at the MassArt gym, April 20th Poster Children at the MassArt gym, April 29th Kristin Hersh at 608, May 2nd Pedro the Lion at the Middle East, May 4th Audio Learning Center at the Middle East, May 21st Mary Timony & Friends at 608, June 6th Tender Trap at 608, June 18th Silkworm at TTs, July 12th American Analog Set at TT the Bears, August 3rd Darren Hanlon at the Kendall Cafe, September 1st Jason Loewenstein at the Middle East, October 4th Low at the Coolidge Corner Theater, October 8th Elvis Costello at the Orpheum, October 21st Television ... the Adult Swim cartoon block (Sealab 2021, Space Ghost, & Brak) Insomniac with Dave Attell Buffy the Vampire Slayer (treading water, though) The Amazing Race The Sopranos (barely) Samurai Jack X-Men Evolution Justice League Invader Zim (please, come back!) Angel The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Late Night with Conan O'Brien Andy Richter Controls the Universe Wow, that's more cartoon-heavy than I expected. 33 years old, folks. Thirty. Three. I've got to give props to the Sci-Fi mini-series "Taken", just for giving a 20-hour, multi-generational story a try. Each episode was so hit-or-miss, though, that it's hard to give the whole thing a thumbs-up. That Blair Witch girl still annoys the hell outta me, and Matt Frewer gets even freakier as he gets older. When the show was good, though, it was damn good. Favorite Comics ... ... in print ... Lone Wolf & Cub reprints (finished at last) Y the Last Man (the tough new kid) Powers (always strong) Queen and Country (Rucka rocks) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. II (Moore Goodness) Daredevil (go Bendis) Hellblazer (return to form) Transmetropolitan (will be missed) Global Frequency (mini action movies) The Ultimates (a perfect popcorn comic) ... and online ... Get Your War On James Kochalka's American Elf Foxtrot PVP Online Penny Arcade Nowhere Girl Video Games ... Grand Theft Auto III (PS2) GTA: Vice City (PS2) Spider-Man: The Movie (PS2) LOTR: The Two Towers (PS2) Warcraft 3 (PC) Unreal Tournament 2003 (PC) Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (PC) Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC) Age of Mythology (PC) The Personal Best ... Being part of Kate & Jim's wedding Seeing Amie finish her first few road races Our weekend in Provincetown Watching Matt and Mary get married (and the night in Portsmouth) The last Also-Rans show in Brooklyn Felice's Birthday Dinner in Manhattan Boston Harbour by boat, with dinner at Mama Marias Playing ball in Fenway Park Holding the Resignation EP in my hand NY weekend: Visiting friends, graduating family, Times Square, & carriage rides Finally feeling like I belong and believe in my job(certification city!) The Also-Rans' Week of Rock: Pipeline, Metronome, & the Middle East The Pats win the Superbowl Discovering Brooklyn Lager The Personal Blahs ... from the major losses ... Losing our kitty, Jan, to cancer Stereolab's Mary Hansen is gone The death of Ted Demme Joe Strummer dies way too early the Also-Rans become the Has-Beens ... to the minor disappointments ... Unwound calls it quits No new Planetary Firefly gets screwed ... and the building frustration ... George W. marches us slowly to War Let's hope that last one changes course, and ends up on the 'good' list next year. None of the other stuff really matters in comparison.  |
 neil halstead live in cambridge, ma on november 14th, 2008 previously: joy formidable - boston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac...
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