Lazy Thoughts From a Boomer: 2009

Showing posts with label 2009. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Year of Bests '09

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / August 31, 2009)

An unexamined life is not worth living. ~ Socrates

Periodically, my mother would repeat the above quote to me. At the oddest times, too. Usually, after I caught her just... looking at me. For the record, I'm pretty sure my brother was on the receiving end of this, as well - probably more so since he lived with her longer. Although, I could never accuse my mom of playing favorites (like my grandmother... her mom). Anyway, these days I find myself doing much of the same and just staring at my own kids... and thinking. So, I guess it'd be no surprise to anyone that the one with the nostalgia gene would take stock at year's end. And since I have a blog, plus a demented sense of entitlement to judge what I like, I choose to look back at those things that I found myself drawn to, intrigued by, or that I just plain enjoyed during the year 2009.

For the leading photo of this post, I selected one of the L.A. Times', from their Best of Times photography. The shot of some young men watching the Station Fire this past August from a hill overlooking Tujunga has a terrible, stark and ghastly beauty within its image. There was nothing good in the flames, though. Started deliberately, 2 firefighter lives taken, 18 homes lost, and more than 160,000 acres burned. I marveled at the picture, nonetheless. Ironically, the month before I re-read the Robert Crais novel, Chasing Darkness. Its foretelling start was more than appropriate for our fires of August:

Beakman and Trenchard could smell the fire--it was still a mile away, but a sick desert wind carried the promise of Hell.

So, in no particular order, the following brought me enjoyment and I thought they were worth noting (I resisted the compulsion to call this The Boomers Awards). Without further ado, these were the best things in my year:

Blogosphere

Back in April, blogger/writer/novelist Nordette Adams wrote in the Examiner New Orleans, Walt Whitman, and Leaves of Grass for National Poetry Month. Equally, I've grown to look forward to any of her posts that include her own poetry. Also, I find myself regularly drawn to her insightful posts and the diversity of the subjects she chooses to write about.

On September 11th, while I sat along Avalon harbor on Santa Catalina island waiting to meet the boat that carried my wife and kids, I read a remarkable review by J.D. of the Paul Greengrass' film, United 93. Additionally, his recent review of, in the Sam Peckinpah tribute, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia took me back in a way I hadn't expected, as well. Plus, he may have ended the year on a high note with his wonderful look back at When Harry Met Sally.

Writer/blogger Patricia Abbott and her Friday's Forgotten Book series was one of the best things discovered on the web.

If there's anything I learned that my wife will also appreciate, it's that I want to travel like Herb & Laura.

Author John Kenneth Muir wrote a stirring examination for the underrated, but hauntingly memorable, film Carlito's Way by Brian De Palma. His cult review of Tron brought unexpected and enjoyable insight to that film. And a short while ago, this writer posted a wonderfully in-depth interview with Chris Carter (of X-Files, Millennium fame).

Jen Forbus started the You Have The Right to Six Words memoirs in the Spring of the year, and carried it through to December to become my favorite series. Luckily, it's returning in 2010. And she is the one I have to thank for introducing me to Gregg Hurwitz (literally, at the Mystery Bookstore)--plus, her interview with the author was very good, too.

Dennis Cozzalio's consummate film blog always has something for his readers. But the readers, and their answers, were the highlight on the blogger's triumvirate of movie quizzes this year: Prof. Peabody's Hysterical, Historical Wayback Spring Break Film Quiz, Prof. Severus Snape's Sorcercer-tastic, Muggalicious Mid-Summer Movie Quiz, and Prof. Russell Johnson's 'My Ancestors Came Over on the Minnow Thanksgiving/Christmas Movie Quiz.

Corey Wilde out of the clear blue sky came up with his first (and hopefully not last) Watery Grave Invitational short story contest (and he managed to introduce this reader to some fine stories and authors). His recent book review of The Gentlemen's Hour hopefully will get the word out to people that they should discover the talent that is Don Winslow. Finally, his Drowning Machine blog expanded to include writer Naomi Johnson (and whose short stories are worthy reading). Recently, this blogger caught my eye with his fresh new blog template and clean layout.

Across the pond, film blogger Livius has been building up an impressive archive of reviews. I discovered his splendid review from last year of Walter Hill's underrated western, The Long Riders. In 2009, Hard Times, Charlie Varrick, and The Stalking Moon made my day.

Distant relative Poncho's James Bond survey was more than fun (click here for translation)

Lesa (She-Who-Reads-Unbelievable-Amounts) found a perfect gift book (which he loved) for my son's birthday in September with her review of the Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violini. And it was through her influence, I came to believe that Never Smile At A Monkey would be a book my daughter would appreciate (she did).

My favorite writer in Los Feliz (with the moniker of Mr. Peel) had three more of my favorite film examinations in the year with The Shootist, S.O.B., and Inglourious Basterds.

Steve Hart, a journalist and freelance writer, posts on a number of subjects. One series of his (from last year) summed up a unique and foremost aspect in film action: The Best Sword Fights of All Time.

October and Halloween were more fun in '09 because of Steve's All Nighter, and J.D.'s month of scary movie reviews.

The book review by Pop Culture Nerd for Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer was singular. We read the book almost at the same time, and her's was the only one that put words to what I felt afterward. Of course, without her posts covering the Cops & Crooks in California Panel at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, I never would have discovered her (well... I have writer Naomi Johnson to thanks for pointing me her way).

Image via Wikipedia

Blogging Tools

After blogging for more than a year now, whatever writing I do, its workflow, and how it looks on screen (the quality of content is another matter, entirely) was helped enormously by three free pieces of software. Some bloggers use standalone applications for their blog composition tasks. But, I found the Firefox browser, with its extension capability, and two add-ons to work fine for me: Scribefire and Zemanta. And, even though I use a Mac, all of these are cross-platform and work with various blogging platforms like Blogger and Wordpress (did I mention they were free?).

Books (includes Audiobooks)

Robert Crais for Chasing Darkness (re-read) and The First Rule. Sean Chercover for Big City Bad Blood and Trigger City. Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein, Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer, Shades of Blue & Gray by Herman Hattaway, The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson, Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty, We Were Soldiers Once... And Young by Harold G. Moore & Joseph L. Galloway, The Ninth Configuration by William Peter Blatty, Small Crimes and Pariah by Dave Zeltserman, Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta, Whirlwind by the late Joseph R. Garber (re-read), Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Head Games by Craig McDonald, and last but not least, Don Winslow for The Winter of Frankie Machine, The Dawn Patrol, and The Power of the Dog. (and the yet to be published in the U.S., The Gentlemen's Hour)

Audiobook Narrators (Performance)

Paula Christensen (Fifty Grand), Joe Barrett (Big City Bad Blood, Trigger City), William Roberts (Chasing Darkness), George Guidall (The Cold Dish), Guerin Barry (Whirlwind), Tom Stechschulte (Head Games), Ray Porter (The Dawn Patrol, The Power of the Dog).

Movies (from the ones I've seen)

Image by cineypantalla01 via Flickr

Avatar, Up in the Air, Invictus, Public Enemies, The Proposal, The International, Up, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, Inglourious Basterds, Watchmen, Star Trek, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Trick 'r Treat, Good Hair, Splinter, Taken, The Blind Side, The Hangover, The Hurt Locker, The Princess and the Frog, 2012, Zombieland, Drag Me to Hell, Julie & Julia, Let The Right One In, Toy Story 3-D, Toy Story 2 3-D, Sherlock Holmes

What A Year For Them

Sam Worthington (Jake Scully in Avatar, and the best thing in Terminator: Salvation), Zoe Saldana (Neytiri in Avatar, and Uhuru in Star Trek), Stephen Lang (Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar, Charles Winstead in Public Enemies, and Brigadier General Dean Hopgood in The Men Who Stare at Goats), George Clooney (as the Fantastic Mr. Fox and Ryan Bingham in Up In The Air), Meryl Streep (Julia in Julie & Julia, Jane in It's Complicated, and her Mrs. Fox in Fantastic Mr. Fox), Sandra Bullock (Margaret in The Proposal, Mary in All About Steve, and Leigh in The Blind Side), Johnny Depp (John Dillinger in Public Enemies, and Imaginarium Tony #1 in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus).

Geekdom

Music

The women in my life continue to expand my musical tastes. My wife has had that affect on me for over 20 years (plus I have her as my blogpost muse, especially when she gifts me with things like The Beatles Remastered Stereo set). And my daughter has only just begun her influence upon me--plus, she cracks me up sometimes with her reactions to my car radio surfing (her snide "What the hell is that?!?" retort to my landing on to this Duran Duran song was priceless). All the while, my son continually inspires me by his unmitigated joy in listening to music (and driving his sister crazy with his singing). Among other things this year, discovering blip.fm, the absolutely great music video-dance start of Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz's wedding over the summer, Laura Fygi and her The Lady Wants To Know album (especially for her version of that Michael Franks title track, and Franks accompanying her with a duet of Tell Me All About It), and the musical tastes from online friends Moondancer, Corey, Jen, Naomi, Poncho, Herb & Laura, pattinase, Nordette, and Steve, which continues to bring a well of revelation and motivation to all proceedings.

Happy New Year

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Slide

Here we go, again. It is another September 30th. It seems that ever since I became a parent, approaching 14 years, now (that's 98 in dog years), I've become acutely aware of this date. Today is the eve of what I like to refer as The Slide. That is, the cosmic phenomenon of the beginning of the end for whatever year you or I happen to be living through. You know the one where the space/time continuum accelerates to the point that the year is suddenly over. And, all of those things that happen between now and the end of the Rose Parade are just a blur. A fleeting memory. October 1st... January 2nd.

You are aware of all this, yes?

No?

Okay. Maybe it's just me (and old age). But, between the kids' Autumn birthdays (and whatever celebrations they enable), school (and school holidays/breaks the administrators gleefully schedule), the candy coma of Halloween, the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, decorating the house with Christmas lights, tree and ornaments, Christmas vacation, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the accompanying and inevitable Christmas celebration mental breakdown, and New Year's Eve, the-year-is-already-over. And then it's,

Thank you, sir! May I have another?

So, before all of this starts up, there's some end of the month housecleaning to be done.

Blogosphere

There's a reason I follow the people I do. Whether they specialize in books, movies, the arts, or life, they are all never boring and very often exceedingly creative and exceptional. And September was one of those kind of months. Of the first three, none other than author Sophie Littlefield happened to say about them (because I name-drop so shamelessly) in an email reply to me [wife: "You can be a pest... you know that."]:

Must say, you run with a great crowd. Those three friends you mention are all delightful and have been really kind to me.

Jen of Jen's Book Thoughts has been building an extraordinary collection of memoirs from well known mystery and detective authors (and other very interesting people) this entire year. But what makes it quite so special, though, is that the collection includes just six words from each. Who can get away with that? This blogger, for one. For almost every week of this year, it's what I look forward to from this blogger. And today was no exception. And since I've met her in person earlier this year, I consider myself pretty lucky to call her my friend.

Same goes to the one known as the Pop Cultured Nerd. (PCN for short) She follows and comments on many aspects of the popular arts, and like Jen, consumes and covers an extraordinary amount of books and authors. I'm constantly amazed at the things both of these women do, and the amount of ground they cover (but then again, they are networking wonders). And yesterday she published a piece on the National Book Festival in D.C., and it was fantastic. Reason: her young nieces (8 and 11) did the reporting. It was an outstanding post that elicited the simultaneous reactions in me of feeling old and hopeful of the future because of the likes of these scary smart, amazing kids. [just as long as she or their mother keeps them out of my current field of work, says the insecure one]

Corey of The Drowning Machine also had an exceptional month. Though he began the Watery Grave Invitational in late August, it bloomed nicely come September. This unique contest of e-short stories (that the ol' Buckeye came up with) proved to be something that had great and unexpected results. [I say unexpected only because he had doubts - "I have this awful sinking feeling in the pit of the old tum-tum." I never did, of course (says the boastful one)] And with the top three including the likes of Hilary Davidson, Sophie Littlefield, and Keith Rawson, I highly recommend that people read the wonderful content that came out of this event.

Switching gears, this month also saw exceptional content from the movie bloggers Dennis Cozzalio, John Kenneth Muir, and J.D. These gentlemen cover so much great stuff in popular cinema. It's one of my favorite subjects [wife: "Obession is the better word for it."] From Dennis adding his own answers to one of his now famous movie quizzes that bring so much fun in follower participation, to the ongoing and insightful reflections by author JKM on film and TV (one of my favorites being a recent post on the best horror remakes so far), and finally the unforgettable look back by J.D. at 9/11 through the lens of Paul Greengrass' United 93, it was an uncommon month of wonderful output from a set of guys who make a habit of producing great stuff.

And finally, kudos go to Bev, Jen, and Corey for mentioning Banned Books Week in their blogs. One can't minimize this in our day and age.

Music

I don't know if it's schizophrenia setting in, but these were the last three music tracks I added to my iTunes library this month:

Into The Night - (2007) Santana (featuring Chad Kroeger)
Peter Gunn (Theme) - (1959) Henry Mancini
Wedding Bell Blues - (1969) The Fifth Dimension

What the H-E-double hockey sticks does this mean?

And I can't forget the generous Moondancer when it comes to music. She's the one who sends me props for my musical blips (but hers are ones that are worth following), and I thank her for it.

As well, since this was the month I did my annual Kill Bill fest (Vol. 1 & 2), I thought it would be a good idea to remind those that care that the much rumored Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair still remains missing in action. However, the good news is the DVD may finally be in the offing. And if you're a fan of the music used by Mr. Tarantino on his soundtracks, the song Urami Bushi (sung by Meiko Kaji of Lady Snowblood fame) has special meaning for fans of both films. So, if you don't understand Japanese, here are the translated (noirish) lyrics for that song (aka The Grudge Blues):

You're beautiful, you're the flower, he praises you.
But if you bloom, he will get you scattered.
Stupid. So stupid.
I go so stupid singin' my grudge blues.

You can accept your pitiful fate.
But when you cry, he'll make you cry more.
Women, oh women,
It's women's tears that makes my grudge blues.

I hate you. Full of regret, never forgiven.
Try to erase my memory, but cannot forget you.
It never ends, never,
It never ends, 'cause that's my grudge blues.

They say it's a dream, embers of one-sided attachment,
laughing at you.
So you decide to wake up, but fear to be fully awake.
Women, oh women,
Women's soul beats on my grudge blues.

Crimson roses have its sharp thorns.
Don't wanna hurt you, but have to stab you with my thorn.
Burning, it's burning,
It keeps on burning within my grudge blues.

No flower would bloom on my dead body.
So I will live along hanging on my grudge.
Women, oh women,
My woman's life belongs to my grudge blues.

Family

I know I'm going to hear it for putting this down in the order, but did I happen to mention that I love my wife? Not only is she the mother of two of the most beautiful children I know, but she gives the absolutely best belated birthday presents that I know of. And with the exception of a few gray hairs (which she is justly proud of, I might add), she is the same beautiful woman I married more than 20 years ago - and which still garners me envious looks from a bunch of guys around town :-p

Miscellaneous

Author Sophie Littlefield (there she is again in this post? Stalker Alert!) is someone I've been hoping to meet over the summer when she was book touring for A Bad Day for Sorry. Jen, PCN, and Corey all spoke highly of her breakthrough debut of said novel. Naturally, I missed every single one of her southland appearances. Luckily, the West Hollywood Book Fair (where the heck did this come from?) is going to bail me out this weekend. She'll be in town to attend the Take Back The Night: Feminism and Powerful Women in Fiction panel. And did I happen to mention authors Gregg Hurwitz and Charlie Huston will also be there? Makes for not a bad set of content covers, huh?

"Now... where was I?"

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

My Life According to Book Titles

The one blog I follow on a regular basis for news and opinion of the popular arts is Pop Culture Nerd. Besides her wonderful taste in books and films, I was lucky enough to actually meet the blogger in person earlier this summer. And she's as great an individual as her blog is fun to read. Anyway, it seems she's distracted me from work and transcription (interview) with a meme she ran into at Reactions to Reading. It goes like this:

Using only books you have read this year (2009), cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title.

PCN has "re-worded some of the sentences, skipped a couple (she) had absolutely no relevant answer for, and added one of (her) own." And since she threw down the challenge, I'm game, and I'll take a similar flexible approach. Here goes.

Describe yourself: 13 Things That Don't Make Sense

I feel like: Outliers

Describe where you currently live: Chapterhouse Dune

If I could go anywhere, I would go to: The Bridge at Dong Ha

Your favorite form of transport: The Langoliers

Your best friend is: Devil in a Blue Dress

My friends and I are: Phantoms

What's the weather like: Ice Station (ha!)

What is life to you: Whirlwind

I fear: The Devil in the White City

I know: We Know

Best advice I can give: Everything Matters!

Thought for the Day: Angels & Demons

How I would like to die: The Last Good Kiss

My soul's present condition: Fifty Grand [or you can make your best offer ;-)]

You all are invited to keep this going.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Donut Day 2009

I am so there tomorrow, June 5th, for this. Although, that original glazed will probably require a Zantac 150 mg chaser (to get through the rest of day). But h-e-double hockey sticks, it'll be worth it for the free treat. Krispy Kreme may not be my (as he doffs his cap and places it over his heart) cherished Helm's Bakery of my youth. But it'll do, for now.