Two days in to 2006 and I'm still desperately trying to catch up with the projects remaining on last year's "to do" list. Of course, the most pressing of those has nothing to do with Syntax of Things and I'm not sure if I'll have it done before the end of this year, but a few things do remain to be taken care of here. For instance, last year I decided to list off a few of the things I considered the best and worst of the year that was, so to continue that tradition, here's my list for 05.
Books
Best Book I Read in 05: Of the 56 books that I read in 2005, it's one of the last ones I finished that takes the honor of Best. Salvador Plascencia's The People of Paper will be high on my list of recommendations to friends for a long time. Other notable books included George Singleton's Novel, Dallas Hudgens' Drive Like Hell, Stephen Dixon's Phone Rings, and Luis Alberto Urrea's The Hummingbird's Daughter.
Worst Book I Read in 05: James Frey's My Friend Leonard, his follow up to the Oprahtastic A Million Little Pieces. You can read my review here.
Biggest Disappointment: Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Lethem. Not being a big fan of the comics, I had a hard time with this book.
Music
Best Album: The album that I'll probably be listening to far beyond this year will be My Morning Jacket's Z. And a great band to see live also.
Most Disappointing Album: I think the one album that still causes my cavities to hurt despite numerous attempts to try and figure out why it is getting such overwhelming critical acclaim would be Sufjan Stephens' Illinois.
Movies
Best Movie I Saw in 05: After a lot of thought, I'm going to have to say this was a three-way tie between The Squid and the Whale; Me and You and Everyone We Know; and Junebug.
Worst Movie of 05: Elizabethtown. Nothing else comes close.
Personal
Best accomplishment of 05: I'd have to say that I'm proudest of the Underrated Writers Project. Next to that, I'm very proud of something I can't really mention here as of yet, so just take my word for it for now.
Worst Thing to Happen to Me in 05: Overall, a pretty good year with little about which to complain, but I'd say that it would probably be the day the local indie weekly printed an extensive excerpt of Syntax of Things which contained no indication of the site's url, not to mention the fact that they got my name wrong.
That's it. On to 2006...
I definitely want to read the Plascencia and the Singleton. And being a comics guy, I definitely enjoyed Men and Cartoons.
I just got Z for Christmas and haven't listened to it enough yet. What I've heard I've liked. And I'm right with you on Sufjan. A couple good songs but mostly wretched excess.
I want to see all three of the movies you mentioned too. My wife signed us up for Netflix, so eventually...
And thanks for linking me too.
Posted by: Justin | January 02, 2006 at 04:08 PM
I agree with you on Sufjan. He was on the top of everyone's lists, but I kinda think that there are other musician's out there that makes music like Sufjan, only better.
Posted by: Jill | January 03, 2006 at 12:04 AM
Don't you know it's unAmerican to hate Illinois? :)
And congrats on serving up the Underrated Writers Project while SIMULTANEOUSLY quitting smoking -- truly an accomplishment there. (Incidentally, had I the time to participate, I would have put Dave King and Kirstin Allio on the list, both of whom are kickass underrated writers of the first order. "The Ha-Ha" and "Garner" are both well worth your time.)
Posted by: ed | January 03, 2006 at 01:53 AM
If you're willing to give Sufjan one more chance, I'd say check out his first 50 States album, Michigan. There are more and better standout tracks on that one, where Illinois relies on an appreciation for the whole package with, in my opinion, only a few real knockout tracks.
Posted by: TJ | January 03, 2006 at 12:38 PM
On another note, does anyone know what they're saying backwards on "Off the Record?"
Posted by: ed | January 04, 2006 at 02:15 PM
TJ, Michigan was okay, but Illinois just doesn't do it for me. I can take the excesses to a point, but they just become overwhelming after a while. I'll give his next state a chance before putting him in my Bright Eyes file of musicians I wouldn't cross the street to download their new cd for free.
Ed, I tried to find that a while back but didn't get far. From this article: http://www.thevillager.com/villager_128/anothersideofmymorning.html
Same goes for the garble of voices snuck into the tinkling keyboards and synths at the end of “Off the Record.” It calls to mind Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” an album John Leckie engineered. Coincidence?
“It was our idea,” says Hallahan. “We had a bunch of secrets to the universe but we didn’t know what to do with them. It was recorded backwards, and it was one of us, but I’m not gonna say who.”
Posted by: Jeff | January 04, 2006 at 02:25 PM