So This is the New Year

Hello, and welcome to my New Year's post; it's going to be massive. So go to a store, buy a hat, and get ready to hold the eff onto it. I'm not kidding.

Year in Review. I'll try to make this as brief as I can. Here we go.
January: I watched a helluva lot of movies getting ready for the Golden Globes and Oscars. I also saw Casa Blanca for the first time ever. I know.
February: I started listening to NPR after 101.9 The End canceled The Parker Show. I enjoyed a Death by Chocolate Valentine's party with friends. I saw a few more movies and won the Oscar pool. I submitted my graduate school applications, and was already jonesing for summer. I also started "working" at the SLC Public Library.
March: I went to Minneapolis for a Sigma Tau Delta convention and caught up with old friends like Rae and Slarue. I miss you! Highlights included a Neil Gaiman reading and signing, a drag queen show at the Gay '90s, and the French dip sandwich at Hell's Kitchen. Minneapolis, I heart you.
April: I thought a lot of deep thoughts inspired by NPR, television, and bumper stickers. And I doubled my Tori Amos catalog.
May: I made my summer playlist and my summer reading list. They were both awesome. And I saw Star Trek with Dain and Megan.
June: It rained. a lot. and was very cold. So we packed up and hit the Caribbean on a cruise ship--I read like four books. Key West was awesome and more hot and humid than any place else I've ever been on this Earth. My favorite souvenir is a Fossil wristwatch that I bought on the cruise ship. And I stopped "working" at the SLC Public Library.
July: I saw Tori Amos in concert. It changed my life. Dain moved to Philly and Whitney moved to Minnesota, and nothing's been the same since. I also watched the first season of Brothers & Sisters--so good!--and saw a couple of excellent summer films: The Brothers Bloom and Away We Go. I turned twenty-three and had a pinata at my birthday party.
August: I watched almost as many movies as I did in January including Julie & Julia and (500) Days of Summer. I started to freak out about moving to Seattle, and I quit my job at the Marriott Library at the U. Best. Job. Ever.
September: Over Labor Day I threw a bon voyage party, and it was very fun. I started watching Dollhouse, I moved to Seattle, and I finished Battlestar Galactica. My life has changed in profound ways.
October: I started grad school in earnest. I watched a lot of scary movies--The Innocents was excellent and terrifying. And I dressed up as newsie for Halloween.
November: I saw Regina Spektor in concert and it was delightful. For Thanksgiving I made my own personal feast and watched far too much TV as well as a few movies including An Education.
December: I finished my first quarter of classes and finals. I went to some parties and drank a lot. I flew home to Utah and celebrated Christmas with my family and caught up with old friends.

The Big Haul. In which I will try to be both grateful and humble about all the amazing loot I got this year, because isn't that what Christmas is all about?
I got black Adidas Sambas--score!--and money to buy a printer so I don't actually have to pack one on the plane. Santa brought me a Philips Sonicare toothbrush--I think in addition to flossing and with proper use I can say goodbye to gingivitis, tartar, and cavities--and a GPS which will be helpful in Seattle. My favorite gift is a book called 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die which is awesome. I've already seen around 100--I keep finding more movies that I've seen. I also got (500) Days of Summer on DVD which I somehow lost before I even removed the plastic wrapping. I'm more than a little upset, but it seems to be gone forever. FROWNY FACE! And as I've already mentioned I got the final season of The West Wing which I recently finished watching, and now my set is complete. I also got The Rocky Horror Picture Show so I can finally stop being extra virgin olive oil. And Ellen gave everyone a used copy of the Trivial Pursuit board game (except Matt and Dixy who got Celestial Pursuit). She went to several DI's to find complete, intact sets--it was pretty awesome. Now I need to find friends in Seattle with whom to play it. I got a lot of other really good stuff, so thank you to all my friends and family. You're the best!

The Last Two Weeks.
On the 19th I took a taxi to SeaTac and flew away home to SLC. It was a little strange to be back home at first. On Saturday I celebrated Christmas with college friends by eating fondue and opening presents. On Tuesday I caught up with Elise and Justin and we watched Meet Me In St. Louis. On Wednesday I drove around doing some last minute shopping. My aunt came over for Christmas Eve and we unwrapped a few presents, sang carols, and read Christmas stories by the warmth of the fire. Christmas morning came and went and we unwrapped a lot more presents. On Saturday we drove down to my grandma's and back. While we were there we ate, played games including The Beatles Rock Band, watched Kung Fu Panda, and the cousins exchanged presents, and I got a B&N gift card, $10 bucks, and chocolates, so that's pretty neat. On Sunday, Elise hosted a post-Christmas party where I drank a lot of beer, ate a lot of hummus and salsa, and caught up with a few more people.

On Monday morning I had breakfast for lunch with Kristyn and Jessica, who is now engaged, and that was fun. Later that day I went bowling with my family. Across the lanes there were five giant screens that played the music videos of all the Disney Channel artists and other teenyboppers--who knew there were so many? Well, I played four games with my sister and brother-in-law. I broke 100 three times, so that was cool. On Tuesday I braved the snowy weather and roads to hang out with Kristen P. We went and saw The Young Victoria which was alright. It was a lavish costume drama like The Duchess--just not as good. It worked best as a love story between Victoria and Albert, but the larger political story fell flat which was very disappointing. And then it suddenly ended after she gave birth to her first child because we all know that is when a woman's life ends. Emily Blunt was very good though, as she always is. Still we saw it at the Broadway Cinema, my favorite indie movie house. Afterward, we went and got pizza and cheese pull-a-parts at The Pie which I miss so very much. On Wednesday I went on a date with a guy named Jason which went pretty well. However, I don't think anything's going to happen since I'm in Seattle and once he graduates this spring he wants to work in NYC or Chicago or else teach in Korea.

On New Year's Eve I went downtown for 3VE where I caught up with Ellen, Justin, and Christopher, and we first went to a Broadway sing-along and that was pretty fun. Then we met up with Melissa at The Gateway and grabbed dinner at Z'Tejas which was delicious. Val and Grady joined us and we walked through Temple Square and saw the lights. Afterward, I went to Megan's house for the eighth year in a row to ring in the new year. Megan and I talked about library school and Dain joined us to talk about Dollhouse which is collectively blowing our minds. So midnight came and went, and then we watched Wolverine which was actually pretty good. The CGI wasn't top-notch but who needs special effects when Hugh Jackman is naked? Anyway, I thought it was pretty entertaining.

I slept in so very late on New Year's Day and then my family went and saw Avatar in 3-D. I still don't know what to make of it. I will say it was good though I wasn't blown away by it like everyone else I know. The 3-D was used very effectively and subtly which was a nice touch. Its message is blatantly green and anti-war which was evidenced by an excessive amount of National Guard and Air Force promos before the movie. I'm still thinking about it today which may be the best thing I can say for it. It was good but not the best movie I've seen nor was it the most enjoyable or even the most important, but it was definitely something. So I saw it and I'm glad, but I'm just not sure it's Best Picture material... Well, we'll see.

Lists.
So most film critics makes a top ten list at the end of the year. Well there were a lot of movies released this year, technically, that I haven't seen yet as well as many movies I saw in January and February that were released in 2008. Anyway, I just wanted to give my top five movies and books that I saw or read this year. So post-Oscar season, my favorite movies that I've seen this year, in no particular order, include Star Trek which was the perfect, flashy summer blockbuster. (500) Days of Summer which was a sweet but not saccharine love story, or rather the perfect twenty-something not-love story. An excellent indie film with a great outfits and a bitchin' soundtrack. I should say The Hurt Locker which is a perfect film in its own right, but I much preferred Julie & Julia starring the always superb Meryl Streep and butter. Inglourious Basterds is the first (and only) Quentin Tarantino film I've seen in theaters, and I saw it twice. It may be his best film yet, though Kill Bill is still my favorite. Finally An Education is a perfectly lovely indie film held together effortlessly by the sublime Carrie Mulligan who rightfully earned a Golden Globe nod. There are still many, many films I want to see including Nine, Up in the Air, and The Princess and the Frog to name a few.

On to books, none of which on my list were released in 2009. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is one of Louise Erdrich's best novels (or so I've heard) and it was quite enjoyable and literate. Good stuff. I read The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, whom I adore. It's widely regarded as her best novel and I can see why though I prefer The Age of Innocence. Little, Big by John Crowley is one of the best fantasy works I've ever read and also one of the most difficult novels I've managed to finish. Still, all that hard work payed off. I just finished The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler who is the master of the private detective novel. It was far superior to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Chandler just has a way with words that I love. The fifth spot is a tie between Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road and Alexandra Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. Yates's novel remorselessly portrays a marriage and the social malaise of the 1960s. Fuller's memoir perfectly captures a childhood spent in an Africa of civil unrest and war. I also have to give a brief nod to two excellent novels I reread this year. Donna Tartt's The Secret History is one of my favorite contemporary novels and I love returning to Hampden College and the sharply drawn, if amoral, characters. And Don DeLillo's postmodern classic White Noise is a biting satire of technology and mass culture.

Well, that's a lot about 2009 and it was a pretty good year. I suppose this is where we talk about 2010, and I mention my New Year's resolutions, but I just don't seem to have any. Not yet, anyway. I was reading The Guardian's book blog which mentioned reading resolutions--like looking up every new word in a dictionary or mixing up nonfiction with novels--and I don't even have any of those. So I hope 2010 is just as good, hopefully even better--I'm excited to be in Seattle this summer--but for now I've got to go. If I think of any resolutions or goals, I'll let you know. I should probably revisit my life list which is ... somewhere. Well, I've written some long-ass blogs, but I think this is my longest hands down. I told you to buy a hat. For now I'll say shalom and have a Happy New Year!

P.S. Now it's time to get a new playlist together. But later...