My 2008
I moved in with my girlfriend in 2008. Holy shit ya'll. That's a big one. We talked about babies and the future and our past and our future some more. She left me for another country and it was the longest month of the year. I made her dinners and we bought new bedding. I'm still very much in love.
I gave myself and my own future a lot of thought, which believe it or not, wasn't an especially good thing. I talk myself down from confidence far too often and the future feels much more like a big empty space than it used to. I guess maybe that's not really a bad thing, but I don't like it. It makes getting creative work done much harder, because it feels less and less like a real possibility. I need collaboration and at the same time I am very, very critical of other's talent. We'll see.
America elected it's first African-American leader and a progressive man who it really seems might be able to fix us. He's someone who is ready to learn and ready to teach and ready to lead and it's very, very exciting.
I built a bike at the beginning of the year which still feels like a grand accomplishment. Because it's not just a bike, but a good bike, and it's how I get myself to and from places. This could only be better if I had built a jet pack instead.
My grandfather died. I thought a lot about it and a lot about death generally. It's depressing but I think it's important if you don't hang your hopes on a shiny, sparkling afterlife. I don't want to be diagnosed with high blood pressure when I'm 62 and spend the rest of my (hopefully) many years scared and depressed. This is something that requires lots of thought and consideration and acceptance, and that's just all there is to it.
I read books, and just moments ago decided on my top five...
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen - Just beautifully written in a number of arenas. Characterization that you can't imagine stemming from anything other than real people whose names were changed. Relationships that make you cringe and hope and laugh and cry. A story that you never expect to resolve how you want it to, and still the moment comes when you read the last word on the last page, and consider going back and starting all over.
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger - A story about family and faith and complication in life. I love stories that circle a tightly knit group and what happens within them as they try to defend one another and their whole from a cold world. It's why I loved the West Wing so much.
You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers - I think style is underestimated and I also think (perhaps ignorantly) that this is due to most people ignoring style or simply not recognizing it. Dave Eggers writes in his own way and it's fresh and young and it's so wonderfully intimate. It's also rare that you find a writer who consistently finds a voice you recognize in yourself. If there's a book of his that will speak to you right here and now, it's this one.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - With a book that's often described as one of the best Non-Fiction stories I was curious more than eager. Non-fiction doesn't particularly interest me, and it seems like calling a book "the best of real life" doesn't say anything in particular about the writing itself. So it was good to find that the writing is exactly what holds In Cold Blood in such high esteem. It's a fine story, but he is such a gorgeous writer, and reading his prose is like watching an Ang Lee or Terence Malick film. Environment can tell a story just as much as dialogue.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - I loved this story for it's honesty and complexity. The characters are all flawed and you end up loving them for it, as much as you can. In the end you don't even know what you're hoping for.
I listened to a large number of CDs, most of them new to me, and then tried to decide what my favorites were...
Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes - I don't need complex music and I don't need to peel back layers in multiple listenings. For that reason, this album and Bon Iver were probably my two favorite albums of 2008. It's just so elegant and vocally pleasing and fun to sing along with. It's also the kind of album you feel like you can hand to just about anybody, regardless of their taste, and they'll appreciate it. My mom loves this album. (Best Track: Ragged Wood)
808s & Heartbreak by Kanye West - If you haven't heard this album or discounted it because you don't like Kanye, go buy it. There are not a lot of artists that are both consistent and have released multiple lps. If you take the ones that are located within hip hop, it becomes a real short list, real fast. Not only do I think Kanye is consistently producing interesting music and media, but I think he will continue to do so, and this album is the main reason. Lyrically it's very basic, almost to a fault. However, musically and thematically this is a whole new thing. He gets completely outside of any hip hop comfort zone (perhaps this is just his natural comfort zone) and does something very different then his previous albums. It's consistently gray, and deeper, and it's personal. This is an album about breaking up and losing his mother and being misunderstood, and whether you think that last one is true or not, you can't deny that he articulates what's happening in his head and that's fucking sad. Yes, he uses the auto-tune on every track, but it's a musical choice. It's electronic and sonic and it makes sense that he would treat his voice as an instrument to be manipulated, because this is what he does to sound. This is a good album, but it's also important, and I'd like to think that people will be talking about it years from now. (Best Track: Paranoid)
In Ghost Colours by Cut Copy - I'm generally not a dance music guy, whether electronic or disco or whatever. It speaks more to the music than the club kid vibe that I liked this album so much. As fun as it is and as much as you can't help but dance in your kitchen, I can listen to it with headphones on as I walk down the street, and I don't know if I can say that about Hot Chip or Daft Punk. (Best Track: So Haunted)
At Mount Zoomer by Wolf Parage - This is an underrated album and I think it deserves another listen by anybody who was unimpressed. Personally, I was pulled in with the first track. I like that it's different then Apologies. It's calmer and more mature, it's complete from beginning to end as an album. (Best Tracks: Soldier's Grin and Kissing the Beehive)
Let Live and Let Ghosts by Jukebox the Ghost - Hilary turned me on to this band and I ended up listening to this album a lot last summer. It's just fun. Their clearly very talented and recall a younger and less angsty Ben Folds Five. Plus, the whole album is about the end of the world. Beat that Flaming Lips. (Best Track: My Heart's the Same)
Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum by Sigur Ros - This was my introduction to Sigur Ros, and as such, may not be their best album. I love it though for it's meditation and overall rise and fall. It's like your stereo is taking long, deep breathes, and suddenly it starts jogging in place, then sprinting around the room. It's beautiful. (Best Track: All Alright)
In Rainbows by Radiohead - It's interesting how this feels more like a continuation of a legacy then a self-contained album. I wouldn't know what to do with it if it were the only thing they'd ever made, but regarding everything else they've done, it makes sense. It's just solid and good and measured and I'll listen to it for the rest of my life. (Best Track: Jigsaw Falling Into Place)
Dear Science by TV On The Radio - I was confused by Cookie Mountain. I just didn't know what to do with it after those first three or four familiar tracks ended. I usually just put something else on. This album however recalled my original assessment of the band. Maybe this speaks to my need for "accessibility" (I kind of hate that term. It makes me think of Bud Light assigning their beer "drinkability." It doesn't mean anything but it sort of does.). (Best Tracks: Halfway Home and DLZ)
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend - This reminded my of Juno in the sense that I would have liked it more if everyone didn't act as though it were the best fucking thing ever created. Ugh.
LP3 by Ratatat - This is only excluded from the main list because I just recently discovered it. I do love it though. It's a good album to drink to.
The Way I See It by Raaphael Saadiq - If you like Smokey Robinson or just old school Motown in general, get this album. Yikes it's good. Again though, I heard it for the first time a week ago. He's got a great voice and the production just recalls so much nostalgia.
Volume One by She & Him - I really do like this, but it's kind of basic and easy. That's fine, but I'm not gonna remember it forever.
In Ear Park by Department of Eagles - Just got it. Love it so far. Very Grizzly Bear-esque.
I watched movies and tv too, some of which was good...
Little Children ****
Network *****
12 Angry Men *****
The Dark Knight ****.5
Synechdoche, New York *****
Wall-E *****
Let The Right One In ****
Mad Men Seasons 1&2 ****.5
True Blood ***
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip ***.5
So that's that for 2008. In the coming year there are things I want to accomplish and I have a list of them in my head. I don't see the need in putting them here, they're for me. But yes, I want to do things. I will say that one of those things is researching the potential world ending of 2012. If things are really about to wrap up for humanity, I'm gonna make some serious changes in my life. Including but not limited to: Robbing a bank, traveling, risking my life to do more exciting things, baking more treats, trying more recreational drugs, participating in a massive orgy (with permission from Blair), making a Christmas album.
Happy New Year everybody. Be safe tonight and kiss somebody, even if you don't know them, kiss them, it'll be a great story for your kids.
I gave myself and my own future a lot of thought, which believe it or not, wasn't an especially good thing. I talk myself down from confidence far too often and the future feels much more like a big empty space than it used to. I guess maybe that's not really a bad thing, but I don't like it. It makes getting creative work done much harder, because it feels less and less like a real possibility. I need collaboration and at the same time I am very, very critical of other's talent. We'll see.
America elected it's first African-American leader and a progressive man who it really seems might be able to fix us. He's someone who is ready to learn and ready to teach and ready to lead and it's very, very exciting.
I built a bike at the beginning of the year which still feels like a grand accomplishment. Because it's not just a bike, but a good bike, and it's how I get myself to and from places. This could only be better if I had built a jet pack instead.
My grandfather died. I thought a lot about it and a lot about death generally. It's depressing but I think it's important if you don't hang your hopes on a shiny, sparkling afterlife. I don't want to be diagnosed with high blood pressure when I'm 62 and spend the rest of my (hopefully) many years scared and depressed. This is something that requires lots of thought and consideration and acceptance, and that's just all there is to it.
I read books, and just moments ago decided on my top five...
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen - Just beautifully written in a number of arenas. Characterization that you can't imagine stemming from anything other than real people whose names were changed. Relationships that make you cringe and hope and laugh and cry. A story that you never expect to resolve how you want it to, and still the moment comes when you read the last word on the last page, and consider going back and starting all over.
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger - A story about family and faith and complication in life. I love stories that circle a tightly knit group and what happens within them as they try to defend one another and their whole from a cold world. It's why I loved the West Wing so much.
You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers - I think style is underestimated and I also think (perhaps ignorantly) that this is due to most people ignoring style or simply not recognizing it. Dave Eggers writes in his own way and it's fresh and young and it's so wonderfully intimate. It's also rare that you find a writer who consistently finds a voice you recognize in yourself. If there's a book of his that will speak to you right here and now, it's this one.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - With a book that's often described as one of the best Non-Fiction stories I was curious more than eager. Non-fiction doesn't particularly interest me, and it seems like calling a book "the best of real life" doesn't say anything in particular about the writing itself. So it was good to find that the writing is exactly what holds In Cold Blood in such high esteem. It's a fine story, but he is such a gorgeous writer, and reading his prose is like watching an Ang Lee or Terence Malick film. Environment can tell a story just as much as dialogue.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - I loved this story for it's honesty and complexity. The characters are all flawed and you end up loving them for it, as much as you can. In the end you don't even know what you're hoping for.
I listened to a large number of CDs, most of them new to me, and then tried to decide what my favorites were...
Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes - I don't need complex music and I don't need to peel back layers in multiple listenings. For that reason, this album and Bon Iver were probably my two favorite albums of 2008. It's just so elegant and vocally pleasing and fun to sing along with. It's also the kind of album you feel like you can hand to just about anybody, regardless of their taste, and they'll appreciate it. My mom loves this album. (Best Track: Ragged Wood)
808s & Heartbreak by Kanye West - If you haven't heard this album or discounted it because you don't like Kanye, go buy it. There are not a lot of artists that are both consistent and have released multiple lps. If you take the ones that are located within hip hop, it becomes a real short list, real fast. Not only do I think Kanye is consistently producing interesting music and media, but I think he will continue to do so, and this album is the main reason. Lyrically it's very basic, almost to a fault. However, musically and thematically this is a whole new thing. He gets completely outside of any hip hop comfort zone (perhaps this is just his natural comfort zone) and does something very different then his previous albums. It's consistently gray, and deeper, and it's personal. This is an album about breaking up and losing his mother and being misunderstood, and whether you think that last one is true or not, you can't deny that he articulates what's happening in his head and that's fucking sad. Yes, he uses the auto-tune on every track, but it's a musical choice. It's electronic and sonic and it makes sense that he would treat his voice as an instrument to be manipulated, because this is what he does to sound. This is a good album, but it's also important, and I'd like to think that people will be talking about it years from now. (Best Track: Paranoid)
In Ghost Colours by Cut Copy - I'm generally not a dance music guy, whether electronic or disco or whatever. It speaks more to the music than the club kid vibe that I liked this album so much. As fun as it is and as much as you can't help but dance in your kitchen, I can listen to it with headphones on as I walk down the street, and I don't know if I can say that about Hot Chip or Daft Punk. (Best Track: So Haunted)
At Mount Zoomer by Wolf Parage - This is an underrated album and I think it deserves another listen by anybody who was unimpressed. Personally, I was pulled in with the first track. I like that it's different then Apologies. It's calmer and more mature, it's complete from beginning to end as an album. (Best Tracks: Soldier's Grin and Kissing the Beehive)
Let Live and Let Ghosts by Jukebox the Ghost - Hilary turned me on to this band and I ended up listening to this album a lot last summer. It's just fun. Their clearly very talented and recall a younger and less angsty Ben Folds Five. Plus, the whole album is about the end of the world. Beat that Flaming Lips. (Best Track: My Heart's the Same)
Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum by Sigur Ros - This was my introduction to Sigur Ros, and as such, may not be their best album. I love it though for it's meditation and overall rise and fall. It's like your stereo is taking long, deep breathes, and suddenly it starts jogging in place, then sprinting around the room. It's beautiful. (Best Track: All Alright)
In Rainbows by Radiohead - It's interesting how this feels more like a continuation of a legacy then a self-contained album. I wouldn't know what to do with it if it were the only thing they'd ever made, but regarding everything else they've done, it makes sense. It's just solid and good and measured and I'll listen to it for the rest of my life. (Best Track: Jigsaw Falling Into Place)
Dear Science by TV On The Radio - I was confused by Cookie Mountain. I just didn't know what to do with it after those first three or four familiar tracks ended. I usually just put something else on. This album however recalled my original assessment of the band. Maybe this speaks to my need for "accessibility" (I kind of hate that term. It makes me think of Bud Light assigning their beer "drinkability." It doesn't mean anything but it sort of does.). (Best Tracks: Halfway Home and DLZ)
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend - This reminded my of Juno in the sense that I would have liked it more if everyone didn't act as though it were the best fucking thing ever created. Ugh.
LP3 by Ratatat - This is only excluded from the main list because I just recently discovered it. I do love it though. It's a good album to drink to.
The Way I See It by Raaphael Saadiq - If you like Smokey Robinson or just old school Motown in general, get this album. Yikes it's good. Again though, I heard it for the first time a week ago. He's got a great voice and the production just recalls so much nostalgia.
Volume One by She & Him - I really do like this, but it's kind of basic and easy. That's fine, but I'm not gonna remember it forever.
In Ear Park by Department of Eagles - Just got it. Love it so far. Very Grizzly Bear-esque.
I watched movies and tv too, some of which was good...
Little Children ****
Network *****
12 Angry Men *****
The Dark Knight ****.5
Synechdoche, New York *****
Wall-E *****
Let The Right One In ****
Mad Men Seasons 1&2 ****.5
True Blood ***
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip ***.5
So that's that for 2008. In the coming year there are things I want to accomplish and I have a list of them in my head. I don't see the need in putting them here, they're for me. But yes, I want to do things. I will say that one of those things is researching the potential world ending of 2012. If things are really about to wrap up for humanity, I'm gonna make some serious changes in my life. Including but not limited to: Robbing a bank, traveling, risking my life to do more exciting things, baking more treats, trying more recreational drugs, participating in a massive orgy (with permission from Blair), making a Christmas album.
Happy New Year everybody. Be safe tonight and kiss somebody, even if you don't know them, kiss them, it'll be a great story for your kids.