Year In Review

So was 2004 a good year? Well... I suppose personally it was fair to middling. It ends like it began (sickness) so in some way it's no different than any of the last few years. However, the best part for me was seeing my Irish buddies again in Chicago, and the happy news that a few of them are getting married.

I'm going to do a little year-end review of my own on the arts, just for fun.

The Boston Hearld does a little bit on the best comics of 2004. I agree wholeheartedly that Joss Whedon and his run on X-Men was the best thing to happen, though they left a lot out. Thanks to Whedonesque for the link, one of the best sources of all things Joss out there.

The best CD of the year was U2. 'Nuff said.

Movies... the thing about movies is that here in Waterloo, we get to see very few of the 'smaller' pictures. Of course we can have Spider Man 2 on four screens, but... they do try, I guess. So without having seen everything, here are my picks, in no particular order:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Before Sunset, Kill Bill Vol.2, Hero, The Incredibles, Finding Neverland, Ray, Garden State, and stretching the rules a bit, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition.

On second thought: Spider-Man 2 wasn't all that, The Village was better than most people said (I think the horrific dialogue is what does it) and I need to see The Life Aquatic again to see how I feel about it.

Best TV: The Wire, Lost, Newsnight with Aaron Brown.

Best Books: I didn't get Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I wanted to, after all the hype. Jennifer Howard offers a good explanation as to why (thanks to the ever loving Bookslut for the link). So my favorite books this year: Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, Light, by M. John Harrison, Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett, and Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson. Plus some others still in my stack.

So that about does it. Happy new year everybody.

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