December 27, 2007
Slate sidewalk covered in leaves, one of the thousands of things I love about Brooklyn.
First things first: 2007 was a great year. And I say that despite the end of a relationship with a wonderful man and a bit of a shake-up in my work situation. Everything has seemed to work out, curiously, in very positive ways. I hope you've had a good year, too.
As for all the other stuff, I'm not going to give a bunch of lists. Don't they all blend together anyway? Do you really need me to tell you that No Country for Old Men or The Bourne Ultimatum or the Iron & Wine record is awesome? No, because you already know that. So, instead of lists, I'll give you a smattering of a few less-obvious things that made a difference to me this year.
Let's start with music. I am strangely ambivalent toward Kanye West. I'm sorry people, I know he's got some hooks, but it makes me feel like I'm at a frat party. I much prefer this year's releases from master storyteller Ghostface Killah and rap's James Joyce, Aesop Rock (whose move to the West Coast didn't hurt his writing any even though I'm feeling something more laid back in those songs).
I also liked the records from Deers -hunter and -hoof. And there was the surprise that came from an impromptu visit to Joe's Pub to see cellist Erik Friedlander. His Block Ice & Propane ended up being one of my most favorite and listened-to records of the year.
This year one could not avoid listening to Brooklyn bands, creative mecca for new sounds that it is. I like Battles, Gang Gang Dance, Yeasayer, and Parts & Labor. As well, Les Savy Fav released their first album in six years and it was good. (That said, perhaps next year will be Ohio's turn. Keep an eye and ear out. If you haven't already, check out noisy Times New Viking, who'll have a release out on Matador in January.)
And yes, with a iTunes gift certificate I received for Christmas, I broke down and purchased the Robert Plant & Allison Krauss record, because I am now marching (or, possibly, slouching) towards 40.
Some of the biggest musical joy came from a set of singles: "Wham City" by Dan Deacon, "Don't You Evah" by Spoon", "Comfy in Nautica" by Panda Bear (who put out two of the year's best records, as a solo artist and as part of the Animal Collective collective), "General Specific" by Band of Horses, and the singular feeling of walking the streets or riding the subway with The National's "Fake Empire" piping into my ears. (Of course, Kings of Leon's "Knocked Up" could be an unlikely anthem of the year, not for the movie that I for the most part disliked, but for the bunches of babies being born everywhere I turn by everyone I know. Congratulations to all the new moms and dads.)
Of course, who could shake "Spider Pig" from their heads? Not me, that's for sure.
Some of my photos from some of the shows I saw this year.
It was also an awesome year for movies. I will start by saying I have to wait on Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood because it's showing in only one theater in New York City, in the faraway land of the UWS, which means I cannot talk about it just yet but want to, hence my mentioning it. (Sorry about that aside; I was wrestling with my own laziness just then--only, I haven't been terribly lazy during my vacation, I've just been not lazy exclusively in Brooklyn.) So. I was enraptured by Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, a confluence of influences, loose biopic fragments, and the desire for reinvention. (I did some homework to make sense of the film's references and along the way became a Dylan fan. Turns out, it's never to late.) No End in Sight was my favorite documentary; it's a shame it played only in select markets, though I hope it is having a new life on DVD. Same goes for Shane Meadows' This is England and Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep. Be sure to check back when I post my Skandies submissions in another month or so, which will have my exhaustive set of cinema picks for the year.
Gosh, there was also all the dance and, to a lesser extent, the plays I saw this year. Where to begin? The exhilaration from seeing Jasperse and Batsheva, both at BAM. Morphoses at City Center, Forsythe's interactive installation & interpretation of his late wife's submission to cancer, at the Baryshnikov Dance Center. Alessandra Ferri's hanging up the pointes. Alison Pill in Blackbird, Liev Schreiber in Talk Radio, Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon.
My favorite art event--and I admittedly don't see that much art, although I'm starting to be brave and buy art, to the alarm of my checking account--was, without question, the Richard Serra exhibit at the MoMA. I hope you saw it, too. Then there was also filmmaking writ large in public installations of Sleepwalkers and Slow Dancing
I didn't watch much television this year, save for So You Think You Can Dance and The Office, but I warmed completely to How I Met Your Mother and made what turned out to be the right choice when I downloaded (read: purchased) the entire season of Mad Men, which was a non-guilty pleasure not just for its dazzling art direction but its reminder that it wasn't that long ago that things were quite different with women's roles in society and in the home, not to mention the appropriateness of drinking and smoking (in business meetings, or while pregnant).
Finally, my favorite blog of the year had nothing to do with popular culture or the arts, or politics or economics (though I'm an avid reader of Marginal Revolution and Becker-Posner); its topic instead is a sensible, practical discussion of that sometimes elusive subject, happiness.
As for 2008, I look forward to The Wire, the Olympics, and a possible Led Zeppelin US tour. I also sense some impending, if incremental professional changes but I'm more interested in the development of my own interests...math classes, photography classes. It's been suggested to me that I volunteer--or heck, get paid--as a math tutor. Tutoring is a lucrative business in this town, I'm told.
If I have any resolutions, they are these: be nice(r), be more aware of my own needs and stand up for them when they're being ignored (while still being nice!), take a bigger risk or two.
Have a happy and healthy 2008!
Posted by Missy
Comments
I actually meant to say "Radiohead" above in place of Iron & Wine re: obviousness. Is Iron & Wine obvious? I felt like a latecomer to that record and was listening to it at the time of writing.
Also, I chose not to go back and change it because I know how much it drives me nuts to see the same posts repeatedly show up in my RSS as they are republished. I didn't want to do that to you. I used to tweak and tweak. No more! (Although I did it once to correct some bad HTML that was causing a chunk of the post to disappear.) And all of you who do it: stop it!
Posted by: Missy at December 28, 2007 11:44 AM
Happy 2008 to you as well!
I love when you write. You simply must update more often.
Posted by: mihow at December 29, 2007 12:39 AM
Wonderfully interesting blog, the few posts I've read. I'll be back for more.
Happy new year!
T.
Posted by: Teresa Gilman at December 29, 2007 04:12 PM
Happy 2008 to you as well, and glad to hear you've joined the ranks of Dylanophiles. :) We should compare notes sometime. (Mad Men is good fun too, probably my favorite new show of 2007. It appeals to my history-geek side, although I'm not so big on the Peggy-is-preggers subplot. Jon Hamm is a find, regardless, and Roger Sterling is consistently amusing.)
I'm still letting There Will Be Blood percolate -- I saw it and Charlie Wilson's War this afternoon -- but I actually felt sorta let down by it. DDL is good, but when is he not? And, while it has moments and is almost definitely my favorite PTA film, it also strains and strives so hard to feel like a classic that I thought it got lost somewhere along the way. At least, IMHO.
By the way, New Years' comes early this year, if you have HBO On Demand. The Wire S5, Ep. 1 premieres Dec. 31 on there, and I expect that to be the highlight of my festivities. In any case, happy b-day, happy 2008, and keep up the great work. :)
Posted by: Kevin at December 29, 2007 07:50 PM
Thanks, all.
For those interested, here is my ballot for the Bastards of Young discussion group 2007 music poll.
Posted by: Missy at December 31, 2007 01:26 PM
I'm shopping for some live music in 08 and I noticed an upcoming Yeasayer show on 2/14. Knowing nothing about them, take the plunge? It is valentine's day and all...
Posted by: Raquel at January 2, 2008 10:11 PM
I think tickets are still available! It should be a good show, if their show at Mercury Lounge a couple of weeks ago is any indication. Their MySpace page has some samples--"2080" and "Sunrise" are good tunes. They mix a bit of gypsy gospel (a term I just made up), African drumming, and Lindsay Buckingham vocals.
I've listened to them so much that I worry they may go the way of Arcade Fire and The Decemberists, which is to say, their sound is so uniquely their own that eventually it wears itself out.
Posted by: Missy at January 3, 2008 07:27 AM
Damn - your list of top albums for the bastards poll is almost completely alien to me. I've listened to one, heard of another, but that's about it.
I could barely scrape together a top three from this year.
Happy New Year, Missy!
Posted by: Dan Owen at January 6, 2008 10:27 AM