2005

Carter suggested recently that we each put up our year-end lists, and I confess to finding such things hard to do. Many times in a given year I discover something utterly new to me that is in fact a few years old; but if it had its impact in 05, shouldn't it get a chance to shine now that it's found its audience? We live by the long tail around here, so I'm calling it fair ball.

Stuff John discovered in 2005 that he liked (in no order)
5minutestolive.com and superhappyfun.com

I have half-remembered film oddities in my head and I need to know I didn't make them up (that way I can write the rest!). These places provided me with amazing goodness and awesome badness. The CHiPs Tape and The Dinah Shore Portal to Hell came from 5minutestolive.com and Americathon and Tomorrow I'll Scald Myself With Tea from superhappyfun.com (no linking--boo!). Leave it to me to say things like "Netflix is cool and all, but they just don't have everything I'm looking for."

Rough Trade Shop: Post Punk 2 cd set
I've been muttering "Do a runner! Do a runner!" under my breath for months now and this is to blame--44 tracks of near misses, near hits and all the rest. Love Pigbag, New Age Steppers, The Futureheads and The Slits. The right sampler can aim you in all sorts of great directions, emptying your wallet faster than a pickpocket. Found this beauty used at Iowa City's ultrafine Record Collector.

Reefer Madness: The Musical
Shut up. It rules! Muscials aren't my thing, but this is pure magic. The original movie has been utterly depleted of amusement and relevance by the nostalgia crowd--I saw that thing four times on Night Flight for poop's sake and I was avoiding it! Even the 800th video rerelease with commentary by Mike Nelson only held on for about ten minutes until it slid into oblivion. That's because Reefer Madness isn't funny; explaining Reefer Madness is funny. The musical did exactly the right thing in giving you the feel of Reefer Madness instead of adhering to the story. The famous bits are cleverly integrated and the songs are good. If you watch Jesus Christ doing a Tom Jones number and you're unimpressed, you're a coal-in-the-stocking Scrooge with a heart of marble dust. I got the stage original cast recording and the girl playing Mary Lane made me want to rip my ears off. Yeah the image is from Amazon--get over there and get it!

Napkins from Red Lobster
I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and took that baby home with me! The waitress saw me and slipped me about half a dozen more. For that, I tip well indeed. They're almost like linen, they're so soft and sturdy. On these I will write much.

The Other Hollywood : The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne
I'm not so much a porn fan, but the sociology of it is always interesting. Told in first hand recollections, this doorstopper of a book was a fascinating read. I actually found the couple of chapters on cops to be the least interesting part, in fact. You get a fuller sense of the business from both ends (ba dump bump). Unlike reading Traci Lords' book, which felt like someone wrote it for her after playing 20 questions.

Other stuff that plenty of people liked too that require no explanation:

Veronica Mars (Thanks Hanna!)

Serenity (esp the early screening!)

Batman Begins

Pernice Brothers--Discover A Lovelier You and Nobody's Watching/Nobody's Listening

I will probably return soon to amend this, but this is a good first effort.

Essentials and Showcase volumes! Those too! and um...oh I know I'll forget something, so I'm content to forget for now.