Wednesday, January 16, 2002
Top 10 of 2001:
1. cribbage
2. Dismemberment Plan, Change
3. Amelie
4. First Hungarian Literary Society
5. Ted Leo, The Tyranny of Distance
6. True Love Always, The Spring Collection
7. Harry Potter
8. Heavenly vs. Satan
9. Sloan, Pretty Together
10. having my family here for Christmas
Top 5 songs of the year:
1. Dismemberment Plan, Time Bomb.
2. Flipper's Guitar, Blue Shining Quick Star
3. Louis Philippe, The Man Down the Stairs/Heaven Is Above My Head/My Cheri Amour (three-way tie)
4. Ted Leo, Under the Hedge
5. Sloan, It's In Your Eyes
Top 5 guilty pleasures of the year (aka The Thong Song category):
1. Shakira, Whenever, Wherever. I'm so embarrassed. I am definitely the guiltiest over this song. It's so bad! but so catchy!
2. Britney Spears, I'm a Slave 4 U. If only I could coo half so seductively.
3. No Doubt, Hey Baby. This is marginally not so guilt-inducing, but I still feel bad about it.
4. Pink, whatever that song is that goes "I'm coming up so you'd better get this party started." Actually, Laszlo loves this song more than I do, but the guilt remains.
5. Buffy, Roswell, and Felicity. But not Dawson's Creek anymore!
Last 5 non-thesis, non-Harry Potter books read:
1. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen. 6/10. Undeniably well-written, but I found all the characters except the father and the daughter to be terribly unsympathetic. Nice satire of the Midwest, but such an easy target makes the skewing less trenchant. I don't think it's ever taken me so long to finish a book, particularly as I kept wishing it would be over soon.
2. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser. 9/10. See New Year's resolution 4. I also am considering giving up all meat processed in plants (better find a butcher I like, or else shop exclusively at the Asian market). Thanks a bunch, Mr. Schlosser.
3. Thirst For Love, Yukio Mishima. 8/10. One of the cruelest books ever written. Typical Mishima. Blood, lust, that sort of thing.
4. The Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan. 5/10. Could she please write about something that didn't happen in her family's history? It's a good book and everything, but honestly.
5. Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, Ricky Jay. Actually, I'm not done yet, so no rating. But highly entertaining!
10 New Year's resolutions:
1. Quit smoking (done, at least for now).
2. Work harder (no choice).
3. Watch less television.
4. stop eating fast food unless absolutely required to, i.e. if gun is pointed to head
5. Be a nicer person, unless there is no reason to be. But not be so judgmental about whether there is a reason to be or not.
6. Spend less and save more.
7. After thesis defense, be better about writing people, including overdue thank you notes and tapes.
8. Meditate.
9. Possibly consider exercising more (though this may be limited to doing yoga when I think about it).
10. Practice instruments more often, or possibly regularly.
totally crushed out 2001:
1. Hugh Jackman
2. Audrey Tautou
3. Matthieu Kassovitz
4. Harry Potter (why have I become so obsessed?)
5. Travis Morrison
top 10 albums on my to get list:
1. Louis Philippe - My Favourite Part of You
2. Mark Eitzel - The Invisible Man
3. Ida - The Braille Night
4. The Faint - Danse Macabre
5. Death Cab For Cutie - The Photo Album
6. Fugazi - The Argument
7. Soundtrack - The Sound of Music
8. Louis Philippe - I Still Believe In You
9. Tattle Tale (out of print, someone help me)
10. The Divine Comedy - Regeneration
oh, and of course,
11. The Reputation - The Reputation
five favorite covers right now:
1. Louis Philippe - My Cherie Amour. All right, I'll stop talking about this one.
2. True Love Always - September. And we sing ba dee ya, say do you remember, ba dee ya, dancing in September? ba dee ya, never was a cloudy day!
3. Danielle Denin - Quand tu m'embrasses. Strictly speaking, not a cover, but a Beatles song (I'm Looking Through You) with French lyrics. Actually, I'm an idiot, but I didn't even realize it was a cover until today. Yes, go ahead and mock.
4. The King of Luxembourg - Valleri. I don't know anything about music. I didn't even know this was a Monkees song. I am so out of everything.
5. Ida - shoe-in. I don't like the Secret Stars, but I heart Ida. and I heart this song.
