In the James Bond film, Thunderball, BondJamesBond gets to fly around with a jetpack on his back! That was in 1965!! Now, I haven't read my Aldous Huxley but I'm willing to bet over 7 pesos Mexican that somewhere in "A Brave New World" we were promised jetpacks. Or mayhap it was somewhere else - but I'm bloody sure that by 2008 I was promised a jetpack, my own personal jetpack, and here we are, fast approaching the end of 2008, and no bloody jetpack! Ho hum! That said, there was a lot of other stuff that happened in 2008. (Did you see what I did there? Did you see how I got from there to here?) Yes, it's that time of year again, the time when I go through my hits and misses of 2008! Let's go...
Films
We have had the opportunity to sit through an inordinate amount of crap this year (in one case, twice at the cinema and another four times at home!!). It was only two days ago (three weeks after the event) that we worked out the plot to Quantum of Solace - and can I add, the film isn't improved by knowing what was going on. I still can't believe we ever wanted to see Wanted and 88 Minutes was approximately 103 minutes too long! All the way back in February we got to see There Will Be Blood and there was also the enjoyable Vantage Point. Somewhere, around the middle of the year, there was the wonderfully creepy The Strangers. The first 30 minutes of WALL*E were brilliant and the whole of Pineapple Express was genius. And last night I managed to see Son of Rambow which made me laugh, made me cry, and if you get the chance to see it - do so! But, drumroll, the single best film of the year is....
From a fantastically choreographed robbery at the start, through action sequences that were jaw-dropping and a plot that was multi-layered, to an ending that left you me begging for the third instalment, The Dark Knight was everything a film should be and more. Plus, the acting was exceptional - not just from Heath Ledger but from every actor: Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, and Gary Oldman were brilliant.
[Turkey of the Year - Indiana Jones and the Something that was infinitely boring]
Books
Up until September this was an excellent year for me book-wise. I read loads. Loads and loads and loads. Of course, it is in this category that I cheat - actually, I probably cheat in all categories but, meh, it's my blog - and don't necessarily nominate a book that was written this year, just a book that I read this year! I've just scrolled through the book category on this blog and discovered that I've read over 30 books (I've reviewed 31)! Yay me!! And there are some wonderful books on the list. A couple of Michael Chabon; Mysteries of Pittsburgh and The Yiddish Policeman's Union. A couple from Ian McEown one excellent (Atonememnt) one ok-ish (Saturday). Three by Nick Hornby. Two by Roddy Doyle, both heart breaking. One by Palahniuk, disturbing. And several others, some good and some bad. Oddly enough though, the book I'm going to pick as book of the year was the first book I read...
There were other books that made me laugh more, other books that were more emotionally involving, other books that were better written. But, every time I go to Borders, I go check to see if there is another Robert Harris book out, hoping that he has written a sequel. Let's hope it comes before I get my jetpack.
[Turkey of the Year: Band Fags...the book that stopped me reading in September :^(]
Television
We are, at the moment, working our way through The Wire, all five seasons, and it is brilliant. Again, this year, we have continued to work our way through The West Wing (we've got to the end of season six). But actual television? We enjoy Chuck, love The Kitten Mentalist, like House. I have suddenly fallen in love with Jeopardy (but I'm hoping that won't last) and Maria has fallen in love with Gordon Ramsey (and I'm hoping it is just his programmes). But there is very little on television that decides our life. You know, that moment when you have to be in front of the tele? Which means that the only programme that did that this year, and is therefore the programme of the year...
Yep, I don't understand why it's there, but it is.
[Turkey of the year: Heroes. It just gets worse and worse and now, now that we've managed to cut the cord, when we see trailers for upcoming episodes we just wonder how? How did we spend so much time watching it??]
Sport
After last year's broken foot (good times), I finally got round to kicking a ball again this summer. Not too often and not too hard, but I was kicking a ball again. Obviously there was the Olympics but, unfortunately, that was covered by NBC for us, here, rather than the BBC. By the time week one (the swimming) was over, so was our interest. American Football-wise, the San Diego Chargers promised to start the year off with a SuperBowl appearance but failed at the last hurdle. Then started this season off promising so much...and failing. At the moment they are in the middle of a come-back. I expect my heart to be broken sometime on Saturday. Sheffield United also promised much and seem to be performing like Sheffield United - full of promise, empty on results. But I will hang in there until May. However, the Mighty Santos Laguna kept on winning!Sporting event of the year...
Which, I suppose, makes me nothing other than a glory-fan! Don't you just hate those people who only support teams that win everything :^)
[Turkey of the Year: the Padres - nuff said.]
Music
This was a category that I missed off my review of 2007 and, to be honest, I could probably miss it off this year. I've heard several new bands, listened to a certain amount of new music, but nothing has really grabbed me by little cotton socks and made me go WOW! Of course, there have been two bands that have done that - so for their efforts they get a mention...
The Flobots and Vampire Weekend
Some very enjoyable stuff there.
[Turkey of the Year: Phil Collins. I have no idea if he did anything this year but there was a night, a surreal night, this year, spent at someone's house, where they demonstrated their musical sophistication by playing Phil Collins on repeat, all fucking night! Maria wants a special mention for They Might Be Giants but she can do that on her own blog!]
Food
This was the year that I finally got round to coming to terms with my IBS (thank you Maria). How far have I come? Well, two days ago I went to the toilet (hang in there, this isn't as horrible as you think), and my worst nightmare occurred! I flushed the toilet and it flooded out the bathroom. The fact is though, that our very luvverly hosts know of my problem, and so weren't phased fazed as concerned by the disaster that occurred as they could have been (they were wonderful). Plus, I didn't die! As it happened, it wasn't my fault! Someone else had managed to block the toilet before me and it was just circumstance that I was there to flush. However, this event should have killed me - from embarrassment - and it didn't. Which begins to show how far I've come. I do believe that we haven't been to San Clemente this year, which means that I can't mention either the oysters nor their buffalo wings. The fish and chips at The Shakespeare's Pub are wonderful. Maria took me out for a Kobe steak that just melted in the mouth. I had a great lamb dish (not having eaten lamb for nearly three years) at La Espadaña. However, the yummiest food of the year goes to...
The Outback
In theory this should go to The Outback for its fine steak. But I would like to nominate the restaurant for something else. The Bloomin' Onion is awesome. Maria would kill for the little malt loaf they give you, and I adore the string beans. They are fantastic - even for a vegetable!
[Turkey of the Year: Mandolino. Yes, the winner for the last two years has fallen this far. Suddenly the service fell apart, then the food. The service I could live with but the food? We were (on our second to last visit) presented with stuff we could not eat, and we left it on our plates.
Drink
Every now and then I really like a margarita. I sit down at a table and think, yep, you know what I could do with now? A margarita. And then they are never as good as I remember - worse is when (even after saying NO!) I end up with a frozen margarita - is there anything worse than a slush puppie? Anyhoo, special mention should go to the bottle of Bushmills we consummed in record time - but it was so yummy - and I have to than my sponsors, Dos Equis (stay thirsty my friends). However, this year's bestest find was:
Luvverly.
[Turkey of the Year: Coors Light - why? and seriously...why?]
Place
Last year I actually did a category called "Place". Obviously I should still say that the bestest place is still bed! I love my bed, it is wonderful. However, to those readers who have followed my adventures this year (both of you), you will know there is a special place in my heart - read this - and so, my fave place of the year goes to:
Simply the bestest place ever (in the whole world) to take your car to!
[Turkey of the Year: Mandolino - I'm still annoyed how far that place has fallen.]
I'm sure that there are loads of other categories I could write about, stories I could tell about this year. However, I've been writing this post - on and off - for three days and it is now 4:30pm on New Year's Eve. I need to stop now because I'm in the middle of cooking and settling down for the night. I haven't had time to mention the new invention of "video-blogging" on here. Or the discovery of new friends, thanks to them finding my blog. Thankfully I haven't talked about my job. Nor have I mentioned how big my lemon tree/avocado has grown. These are things that will probably be discussed in the future...or not.
I hope that next year brings you all that wish for (and a little bit more). I hope that last year was wonderful - and the horrible bits you can put behind you.
Peace Out.
We don't do much TV in terms of shows, but I have to agree on So You Think You Can Dance.
It's hard for me to come up w/a book of the year; unlike you, I slacked off in '08. But now thinking, I'll go with Roddy's "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors." "Paula Spencer" was a close second.
Movies: Two for me that left me speechless/breathless, from the same director/artist (Julian Schnabel): "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," and "Before Night Falls."
Food: we make this at home now, but was first introduced to it at an Irish pub, no less: smokes salmon on pita w/cream cheese, topped with capers, finely-chopped red onion, and finely-chopped cucumber; and a dash of lemon. I can't come up w/a restaurant as they've all gone down the hill in terms of quality and service, here in the States.
Drink: hands down my Bombay martini. Hands down. And bodies down, as no one (even me) can hang w/more than 2 of my 9 ouncers.
Music: I'm weak in this department; I honestly can't say I've heard anything new and dynamic, so I'll go with my old standby: John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" (even though you know how I feel about a "supreme power.")
Peace and...Feliz Ano Nuevo!
Posted by: (S)wine | 01 January 2009 at 02:01 PM