Last Thoughts on ‘08

I was going to do a top ten kind of list for the year but realized that most of the things listed would be obvious. As such, I’ll offer a few words on my year in reading and listening – a self-indulgent activity afforded by an already self-indulgent blog.

There really couldn’t have been a book atop my list that wasn’t Infinite Jest. I can’t remember spending as long as I did reading a book in the past. A surreal year to read the book, the loss of DFW framed the last third of the book in a more profound, vivid lens through which to read the reflections on depression.

I’ll also add that the graphic novel Robot Dreams, though wordless and typically advertised for elementary and middle-school aged children was still one of the other books that made a big impression on me. Following along with the election politics in DMZ was also a timely highlight throughout the year and the expected conclusion of Ex Machina this year will be the anticipated comic highlight.

Lastly, as far as music for ’08 goes the likely suspects would have rounded out any list I’d have made: the Walkmen, Jon Brion’s score for Synecdoche, New York, and that Lil Wayne album (no, not proud of this one) were played on a constant basis. However, perhaps the unsung hero of my ’08 listening habits is Future Islands: although the band made less than a blip in the press, their album, Wave Like Home is the sea shanty anthem that I whole heatedly blast during my commute between the opposing shores of Manual Arts and the doctoral program. I also became a big proponent of all things King Khan and BBQ and continued purchasing way more Acid Mothers Temple and tropicalia CDs than I could possibly have room for. Still waiting for the Tropical Revolution to take hold here in Los Angeles. As far as ’09 is concerned, the forthcoming Animal Collective album is by far one of the best things I’d heard all year.

Next year should be a good one: I’ve decided to participate in “National Reading 2666 Month” (I actually started the first volume while in the Bay, but probably won’t finish the final volume until Winter Quarter is over). There will be a new Geoff Dyer book, a new text by Sir Ken Robinson due any day now, an Ishiguro collection, and more than enough grad school texts to get in the way of otherwise leisure reading.

1 thought on “Last Thoughts on ‘08

  1. nemesis

    will those really be your last thoughts on 2008 ever? frickin’ consumer junky… you just listed things you bought!!! lol…

    may ’09 be divine!!!

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