It seems every blog on the interweb has published some sort of tribute to year end with recaps and lists and myriads of attempts to document and mile mark the twelve months passed. The Top 10, 20, 100 whatever lists are always amusing--especially in relation to books and music-- because it all seems so arbitrary and subjective. Sometimes I get attached to things that I know perhaps aren't the critical "best", but that have caught me at a moment, in a time and place, where I am perfectly suited, situated just so, searching maybe, waiting even, to be moved, and to connect with words or sounds, as if they'd been my own. That's always what resonates. Sometimes the critically acclaimed will cross over into this realm, but not always.
So anyway, with that said, here's my recap of 2007, a year in which although there were no great victories, there were many small triumphs and also no serious catastrophes, which is saying something probably. Accuracy is questionable, as memory, especially mine, is often an unreliable source.
Word Consumption
Books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma/Michael Pollan (enlightening); Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays/Joan Didion(beautiful); Everything is Illuminated/Jonathan Safran Foer(unique); Veronica/Mary Gaitskill(interesting); I Am Legend/Richard Matheson(awful); The Time Traveler’s Wife/Audrey Niffenegger(entertaining); Prep/Curtis Sittenfeld (so honest); On the Road/Jack Kerouac(racy); Prozac Nation/Elizabeth Wurtzel (startling); What to Eat/Marion Nestle(informative); What is the What/Dave Eggers (in progress); Special Topics in Calamity Physics/Marisha Pessl (in progress); Apex Hides the Hurt/Colson Whitehead (in progress) [Note: I can't believe this is it for all of '07? Either my memory has giant black holes or I was not very productive on the book front this year]
Other constants: NY Magazine; NY Times; Gawker; Jezebel; Slate; Gothamist; Gridskipper; Stereogum, Post Secret, lots of Blogs
Musical Stylings:
Artists: Tegan & Sara; Of Montreal; LCD Soundsystem; Arcade Fire; Radiohead; Shiny Toy Guns; Electrelane; Menomena; Bruce Springsteen; Madonna; Phoenix; Scissor Sisters; Broken Social Scene; Feist; Kevin Drew; Jeff Buckley; Frou Frou; Camera Obscura; Interpol; Jose Gonzalez; Lily Allen; My Morning Jacket; Phoenix; Rilo Kiley; The Shins; Stars
Someone Great – LCD Soundsystem
Don’t Cry Out – Shiny Toy Guns
Le Disko – Shiny Toy Guns
Saturday – Electrelane
Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen
Sorry – Madonna
Hung Up – Madonna
Isaac – Madonna
Umbrella – Rihanna
Rest My Chemistry – Interpol
Magheeta – My Morning Jacket
Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games – Of Montreal
We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafling – Of Montreal
Take Me to the Riot – Stars
Your Ex-Lover is Dead- Stars
What the Snowman Learned About Love – Stars
Dreamworld – Rilo Kiley
Close Call – Rilo Kiley
Heartbeats – The Knife
Music is My Hot, Hot Sex – CSS
1, 2, 3, 4 – Feist
I Feel It All – Feist
I Don’t Feel Like Dancing – Scissor Sisters
Mama Africa – Akon
If I Ever Feel Better – Phoenix
The Way I Are – Timbaland
Hear Me Out- Frou Frou
Breathe In – Frou Frou
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Nineteen – Tegan & Sara
Living Room - Tegan & Sara
Not Tonight - Tegan & Sara
Dark Come Soon - Tegan & Sara
I Bet It Stung - Tegan & Sara
Call It Off - Tegan & Sara
Rebellion (Lies) – Arcade Fire
Vintage People- Eisley
Take Your Mama Out – Scissor Sisters
7/4 (Shoreline) – Broken Social Scene
15 Step - Radiohead
Destinations:
Germany (Dusseldorf, Heidelberg, Ulm, Munich); Prague, Czech Republic; Portugal (Lisbon, Faro, Albufeira); Seville, Spain; Washington DC, Dallas, Rochester (boo)
Lingo: gems I talk and type, credit due to varying sources
oh snap; totes; blast; word; for fuck’s sake; son of a; indeed; mmmk; right on; obvs; good lord; gorge; dude; fucker; douchebag; oh hey; woot; wtf/what the fuck; LOL
Apparel: most beloved items of '07
Leggings, boots, skinny jeans, white chuck taylor hightops, lumberjack zip hoodie, American apparel gray t-shirts, summer dresses, roma quality t-shirt
Loose Ends: other miscellaneous randomness of varying significance
I became a blog-aholic. Then I started this one. I discovered Google Reader and switched to gmail. I lost 15ish lbs. I ran two races. I hosted 3 parties. I made a lot of new friends. I joined Facebook. There were injuries (ankle, knee, foot). I became an indie music-listening hipster. I cut off a lot of my hair. Then I did it again and dyed it dark. I made an escape from the bedbugs and moved to a sweet apartment. I started hating my job. I learned to like yogurt. And oysters. I temporarily became a vegetarian. I had my 15 minutes of NY Post fame. I joined Netflix and fell asleep during 70% of the movies I received. I (think I) learned to communicate a bit better. I started liking myself more, again. I pondered. I thought. A lot. About everything and anything.
Hello, 2008.
3 comments:
You also learned about the word naff. I discovered google reader and gmail too, which I think could have possibly be the highlight of 2007 for me.
You read some good books this year, gotta say. I wish I had a good reading year this year, but I just didn't make the right choices.
For fuck's sake how could I forget Naff! Word. Good call. Naff and Ace are totes going to be the it words of '08, obvs. Indeed, woot, etc.
I could easily say that google reader and gmail are some of my fav things from '07 and not be lying, even a little bit. Life changing. Google is one of my closest friends.
OMG, i've been found out! I'm really creepy, sorry.
You're a great writer.
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