2007

Here's a rough list of the best and worst of 2007. Mostly its albums and movies and junk. Tell me what your favorites of 2007 were. In fact, I'll make this a tag. All y'all! Every single one of you bloggers who read this. Tag! Write your top 5 or 10 favorite things and least favorite things that happened in 2007. Oh, these are in no particular order, I have just been typing this stuff as it comes to me.

Things that Lived Up to and then Exceeded My Expectations

1. Mika Ninagawa’s Sakuran – My favorite art direction in a movie ever.
2. Serj Tankian’s Elect the Dead – Turns out that as much as I love System of a Down, it’s really just Serj Tankian that I love.
3. Gwen Stefani’s “Sweet Escape” tour – This was pure, unadulterated schmaltz and cheesy pop music at its finest. The tour included the lovely Harajuku Girls, a variety of exceptional musicians, some breakdancers and nice video and stage settings. Gwen Stefani is my mainstream goddess and I am no longer ashamed to proclaim my allegiance.
4. No Country for Old Men – The Coen Brothers made a riveting film out of an extraordinary novel.
5. Grindhouse – Tarantino and Rodriguez delivered the goods. I heard a lot of griping about the lull in the first hour of Death Proof, but I’m not buying it. I loved every minute, and the last half hour was perhaps the best thing Tarantino’s shot. I loved the fake trailers and everything, it made for one of the best movie-going experiences in memory. I watched the extended versions of both films this week. Planet Terror is just as awesome, but Death Proof is actually a lot more dull than the theatrical version. The extended cut includes a very long, boring scene at a convenience store. It also includes one of the most disappointing lap dances ever. I will wait with baited breath for the complete Grindhouse theatrical version to be released on DVD, fake trailers and all.
6. Josh Brolin in the two movies above.
7. My new house – It is kind of a weird house. It’s a far cry from what kind of house I imagined I would live in. Now that we’ve settled in, I love my house more and more each day. There’s still much to be done, but it feels more like home all the time. It’s still an old lady house, but I’m a bit of an old lady myself.
8. L.A. Ink – I love this show. It’s glossy and vacuous, but it’s so much fun. And I love that bossa nova cover version of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” by Nouvelle Vague that plays over the beginning credits.
9. Graceland – Visiting Elvis’ home was so awesome. The fanatics are unbelievably devoted and reverent. The people-watching alone is worth the price of airfare.
10. My dog still has his weird and wonky lower front teeth. They haven’t had to come out and he hasn’t knocked ‘em out yet! This makes me so happy every time I see him. I’ll see if I can’t get a good photo of his teeth to post.

11. Puffy's latest album Honeycreeper, cause Puffy can do no wrong. It's a delightful record!

Most Crushing Disappointments of 2007

1. Across the Universe – perhaps the worst two hours and 20 minutes of 2007
2. Snoop Dogg’s E! television show, Father Hood- Such a complete disappointment. I was so anxious to see the show. Snoop Dogg delivers a boring, staged show that serves as an excuse to watch gangsta Snoop fuss at his kids and vacuum. It’s so bad, so very bad.
3. The White Stripes Icky Thump – I was so anxious for this record and I think I’ve listened to it maybe twice. The second time was more out of hope and pity.
4. The Cure’s rescheduling of their Oct tour until May 2008 (although at least I have something to look forward to)
5. Spiderman 3- Oh, Sam Raimi! How far the mighty can fall.
6. Rilo Kiley Under the Blacklight – I got this album for my husband who has a thing for Jenny Lewis. Her solo record was pretty damn good. The Rilo Kiley albums were very good, too. I was particularly partial to “The Execution of All Things”. This new one is way too polished and sounds like too great of an attempt to go mainstream. And it’s boring, too.
7. Park Chan Wook’s I’m a Cyborg But That’s Okay – After the glorious masterpieces Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, my hopes were perhaps too high. This boring film about lonely souls falling in love in a mental institution (one of whom believes she is a robot) should have played like a postmodern Benny & Joon. Instead, it was an hour and a half of a girl talking to a vending machine. The film looked beautiful, it just didn’t have the vitality of Park Chan Wook’s previous films.
8. Touring artists that skip this area. I’m irritated that some of my favorite artists keep jumping right over Virginia and D.C. and skip immediately to New York (I’m talking to YOU, Foo Fighters and Serj Tankian!). I also get perturbed by the groups that bypass the east coast altogether (that’s you, Puffy).
9. The Flaming Lips live show –Not only is the show almost exactly the same as it was on the Yoshimi tour (save for some cool stuff with laser pointers), the fans are really annoying. Drunken hippies shoving me and spilling beer on my pretty shoes while yelling “Play Ego Tripping!” is not my idea of a good time.