General

Christmas List

I’m bad at these, but here we go….

It was a very good year for low culture. In film, I really dug both JCVD and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In books, I read far too many Ian Fleming novels, and Russell Brand’s My Booky Wook is outstanding. Seriously, it’s up there with Stephen Fry’s The Liar as one of the great examples of England’s ability to churn out funnyman actors who, infuriatingly, can also write up a storm (see also: Richard E. Grant). I didn’t watch a heck of a lot of TV, but when I did, it consisted of probably too many episodes of Two and a Half Men, consumed along with cold pizza and a half-read copy of the previous weekend’s NYTimes magazine. I also fell hard for Gossip Girl late in the season (and I’m not done with you yet, my dears Blair and Serena.) The internet probably counts as one big low-culture entry, and I definitely spent too much time on hanging out on blogs by the microfamous. But that should get better with the elections done (knock wood), though no matter what happens I think I’ll be returning here (Warning: Crude and NSFW! ), which contains probably my favourite single blog post of the year. 

Moving on up the brow, Man on Wire was the best movie of the year, no question. Just see it. It was a good year for non-fiction, but  Yaroslav Trofimov’s underrated Siege of Mecca was the most important book I read. Concertwise, The Dodos kicked ass at PopMontreal, but nothing compared to Leonard Cohen’s transcendent turn at the Place des Arts in June. (Speaking of, this is a very happy turn of events). I stuck with Mad Men, even though the writers too often took it to places I didn’t really approve of in the second season. Galactica I bailed on completely though — I couldn’t see it turning out satisfactorily. All told, I  need to devote more time to people and events on planet Earth and less time to the giant suckhole of time that is the web, but as long as good old Blog Central remains the most vibrant and exciting online destination in the country, I’m sure we can find some time to spend together. 

Thanks to all my readers, online and in the mag, loyal and otherwise, for giving me your attention and feedback. Being here is an absolute honour, not to mention a total hoot. Over at the OC, Kady and Scott and I have a bberry roundtable coming your way next Sunday, but in the meanwhile happy hols to everyone. Back in a few days.

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