Sunday, December 24, 2006
THE BOUNTY OF 2006
FILM: This was an incredible year for new cinema. Many auteurs released new features and the independent and documentary scenes have not lost their respective momentums, with the cream of their crops continuing to surprise and invent. These seven films meant the most to me, personally, intellectually, aesthetically. Dearest readers, the keepers of 2006:
Inland Empire
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Old Joy
Volver
Mutual Appreciation
A Prairie Home Companion
Wordplay
Borat...
MUSIC: This year I bought hardly any new CDs, relying mostly on file-sharing. I've always agreed that forking over cash for music causes me to want/need to favor it, perhaps more than I should--cognitive dissonance meets capitalism meets aesthetic judgment. Getting the milk for free precludes this vicious triangle and allows for a somewhat more objective assessment. While I definitely have not heard much of the highly praised 2006 releases, these seven are what I heard and kept wanting to hear:
Joanna Newsome, Ys
Belle & Sebastian, The Life Pursuit
TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain
Scott Walker, The Drift
Cat Power, The Greatest
Band of Horses, Everything All the Time
Liars, Drum's Not Dead
Books
Sorry, I've almost exclusively read works from at least seventy-five years ago all year, and nothing from 2006.
FILM: This was an incredible year for new cinema. Many auteurs released new features and the independent and documentary scenes have not lost their respective momentums, with the cream of their crops continuing to surprise and invent. These seven films meant the most to me, personally, intellectually, aesthetically. Dearest readers, the keepers of 2006:
Inland Empire
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Old Joy
Volver
Mutual Appreciation
A Prairie Home Companion
Wordplay
Borat...
MUSIC: This year I bought hardly any new CDs, relying mostly on file-sharing. I've always agreed that forking over cash for music causes me to want/need to favor it, perhaps more than I should--cognitive dissonance meets capitalism meets aesthetic judgment. Getting the milk for free precludes this vicious triangle and allows for a somewhat more objective assessment. While I definitely have not heard much of the highly praised 2006 releases, these seven are what I heard and kept wanting to hear:
Joanna Newsome, Ys
Belle & Sebastian, The Life Pursuit
TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain
Scott Walker, The Drift
Cat Power, The Greatest
Band of Horses, Everything All the Time
Liars, Drum's Not Dead
Books
Sorry, I've almost exclusively read works from at least seventy-five years ago all year, and nothing from 2006.
