Here we are again: My 'Best of 2009' Lists

The Best Music, Movies, TV, & Books of 2009 in my little world.

MUSIC:

1. Fun. - Aim & Ignite
2. Brandi Carlile - Give Up the Ghost - {"I laid this suitcase on my chest so I could feel somebody's weight."}
   
3. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Jars of Clay - The Long Fall Back to Earth
6. Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
7. Derek Webb - Stockholm Syndrome - {"...we affix all their scars to our walls so there’s heartbreak for everyone"}
8. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
9. Sufjan Stevens - The BQE
10. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
11. Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane - {"If it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love."}
12. Thad Cockrell - To Be Loved
13. The Mountain Goats - Life of the World to Come
14. Monsters of Folk - s/t
15. Wilco - s/t
16. St. Vincent - Actor
17. Gregory Alan Isakov - This Empty Northern Hemisphere
18. Sara Groves - Fireflies & Songs
19. Regina Spektor - Far
20. M. Ward - Hold Time

Yet to Hear from 2009: Mew, Passion Pit, Dirty Projectors, Girls


MOVIES:

1. Inglorious Basterds - dir. Quentin Tarantino
2. A Serious Man - Joel & Ethan Coen - {"Just look at that parking lot."}
   
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson
4. Antichrist - Lars von Trier
5. Where the Wild Things Are - Spike Jonze
6. Anvil - Sacha Gervasi
7. Nine - Rob Marshall - {"You're just an appetite..."}
8. Humpday - Lynn Shelton
9. District 9 - Neill Blomkamp
10. Avatar - James Cameron
11. Observe & Report - Jody Hill
12. Up in the Air - Jason Reitman
13. The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow
14. Watchmen - Zack Snyder
15. Coraline - Henry Selick
16. Up - P. Docter & B. Peterson
17. Baader Meinhoff Complex - Uli Edel
18. Sin Nombre - Cary Fukunaga
19. Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince - David Yates
20. (500) Days of Summer - Marc Webb

Yet to See: A Single Man, Moon, Invictus, Precious, Sugar, The Limits of Control, In the Loop, Che & Summer Hours

DOCUMENTARIES:

1. Anvil - dir. Sasha Gervasi
2. The National Parks: America’s Best Idea - Ken Burns - {"Man can only mar it."}
   
3. The Cove - Louie Psihoyos
4. Food Inc. - Robert Kenner
5. This is It - Kenny Ortega
   

Yet to See: The Yes Men Fix the World, & My Neighbor My Killer


On the TEEVEEs:

1. Glee - {"We're not naming our baby Drizzle."}
   
2. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
3. Daily Show / Colbert Report
4. South Park
5. 30 Rock

Yet to (really) See: Mad Men (come on Hulu!)


BOOKS:

1. Strength in What Remains - Tracy Kidder - {"...don't wait for people to feel like their lives are not worth living. Once they feel that way, how are they going to feel about another person's life?"}
   
2. Animal Dialogues - Craig Childs - {"...people tell me at times they wish to get in touch with the animal spirit. I will tell you this about the animal spirit: it will tear you in two as quickly as it will bring you wholeness. It is not a thing of value or judgment. It is a thing of purity, and it will not take issue with either death or ecstasy."}
   
3. Sacredness of Questioning Everything - David Dark
4. Production Diary from the Heart of Darkness - Werner Herzog
5. Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller

Yet to Read: The Big Questions: Tackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics, and Physics, Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism), & How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read (though, clearly, I should just say I've read it)

Merry Christmas

The Word Became Flesh
John 1:1-18

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, [1] and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, [2] and his own people [3] did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, [4] who is at the Father's side, [5] he has made him known.

Winter

"Before it Breaks" - Brandi Carlile

Around here it's the hardest time of year.
And waking up, the days are even gone.
Will the collar on my coat,
Lord help me kill off the cold?
Will the raindrops sting my eyes or keep them closed?

but I'm feeling no pain
only the lonely
and my quietest friend
Have I the moonlight?
Have I let you in?
Say it ain't so,
say I'm happy again.

Say it's over.
Say I'm dreaming.
Say I'm better than you left me.

Say you're sorry.

I can take it.

Say you'll wait.
Say you won't.
Say you love me.
Say you don't.
I can make my own mistakes.
Let it bend before it breaks.

I'm alright, don't I always seem to be?
aren't I swinging on the stars?
Don't I wear em' on my sleeves?
But when you're looking for a crossroads,
it happens every day.
And whichever way you turn,
I'm gonna turn the other way.

And say it's over.
Say I'm dreaming.
Say I'm better than you left me.
Say you're sorry.
I can take it.
Say you'll wait.
Say you won't.
Say you love me.
Say you don't.
I can make my own mistakes.
Learn to let it bend before it breaks.

photos from Oconomowoc, WI