Resolution Update 2011

Everyone, I have officially arrived at two resolutions for the new year...

1) I will do the dishes before I go to bed each night.

2) I will answer my phone whenever it rings this year.  This scares me to death, but what the hell.  I've been dodging phone calls for the last 15 or so years, what's one year of actually answering them.  There's no way this is going to make it past February.

6th annual books read/girls made out with list

1. Nixonland - Rick Pearstein - good non-fiction book about the late Johnson/Nixon presidency
2. Wapshot Chronicles - John Cheever
3. Red Harvest - Dashiell Hammett - noir story by the guy who wrote the maltese falcon, I think
4. Nine Stories - J.D. Salinger - I don't really get a lot out of short stories, but these were pretty damn good
5. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky Like Dickens for people who see the evil in the world
6. Manhood for Amateurs - Michael Chabon - interesting reflections on being a father/husband
7. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
8. Under the Net - Iris Murdoch
9. The Boy Detective Fails - Joe Meno; After reading a second time, decided it was probably my favorite book
10. Hairstyles of the Damned - less good Joe Meno book
11. Black and Blue - Tom Adelman
12. Angle of Repose - Wallage Stegner
13. Apologize, Apologize - Elizabeth Kelly, Brother/sister book club!
14. A Russian Journal - John Steinbeck
15. The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
16. The Life of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski; interesting take on Hamlet set on a dog breeding farm in America in the 1960's
17. Irish Girl - Tim Johnston
18. Zeitoun - Dave Eggers, Brother's Book Club!
19. Death Comes for the Archbishop- Will Cather, much more enjoyable than I thought it would be
20. Housekeeping vs. The Dirt - Nick Hornby
21. The Garden of Last Days - Andre Dubus III
22. Man in the Dark - Paul Aster, this is the book that I have most forgotten of all the books I read this year
23. The Fifth Business - Robertson Davies
24. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
25. The Death of the Heart - Elizabeth Bowen
26. The Girl who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson
27. Rachel and Her Children - Jonathan Kozol, sad, sad non-fiction book about homeless people in new york in the 80's. very grim.
28. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves - Another short story collection that I like a lot
29. The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton- good, good book. almost make me want to see the movie
30. Go with Me - Castle Freedman Jr. - Indistiguishable from Man in the Dark in my memory
31. Samaritan - Richard Price
32. The Red Pony - John Steinbeck
33. Absalom, Absalom! - good, but the most difficult book I read
34. The Movie Club - David Gilmour
35. Dizzy City - Nicholas Griffith
36. The Assistant - Bernard Malamud, good, thought provoking book
37. Long Ball - Tom Adelman
38. The Call of the Wild- Jack London - I really like this book, short, about dogs, delightful
39. Entering Hades - John Leake, least enjoyable book, about a creepy austrian serial killer
40. The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

I usually try to come up with my favorite and/or best book read. This year it was a tie in both categories among many books. I suppose the worst books were the "the girl" books, but they were both better than some of the crap I read last year. So that's good.

The Resolution

I have been having a very difficult time coming to any decent new year's resolutions this year.  I think I was so happy with mine from last year, that I need a broad departure.  So I think this year I would like to just have one.  Some super-duper halfway difficult resolution.  Here are some options:

1. Only eat all-natural food.  I have no idea what this even means.  But I like the idea of being confined to the little "Natural Foods" section of my Hy-Vee.  I never buy anything there, so it would surely pose some challenges. 
2. Do the dishes every night of 2011.  I hate having a cluttered kitchen, but I only do our dishes when it's obvious they need to be done.  This would not only add to my sanity, but make our tiny kitchen seem less tiny. 
3. Organize All Our Shit - If I do this, I would really have to set up 12 goals to hit throughout the year.  There would probably be a spreadsheet involved.  And Chelsey would have to commit to being the Project Inspector, to make sure I was staying on top if it. This sounds like the most fun, and the most likely to languish.

Any input would be appreciated...

Brent's List of Books He Read in 2010

1. The Awakening - Kate Chopin - This is about a lady who realizes her life is lousy and drowns herself in Mexico.  It's about self-loathing, and I like that.
2. O Pioneers!  Willa Cather - This book was a real disappointment.  It skipped over all the hardship pioneers stories, and turned into a story about love or something.  I don't remember. 
3. Sean Payton Book - Sean Payton did not try very hard on this book.
4. Drew Brees Book - Drew Brees tried maybe a little too hard on this book. 
5. Jeff Duncan Book - This was the best of the Saints Superbowl Books - which isn't saying much. 
6. Grapes of Wrath - America was not a very nice place in the 30's.  Hardship and dirt.  It was all hardship and dirt.
7. The Boy Detective Fails - Chuck's favorite book - or one of them.  It's a pretty cute Encyclopedia Brown style mystery, except EB is grown up.  And his life is very sad.
8. Huckleberry Finn - It's been a while since I finished this, and I honestly can't remember if this was better than I thought it would be or worse. I think I thought it was silly.
9. The Falling Man - I have almost no memory of this book.  It's kind of about 9/11, and it's a novel. 
10. Zeitoun - Best book I read this year.  1930's America was a walk in the park compared to New Orleans, Post-Katrina.
11. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I am reading this now.  I have no idea why.  It's not even going that fast.  And the girl with the dragon tattoo is barely in it.  The majority of the story is about this douchebag cheeseball journalist.

de facto 2010 new years resolutions

Here's what my new year's resolutions should have been for 2010.

1. Spend a lot of money. I don't know what happened with this, but I am supposedly making more money than I ever have before, yet my bank account continually creeps lower and lower. I'm tempted to put all the blame on my having to pay for my anti-depressants this year (rather than getting samples), but that's probably wishful thinking.

2. Put a lot of work into projects that end up going nowhere. This mostly applies to work, where time after time, a proposal that I have been assigned to and have worked on just kind of gets dropped.

3. Gain weight. See recent holiday pictures.

4. Ignore stated 2010 new years resolutions. I believe my goals for the new year were to do something creative once a month, kiss a woman, and ride my bike more. 0 for three.

Okay, those are the big ones. I'll add more if I think of them.

Brent's 50 Favorite Songs of 2010

There a slew of repeats here, which either means that I didn't do a very good job listening to a wide variety of music (I feel like I did), or that there just wasn't that much good stuff (I feel like there wasn't).  I limited my picks to music actually owned by me.  Which is why that B.O.B. song about airplanes didn't make it.  I love that song.  Why can't we act like airplanes are shooting stars, people?  I could really use a wish right now.

1. Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells - Treats




2. All Delighted People - Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP




3. Taxi Cab - Vampire Weekend - Contra



4. Fuck You - Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer



5. To Old Friends and New - Titus Andronicus - The Monitor



6. Dark Fantasy - Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy



7. Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National - High Violet



8. The Ghost Who Walks - Karen Elson - Karen Elson



9. The Mermaid Parade - Phosphorescent - Here's to Taking It Easy



10. Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells - Treats



11. You Wanted A Hit - LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening



12. It - Dr. Dog - Shame Shame

13. Excuses - The Morning Benders - Big Echo



14. Everlasting Light - The Black Keys - Brothers



15. Half Light II (No Celebration) - The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs



16. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks - The National - High Violet



17. Tell 'Em - Sleigh Bells - Treats



18. These Days - The Black Keys - Brothers



19. Soundtrack To The End - Communist Daughter - Soundtrack To The End



20. John the Determinist - Jeremy Messersmith - The Reluctant Graveyard



21. Obscene Queen Bee - Flashy Python - Skin and Bones


22. Heaven Can Wait - Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM



23. I Remember - Yeasayer - Odd Blood



24. I Didn’t See It Coming - Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love



25. Theme from "Cheers" - Titus Andronicus - The Monitor



26. Queen Black Acid - Menomena - Mines



27. Crash Years - The New Pornographers - Together



28. Riot Rhythm - Sleigh Bells - Treats



29. What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way) - Wolf Parade - Expo 86



30. Runaway - The National - High Violet

31. Shame, Shame - Dr. Dog - Shame Shame



32. Sinister Kid - The Black Keys - Brothers

33. Valkyrie In The Roller Disco - The New Pornographers - Together

34. Mornin' Time - Woods - At Echo Lake

35. We Don't Want Your Body - Stars - The Five Ghosts

36. Run the Heart - Sleigh Bells - Treats

37. Not The Kid - Communist Daughter - Soundtrack To The End

38. Slippery When Wet - The Acorn - No Ghost

39. Wasted Hours - The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

40. Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes - Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM

41. Write About Love - Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love

42. Never Give You Up - The Black Keys - Brothers

43. Moves - The New Pornographers - Together

44. Giving Up The Gun - Vampire Weekend - Contra

45. Long Way Home - Mates Of State - Crushes

46. In the Sun - She & Him - Volume Two

47. It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're from Alabama) - Phosphorescent - Here's to Taking It Easy

48. Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk - The New Pornographers - Together

49. Taos - Menomena - Mines

50. Let the Record Go - The Mynabirds - What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood

I don't get it.

So here's my topic sentence for this blog post: everybody says that Doctor Strangelove, Hard Day's Night, and Annie Hall are good movies, but they could not be more wrong.

I watched all three of these movies for the first time this year and was not impressed by any of them. All three were on the Time Magazine list of best movies and for the life of me, I can't imagine why. Of the three, I suppose Annie Hall has the strongest argument. It has a perspective, that at the time was probably fairly unique. It's just not very funny. I think maybe Hard Day's Night is on there just because people really like the Beatles, especially in their youthful, insouciant years. The movie seems to just be like an episode of the monkees tv show, a program that, incidentally, I have never in fact seen. And finally Doctor Strangelove, as mentioned before on this blog, that movie is just straight up for assholes.

In 2011, my hope is to be less disillusioned. Oh and I just ched the Time list again and Annie Hall isn't on there. That's a good sign.