The Best of 2011 (a Late Retrospective)

Part of what I've been doing for my month of July posts is looking through my drafts of posts I'd started but never finished and working to make those presentable. Imagine my surprise when I ran across my never posted "best of 2011" list--a full six and a half months after I usually post it. And I saw why I hadn't posted it: I had only written an outline. Sorry, folks. I suppose it's as timely now as it ever was...

For the past several years, I've begun the new year with a retrospective of the last one, telling you, faithful readers, what the best and worst was, at least as I saw it. However, when I think about 2011, in many ways it seems like a cultural wasteland. I keep a log of all the books I read in a given year, and it pains me to say that I cut in half the number of books read in 2011 from 2010 (though "number of books read," I'll admit, isn't an indicator of much). There are some mitigating factors here: 1) Doctor Zhivago and Crime and Punishment are both longer books, which have a tendency to slow me down. 2) The amazing number of books (at least for me) that I read in 2010 was partly a result of the book reviewing gigs I had then but have since relinquished. So...my 2011 list isn't as interesting. And instead of trying to force a top five model as I have in the past, I'm only going to mention the things I deem worthy, rather than striving to reach an arbitrary, prescribed number. So without further ado (though not necessarily commentary), here are my picks for 2011.

A Few Brief Comments on My Youth

I realize I haven't posted here in a while. Things have been a little crazy in my household, not least among things taking my time is the sermon I'm preparing for Sunday (on peace, no less, something that seems elusive at the moment).

In any case, a few days ago, I did get the chance to sit down to a movie, a movie I watched often when I was younger: Flight of the Navigator. Abby said she was done with period pieces for a while, and I thought she had said that she liked Flight of the Navigator from when she was a kid, so I put it at the top of the Netflix queue. It turns out, I made that part up. She had never heard of it, and after reading the description and hearing the '80s music play over the DVD menu, she wasn't particularly keen on watching it. Still, since we rarely send Netflix DVDs back without watching them and she wanted this one sent back right away, she agreed to, and so we watched it.

I realized early on that I remembered almost nothing about the movie.

THOR

I saw THOR last night, and I have to say, I enjoyed myself quite a bit. (By the way, THOR is one of those bold characters whose name always looks strange when it isn't in all capitals. Sorry if that annoys you, but it's my blog, and I will capitaliZe WitH ABanDoN.)

Island Movies

I doubt the situation will ever arise, but sometimes I think about being stranded on a deserted island. If I were, and if, like Robinson Crusoe, I were able to salvage a few comforts (or survival gear...that's necessary, too, I suppose) from the sinking ship, what would I take?

Okay, I normally don't think about it in those terms. I usually use the deserted island scene as a backdrop for me to talk about my favorite things, like, if I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have five books with me, which ones would I choose? That kind of thing.

"God's Gonna Cut You Down"

It's not often that Abby and I pay to go see a movie, especially not at the first-run theater and especially not now that we subscribe to Netflix. But a well-timed NPR interview with the Coen brothers, a love for O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Raising Arizona, and a free Friday night all conspired to get us in the door for True Grit (though just at the buzzer, thanks to a slow-moving Portillo's run). It was money well spent.

Throw Down Your Heart

Last night after watching Once Upon a Mattress (Abby's pick), I was allowed to choose something to watch while Abby finished knitting a time-sensitive scarf. After a false start with Darkon, I landed on Bela Fleck's Throw Down Your Heart. This was an excellent choice.

Throw Down Your Heart follows banjo musician Bela Fleck as he travels through Africa, searching out the origins of his instrument and playing with local musicians. The search for the ancestors of the banjo was interesting enough, but even better was listening to the fantastic music that results from musicians of different backgrounds playing together. True to Fleck's pre-trip thoughts, the banjo blends in well with the other instruments he encountered.

The Best of 2010

It's surprising that it's already that time, but it is now appropriate to reflect on 2010, separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were. I mentioned in my last post that, despite my having read more books than I think I've ever read in a year, this wasn't a fantastic year for reading, which is disappointing to me (especially since, on top of that, I didn't reach my goal). Still, I'll pass on what I thought was best, and there really were a few gems--it's just that choosing my top five was easier than it should have been.

As usual, for all of these lists, the main criterion for inclusion is not that something was released in 2010, but that I acquired it in 2010. From these lists you will be able to see how woefully behind the times I am. Also, I didn't see very many movies this year, so take my movie selections with a grain of salt. Commentary follows where it is merited. (If you're interested, here is my list for 2009.)