Anyone starting a new journal to start the new year?

I am. Usually I post a pic of all the journals I use during the prior year, as I put mine in storage, I can't do that. But I can give you a pic of the journal I'm starting on Jan 1, 2010.

Bringing the year in in style. :)

Last night's tweets;

Rain creates new living environments.
Contented cats scheme of a restless night.
Anxious plants break radish red through cements.
The garden of pundits predict a fight.

I've been listening to so much Orson Welles that I hear his voice in my head reading everything I read. Sentences often begin with a faintly amused tone and end with a sudden loud, angry urgency.

To-day I've been listening to his around five hour production of Les Miserables, which is so far the version I've enjoyed most, the previous two having been the stage musical and the movie starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush. It's an interesting story, because almost every moment of it would superficially seem to cast Valjean's plight has ludicrously melodramatic and Inspector Javert as a dull, two dimensional villain. But I find Javert oddly sympathetic somehow and Valjean's story somehow really creates an impression of a world where it is really wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed a starving family.

I still have three and a half pages to colour on the next Venia's Travels. I'm not in a huge hurry, though, as I suspect most readers have something they're doing to-night. I've never really been very excited by midnight on New Years. I remember one year Trisa and I were seeing a movie and let the minute pass unnoticed.

I'll probably still finish the chapter before I go to bed, but if anyone needs tiding over, here're some characters I designed for the new chapter who ended up only appearing in the background of a couple panels and have no lines. See if you can guess what movie stars I modelled them after;

It's almost that time. I'm in jammies, being slammed by abx, and gonna have a thimble of champagne. I doubt I'll get a midnight kiss. B hasn't let me touch him in days.

Well, did you manage? Did you write everday of 2009? Or did you set a different goal? Was it difficult or easy? Will you continue next year? Please tell me all about it!

I have written everyday since May 10th 2008 and it's lovely to have something to look back on. Both the happiness and the sadness, the words of others and my own, ramblings about theatre, books, school, people - it's been great. And I'll continue, of course!

This year we lost Ray Ashley to cancer. Ray played accordion in Nicki Jaine He was funny and understated and very talented.

It seems fitting to remember him in this video we made on New Years Eve 2006. Auld Lang Syne.



Watch it, love it, repost as necessary.

I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do next.  Prayers flags greatly interest me, but lately my mind has been occupied by zines.

Typical of my process, I've read everything I could find online about zines; the history, the different sizes, layouts, paste-up vs computer-designed, and on and on. I could write a how-to article on zines--except for the fact that I haven't actually made one.

Apparently, one needs something to say, something to show-and-tell, something that may be of possible interest to someone else.  I got nothing.  Oh, many ideas flitted by, but nothing has stuck.  And, darn it, I've been wanting to make a little hand-made booklet thingy for so long.  

In reading your posts, I'm forced to review 2009 on a personal level.  Uhmmmm.

It's been good.  Every year since we moved here has been good.  

Five years from now what I'll remember is that 2009 was the year of BoKoo and the Big Snow.

Today what I remember is:
* We had visits with many old friends, in addition to the Balto cousins, our house guests have been Jane and Craig; Holland; the Emmers; Jane (again!) and Gee.  I LOVE having friends here.
* Our aged pets, one by one, are leaving us.  In memoriam, beloved dogs Sweet Pea, Dottie, and Andy, and cat Mitzi.
*My LJ friends doubled in number--and everyone on my FL rocks.  

Last year I had my journal printed, and I'll do it again this year. 

Plans for 2010?  No, not really.  More of the same, please.

Happy New Year, peeps!  

Money is still trickling in for Everything Dies, if you haven’t gotten in on the awesome rewards available for donating you still have a few weeks left. Remember this project is now fully funded and all rewards will be mailed. Get your copies of Everything Dies before they are for sale!

Well, here it is--all two hundred sixty eight movies I can remember seeing this decade. Looks like I liked a lot more than I hated, which is a nice thing to be able to say, I guess.

I was helped in remembering somewhat by Wikipedia's incomplete and in some places inaccurate lists of American movies per year, which of course didn't help me out with foreign films for which I pretty much had to rely on memory. I probably forgot a few. I'm also sure I wrote reviews for more films than I linked to, but Live Journal's lack of a good search feature made finding them a task too great. But I did find the urls for an awful lot of my reviews, which range from lengthy analyses to brief paragraphs. The older the review, the less well written. I also found I disagreed with myself in some of my old annual rankings, even as recently as last year's.

Ranked in descending order, for dramatic effect;

Best


194. Scream 3 (Wikipedia entry)
193. Stardust (Wikipedia entry)
192. Scary Movie (Wikipedia entry)
191. Freddy vs. Jason (Wikipedia entry)
190. Friends with Money (Wikipedia entry, my review)

189. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Wikipedia entry, my review)
188. TMNT (Wikipedia entry, my review)
187. Spun (Wikipedia entry)
186. White Oleander (Wikipedia entry)
185. The Count of Monte Cristo (Wikipedia entry)
184. The Golden Compass (Wikipedia entry, my review)
183. Shopgirl (Wikipedia entry)
182. Sunshine (Wikipedia entry)
181. Star Trek Nemesis (Wikipedia entry)
180. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Wikipedia entry)

179. Cloverfield (Wikipedia entry, my review)
178. Waitress (Wikipedia entry)
177. He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (Wikipedia entry)
176. Mission: Impossible II (Wikipedia entry)
175. Legally Blonde (Wikipedia entry)
174. The Man Who Cried (Wikipedia entry)
173. The Perfect Storm (Wikipedia entry)
172. Good Night, and Good Luck (Wikipedia entry)
171. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Wikipedia entry)
170. The Illusionist (Wikipedia entry, my review)

( The rest of the good, behind the cut )



Worst

75. Watchmen (Wikipedia entry, my review)
74. The Jane Austen Book Club (Wikipedia entry)
73. The Devil Wears Prada (Wikipedia entry)
72. Avatar (Wikipedia entry, my review)
71. 1408 (Wikipedia entry, my review)
70. Spider-Man 3 (Wikipedia entry, my review)

69. Blind Side (Wikipedia entry, my review)
68. Bewitched (Wikipedia entry)
67. Hero (2002) (Wikipedia entry)
66. 300 (Wikipedia entry, my review)
65. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Wikipedia entry, my review)
64. Van Helsing (Wikipedia entry)
63. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Wikipedia entry, my review)
62. I Heart Huckabees (Wikipedia entry, my review)
61. 3:10 to Yuma (Wikipedia entry, my review)
60. The Passion of Christ (Wikipedia entry)

59. Secret Window (Wikipedia entry)
58. The Matrix Reloaded (Wikipedia entry)
57. The Triplets of Bellville (Wikipedia entry)
56. The Family Stone (Wikipedia entry)
55. Crash (2004) (Wikipedia entry)
54. Alien vs. Predator (Wikipedia entry, my review)
53. Cold Mountain (Wikipedia entry)
52. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Wikipedia entry, my review)
51. Alfie (Wikipedia entry)
50. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (Wikipedia entry)

( The rest of the bad, behind the cut )

1) Animal Vegetable Miracle: Barbara Kingsolver (Had trouble finishing this because her tone is so self-congratulatory. I don't think I want to read any of her other non-fiction.)

2) I Want the Stars: Tom Purdom (lively, intelligent science fiction with interesting characters; strong female personalities. I would read it again.)

3) The March: E. L. Doctorow (Civil War saga -- its historical accuracy was doubtful and I didn't like a single character. I wanted Sherman to pummel them into the ground.)

4) Penelope: Penelope Farmer (by the author of "Charlotte Sometimes" -- she always touches on the concept of reincarnation and self-discovery in this life and the ones that came before. "Penelope" was for a much younger reader, but well-constructed.)

5) Unless: Carol Shields (the book wore me out. not in a good way.)

6) The Perilous Gard: Elizabeth Marie Pope (Kyle bought this for me because he loved it when he was growing up, and it was fabulous! So beautifully written. Pope only wrote two novels and was an historian so the historical accuracy (always important to me) is unquestionable. There's Elizabethan England and malevolent fairies; what could possibly be better??? I highly recommend it for any age.)

7) The Sherwood Ring: Elizabeth Marie Pope (I liked the first book so much, I immediately bought this one and read it. This has Revolutionary War era ghosts, which is also pretty cool. But I found them all a little too verbose. In my opinion, ghosts should be seen and not really heard, unless they're dropping things on the floors and slamming doors. Still, a beautifully written, moving novel.)

8) Flashman: George MacDonald Fraser (Oh, Flashman. What is there to say? Kyle and I read this together, out loud, so I'm sharing the reader's credit with him. We read it because all Kyle's science fiction pals raved about Flashman, and we were not disappointed! We are now reading "Royal Flash" -- I mean, what's not to love? He's selfish, cowardly, sexist, lazy... and completely honest about every last sin. I love him! "This is no place for Flashman!" needs to be on a t-shirt.)

9) The Time Traveler's Wife: Audrey Niffenegger (The best novel I've read in years -- I can't remember the last time I was so swept up in a story and the drama of a fictional situation. I want to sit down with the author and ask her how she did it. It's an ambitious and insanely complex novel, and I can't believe anyone actually wrote it.)

10) The Brass Bed: Jennifer Stevenson (fun, sexy romp)

11) Flora Segunda: Ysabeau S. Wilce (Wonderful, delightful "YA fantasy" novel with a spunky female protagonist and magical, banished butlers -- the more I read, the more I loved. The second book is equally good and felt like a seamless continuation of the first.)

12) Letters of a Woman Homesteader: Elinore Pruitt Stewart (Oh, to receive letters such as these, in any era! It did my Wyoming heart good to read them; our edition is illustrated by NC Wyeth too!)

13) Never Let Me Go: Kazuo Ishiguro (Wow -- this book had more twists and turns than a tub full of eels (I had to brainstorm with Kyle for that analogy) -- and it kept me on the edge of my seat, for purely psychological reasons. A frightening glimpse into the future... or perhaps the present...?)

14) Flora's Dare: Ysabeau S. Wilce (Yay! The fun continues! Thank goodness for trilogies!)

15) Fathers and Sons: Ivan Turgenev (I read this in college, but enjoyed it so much more the second time around -- being older now, I found myself relating to the fathers... and enjoying the descriptive passages Turgenev weaves.)

16) Coraline: Neil Gaiman (Far creepier than I'd expected; he does have such a way with words and images. My skin felt prickly.)

17) Up a Road Slowly: Irene Hunt (I'd remembered this one from my childhood; I'd always remembered little flashes from it. It was like revisiting the place where I grew up.)

18) Forever and Ever, Amen: Becoming a Nun in the Sixties: Sister Karol Jackowski (I wonder what Sister Mary Catherine would think of this one! What an eye-opener. Sort of.)

19) The God of Small Things: Arundhati Roy (An incredible, heartbreaking book that took me nearly a year to finish. Many people had recommended it to me, and I'm so glad they did -- my life feels richer because of it.)

20) The Court of Stone Children: Eleanor Cameron (Another "Kyle recommends" book. I wish I had read it when I was a child because I've a feeling it would have inspired me. Perhaps I'd be the curator of 19th Century French paintings now! Again, there were ghosts and intrigue.)

21) The Book Thief: Markus Zusak (A beautiful and moving book that took my breath away -- I had trouble moving on to anything else after finishing it; it was so much more than anything I could have expected.)

22) A Big Storm Knocked It Over: Laurie Colwin (fascinating characters in a book where nothing really happens. I didn't mind the lack of conflict and strife, because the people themselves were people I'd like to know. It was fun to follow them around. Though I did get tired of the protagonist always whining "Maybe you should have married someone younger" to her doting husband.)

All in all, a very good book year; I would re-read most everything on the list.

Twitter Sonnet #96

The man shaped dark uniforms fear flat walls.
Enough algae have formed to change a pond.
Spiders and flowers are decking the halls.
No sense waiting for someone to respond.
Blameless drains suck the bubbly bathwater.
Prince Randian's hips were washed clean of leg.
Love's yellow yolk from the alma mater.
The Star of Bethlehem was a big egg.
Wildflower honey easily spills.
Arteries to the Heart of Darkness clog.
But Kurtz can't collect his medical bills.
Ribbons of sound coil into a log.
Messages are passionately withheld.
A sweet, self-gagged ghost awaits a wergild.

I compulsively started working on my ranking of the decades films last night, and spent another four hours on it to-day. Gods, I hate reading my old journal entries. I hate how happy I seem in them. What an asshole. There're even more typos back then and just flat out bad spelling and grammar. I see I consistently mispelled "Spielberg" as "Spielburg". Did I think he was a town? I remember thinking, "I won't use spell check! It'll be Kerouacian that way somehow." I think even Kerouac would've recommended I get an editor. On the other had, I still did better than 95% of the internet.

I guess it's not strange I'd seem like a rather different person now that I'm 30 than I was when I started this journal at the age of 23. It's weird knowing all those years are more or less chronicled.

I also realised there was another movie I forgot to include in 2009's list--Knowing. If I can remember seeing one more good movie, I'll finally have a top ten list.

Best

1. Gake no Ue no Ponyo (Wikipedia entry, my review)
2. Inglourious Basterds (Wikipedia entry, my review)
3. Sherlock Holmes (Wikipedia entry, my review)
4. Paranormal Activity (Wikipedia entry, my review)
5. Capitalism: A Love Story (Wikipedia entry, my review)
6. Star Trek (Wikipedia entry, my review)
7. Knowing (Wikipedia entry, my review)
8. Up in the Air (Wikipedia entry, my review)
9. The Uninvited (Wikipedia entry, my review)

Worst Films

1. Blind Side (Wikipedia entry, my review)
2. Avatar (Wikipedia entry, my review)
3. Watchmen (Wikipedia entry, my review)

Last night I drove taxi from 3pm to 3am.  It was my first night shift and it wasn't too shabby.  I made good money with a minimal amount of obnoxious drunks.  One drunken 40-something who couldn't say something homoerotic.  Otherwise, funny people who were bowling and an elderly woman who kissed my cheek after I helped her out of the cab.  Other than the splitting headache I had all night, it was a good shift.  This morning, when I was trying to sleep in (got to bed around 4), Loki had curled up next to me and Ethan and Jacquelyn thought it was picture-worthy.

That's the title to my fictional book that I will never write, but don't steal it anyway! :P

As 2009 is coming to a close (thank GOD!), I wanted to take a little look back at my rather shitty, but rather awesome year. As I've discovered, 2009 has been one of the best, and worst years of my entire life.

( Read on... )

So here I am, 1 1/2 days from 2010 and it can't come soon enough. I've lost a lot this year, but I also had a lot of fun, so *shrugs* maybe it sort of evens out.

Money is still trickling in for Everything Dies, if you haven’t gotten in on the awesome rewards available for donating you still have a few weeks left. Remember this project is now fully funded and all rewards will be mailed. Get your copies of Everything Dies before they are for sale!

After I finally caught up with LJ I hit the sack. Laying there on the cusp of sleep I started to think of my birthday, which lead to my birthday card from great-gramma P. I probably got my first card from her when I was 3ish, and every year since. This year there will be no card form Gma P. When my birthday came and went last year without a card from her I thought it must have been lost in the mail. But I received it on February 7th. She was only a month off. :) I really appreciated that about her...she never let an occasion pass without a card.

It feels selfish that her death finally hit me while thinking about my birthday. She's been gone over a month now. This makes me wonder about my cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, parents...how they are being hit by her absence in their lives. I just hope we can all take stock of her faith and know that she's in a whole lot better place now than where we are. And if we're lucky she might just be watching out for us.