Saturday, December 31, 2005

End of the Year

A nice meme to finish off 2005...
Best Film I saw in 2005
Easy to answer: Garden State. Other notables (after looking through the Film Group program!): Ray, Million Dollar Baby, Finding Neverland, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (I don't care that it's a 'kid' movie - one of the best looking films I have ever seen, and it was actually entertaining!), Batman Returns.

Worst Film I saw in 2005
Blade Runner. I don't care that it's supposed to be a cinematic masterpiece, that movie has to be one of the greatest disappointments ever. Sure it might look nice, but good God is it ever boring. Scott should have spent less time creating the atmosphere, and more on inconsequential things, like, say, plot and character.

Best TV show I watched in 2005
Another easy answer: Veronica Mars. Truly incredible tv! This was the year of new tv addictions, as The West Wing continued its downward path to crapness, and Alias became even more ridiculous than usual. So this year there was Veronica Mars, and House, and Grey's Anatomy. And my guilty pleasure? 2 episodes of The Nanny every afternoon since I've been home!

Best Book I read in 2005
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers was wonderful, and notable if only for the fact that I read a book that wasn't a mystery. Of course, there were several mysteries read, best among them probably being Locked Rooms by Laurie R King. Finally a Mary Russell book that got close to the magnificence of the first two books in the series - not quite, but certainly closer than Justice Hall. I can't quite remember if I read this last year or this year, but Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey was incredible, in typical Tey style, and packed an incredibly emotional punch at the end.

Best Album I Listened to in 2005
A toss-up between the Garden State soundtrack, and the album 'She Will Have Her Way', a collection of covers of the songs of Tim and Neil Finn.

Best Concert I Attended in 2005
Well it would have been Falls... *grrr* So I suppose the Burg Concerts rocked the house this year.

Best Food I ate in 2005
This is a tough one. There were several memorable cakes at Milk and Honey, not to mention Lime and Coconut cake at the Botanic Gardens. Dinner at Bron's 21st was incredible too - top stuff Bron!

All round best thing about 2005 on a personal front
Getting job, getting good marks, my incredible friends in Canberra... in general just creating a life for myself in Canberra, which I kinda feel is more my home now than Launceston.

All round worst thing about 2005 on a personal front
Life for my family hasn't been all that crash-hot in 2005, as we've lurched from one crisis to another. On the upside, it can't possibly get any worse in 2006!

All round worst thing(s) about 2005 on a less personal front
John Howard. George W. Bush. VSU. Industrial Relations 'reform'. Anti-terrorism laws. Gunns. 'Intelligent' Design. Did I mention John Howard and George W. Bush?

Person of the Year
My fabulous friends. Also, Jeremy Irons.

Something 2005 should have taught you
No matter how hard I try to prove otherwise, finishing essays the night before they're due isn't all that successful.

Why 2006 will be better than 2005
Matt will be back at uni in second semester! You really have no choice Matthew...

2 comments:

spy said...

I must now follow suit:

Best Film I saw in 2005:
Life Aquatic is probably my film of the year. I cannot think of anything else notable. I finally saw Citizen Kane, and it was damn good, especially the directing. And, though it isn't a film, I saw the Stanley Kubrick exhibition at ACMI, and there was a scale model of the War Room from Dr. Strangelove.

Worst Film I saw in 2005
The Constant Gardener was a big let down for me; I don't know why, probably visceral and innate. I am also trying to remember if I saw Kinf Arthur this year, which was atrocious - though, even if I saw it last year, its effects are still being felt.

Best TV show I watched in 2005
Can anyone say Veronica Mars!!! That girl rocks my world, and the second season is wonderfully intriguing, though not as good as the first. Also, Grey's Anatomy is my best 'sexy/sassy/hot' tv show of the year.

Best Book I read in 2005
I read Love in the Time of Cholera, which was fantastic. I also got another two Huxley's under my belt in my quest to read his entire works, Crome Yellow being my favourite. They are basically satires of the 1920s, so lots of dilletantish English people living a hedonistic lifestyle, or worrying about the fate of humanity and culture.

Best Album I Listened to in 2005
Angela Hewitt's two albums of the complete Bach keyboard concertos was the standout of my year (perhaps the closest thing to an album), and many agree the best classical album of the year.

Best Concert I Attended in 2005
I saw two concerts, firstly, Nabucco at Opera Australia - it was good - and secondly, something at the Melbourne Symphony, which made such an impression I cannot remember the playlist.

Best Food I ate in 2005
I will second Milk and Honey fare. There was also Steph's 21st at Ottomans which was good. Also, there is a new restaurant nearby in Ivanhoe which was truly stunning. I had veal medallions covered in some cheese in a beautiful broth with spinach.

All round best thing about 2005 on a personal front
I will second good friends. Our in jokes become more inbred, and our language more impenetrable to the outsider. And New Zealand was pretty fun. (Does the evensong at Christchurch count as another concert?)

All round worst thing about 2005 on a personal front
Matt leaving.

All round worst thing(s) about 2005 on a less personal front
I might have said Pope Ratzinger, but now he has turned out to be nicer, and he's got that 'hunky' assistant, I might have to name Steve Fielding for going weak on VSU. Also, Bob Geldof for taking praise for something that was a fait accompli, that is, debt cancellation. (I hate the stinky dirty bastard!)

Person of the Year
I second Jeremy Irons. Followed, I think, by Phil Dutton!

Something 2005 should have taught you
Go out more. (though I probably wont heed this auto-advice)

Why 2006 will be better than 2005
We are tutors, we have the power!!!
And I am hoping the female members of our motley crew will find 'love' for want of a better term!

Happy New Year!!!
And on another note, the Channel Nine 2005 flashback was accompanied by nostalgic music par excellence Coldplay. When they release their greatest hits, they should have a nostalgic hits album!

KaosSmurf said...

I would like to say a word or two on this one too.. but I shan't go through the whole list as you have, I'd just like to give an agreement with a few points...

Best Movie: Garden State
TV show: Top Gear (I would say VM, but it has a few associated sad memories at the moment)

Best Album: most of my friends would expect me to say Coldplay X&Y, but I recently purchased a Michael Buble, which I'm greatly enjoying the smooth swing of.

Best Food: Annies Wine Bar in the Arts Centre of Christchurch (as a results celebration). Ostrich is absolutely beautiful, and served with plums and onion among other things was divine!

Unfortunately my personal worst closely resembles the tone of mads', although I hadn't thought of the "2006 can only be better" which warmed my heart a little this evening, thank you.

Channel 9 flashback sounded good, and agreement with the nostalgia album... some songs can be very sad sometimes though.

but otherwise HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!