Mood:  down

As we get older it is harder to ignore how futile the election process can be; especially if power can go as unchecked as it has been (in the white house) for over the last 6 years.  take, for example, the malfeasance that presidents get away with.  sometimes lies to cover up sex scandals, or arms-for-hostages deals, or sometimes to start wars.  LBJ did it, to lend support to the Vietnam war, but then again he also signed in to law the civil rights act. 

So with this latest independent commissioned report on W's first couple of years in office it really is amazing to consider how powerful and corrupt lies can be and how much it can change the image and identity of a nation.  This is the detailed report on the 935 lies that followed 9/11, in support of going to war against Iraq, by the administration:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/

So thank god for baseball, where honest achievement is rewarded.  And sure, Selig is a liar, too.  He's just laying the ground work so W can feel at ease when he becomes commissioner of baseball.  What a future it will be: yet another Clinton in the white house (so our entire voting history will look like bush/Clinton/bush/Clinton) and our national past time can be lorded over by a man who couldn't even make a positive mark in the Rangers organization.

Thank god I am a drinker.

Posted by hammy154 at 12:41 PM PST

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I managed to avoid the mega-plexes for most of the year, but then I also elected to wait for dvd rather than opt for a single-screen cinema, too.  I skipped on the summer movie-going temptation all-together, so my list of favorites really isn't complete.  I don't really fell like I missed out on too much, becuase prices and audiences are making it a challenge to really enjoy a movie these days. 

Sadly, these selections hardly match up to offerings of years past.  I really need to pay attention to the film festival screenings more often, because most of the crap that is getting distribution is weak, weak, weak.

And so, here are my selections for the "better-than-average" films of the year:

No Country For Old Men 

Into the Wild

Once

Eastern Promises

Grind House

Zodiac

The Savages

There Will Be Blood

Assasination of Jesse James

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The following are technically 2006, but received 2007 US distribution and happily make my list:

The Lives of Others

Triad Election

Exiled

Honorable mention: Fido, Away From Her, Hot Fuzz, Year of the Dog, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Inland Empire, King of Kong, Sicko, I'm Not There

Posted by hammy154 at 4:07 PM PST

Updated: Fri, Jan 30 2009 4:43 PM PST

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Mood:  lyrical

It was a very good year for music.  A lot of great new titles, some bounce-back recordings and others who just cant stop the (good) music from coming!  Note: I have excluded the 2007 US release versions of Albert Hammond Jr's "Yours to Keep" as well as Sloan's "Never Hear the End of It" from this list.  These titles received 2006 international releases and, honestly, that year's best-of list needs those titles more than this year.

Here then is my list of favorites for 2007...

albums of the year:

1. 1900's – Cold and Kind
2. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
3. The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
4. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
5. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
6. Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond 
7. Caribou – Andorra 
8. 1990's – Cookies 
9. Apples in Stereo – New Magnetic Wonder 
10. Lucinda Williams – West

     

Honorable mention: 

Top 3 EP's:

Black Kids - Wizard of Ahhhs

Ladyhawk - Fight for Anarchy

M. Ward - To Go Home 

Best Re-issue:

Robyn Hitchcock - Black Snake Diamond Role

Best Box-set:

Robyn Hitchcok - I Want to go Backwards

Best Comedy recording:

Patton Oswalt - Lollipops and Werewolves

Best Spanish-language recording:

Los Straitjackets – Rock en Espanol Volume One

Best download-only album:

Radiohead – In Rainbows

Best Instrumental recording:

Antibalas – Security

Hope one or more of these finds its way to your listening device in 2008.

John

Posted by hammy154 at 1:32 PM PST

Updated: Fri, Dec 7 2007 5:16 PM PST

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