I survived my remaining prerequisites, got accepted to grad school (one stop closer to Physician Assistant), wrote a "short" story (45 pages) that actually stands a fair chance of being published, touched a live beluga whale, and got married! We've had quite the adventure.
Admittedly trivial, nevertheless here's the second annual I Shot a Moose "Best Of" list...
BOOKS
With the heavy courseload and a number of wedding plans during the spring, I did not read as many books as I would have liked, but still churned through a number of them. A surprising amount of nonfiction this year. I didn't keep very good track, but titles included Suck it, Wonder Woman! (Olivia Munn), Why is the Penis Shaped Like That? (Jesse Bering), Born Standing Up (Steve Martin), Last Words (George Carlin), as well as the fiction marvels Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (both David Mitchell).
The big find for the year was Harlan Ellison. I'd first heard of him years ago from the credits of James Cameron's The Terminator, which apparently so resembled a couple of Ellison's Twilight Zone scripts that the film producers had to list him as an inspiration or face litigation. Many felt the similarities were cursory, but Ellison's name stuck in my memory nevertheless, and this year - as I began my own science-fiction work - I finally delved into his strange world for inspiration. What a treat it has been! After flying through literally every piece available at every local library (short story collections Deathbird Stories, Strange Wine, Shatterday, Angry Candy, and Slippage, and the novella Mefisto in Onyx), I'm still hungry for more. Some pieces are decades old, but they remain fresh and interesting. Staggering imagination. And the discovery of a new genre (to me, anyway) - literary impressionism. Ellison is considered a master of the short story, and after reading so many of them I think I know why: he only gives what is necessary. He doesn't give a lot of details, there are usually very few characters - he gives enough so that you can understand the feeling, the mood, the atmosphere of a piece. I've read better writers, but he's made a huge impression. Can't wait to get my hands on more.
Favorite Long Fiction: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (David Mitchell)
Mitchell's Cloud Atlas is the more revered title, and he even revisits a few of the same themes in Thousand Autumns, but Autumns is the more engaging novel. While extremely well-written and fascinating, Cloud Atlas at best remains a technical accomplishment. By its very nature (breaking stories apart so you read consecutive first halves and consecutive conclusions), there is almost no emotional involvement. It is a book that impresses you; it does not engross you. Autumns, on the other hand, retains Mitchell's virtuosity, and imbues it with a touching humanity... even fragility.
There are a few too many "stock" supporting characters for it to be a "great" novel, and a couple diversions don't contribute as much to the whole as they should, but Mitchell puts you through the story with a deftness that belies his technical experiments. At the surface, this should be a slog to get through: the titular de Zoet is a clerk and interpreter for a Dutch trading company working in Japan. (Sounds like Melville.) He falls for a local girl, and is willing to give up his comfortable life to be with her (if not for propriety)... Don't worry, it's not as cheesy as it sounds, and the novel is far from a love story. There are several side plots, including a mysterious order of nuns which may be complicit in infanticide, the inevitable culture clash between the private East and the boorish West, and even a standoff with a British frigate trying to force their own brand of commerce. I'm not one for historical fiction, but Mitchell's prose creates a vivid, bustling world, and also a touching story of feeling versus duty, love versus sacrifice. A lovely, loving book.
Favorite Short Fiction: The Deathbird (Harlan Ellison)
Ellison has won hundreds of awards. Literally hundreds... The Deathbird is one of his most celebrated, and in my opinion it is also his best. If you're looking for a fast, thought-provoking read about nothing less than the nature and relationship of God and Man, you've got to check it out.
The story is simple enough: Ellison simply reverses conventional Christianity by supposing that God is the bad guy and the "Devil" got a bad rep. Where it goes from there, and all the little tricks and diversions he employs on the way, are all part of the joy of reading it. There are (seemingly) inexplicable paragraphs addressed to a class, even false essay questions; there's a tiny story within the story that perfectly captures and parodies manipulative melodrama; an omnipotent alien race with little regard for our measly planet; the hero's journey takes him through life, death... rebirth? It is a masterpiece of the form, and among the finest pieces of prose I've ever read.
Honorable Mention: Dog Stars (Peter Heller)
The wife got this for me on a whim. Neither of us had heard of the author, or the book for that matter, but she thought it sounded right up my alley... She was exactly right (as she often is). Heller crafts something kind of similar to McCarthy's The Road, modern TV shows like The Walking Dead, and other survivalist/post-apocalyptic horror, but still manages to create a story which is new and unique. I don't want to give anything away, but he seems to be saying that - Yes, this life is worth living. No matter what, no matter the circumstances, life is instrinsically valuable, which is a value I share... And stylistically, I love what he's done. Minimal dialogue, minimal punctuation, double spaces between paragraphs (no first line-spacing). The pages have a nice clean "look" which underscores the minimal nature of the prose and the sparse environment of the story. (Little details, I know, but they go a long way.) A wonderful read.
MUSIC
There were few musical standouts this year. My interests were focused primarily on reading and studying; I even cancelled my Pandora One membership because it was falling into disuse.
I found a new appreciation for Rob Zombie, downloading all of his albums, and discovered a marvelous new talent in Esperanza Spalding. We even saw her live - what a talented girl. She is the epitome of jazz. Larger-than-life afro, diminuitive body, a high sweet voice, thoughts and conversations that seem to kind of wander around the point, touch on something profound, and then circle back to normalcy... She looks as though she could float away if the wind were strong enough.
But what a performer! She pulses with rhythm, beauty, energy. And I like that she uses her voice as an instrument, not just to sing. Does that make sense? A lot of her songs don't feature actual words - more that she's making vocal sounds to harmonize with the music. Not quite "scatting," but similar.
Favorite Album: Clockwork Angels (Rush)
Kind of a default choice, as this was really the only new album I went out of the way for. But don't think I list it here because I have to - it's still a great album! From my "Fistful of Reviews" entry: "Fast-paced, hard-hitting, endlessly listenable and entertaining - everything a good album should be. And it's a concept album! So if you really want to, you can delve into the lyrics and examine a fully fledged narrative about oppression, suppression, and the triumph of free will (pet topics of lyricist/master drummer Neil Peart) - but each track also manages to stand on its own, drawing comparisons to The Who's Tommy."
MOVIES
This will be tough. Quite frankly, I was disappointed with nearly every release I saw this year. I had high hopes for Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises, The Master, and Silver Linings Playbook... But again, for some reason or another I was let down by just about everything. Maybe I was expecting too much, but considering the pedigree of a number of these films, I don't think I was. They just didn't deliver. As such, only a few to list.
I know a lot of people feel differently, but for me this movie is head and shoulders above everything else I saw; it's the only one I actually saw multiple times, and would go out of my way to watch on video. You have to overlook a lot of things (bad make-up work, some iffy character motivations), but the picture as a whole is so wondrous, so magnificent, such an accomplisment - I don't think any serious movie-goer can hate something like this. I can understand disliking it, but no one should hate it, and at the very least you have to respect it. This is a massive undertaking of an incredibly complex, dense, and difficult novel, and they actually made a movie which is better than the book! Please check my "Finally ... Greatness!" entry for a more in-depth look.
Incredible! Simply incredible! Great performances, an amazing script, and efficient, no-frills direction. Every time I think about this movie, I'm amazed - it's a movie about fact-checking! Fact-checking! The whole thing is about scoring interviews, clarifying details, following leads, sorting out dead-ends - fact-checking! And yet somehow it's incredibly fast-paced, vivid, and suspenseful. Such a good movie.
Honorable Mentions: Looper (dir. Rian Johnson), Robot & Frank (dir. Jake Schreier), The Master (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson), Jack Reacher (dir. Christopher McQuarrie)
Johnson's Looper gets the award for most interesting concept of the year - for the last several years. I like that he creates a future which is still believable. People still drive cars, the world is nasty and polluted, people still behave like people - it's not the clean, logical future of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it's not as dirty or gritty as Blade Runner either. It still feels lived in, just not squalid. The script has its issues, as do some more questionable make-up decisions, but the film is just so interesting that I couldn't forget about it.
Robot & Frank was such a delightful little find. Funny, heartfelt, engaging - another interesting concept pulled off beautifully with great work from Frank Langhella... The Master is a paradox: considering Anderson's output, it is a bit of a shortfall. A big, sprawling, messy film that does not wrap up nicely or neatly, and has too many weak elements to earn a recommendation... and yet, even with all that, it is an absolute must-see for any film-lover. Great performances, a mesmerizing soundtrack, and impeccable cinematography allow the film to stand out above most others, even as an ambitious failure... Jack Reacher was a nice bit of fresh air - a quaint action movie reliant on character, plot, and pacing rather than outrageous stunts or special effects. It is not a great movie, but it welcome relief from the "bigger, faster, louder" brand of modern action.
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