2004 wrap-ups...meme from my flist

[shadowkat]

My Xmas Gifts came! They came! Oh thank you post office. Thank you.
Also seem to be feeling just a little better than before. Less hacking.
Still tired. But I think the cold may be winding down.

Here's the year-end meme.

gakked from ponygirl, buffyannatator, and scrollgirl.

And extended to include books.



Television -

1. Nip/Tuck - I echo ponygirl here, it renewed my faith in TV. It was the show
I'd tape if I wasn't home or had to sleep. The show I'd stay up for. And the show I insisted on watching. On the surface a melodramatic soap, yet so many
intricate visual metaphors - exploring that sense of aimlessness and uncertainity that plagues one in their late 30s and early 40s. But it didn't stop there - unlike 30 something or even Sideways - Nip/Tuck examined other themes as well such as Faith or lack thereof, the desire to be beautiful and how society pressures us to be and the consequences. In my humble opinion it may be the best show to air in 2004, that I've seen or had access to. It's one of the reasons I've kept my cable subscription.

(I can't comment on the HBO series, I have not seen them because I do not get HBO.)

2. JLA Unlimited is another reason for the cable subscription. A fascinating
little cartoon. With rich characterizations - not easy to do when you have a 20 person cast and only a half hour - but they do it. More evidence that it is writing that makes the show work.

3. Farscape - the best science fiction series I've ever seen. This one blew me away. Not the mini-series, although it was well down, but the series itself, replayed on Sci-Fi prior to the series. Innovative. Ground-breaking. And emotionally jarring. Not one I'll soon forget. And one of the few I bothered to tape.

4. Angel The Series - Smile Time, Damage, Not Fade Away, Underneath, The Girl in Question - Whedon's last hurrah on TV, did not go gently in that good night, but with a roar. "I don't know about you," said Angel, "but I always wanted to slay a dragon." Sticking by its dark noir roots, it went out darkly not lightly.

5. Lost - a series that is rapidly growing on me with it's intriguing mix of male characters.

Books

1. Dorothy Dunnett's Ringed Castle and Checkmate and Pawn in Frankincense.
A darkly satisfying exploration of a classical heros journey. The best bits were not the romance (although that was satisfying) but the historical politics and wrangling.

2. The Three Stigmata of Palmer K. Eldritch - haunting book about losing oneself in popular culture and of course religion.

3. Ship of Fools - haunting book about faith and how we deal with it.

4. Wicked - interesting novel about the other side of the Wizard of OZ.
And whether the villain is quite the villain, from their point of view.

5. The Dogs of Babble - the mythos of death masks, the german myth of Loreli, and the story of Tam Lin all entwined to tell the tale of a mask-maker, her linguist husband, and why she fell from an apple tree.

6. Astonishing X-men, well written, character driven story by Whedon.

Already did movies, so will leave that out.

(Okay off to open boxes and gifts! YAY!)

One request: Book recommendations? Movie recommendations? Play recommendations?
for this year?
Thanks.

Comments

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

My #1 Book rec of the year, as I posted in my journal, is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which very quickly became one of my favorite books I've ever read.