365 Films in 365 Days. : December 2006

I admit, I had a grand plan to swing back into the blogging world with a vengeance. However, that planned entirely hinged upon me having a top ten film list ready to share with the world.

The fates intervened.

Someone had a different plan.

No actually I didn't get to see all the movies necessary to tabulate a formidable and ass kicking top ten list. That will happen soon, most likely mid january. It's going to be a sprint as soon as I get back to L.A. In the meantime I shall offer the first entry of 2007. It's a heavy weight to bear, I'm not sure I can handle it.

I could go on a rant about how celebrating new years only fills me with a certain blahness mixed with regret about the end of a year. And how disturbing it was to hear dick clark's voice this year, or how depressing it was to see ryan seacrest and christina aguilera engage in real conversation.

I've done all that.

Instead I'm going to throw my hat into a different kind of year end retrospective, one that always inspires feverish debates from all participants and can encompass a variety of tastes and preferences. I'm not going to pretend that I heard enough new music this year to formulate a true top ten list. And I know I won't be able to listen to all that music (for a true top ten list of the year in music as well as a spectacular song countdown of the year 2006 head over to the Girl Will Scar You.

Here's my lame attempt...

I've broken it down into three categories, with one album assigned to each. So think of this as a top three list, but this is not just any top three list. These are the three most important albums for me in the year ending 2006.

The First Category is:
Biggest Surprise of 2006

My Chemical Romance-The Black Parade

This category is a hands down no brainer for me. I thought these guys had turned into a joke, a bastardized fall out boy esque mtv version of the worst kind of generic watered down emotional music. They had a concept album as their follow up to their first "big" record, worst, it was a concept album about a cancer patient about to expire on his operating table. I thought they were in way over their heads and doomed to fail by giving into the worst kind of goth emo punk pretensions. Rather than do that, they came roaring out of the gates and shoved a big, great scream of an album right in my face. Without getting into all the genre name dropping homages I find in the album to prove not only my extensive musical knowledge, but also how "legitimate" this band is by critical standards. I merely offer that The Black Parade is the most emotional, exhausting, and exhilirating album of the year. One that doesn't merely feature tracks but a detailed, epic battle for living over dying complete with bigger than big moments that could have crashed and burned in lesser hands. The fact that they took the risk is the most satisfying element of the album. Singer Gerard Way gives the best performance of any singer this year on any album and he does it by just saying yes to it all. He takes us to hell and back, and when he makes a plea for us to carry on, I'm there. People who lump these guys with the rest of the generic emo pop punk bull shit just aren't listening. Hopefully this album will change some minds, it changed mine.

"I see you lying next to me
With words I thought I’d never speak
Awake and unfraid
Asleep or dead

I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey if you stay
I'll be forgiven
Nothing you can say can stop me going home"

Most Personal Album of 2006

Kevin Devine-Put Your Ghost to Rest

This category name may be confusing. It's meant to be that way. It basically means the album that meant the most to me, that had the most emotional effect on me. The one that made me stop and think about some of the choices I've made and the kind of consequences (good or bad) that they have wrought. It's also personal because Kevin Devine seems to somehow illuminate the kind of every day ruminations I have but could never put down as eloquently as he does. Sometimes I feel like his thoughts are even superior. The point being, he seems to speak for me (I know it's not just for me) and with every new album he makes me stop and observe things a little more carefully. His music has a very precise impact on my life. Put Your Ghost to Rest is his best album yet, such strong musicianship with some of the most complex, challenging, and catchy compositions he's ever come up with on an album. His lryics are on a par with no one else, combining stining political indictments, devastatingly honest observations about himself, and a sense of humor that is sorely missing in a lot of music these days. He can do it all, and he just seems to be getting better at it. His album is about wanting to fix the worse parts of yourself while completely induling in them at the same time. And the kind of havoc that can wreak on your life and the lives of those around you. The fact that he does it in a way that is touching, heartbreaking, and inspiring without ever sinking to sentimental mush or easy answers is in an of itself, a think of beauty.

"And your silver tounge
Masks your hungry hate
While your haggard heart
Whispers through its cracking cage,
"You still can change; you have to know
You still can change."

I know, I know - for now, I want to be this way.
This was a choice; this was never a mistake."

The Best Album of 2006

Pearl Jam-Pearl Jam

This should come as no surprise to anyone. Seeing as how Pearl Jam is the greatest band in the world, it's no surprise they released the greatest album of this year. This is not an arbitraty decision by any stretch of the imagination. Don't think I just thought: "hey, new pearl jam record, it's gotta be the greatest, you follow what Im saying?" It's the best album of the year because it combines classic genre busting music with a sense of moral outrage and responsibility few artists are capable of. Pearl Jam shafted the grunge logo a long time ago, they have always been a rock band through and through. A rock band not afraid to stay true to the purpose of why they all started playing music in the first place. The fact that they have survived this long is an accomplishment, the fact they produced a record this ear blasting, and this vital at this point in their career is simply astounding. From the blistering opening to the sobering finale where they proudly proclaim that they will not lose their faith. Pearl Jam proves that all of the misconceptions about them are just that. They go beyond left/right, red/blue in their politics to an area of moral responsibility where few artists tread. It's complex, humane, and full of a desire to keep on fighting. At the same time no one can craft a song like these guys and no one can sing like eddie vedder, who still manages to find new shades of his personality to share with us. These guys will always matter and hopefully some day people will stop judging them based on record sales or what spin magazine thought of them back in 1991. They will be around forever.

"Those undecided
Needn't have faith to be free.
And those misguided,
There was a plan for them to be...
Now you got both sides
Claiming 'killing in god's name'.
But god is nowhere
To be found, conveniently... "

There you go, my music picks of 2006. Maybe there is a common theme amongst the three, I don't know. I just seem to click my wheel to them the most frequently. There were other great albums this year, but these were the most important to me. I think that means something, anyway I can't wait to do my top ten list. See ya in the funny pages...

As for this new year business. I offer these words of wisdom to some up how I feel about the change and resolutions.

"Less yesterday, and more today.
I gotta get my head on straight.
Less Yesterday, and more today.
I gotta start to live that way."

"I want to stop it...
But it's the only life I know how to live."

365 Films in 365 Days.

Sunday, December 31, 2006

What A Year For A New Year.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas

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