2013 in Review!

Favorite Films Released in 2013
10. Fill the Void (Burshtein)
9. Inside Llewyn Davis (Coens)
8. This is Not a Film (Panahi)
7. Leviathan (Castaing-Taylor & Paravel)
6. Side Effects (Soderbergh)
5. Computer Chess (Bujalski)
4. Spring Breakers (Korine)
3. Before Midnight (Linklater)
2. Her (Jonze)
1. Stories We Tell (Polley)

HMs: Short Term 12, Beyond the Hills, Amour, Blancanieves

Favorite Films 1st Seen in 2013
And the Pursuit of Happiness (Malle) 1986
I Killed My Mother (Dolan) 2009
the Lovers on the Bridge (Carax) 1991
Sherman's March(McElwee) 1985

5-Star Books Read in 2013
the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Chabon
Americanah - Adichie
Black Power - Carmichael
the Changeling - Williams
City of Thieves - Benioff
Concrete - Bernhard
Homesick: New and Selected Stories - Berlin
the Last Samurai - DeWitt
Leaving the Atocha Station - Lerner
Purple Hibiscus - Adichie
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 - Reynolds
Speedboat - Adler

Misc. Top 10 2013
10. Having all students that have been at my school longer than me graduate
9. High School Girl Reunion
8. Tomato Jam
7. Impromptu Santa Cruz trip complete with surprise Gin Blossoms concert
6. Twin Peaks Party
5. Camping, specifically John reading the interpretative descriptions for hiking
4. Tule Elk in the Fog
3. the Clock by Christian Marclay
2. Barcelona and floating around in the Mediterranean Sea
1. Spirit Quest a.) Death Valley b.) Travertine Hot Springs c.) Solo pool time in Ridgecrest

Art Garfunkel Memorial Reading List (July - December 2013)

1.) Gemini - Tournier (7/1)
2.) This is Where I Leave You - Tropper (7/1)
3.) the Book of My Lives - Hemon (7/2)
4.) Pastoralia - Saunders (7/5)
5.) Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts On Violence, Freedom, and Urgent Means - Vollmann (7/19)
6.) the Changeling - Williams (7/23)
7.) the Emigrants - Sebald (7/28)
8.) Motherless Brooklyn - Lethem (8/4)
9.) Black Power - Carmichael (8/8)
10.) A Clockwork Orange - Burgess (8/11)
11.) Concrete - Bernhard (8/13)
12.) They Don't Dance Much - Ross (8/18)
13.) 253 - Ryman (8/22)
14.) Homesick - Berlin (8/28)
15.) the History of Luminous Motion - Bradfield (9/1)
16.) Middle C - Gass (9/11)
17.) Purple Hibiscus - Adichie (9/22)
18.) Life After Life - Atkinson (9/28)
19.) the City in History: Its Origins, Transformations, and Prospects - Mumford (9/29)
20.) Man in the Holocene - Frisch (9/30)
21.) Story of the Eye - Bataille (9/30)
22.) Down By the River Where the Dead Men Go - Pelecanos (10/4)
23.) Long, Last, Happy - Hannah (10/23)
24.) Americanah - Adichie (10/31)
25.) Suttree - McCarthy (11/8)
26.) the Ocean at the End of the Lane - Gaiman (11/10)
27.) Where'd You Go Bernadette - Semple (11/13)
28.) Dear Mr President - Hudson (11/17)
29.) the Son - Meyer (11/24)
30.) Mysterious Skin - Heim (11/26)
31.) World Within the Word - Gass (12/3)
32.) Speedboat - Adler (12/6)
33.) the Graphic Canon, Volume 1 (12/6)
34.) the Book Thief - Zusak (12/11)
35.) Going After Cacciato - O'Brien (12/17)
36.) the Burglar - Goodis (12/19)
37.) My Dark Places - Ellroy (12/27)
38.) A Thousand Years of Good Prayers - Li (12/31)

Art Garfunkel Memorial Reading List (January - June 2013)

1.) What Is Cinema? - Bazin (1/3)
2.) For A New Novel - Robbe-Grillet (1/12)
3.) Life: A User's Manual - Perec (1/16)
4.) A Million Heavens - Brandon (1/19)
5.) the Art of Fielding - Harbach (1/24)
6.) Give Us a Kiss - Woodrell (1/27)
7.) Consider the Lobster - Wallace (1/31)
8.) Seven Gothic Tales - Blixen (2/12)
9.) Altmann's Tongue - Evenson (2/18)
10.) Flying Leap - Budnitz (2/20)
11.) Hunts in Dreams - Drury (2/25)
12.) Black Skin, White Masks - Fanon (3/5)
13.) Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt - Hedges & Sacco (3/11)
14.) the Palm-Wine Drinkard - Tutuola (3/12)
15.) See Under: Love - Grossman (3/20)
16.) American Salvage - Campbell (3/22)
17.) Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Chabon (3/30)
18.) the Sisters Brothers - DeWitt, P. (4/2)
19.) At the Mouth of the River of Bees - Johnson (4/9)
20.) Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York - Sante (4/16)
21.) City of Thieves - Benioff (4/19)
22.) Black Swan Green - Mitchell (4/25)
23.) the Magic Barrel - Malamud (4/28)
24.) Paris Trout - Dexter (5/2)
25.) the Third Policeman - O'Brien (5/8)
26.) Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84 - Reynolds
27.) the Wavering Knife - Evenson (5/21)
28.) Leaving the Atocha Station - Lerner (5/23)
29.) Zazen - Veselka (5/28)
30.) the Last Samurai - DeWitt, H. (6/5)
31.) Gender Trouble - Butler (6/11)
32.) V. - Pynchon (6/22)

Celluloid #163

Titles seen in January, ranked in the order I liked them:

the Collector (1965) Wyler
This is Not a Film (2013) Panahi
Amour (2013) Haneke
Enter the Dragon (1973) Clouse
Jason and the Argonauts (1963) Chaffey
Bloody Birthday (1981) Hunt
Rust and Bone (2013) Audiard
Night of the Demon (1957) Tourneur
Primer (2004) Carruth
the Children (2008) Shankland
Forbidden Planet (1956) Wilcox
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) Bigelow
the Year My Voice Broke (1987) Duigan
Hell Drivers (1957) Endfield
the Fire Within (1963) Malle
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Russell

2012 in Review!

So it wasn't the end of the world after all...

Favorite Films Released in 2012
10. Django Unchained (Tarantino)
9. Magic Mike (Soderbergh)
8. the Loneliest Planet (Loktev)
7. the Master (P.T. Anderson)
6. A Separation (Farhadi)
5. Moonrise Kingdom (W. Anderson)
4. the Kid With a Bike (Dardenne)
3. Holy Motors (Carax)
2. Looper (Johnson)
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild (Zeitlin)

HMs: Argo, Perfect Sense, Haywire

Favorite Films 1st Seen in 2012 (alphabetical)
Another Earth (Cahill) 2011
the Arbor (Barnard) 2011
the Brood (Cronenberg) 1979
A Face in the Crowd (Kazan) 1957
House (Obayashi) 1977
Paper Moon (Bogdanovich) 1973
Phenomena (Argento) 1985
Red Balloon/White Mane (Lamorisse) 1956/1953
Santa Sangre (Jodorowsky) 1989

5-Star Books Read in 2012 (alphabetical)
Birds of America - Moore
Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation - Chang
the Devil All the Time - Pollock
the Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - Alexie
Pulphead: Essays - Sullivan
Self-Help - Moore
Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays - Didion
Suddenly, A Knock on the Door: Stories - Keret
This Is How You Lose Her - Diaz

Best Singles
"I Love It" - Icona Pop
"Sulk" - TRUST
"Wild Desire/Bad Thing" - King Tuff
"We Found Love" - Rihanna
"Give Out" - Sharon Van Etten
"Slow Down" - the Team
"Baby's Wearing Blue Jeans" - Mac DeMarco
"Baby" - Ariel Pink
"You Know You Like It" - AlunaGeorge
"Girls" - Royal Headache
"Know Me" - Frankie Rose
"Millions" - Eternal Summers
"Feel So Close" - Calvin Harris
"Jumanji" - Azaelia Banks
"Call Me Maybe" - Carly Rae Jepsen

Favorite Albums
Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
Ty Segall - Slaughterhouse
Grimes - Visions
the Babies - Our House on the Hill

Misc. Top 10
10. New car, new glasses, new hair/30 is pretty all right
9. Warehouse Cafe - Port Costa, CA 
8. Canadian trip w/my sis (even if Canadians don't know how to party)
7. 4th of July kiddie pool
6. Don Pepe's + Fresno Wedding ("Sex Family")
5. Year-round hiking club. Special shout out to Point Reyes
4. Oliver learning my name
3. New additions to Oakland, whether by relocation or birth
2. RETURN to LASSEN
1. Caribbean waterfalls & too much rum punch

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Art Garfunkel Memorial Reading List (July - December 2012)

1.) Too Loud a Solitude - Hrabal (7/1)
2.) Ice at the Bottom of the World - Richard (7/7)
3.) Monstress - Tenorio (7/16)
4.) Herzog on Herzog - Cronin (7/18)
5.) Bastard Out of Carolina - Allison (7/22)
6.) Pedro Paramo - Rulfo (7/23)
7.) Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Didion (7/25)
8.) Self Help - Moore (7/26)
9.) Translations - Friel (7/27)
10.) Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning - Nelson (8/1)
11.) Devil in the White City - Larson (8/10)
12.) Babel: Collected Stories (8/16)
13.) Hero With a Thousand Faces - Campbell (8/22)
14.) Kitchen Confidential - Bourdain (8/26)
15.) the Rings of Saturn - Sebald (9/2)
16.) What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank - Englander (9/6)
17.) Little Disturbances of Man - Paley (9/12)
18.) Suddenly, A Knock on the Door - Keret (9/16)
19.) Columbine - Cullen (9/22)
20.) Telegraph Avenue - Chabon (9/30)
21.) Stay Awake - Chaon (10/3)
22.) Pork - Freddi (10/8)
23.) A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again - Wallace (10/15)
24.) the Collected Stories of Peter Taylor (10/23)
25.) This is How You Lose Her - Diaz (10/26)
26.) Conversation in the Cathedral - Vargas Llosa (11/7)
27.) Farming of Bones - Danticat (11/12)
28.) Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? - Moore (11/14)
29.) Our Band Could Be Your Life - Azerrad (11/23)
30.) Gimpel the Fool - Singer (11/28)
31.) the Map and the Territory - Houellebecq (12/3)
32.) Habibi - Thompson (12/5)
33.) Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation - Chang (12/13)
34.) Tell Me a Riddle - Olsen (12/17)
35.) the Lime Works - Bernhard (12/21)
36.) Room - Donoghue (12/24)
37.) Knockemstiff - Pollock (12/30)

Celluloid #162

In Theaters

Killing Them Softly (2012) Dominik - This is the follow-up to the beautiful and compelling the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Some amateur criminals stick up a card game, causing more professional mobster hitman to get involved. The setting seems to be Detroit or a similarly destitute place, and the place looks haunting. Annoyingly, Dominik decided to intersperse the violent plot with speeches from Obama in his pre-presidential days to make a clumsy political/economic  connection. Also, I found the music to be much too on the nose, creating an overall heavy-handed effect. 6/10

In Home

Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) Firstenberg - Super ridiculous, but fun sequel where the breakdancers must work together to save the local community center. Also, Turbo tries to win over a girl, and Kelly sacrifices ballet opportunities in France to help out her friends. The best! 8/10

Dark Horse (2012) Solondz - A loser 30-something works and lives with his parents. His younger brother is significantly more handsome and successful, leaving Abe to be the "dark horse" in the family.  He starts an unlikely relationship with a woman that he meets at a wedding, and almost immediately proposes marriage to her. Things continue to get weirder and darker as the film progresses, all though I don't know why you would expect anything different from Solondz. 6/10

In Time (2011) Niccol - A Logan's Run-styled theme from a director that I know most fondly for my adolescent favorite Gattaca. You can tell that it's the same guy for the look of the film, the obsession with class differences in a future setting, and yet another pivotal nude ocean swim. In the future, time becomes our currency. They stop aging at 25, but only get to continue living if they earn more time by working, gambling, or stealing. Will Salas gets a century from a man trying to commit suicide. After leaving the ghetto, he gets involved with an heiress, and the two go on a Robin Hood-type spree. 7/10

Snowtown Murders (2012) Kurzel - A true story about a series of murders in Australia, unique because the killer was charismatic enough to get other people to help him. This film is really depressing, and takes more than a while to get going. Initially, we see three young boys getting taken advantage of by a neighborhood pedophile. The oldest boy is 16 and understandably wants some sort of revenge - an opportunity that becomes available through his mother's boyfriend, the killer. Just overall, this film doesn't add up to much of anything. 5/10