Wednesday, December 29, 2010

You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss

I woke up around two thirty this morning to the dim sight of Baby Boy Z hovering over me, staring intently. Surprisingly, I wasn't startled. I muttered a half-formed question concerning why he was being a weirdo. He bent close, licked my face, and lay back down to sleep. Oh, Pooch Edward, you so craz-aaay!

Alright, let's dole out some awards since it's that time of year. I was thinking of what to call said awards and concluded after giving it minimal thought that they'll be called The Spideys. Lame, huh? You bet, but I couldn't think of anything better, which tells you all you need to know about me.

Let's begin.


The "Summertime And The Living Is (Not So) Easy" award

While everyone else was vacationing in the Hamptons or frolicking on the beach somewhere, I was a regular at my dentist's office this summer. I haven't figured out how many appointments I had, but there were a lot. Bridge work, fillings, root canals, you name it: I had the full dental experience.

"Best Movie Experience" award

I saw a lot of great films this year, but the best was Kobayashi's Human Condition trilogy. This sprawling account of a pacifist's experience as a soldier in World War II era Japan floored me. It stuck with me long after I took the disc out of the player. You want epic? This is epic, son. This nine hour film is easily one of the best I've ever seen. On, and every Kobayashi film I saw this year absolutely rocked my world. So there.

Runners up:

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done - Herzog at his best. Looooovveed this movie.

The White Ribbon - A quiet, beautifully filmed, account of evil bubbling to the surface in a small village. Haunting.

Army of Shadows - Melville's gripping tale of the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied France. I didn't expect I'd like it as much as I did, but it was rad. That's right, I said rad.

Inception - I'll be honest with you, I saw this movie three times over the summer and I'm still not completely sure how I feel about it. That's the point, I guess. It's layered beyond measure and begs for repeat viewings. Oh, and DeCaprio rocks in this.

Come And See - Very intense, poetic, brutal, anti war film. Most war films glorify war to some degree, but this one does not. No, sir, it does. We follow a young boy through Russia as he witnesses the carnage of the Nazi's (Again with the Nazi's. Guess I was into Nazi films this year)

"Worst Movie Experience"

The Blind Side. Holy shit, did I hate this movie. I kept hearing how amazing it was. I gave it a chance and could barely sit through it. I ended up fast forwarding a bunch near the end. I've seen way better made-for-TV movies. And Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her role in this? Look, I'm not a big fan of award shows (except mine, of course) because it's all subjective. Who's to say what's best? With that said, I think it's a travesty that she won an Oscar. Her role was so awkward and annoying. An Oscar? Really? I think she's a fine actress, but c'mon. Anyway, The Blindside sucked.

Summertime And The Living Is (Not So) Easy, Part II" award

In the middle of July, I was inflicted with a stomach bug that really, really stunk. I was out of commission for days and needed a week to recuperate. I never get sick in the summer. Well, I put an end to that trend, didn't I?

"Did Dexter Jump The Shark?" award

This season of Dexter was pretty good. It didn't stink, but it wasn't nearly as gripping as past seasons. After watching the finale, I was left feeling a bit unsatisfied. Oh, well, there's always next season.

"Best Sports Event" award

This one is a tie between the Celtics performance in the playoffs (sadly, they fell to the Lakers in a gripping game seven of the finals) and the World Cup. For a period, I'd come home every night to a Celtics game or a soccer match. It was great, I tell ya! And those vuvuzelas? Love them! Janelle and I were nearly ostracized from our circle of friends for finding them appealing, but we stuck to our guns.

Runner up: The Bruins playoff run. They blew a three game lead to the Flyers, which was as close to an unpardonable sin as you're going to get, but they still had some fine games. Ah, there's always this year.

Ok, I'm done for now. Stay tuned for some more awards in my next post.

2 comments:

Leigh, Andrea Leigh Gil said...

"Spideys" I thought it was pretty damn clever myself! Lol Ill be sure to netflix some of your movie play list too.

Kevin said...

The "Spideys" it is. For some reason, as much as I loved these movies, they're not exactly cheery. But why does everything have to be cheery all the time, right? Next time I'll include a Pixar film or two.

Happy New Year, Leigh!