Song Lyric of the Day:
You go down, down, down / I fall out of love with you / Come back round, round, round / You son of a gun
Oh Land / “Son of a Gun“
It’s four days into 2012 and I’m just now getting around to talking about some of my favorite pop culture things from 2011. For me, that’s not too bad.
Books
Seeing as how I didn’t read nearly as many books as I would’ve liked, I won’t bother discussing those. Except to say that I had to quit reading An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England halfway through — I hated the protagonist SO MUCH I couldn’t finish the book. But, lord, how I tried. I really did. I do, however, hope to read a lot more this year.
Movies
I saw a handful of new movies in the theater (oooh), among them Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Paranormal Activity 3, Horrible Bosses, The Muppets, and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, all of which I really enjoyed. I even managed to catch up on some other, older movies thanks to Netflix, including The Hurt Locker (very intense); Insidious (scared. the. shit. out. of. me.); Cronos (not what I expected); Red (a hoot); Up in the Air (ultimately disappointing); Paranormal Activity 2 (bad idea to watch with a newborn sleeping nearby); Get Him to the Greek (one of the funniest comedies of the last few years); and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (a crushing disappointment — I had such high expectations).
TV
If you read my post from yesterday, you already know how little time I have to stay up on my beloved TV shows these days. I just finished an almost two-week marathon catching up on Leverage, which I love. (And which makes me want to embark on a thrill-a-minute life as a con artist/thief/grifter. But I digress.) About the only shows I managed to stay up to date on were Happy Endings (uneven but very funny); American Horror Story (a train wreck I couldn’t ignore); Modern Family (still cracks me up); The Middle (relatable and hilarious); Desperate Housewives (yeah, yeah, I know); Ringer (entertaining soap opera); Fringe (praying Fox doesn’t kill it); and Community, which is literally the high point of my TV-watching each week. I think it’s the smartest, most hilarious show on the air right now. Which is why if NBC pulls a Britta and cancels it, I will cut a bitch.
I tried watching Up All Night, which I found cute, occasionally funny, and a bit disappointing; I can take it or leave it. I wanted to like New Girl, I really did, but it was so painfully unfunny, I cut my losses after 1 1/2 episodes. What I’ve caught of Suburgatory has been funny and interesting; I’ll have to catch up on that one online.
Now I just need to find the time to catch up on Raising Hope (LOVE), Supernatural, Justified, Burn Notice, and The Closer.
Music
Music is the one thing I was kind of able to stay current on thanks to the Sirius XM subscription that came with my Elantra. Thanks to the magic of satellite radio, I discovered bands and artists I never would’ve heard on our local stations. Here in no particular order are some of my favorite songs of the year.
Oh Land, “Son of a Gun”*
Deadmau5, “Raise Your Weapon”
Afrojack featuring Eva Simons, “Take Over Control”
Lloyd, “Dedication to My Ex” (the CLEAN version)
Young the Giant, “My Body”
The Cab, “Bad”
Foster the People, “Pumped Up Kicks”
Iffy the Badman, “Do You” (which I blogged about a while back)
Of Monsters and Men, “Little Talks”
Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”
The Airborne Toxic Event, “All I Ever Wanted”**
*Released in late 2010, but it was new to me in 2011!
**Rich and I FINALLY got to see The Airborne Toxic Event in concert back in November. After 22 months of waiting to see them, it was essentially a religious experience for me (I’ll explain at another time). If you’re a fan, go — go see them now!
