In media rest

Okay, then. I read a few books this year, 136 at the current (and unlikely to change) count. Personal favorites included:

• Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
• The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
• Taft by Ann Patchett
• The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
• The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

But it was a pretty ordinary year, actually. There were a few disappointments, Embassytown by China Miéville and Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger chief among them, and in any year when I read such a weird mix of comics, there were bound to be a few there as well. (I’m looking at you particularly hard, end of run on Exiles.)

I didn’t re-read as much as I’d hoped to, only two books instead of the hoped-for five or six. And one of those, Stephen King’s It, was via audio book. But that’s two more than last year, and I found a lot of value in revisiting those two books. (Particularly It, although Watership Down was also quite lovely.) I’m not yet sure what I’m going to re-read in 2013, but I think it’s an experiment worth continuing.

I also watched several movies in 2012, not least of all nearly all of the “official” James Bond movies. Again, it was probably a pretty ordinary year, but a few personal favorites, in no order except the order seen:

1. Drones
2. Drive
3. The Innkeepers
4. The Cabin in the Woods
5. The Avengers
6. Moonrise Kingdom
7. Sleepwalk With Me
8. Skyfall
9. Beasts of the Southern Wild
10. The Descendants

Movies that turned out to be significantly better than I expected?

• Underworld — though I can’t say the same for the sequel
• John Carter — which I need to revisit, but which I think was sadly under-rated, this year’s Scott Pilgrim
• Fast Five — so ridiculous, and some of it obviously just for fans of the series, but surprisingly fun
• Predators — not, you know, great, but it has its moments
• The Amazing Spider-Man — we hardly needed another reboot or origin story, much less one like this, but Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are good together
• Knight and Day — so are Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. It’s not brilliant, but the chemistry works.
• Moonrise Kingdom — I had reservations going into it, since I like Wes Anderson but am not a part of the cult. This is definitely the Wes-Anderson-iest of his movies, but for all that it’s rather delightful.
• The Bourne Legacy — again, I’m not sure this is a series that really needed continuing, but I liked Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz here.
• Ruby Sparks — it’s not a perfect movie, but it takes what could have been a tired premise and does some very interesting things with it.

And then there are the Bond movies, but there I feel like I’m grading on a curve. Some of them are pretty dreadful (The Man With the Golden Gun), and others are good mostly by comparison (Moonraker).

Biggest disappointments?

• Them (Ils)
• Tiny Furniture
• Prometheus
• Underworld: Evolution
• Lockout
• Dawn of the Dead (the remake)
• Ghost Rider
• Paranormal Activity 2 — although I’m almost weirdly glad this was disappointing
• Tower Heist
• V/H/S

A few of those I probably could have predicted going in. The biggest unexpected disappointment was Prometheus, which was easily one of my least favorite movies of the year. It’s simply gorgeous to look at it, and very reminiscent of the first two Alien movies — sometimes even in good ways — but it’s full of questions and plot holes. I just did not like it.

And then, finally, there was music. I’m actually surprised to see tht nine out the twenty-four songs on my “best of the year” mix are actually from this year, while another eight were released in 2011. (The rest are a jumble, going back from 2008 to 1989.)

1. “Love Makes All the Other Worlds Go Round” by Dan Bern & Common Rotation
2. “Little Black Submarines” by the Black Keys
3. “Sugar” by the Horrible Crowes
4. “Manchester” by Kishi Bashi
5. “Houdini” by Foster the People
6. “We Are Young” by Fun (feat. Janelle Monáe)
7. “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men
8. “New Ceremony” by Dry the River
9. “I Love It” by Icona Pop
10. “Let’s Get the Show on the Road” by the Michael Stanley Band
11. “When I Write the Book” by Nick Lowe
12. “Pursuit of Happiness” by Lissie
13. “Abide With Me” by Emeli Sandé
14. “Now” by Mates of State
15. “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons
16. “Keep Me in Your Heart” by Warren Zevon
17. “American Tune” by Paul Simon
18. “Wheel Inside the Wheel” by Mary Gauthier
19. “Bleed Like Me” by Garbage
20. “Mountains” by Radical Face
21. “Avalanches (Culla’s Song)” by A Fine Frenzy
22. “Emmylou” by First Aid Kit
23. “Revolution” by Dr. John
24. “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Wanz)

Some of those are a little NSFW, for those of you who received a copy of the mix from me. (If you’d like a copy and didn’t get one, just ask.)

And, of course, there’s my December mix, which is itself almost as many songs as the best of 2012:

1. “What Makes a Good Man?” by the Heavy
2. “Revolution” by Dr. John
3. “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Wanz)
4. “Hit Me” by Mystikal
5. “Summer of ’93” by the Good Graces
6. “Emmylou” by First Aid Kit
7. “Myth” by Beach House
8. “Weeping Pilgrim” by Elvis Perkins
9. “Oh My My” by Jill Barber
10. “Human of the Year” by Regina Spektor
11. “Maybe Next Year (X-Mas Song)” by Meiko
12. “White Knuckles” by OK Go
13. “Ca plane pour moi” by Plastic Bertrand
14. “Same Love” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Mary Lambert)
15. “We Are the Art” by Nico Vega
16. “Next to Me” by Emeli Sandé
17. “The John Wayne” by Little Green Cars

And that was a year in media, minus of course TV shows, podcasts, the internet, and bits and bobs here and there.