THE PEN IS MORE PORTABLE THAN THE SWORD
The Mighty BURN
As also promised, spent a fair chunk of time last night tidying up issue 12 of Burn, so in preparation, I thought I'd better tidy up the homepage at issuu. (You'll need to register to see anything - free and easy enough).
Was amazed to find 247 magazines have been read! Not by me either. I'm quite pleased with that because I haven't actually done anything with it. It didn't even have a correct link here until 2 minutes ago. That's nearly as many readers as we had when we were in print! (joke). (No, really - it was).
This is a good sign with no promotion behind it. I am enthused!
What's next... a blog for Ida and a personal assignment. Hmm. I'll go get a chair...
Comedy Central
Sunday morning and despite - or maybe in spite of - an impromptu sleepover going on upstairs, I'm wide awake and figuring I must catch up on my promises. Every man should have at least one picture of all their friends right? This is the only one I have of Kahn. It was taken during his interview for Deputy Dawg at Zero magazine - how could I say no. Bro - send some new ones - or at least put a shirt on. Anyway, the regular reader amongst you will know that he's pitted his wits against the world and is fueling his dream of stand-up comedy glory with a MasterCard. Only right and true then that I tell you where:
8 Feb 2009 Laughing Horse new act comp @ Hali Vegetarian Restaurant 18 Feb 2009 Laughter @ Lammars @ Lammars 25 Feb 2009 Comedy Balloon @ The Ape & Apple 1 Apr 2009 Slap & Giggle @ Zoo 9 Apr 2009 9 Apr 2009 The Holly Bush
Show updates and other buffoonery of a Northern bloke variety can be culled from his MySpace page. Go there anywhere anyway - his calendar hooks up to the venues. I did try and paste it here, but can't be bothered formatting it so as you can actually see it. There's a permanent link over in the right hand column somewhere... RSS it.
JJ meanwhile is knee deep in pimping Liverpool Sound City. Early days yet (read as the site is a bit empty) but I've seen some of the bands announced for the bill and it's shaping up nicely to be one of the must go-to events of the Summer. (Is May in the Summer?)
I'm thinking that maybe I should pull some short strings and see if I can get Mr Johnson a slot somewhere - and being as Lynne (50ft Woman) is always looking for cool places to play and her entire band live north of Watford, maybe that's something I could pull the trigger on as well. Will ask. Maybe some badass karma will come bite me on the ass because of it (but that's not my reason for doing it!)
Oh yeah... saw Nick from The Clash in the shop this morning buying bread and eggs. I am so glad I don't live in L.A....
(Note to self. Never use the word glad ever again.)
Tomorrow and Tonight (II)
Finished up an article lovingly titled How Randy 'the Ram' Robinson gave Sunset Strip some credibility. A little long but the sentiment is all there. There really was nothing else to call it as that's exactly what it's about. I've mailed it in to the guys at shake'n'stir to post for me... not because I can't do it myself but because I put enough stuff up for them in the past and being as I've pissed away all my time watching Kiss (so you caught me...) I really can't be bothered tonight. Will post links as soon as she surfaces.
I think I have to write another entry for Ida at ISLPR tomorrow. Cool, I like doing those. Anything that gets by unedited is a buzz. That's karma right there in action!
That's it, I'm out of here... but being as I'm in the mood and clipped this to the board earlier on with all those previous postings, you can have this as well. (That's code for, if I put this here I'll always know where to find it easily).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u14BC9tBRAA]
Time to get on with my life now. No more Kiss or Mickey Rourke for at least a week.
More dumb-ass shit
Well, cover me in tar and then throw on the feathers. Sparked by my Kiss poster blog of yesterday, an "acquaintance" of mine sent me a link to this ebay listing for an uncut, original poster. Holy cow - do you know how much I would have paid for this at one time? Considering I once paid £150 in 1985 for the bootleg alternate version of Alive II, a fair amount probably. I'm actually quite stunned that such a thing as an uncut version of this still exists. It has a Buy It Now of $100 on its head. I don't know how 'original' it really is, but who cares!
I also found the blogsite of Michael Doret - the guy who painted the original cover of Rock n Roll Over. Nice guy with some cool stuff on the boil apart from said item and thoroughly deserving of a mention.
This blog is in danger of becoming a haven for Kiss analists. But before I walk away from the subject for at least a few days, maybe one more nostalgia trip would be OK. Here. Choke on this... they don't make 'em like they used to:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzmK3T7-IJU]
If anybody was in any doubt as to why these overlong masturbations over Kiss, I was ten when the following happened to me. What would you do?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NK7X2DjxXs]
And most finally... we appear to have aged most gracefully. Not bad for 57:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTXsOaKvw6Y]
No blogging for a whole week? I'd dearly like to say it was because I'd been busy every single one of those days, but that would be a big fat lie. Things have kind of fallen apart here this week, but hey, life just keeps barreling on regardless.
Found this uber-cool picture of a steam-punk Dalek which I thought I'd share just because it's a good start to a blog. Let me see, there must be something worth writing about tonight?
Ah yes - I've finally given in and decided to publish Burn Issue 12. Not 10 minutes ago I pulled it all together and in the morning, I'll swiftly whip through it and treat all of its foibles with mercy. Sometime Monday, we'll be rolling. Job done and onto Issue 13. I might take a few left turns with it for the rest of the year to see what happens.
A few months back I had this great idea for a book - yeah another one and during the course of my research I found some great images that I'd never seen before. I don't know if I'll actually use them in the book so I think I'll post them right here for prosperity. These are the posters that came with each of the Kiss solo albums released in 1978. These were the dictionary definition of gold dust back then - it was my life's mission to find them all but in the 15 years I put into it, I never got more than two of them - Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. The other two I had never even seen a picture of until I found these. Looking back, they're bloody weird. They all have some kind of retro feel about them but not in a great way. I love them for what they meant at the time but I'm not so sure I'd pay as much money now for them as I would have at one time. They also came with these cut-out bits on the edges so that you could fit them together in a frieze, but the two I had didn't line up so well.
Anyway - for your delectation (and for non-fans, please move along the bus) here they are in all their unholy glory:
It's a work day tomorrow. Absolutely stacks to do. I suppose I should go to bed. Before I do though, a word about the 'diet' I put myself on.
After a bit of a scare on Christmas Day when I discovered I was 15 stone and 2 lbs (I've been that weight a few times but in previous incarnations, it was composed of different items ie: muscle not fat), I decided to get my shit together. After about 5 seconds I decided (loosely) that I would only eat between 6.30pm and 8pm (or thereabouts). Amazingly, I stuck to it for ages, until the middle of last week when I felt as though I needed to pick up the pace a bit. So I started running again. I hate running but two miles a day seemed reasonable.
Still, that didn't seem to be enough of a commitment, so I thought I would cut out eating for that hour and half period as well. So far, so good. Nil by mouth. It's not healthy, it's not big and it's not clever but... on Christmas Day I was 15 stone 2 lbs and today, slightly less than a month on, I'm 14 stone and 2 lbs. I haven't been down that far in years. I don't know how much longer I can keep it up but I reckon another 4-5 weeks at least should be interesting in the name of science.
If I can crack 13 stone (last seen circa 1994), I'll start eating again and might even think about joining a gym. I think 12 stone might be a bit ambitous but you never know, I might change my mind when I get down that far. I feel I must add at this point, should any of you be truly concerned, that I am neither anorexic nor bulemic. Why only this evening, I found a chocolate chip muffin in the kitchen, so that was mine. I also had some Skips that somebody left lying around and a single Fruit Pastille. Yes, I'm really hungry all of the time, but the secret lies in not having to think about it. Eat only to stop yourself feeling so sick that you might pass out.
I think I'd look ill at 12 stone though. I'm starting to look a bit rough around the edges now. Still, I might be able to get back into those £200 buckskin pants I bought last millenium. Anybody want to see that?
No - thought not.
Swiftest post ever
Hopefully I'll have caught up with myself by the end of the month
Review at shake'n'stir:
Nickelback: Dark Horse
shake'n'stir 2008 review
Best rock albums of 2008
Calling Dr. Love
I'm in the mood for another "National Kiss Day" tomorrow. So be it. We shall line up the great albums one by one and in no particular order shall unashamedly relive most of the seventies... and you know what? I don't care what anybody thinks. That's a great way to spend a Saturday morning.
I may even break my diet and grab a bag of do-nuts for the Dressed to Kill session. Hmm. There's something I haven't blogged about yet. It's a really simple diet that basically consists of nil by mouth. The only time I'm allowed to eat is between 6.30pm and 8pm and this must also be followed by a 2 mile run, which I'm getting better at daily.
I'm fucking starving most of the time but it's working. There are some people who say that you shouldn't do this because your body holds onto any fat because it thinks it will need it. What I'm trying to find is that point where my body gives up that stupid ass theory and says to itself "yeah... I need that now". It can't be far away surely.
Nutritionists across the land with Morphy Richards blenders will be shaking their heads in dismay. Fuck you. I got sold the "Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" dream when I was a kid. Much like Scooby Doo and getting excited by the sound of an ice-cream truck, some habits are hard to break.
The great thing about this new diet is that if something is liquid or can be smoked, that's allowed at any time of the day to alleviate the boredom of no chocolate. Anyway, if you're feeling fat (which I wasn't really.. just been incredibly lazy for a few months), you should give it a try. I've shifted eight pound since 26 December. If you die or collapse or anything similar er... well you're as stupid as I am.
Awakening the Kraken
Yes - amongst all of the other things on a very large plate, the monkeys have become addicted to Tomb Raider Underworld. I keep being called in to help kill the Kraken. It's a great game but I expected a bit more from the legendary one than a fat octopus at the bottom of a cavern clinging on to some pillars like its life depended on it.
Finally sorted my ass out today and thought it was time I rejoined (some of) the human race, so caught up (my fault) with Chiaki, my lovely and talented photographer friend. Check out her site - steal anything from her and I'll break your face. See how she lists Burn as the first magazine on her list. That's called heart-warming where I come from... and no, they're not in alphabetical order. Made some plans to catch up - shit it's been a long time since we've done anything together. Last time we were actually same place, same time must be a good two years ago. Note to self: don't let this happen again. Friends you actually like are hard to come by.
Also clashed heads with Ida in NYC over at ISLPR and evolved some mindless gabble about the weather into something that could prove to be really interesting. More on that when I've had time to digest it all. Scary what can happen when you look out over the trench.
Writing fallen by the wayside? Far from it. Quickly dived back into angel folklore to make sure I wasn't screwing over my angels in 2H4D, tried and failed to move Turn the Lamp Down Low on a little bit, but then, knowing what you don't want to do is half the battle. My pages of notes have become rather unwieldly on that one. Finally, sent an email to somebody who might be able to give me a shove in the right direction about something else important but really secret - mostly because I'll look really dumb if I fluff it!
Busy day? Slightly - made all the more frustrating by the windscreen of my car freezing up on the inside all the time. How is this possible?
Also posted today:
The Year The Earth Stood Still : ISLPR
Currently reading: Two books damnit! Open Doors (Ian Rankin) and King of Swords (Nick Stone)
Currently listening to: whatever comes shuffling along. (Right at this moment it's turfed up Jack the Bastard from Faster Pussycat - who I see have a new album out. Hmm... things ain't what thye used to be. Judgement held for now.)
Later that same day
This might be too complex for me to actually get to the end of, but it appears to be worth writing about at the moment.
This morning, I crossed paths again with the Deepak Chopra book SynchroDestiny - possibly the greatest book ever written about living life. I happened across the section on coincidence and took in for what must be the thousandth time how they were only coincidences of you didn't pay attention to them. If you do pay attention on the other hand, they become something more. They become signposts from 'the universe' (insert own archetype here as necessary).
So, given that this morning I wrote about thinking of changing the name of Hunters to something else and then walked into the lounge only to see a BBC commercial for a show called Hunter, I would venture that's a pretty good indicator to get the thinking cap on again. Long term, it might prove to be a good thing. Short term, it sucks because it really summed up what the show was about.
Some other weird shit happened today as well, but I can't get my head around it so you'll have to wait.
Also posted today:
Review of Guns n Roses | Chinese Democracy at shake'n'stir
Currently listening to: Jet Black Stare, Theory of a Deadman and Kiss Alive II
Currently re-watching: Torchwood Season One
Currently reading: Pickwick Papers... nah! Just wondering whether to dive into the latest from Rankin or Koontz. Probably Rankin.
Currently telling everybody who will listen that: The Wrestler is the best movie to come along since... well, for a long, long time. Despite people saying I am extremely biased due to its subjext matter, time will repeatedly prove me right on this one.
Nicked!
I didn't actually think that I really would be policed, but well done DCI Downes for pointing out that I blew the everyday blog. My only excuse is that I was busy doing something else - and no, not watching TV. My head is full of big, wild dogs at the moment but I know there's the threads of multiple story endings in their somewhere.
To coax them out, tomorrow morning I'm taking Steve (JuJitsu instructor) shooting (clays) at Greenfields. We haven't been for months, so I predict much amusement and dissing of the others talent for most of the morning and with a bit of luck the -4 degrees temperature will keep Joe Public away for a couple of hours. If anybody is in the area and wants to get in on some hot cordite action on a Sunday morning, drop me an email and we'll figure something out - not necessarily tomorrow either.. any Sunday morning is good for me.
Back at the keyboard, I've been battering away at the TV screenplay for Hunters - and how I wish I had a better name for it because it just reminds me of the TV show Hunter with Fred Dryer. Then again, a TV detective that solves crime by shooting the perps dead is no bad thing. Maybe I should change the name of one of the characters to Fred in homage. Although now I've said it out loud, that makes me think of Scooby Doo. Scrap that idea.
In my other home in New York that my buddy Roger is keeping warm for me, we've come up with a plan to relaunch Burn out there as a rock n roll magazine. Old school Creem sort of thing. I give up with this country - nobody wants to know about the shit we love, so to pitch it digitally at a few million people who do give a damn seems like it might have some mileage under the belt. Still in baby stages at the moment but it's a plan that sits quite comfortably.
More posting later... if I can get up to three before midnight, will that wipe out the missing days?
Every little helps...
You shouldn't get excited about a phone, but when your phone breaks and you send it away for repairs and have to rely on some old piece of crap with a battery that only lasts 24 hours, it's only right that you should appreciate your completely new phone that gets mailed back.
Yep - you can be down on Tesco all you like but when they couldn't fix it, they just sent a new one without batting an eyelid, so in the spirit of paying homage to the man, here's 5 other reasons to love Tesco:
1. Using a clubcard all year, I racked up about £150 in free stuff just before Christmas. That's a lot of free stuff.
2. Their petrol is always cheaper than the other garages (people say it's shit petrol, but my car likes it well enough).
3. They're open nearly all the time I'm awake.
4. The guy who delivers the groceries always manages to deliver some free stuff I never asked for.
5. They sell those peanut butter cupcakes that I can't find anywhere else.
All they need now is a proper in-store book department and I don't think I'd ever go anywhere else.
Tesco. More than just a supermarket (should I copyright that?).
Right back to work slacker... crime, angels and rock n roll to write about.
This knife edge is getting a bit thin
I give up. Totally. I finished Klosterman's Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs about a week ago and I had to get it out again this evening to check something I read but hadn't quite registered until now.
The following extract comes from an article about how adverts and products are pitched at us:
"It's the same for aging hipsters...this is why you often hear forty-seven year old men with ponytails saying things like, 'Oh, I'm totally into the new stuff. That new Nickelback record is just terrific.'"
Hold fire just one fucking minute! That doesn't seem so far away any more! How can I have turned into that person? Am I more elite than this? Can I validate and justify myself because I write about it and generally love it and always have or am I looking into a mirror?
Damn you Klosterman. For the first time in all my life, you've now got me thinking.
Grrr.
Demons and Dogs UnLeashed!
Am I jealous or not? No, not jealous but I am really impressed. Finally caught up with Demons this evening. At first it looked too spooky to be on that early in the evening but then it turned out that it wasn't about what they made it out to be about.
Luke is the last of the Van Helsing monster hunting dynasty, (cue good looking actor able to wander around in jeans and no shirt), who will be ably assisted by Rupert Galvin (Philip Glenister) as his Marlowe-esque Godfather, Mina Harker and the lovely plot device of Ruby, the 'girlfriend'. While the series appears to want to fit into the tiniest of gaps available between Supernatural and Primeval, it succeeds where it shouldn't - particularly as Supernatural is damn well sacred around here - and is simply great Saturday evening entertainment. Bring it right on.
So, in keeping with getting on the screen-writing radar, I figure it's time to unleash the hounds as swiftly as possible, but one by one all the same. I've decided to let out the first issue of Too Hot For Dogs - for free. Comments welcome - particularly those of the constructive variety if you feel like it, but please, it is still in promo stage and I reserve the right to change anything I damn well please!
If you click on the mini mag below it will open as a fully fledged digital publication in a new window. The blank page at the inside front and inside back are where I've stripped adverts out for something you don't need to see...
Yes. This year, we will be blowing the bloody doors off if at all possible, though we may backtrack on that statement if the only feedback through the door is bad, but you can't keep your babies locked up forever I guess. Next stop? Delivering the proposal of Hunters and sewing some of the bits that have been cut out together into something called The Piper, though I'm not entirely sure what format that will take.
So to wrap up the Christmas Holiday experience:
Currently listening to (a lot): Theory of a Deadman | Scars and Souvenirs
Currently reading: Mister Monday | Garth Nix
Currently wondering: Where the hell is my big box from Waterstones? Back to amazon next month if it's not here tomorrow.
Footnote: The head of the Cyberman as an air freshener sucks. Don't buy one. Ever.
Strange Days
1 thing to do in 1 day: don't spend days on end trying to think of 101 things to do in 1001 days when apparently you don't want to do that many things. Seemed like a good idea at the time but after spending about a month sitting on just 67 items, I've decided to can it and distill those 67 things into practical events that may actually happen. Funny, now I've killed the stupid list, I don't feel as under pressure as I did before. So, no resolutions, no meandering lists... just getting on with the work. Ida has given me a shove to get on with my first article of the year which I'm right in the middle of here, Turn The Lamp Down Low is moving in the right direction at last and Too Hot is gaining momentum again. Actually, that's a bit of an understatement. Since I decided to start at the end and work backwards with it for a while to pace it better, it's coming together fast.
This last week, I've also had a stack of time to figure some other things out, so while I buy a domain or two and magically create some digital wizardry for Burn and a plan for the future, I'll be heading up the rock team at shake'n'stir. Shake' has just had a complete technical overhaul behind the scenes and it's looking good. More updates as they happen on that front.
On a different note, I have no idea who Matt Smith is, but he damn well better have big feet for those shoes. Right - back to work slacker.
The head of light entertainment
Finally, my head doesn't feel like a washing machine but it looks as though I might have undergone some liquid therapy early last year as I seem to have missed the 'new' album by a band I rate highly. Like, how did this happen? Strikes me that a little PR in the right direction wouldn't go amiss.
Only by being on a (useless) mailing list that this evening told me Theory of a Deadman were out on the road in the U.S. with Motley Crue spurred me into having a look. I guess you could argue that I can't rate them that highly if I didn't check their site very often. I retort: just because they're a great band doesn't mean they record a new album very often. Anyway, I need a car that's going pretty fast to listen to it properly, so more later.
Announced today - though if this is the first place you find out about it, that's a pretty sad state of affairs - BBC will be revealing who'll be getting the keys to the Tardis in a Doctor Who Confidential special on Beeb One at 5.35. So don't go calling me up or anything OK... important for many reasons.
On a similar note, I bought a Cyberman air freshener thing for the car this morning. It was a choice between that and a Dalek. I wanted to take the road less traveled, so the CyberHead it was... damn thing will probably clip comofrtably onto (and I quote) "any air vent system in your car" except a freaking Saab 93 that is. Should have gone for Dalek Emperor. You know where you are with a Dalek.
Apparently, they also come in Tardis and K9 shapes. I think I'll skip on those. What I really want is one of the Blink angels or a Clockwork Man. Now that would be special indeed. Well... not special as in going on holiday or winning the lottery, but in the domain of in-car odour release... I'll stop now.
Birds and Stars...
8.30 am: My head hurts. That wasn't how I intended to spend last night at all - just a few beers at a neighbours house has turned into hell in my head. Consequently, I've done nothing I was supposed to and is how I come to be squinting at TNA Impact! at 8.30 in the morning.
That's the first time I've ever done anything on New Year's Eve for about ten years and I don't like it. After all this time, I think it's the lack of control that's mostly got to me. I've turned into one of those people - and now I'm mostly pissed off at myself.
8.40am: Fuck it. Back later...
Tonight we're gonna party...
...like your wife is at work and the kids are in bed. Not so catchy really. A random emptying of the head before applying self to some writing (yeah... while you're getting wasted, I'll step on the gas).
Just watched Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke on Top of the Pops. The pair of them appear to sing at whatever frequency my stone heart is set at. Damn this new popular music phenomenon. Where are JET when you need them?
Got the Saab back on the road this morning - now if only it were black I could get back to hunting demons at the weekend. Maybe I'll get a paint job.
That didn't take long to empty did it. Right let's get on with it...
Lyric of the day: "You look so much cuter with something in your mouth" - Nickelback. er... Something in Your Mouth. Shallow yes, but it's New Years Eve. It's allowed.
Spandex Rules
...and another post that was intended for a day that it wasn't actually written in. I'll get the hang of this daytime/nighttime thing eventually.
That unfinished book list is butchering my head, so I went out this morning to scour for a few things I might have missed - and this one leapt of the shelf and into my hand. A Lion's Tale - Around the World in Spandex from Chris Jericho - I mean what the hell was I thinking. Most of the other WWE auto-biographies have been picked up on day one, why did this - very important addition - slip through the net?
Same reason perhaps that on the day that the Chris Jericho interviews were farmed out when we were working on either Zero or Burn (I forget which), I'd already committed to something else and it was JJ who ended up 'drawing' the 'somebody has to drive him to the airport after the show' straw. Some short straw that was. I think I would have liked CJ. I think we would have got on well and as I romp through Lion's Tale in an attempt to legitimately get into my years top 10, I know so.
(I would like to add a disclaimer here that not all of them were worth it. In fact, probably only a small number are, namely:
1. Mick Foley - Have A Nice Day (possibly the best autobiog written in any genre)
2. Superstar Billy Graham - Tangled Ropes
3. Eddie Guerrero - Cheating Death, Stealing Life
4. Ric Flair - To Be The Man
The others vary between "pretty good but you're either quite boring really or don't write very well" and "plain dreadful" - such as the Batista book which is so empty, I can't even remember what it was called. Jericho's book is shaping up to sneak in there at number 4 however, pushing Flair down a spot. What the fuck am I talking about? Nobody gives a fuck about my top five wrestling autobiography list do they...)
The other book I picked up today was Rankin's Exit Music. How I could have forgotten the last of the Rebus series is unforgivable. Anyway, all of this was on the way to see InkHeart which is well worth a watch. Typical big bang Christmas movie that's pleasing on all levels. Don't think, don't analyse. Simply watch and smile and everything will be fine.
Two days until then end of the year and I seem to recall I promised a lot of postings of 2008 vs 2009 and also a rundown on my 101 in 1001. If I'm really quiet, hopefully you'll all forget and I can go back to being lazy. There's still a whole stack of Budweiser in the garage. Talking of which, I have to take the Saab in tomorrow for an MOT. At least I knew what was going on with the Audi - the Saab I'm not so sure about. Then again, what can possibly go wrong with a car bred to withstand the screaming Texan sun and the brutal Scandinavian winter?
The very fact that somebody decided to make its MOT a few days after Christmas - followed by a car taxing session the day after does not bode well. Still, it's never bothered me before...
The end of the year...
Close enough anyway - and this is a Sunday post that just took a long time to compose. It will take me at least the next three days to put it in perspective. Anyway, Sunday night calls for lists and lots of them. To begin, let's have a look at the best albums of the year. There's been a vast amount of great material pumped out in 2008 but this is the cream for me:
1. NICKELBACK - DARK HORSE
2. ATTACK! ATTACK! - ATTACK! ATTACK!
3. HINDER - TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT
4. FALL OUT BOY - FOLIE A DEUX
5. FINGER ELEVEN - THEM VS YOU VS ME
6. SHINEDOWN - THE SOUND OF MADNESS
7. ALICE COOPER - ALONG CAME A SPIDER
8. GUNS N ROSES - CHINESE DEMOCRACY
9. DEAR SUPERSTAR - HEARTLESS
10. BLACKSTONE CHERRY - FOLKLORE AND SUPERSTITION
The more observant among you will see that a lot of these come from the latter half of the year. I looked long and hard at this theory, dived into the collection of possibilities and left it as it stands. It's a solid list - and for all those of you shaking their heads at Nickelback in the top spot, screw you. There's far too much elitism around these days. Name an album that's rocks harder or slicker and I'll consider your opinion... but it had better be good because for me, after 2006 and 2007 being years in which I had to carve everything up looking for deeper opinions than were necessary, '08 came as a welcome relief in which I could sit back and rip it up.
On the movie front, maybe I didn't go as often as I should - there's a lot I haven't seen either but let's dive in anyway:
1. IRON MAN
2. THE ORPHANAGE
3. TAKEN
4. THE MIST
5. QUANTUM OF SOLACE
6. WANTED
7. VANTAGE POINT
8. THE DARK KNIGHT
9. HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY
10. MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN
There were absolutely stacks of others - including the inimitable Zombie Strippers - that did the job at the time, but again, I've been through this list and it holds up for sure. Go on, tell me that Iron Man isn't the best movie you've seen in the last three years...
This one is REALLY hard. For ever album or movie that I run into, there are at least three books to match it, so choosing ten is going to hurt... bad. The first three are easy - after that I'm not so sure:
1. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK - NEIL GAIMAN
2. DOCTOR WHO: THE WRITER'S TALE - RUSSELL T DAVIS
3. THE REAPERS - JOHN CONNOLLY
4. HOLD TIGHT - HARLAN COBEN
5. KILLING YOURSELF TO LIVE - CHUCK KLOSTERMAN
6. THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY - WAY/JA
7.
8.
9.
10.
Hmm. See how hard this is? I just can't kill that list off - if you're interested at all, come back and check out this edited post (whereupon, this sentence will magically disappear). As a point of interest, as much as I dearly love Gaiman, why did nobody point out that the 'adult' version of this book cover is one of the shittiest ever designed. Coming from where it did, I'm shocked...
That's quite enough lists for one day. Rustled up the skeleton outline of the next two chapters of Turn the Lamp Down Low this morning and also started roughing out the final scenes on Too Hot For Dogs so that I can work backwards for a little while (otherwise I don't think it will ever end). More wrapping up of a year tomorrow...
