I've been thinking about putting up a kind of written cultural time capsule on the site. Something to the point that I can look back on in a year or so to remember what I was watching, listening to, and reading in the heady days of December 2003. Some may find it interesting, others may not. But here, unapologetically is...
WHAT'S GOING INTO ROB'S HEAD? DECEMBER 2003
Most of the books I've read (some for the second or third time) since I came to Bulgaria in April:
The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay--Chabon
The Citadel--Cronin (On the front it says it's now a Masterpiece Theater movie. That fits it really well.)
Travels With Charley--Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby--Fitzgerald
The Thin Man--Hammett
The Way Some People Die--MacDonald
Uncle Tom's Cabin--Stowe (The fact that this has been banned in some libraries absolutely baffles me)
Tender is the Night--Fitzgerald
A Man in Full--Wolfe (The best 700+ pager I've yet read)
The Perfect Storm--Junger
The Sun Also Rises--Hemingway (Can't get enough of the greatest party novel ever)
The Grapes of Wrath--Steinbeck
The Barbarians Are Coming--Louie
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe--Adams
What's Wrong With Dorfman?--Blumenthal
Hannibal--Harris (Hannibal Lector is Sideshow Bob in this book. No question about it.)
The Once and Future King--White (Probably the best read thus far)
A Farewell to Arms--Hemingway (Hemingway started it as a downer, and by God he would end it as one, too)
The Salmon of Doubt--Adams
Oliver Twist--Dickens (Turns out Oliver is the long lost cousin of Charles Darnay, Ebenezer Scrooge's much younger half-brother, and a personal friend of David Copperfield's former roommate. Who knew?)
The book I'm now reading:
Tortilla Flat--Steinbeck
Some of the movies I've seen:
Matrix 2+3
Terminator 3
X-Men 2
Bad Boys 2
Charlie's Angels 2
2 Fast 2 Furious (When's "2 Pointy 2 Breaky" coming out?)
Johnny English
(What an absolutely terrible movie summer it was. When you line it all up like that...)
Pirates of the Caribbean (The best of a bad crop. But still pretty good)
The Italian Job (Nice little caper movie)
Dumb and Dumberer (Okay, I'm stopping this right now)
Videos
Favorite video at the moment that no else here seems to like all that much:
Outkast--Hey Ya
Video that all the girls say is all the guys' favorite (giggle, giggle):
Kylie Minogue--Slow
Favorite videos from artists that I'd never heard of, but guess I probably should have:
Lene Marlin--You Weren't There
Texas--Carnival of Girls
Fun Lovin' Criminals--Various Videos
Paul Van Dyke--Nothing but You
Propeller Heads--History Repeating
Video that most guys really like for the “giggle, giggle” reason:
Dido--White Flag (also “Life for Rent” for that matter, but that’s a newer single)
Favorite techno, outside of “Nothing but You”:
Chemical Brothers f/ Flaming Lips--Golden Path
Favorite rock:
Limp Bizkit--Eat You Alive (There! I said it! I like the song and I love the video. What are you going to do about it?)
Close second for favorite rock:
Evanesence--Going Under
Favorite German:
Scooter (But that’s really the top of a pretty rotten barrell)
Favorite Bulgarian:
Oh, please don’t make me choose. Probably Slavi, but that’s just because I saw him live, I suppose.
Favorite video of an artist whose country of origin I still don’t really know:
Moloko--Forever More
Favorite group to make fun of mercilessly with other volunteers:
Black Eyed Peas (But all they want is to stop “the Bloods, and the Crips, and the KKK!” They are after all, just a bunch of “conscious cats” who didn’t want to release a song about “ugly people” after 9/11. Oh, just shut up, shut up.)
Favorite Music Channel:
Euro VH1. All videos ever released get played here. The Police are singing “Wrapped Around Your Finger” right now. It’s good stuff)
I think that about covers it. If I think of anything else I’ll put it down later.
Posted by Rob at December 6, 2003 09:09 AM