If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So, in an effort to counteract the effects of lists that portray Jennifer Lopez as best dressed, Eminem as best musician, and Survivor as entertaining, here's my piddly little raggedy-ass list of stuff I liked in 2000.
My Favorite Movies: (in no particular order) Chicken Run (by the same fella who does Wallace and Gromit, and chickens are just a hoot), and Best in Show. No guns, no explosions, and no doofy catchphrases.
My Favorite CD's:
U2's All that You Can't Leave Behind(grrrreow, Bono...),
David Wilcox's What You Whispered (smart, and prolific, and still an independently-thinking music-maker),
Kelly June's Room (I saw her in Winston-Salem. Something tells me we will see her again.)
Runners up included Paul Simon with You're the One (cause Paul simon just totally makes my toes wiggle), and that new Beatles CD. Yeah, it's the Beatles. So what. It gets me up in the morning.
The Best Out-of-Town Meals I Ate: Anyway Cafe, on 2nd Avenue in NYC. Dang, those beets were good! And so were the crepes, and the chocolate fondue...Noel and I waddled to CBGB's afterward with big grins and warm bellies. I ate at a really great vegetarian place in Reykjavik, too, but I forgot its name. Just go up Laugervager, though, toward the water, and look left. It's down a little side street, near an Italian place.
Like that really helps.
Best Books I Read: Always a difficult category, but I've narrowed it down to just a few. These aren't all super-recent books, but they're good and you should read them. The first is
I Listen, A Document of Digital Voyeurism. I have to admit that there's not much I liked about Richmond. If it weren't for Shann and the bookstore where I found this cool trade paperback...well, let's just say I'm glad they were there. This is an odd little book filled with cellphone and cordless conversations. This Spacewurm character travels the country, recording the stuff you think no one hears. Especially entertaining are the lovers' quarrels and the phone sex. Don't read before bedtime.
My most very favoritest book this year was a new hardback, Give Me My Father's Body, a compelling look at Minik, the "New York Eskimo". Told by Ken Harper, who has lived for over twenty years in a Greenland Inuit village, I couldn't put this one down. To think that this exploitation of native peoples happened in the 20th century makes it even more of a page-turner, though shameful. FYI, Kevin Spacey has the movie rights on this book, and has something in the works. Don't miss it, kids. You've never heard a story like this one.
And of course I finally got my hands on a soon-to-be classic, Keffo's Temp Slave. Need I say more? Have you ever been a temp? Of course you have; we've all been temps at one time or another, whether we knew it or not. Learn the fine art of subtle, nonviolent vengeance and workplace mayhem. Then quit, and get a job you actually like.
Grooviest New Snacks: One word, ladies--CRAISINS! They're yummy, they're super-duper good for you, and my snack cabinet has four bags of them right this minute. I also really like the new Westsoy "Singles". They are literally like those juicebox things, only these are one serving of soy milk. If you like soy milk (I do! I do!) these are a gem. Again, great for us ladies who want a nice shot of soy.
And finally...
Best Kitten Ever Discovered in a Community Dump: Well, I think we all know who that is.
Me and Wilma will yak at you tomorrow. Toodly.
