Entries tagged 'year in review'

i had sort of decided to give doing a year-end music review a pass, but i was inspired by mike’s (of franklin avenue) mix of his favorite tracks of the year to do the same. as with his mix, it’s not just music released in 2005, but music new to me in 2005.

1. “hip hopera” from the broken record by twink: every mix needs something interesting to kick it off, and this little song is mixed together from some old children’s records
2. “aqui” from mtv unplugged: la ley by la ley: i suppose i should look up a translation of the lyrics some day, but this song even works without knowing that.
3. “things the grandchildren should know” from blinking lights and other revelations by eels: i’ve been an eels fan for a long time, and i really liked the lyrics to this song.
4. “put it back together” from palookaville by fatboy slim: again, i’ve been a fatboy slim fan for a long time. this is my favorite from his latest album.
5. “in the wee small hours” from astrud gilberto’s finest hour by astrud gilberto: obviously not a new release, but one of my favorite from this greatest hits album.
6. “a change at christmas (say it isn’t so)” from ego tripping at the gates of hell by the flaming lips: not really the flaming lips song i wanted to include (that would be “fight test” from yoshimi battles the hip-hop robots), but this is also an excellent song that actually stands alone.
7. “sleepwalking through the mekong” from dengue fever - ep by dengue fever: “a cambodian pop rock psychedelic dance party” with lyrics in khmer — you have to love it.
8. “tired of being alone” from al green: greatest hits by al green: uh, yeah.
9. “in my life” from kawaipunahele by keali'i reichel: also mike’s fault, and one of those beatles covers i am way too fond of.
10. “the vicodin song” from terra naomi ep by terra naomi: my favorite song by my favorite local musician.
11. “close to my girl” from from detroit to j.a. by the kleptones: i love all of the kleptones mashups, and this is one of my favorite tracks from the latest.
12. “goodnight and go” from speak for yourself by imogen heap: yes, it’s an overlap with mike’s mix. but this really is the best song from a fantastic album.
13. “hotel california (spanish mix)” from ¡volare! - the very best of the gypsy kings by the gypsy kings: a muy bueno version of a classic california song.
14. “groovallegiance” from one nation under a groove by funkadelic: george clinton and his bands is something that has always been over the horizon of my awareness, and i was just blown away by this album (and this song) when i finally picked it up.
15. “dark as a dungeon” from will the circle be unbroken by the nitty gritty dirt band: i wanted some country music, and liked the idea of this meeting of a bunch of dirty hippies from california and some classic nashville musicians — and was not disappointed at all.
16. “everybody loves a loser” from the antidote by morcheeba: i haven’t been a morcheeba fan for that long, but i really like this new album, and this song in particular.
17. “let it be” from beatles regrooved by eros: like i said, i am way too fond of beatles covers. i know i shouldn’t like this one as much as i do, but i do.
18. “humboldt” from grapevine by i see hawks in l.a.: my favorite song by my favorite local band.
19. “revolverlution” from from detroit to j.a. by the kleptones: yes, another mashup from the kleptones makes them the only repeat artist. this mashes together a spoken word piece with some perfectly-matched music, and i think makes a great closer to a mix.

total running time: 1:19:40

if you want a copy of the mix, let me know. no fancy cover for me, and i guess i may only be able to burn seven copies due to the couple of tracks that are fairplay-protected. (unless i deal with stripping that.)

it’s not the one-a-day pace that some people go for, but i ended up averaging over one film per week. (and more than that, really — i didn’t usually write up anything for movies i watched on the cable networks.)

i’m not sure i would call it my favorite film i watched this year, but pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl was the film that most impressed me. i’d say eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and der krieger und die kaiserin are the closest to claiming the title of favorite. the station agent, heist, and the 40 year-old virgin were also all great.

1. the life aquatic with steve zissou (review)
2. house of flying daggers (review)
3. sideways (review)
4. bendito infierno (review)
5. in good company (review)
6. be cool (review)
7. robots (review)
8. melinda and melinda (review)
9. sin city (review)
10. kung fu hustle (review)
11. the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy (review)
12. star wars: episode iii - revenge of the sith (review)
13. assault on precinct 13 (review)
14. assault on precinct 13 (review)
15. crash (review)
16. mean girls (review)
17. batman begins (review)
18. bubba ho-tep (review)
19. war of the worlds (review)
20. butterfly and sword (review)
21. the day after (review)
22. the day after tomorrow (review)
23. charlie and the chocolate factory (review)
24. wedding crashers (review)
25. carrie (review)
26. quatermass and the pit (review)
27. equilibrium (review)
28. pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl (review)
29. the 40 year-old virgin (review)
30. the bourne identity (review)
31. the transporter 2 (review)
32. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (review)
33. say it isn’t so (review)
34. crimen ferpecto (review)
35. kill bill: vol. 1 (review)
36. kill bill: vol. 2 (review)
37. serenity (review)
38. corpse bride (review)
39. the aristocrats (review)
40. madadayo (review)
41. o (review)
42. heartbreakers (review)
43. serenity (review)
44. stark raving mad (review)
45. spartan (review)
46. der krieger und die kaiserin (review)
47. artificial intelligence: ai (review)
48. saved! (review)
49. heist (review)
50. elf (review)
51. the girl next door (review)
52. dodgeball: a true underdog story (review)
53. the big sleep (review)
54. the station agent (review)
55. king kong (review)
56. harold & kumar go to white castle (review)
57. the producers (review)
58. donnie darko (review)
59. bad santa (review)
60. the chronicles of narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe (review)

i guess if i am going to say that getting a new camera was one of the best things of this year, i should share why. so here is a set of my favorite pictures from this year.

my absolute favorite is “birds on orange,” even if more people have marked the similar “birds at dawn” as their favorite.

this picture of the fountain at the city national plaza is one that i think helped spark my interest in taking photos again.

there’s something about orange.

three best things about the last year: getting my camera, meeting shannon, and meeting celia.

honorable mention would go to selling blo.gs. (but after six months, it means the most to me as the catalyst for getting the camera.)

worst thing about the last year: the intense dissatisfaction.

i came close to averaging one book per week. the best non-fiction books i read this year were on intelligence and nature noir. the best fiction book i read this year was the kite runner, but i also enjoyed george r.r. martin’s a song of fire and ice series, and terry pratchett’s discworld books.

1. on intelligence by jeff hawkins and sandra blakeslee (review)
2. midas world by frederik pohl (review)
3. singularity sky by charlie stross (review)
4. children of the mind by orson scott card (review)
5. the geography of thought: how asians and westerners think differently...and why by richard e. nisbett (review)
6. myth-taken identity by robert asprin and jody lynn nye (review)
7. myth alliances by robert asprin and jody lynn nye (review)
8. ender’s shadow by orson scott card (review)
9. the tides of time by john brunner (review)
10. the coming by joe haldeman (review)
11. camouflage by joe haldeman (review)
12. shadow of the hegemon by orson scott card (review)
13. slack: getting past burnout, busywork, and the myth of total efficiency by tom demarco (review)
14. high stakes, no prisoners: a winner’s tale of greed and glory in the internet wars by charles h. ferguson (review)
15. fuel-injected dreams: a novel by james robert baker (review)
16. blink: the power of thinking without thinking by malcolm gladwell (review)
17. old man's war by john scalzi (review)
18. the color of magic by terry pratchett (review)
19. going postal by terry pratchett (review)
20. shadow puppets by orson scott card (review)
21. kitchen confidential: adventures in the culinary underbelly by anthony bourdain (review)
22. disneywar by james b. stewart (review)
23. democratizing innovation by eric von hippel (review)
24. nature noir: a park ranger’s patrol in the sierra by jordan fisher smith (review)
25. scoop by evelyn waugh (review)
26. a game of thrones by george r.r. martin (review)
27. massive change by bruce mau and the institute without boundaries (review)
28. someone comes to town, someone leaves town by cory doctorow (review)
29. a clash of kings by george r.r. martin (review)
30. the plot against america by philip roth (review)
31. the light fantastic by terry pratchett (review)
32. the snows of kilimanjaro and other short stories by ernest hemingway (review)
33. equal rites by terry pratchett (review)
34. make love the bruce campbell way by bruce campbell (review)
35. mort by terry pratchett (review)
36. rebuilt: how becoming part computer made me more human by michael chorost (review)
37. bowling alone: the collapse and revival of american community by robert d. putnam (review)
38. the kite runner by khaled hosseini (review)
39. behavior in public places: notes on the social organization of gatherings by erving goffman (review)
40. the mystery of capitalism: why capitalism triumphs in the west and fails everywhere else by hernando de soto (review)
41. quicksilver by neal stephenson (review)
42. sourcery by terry pratchett (review)
43. freakonomics by steven d. levitt and stephen j. dubner (review)
44. excession by iain m. banks (review)
45. let my people go surfing: the education of a reluctant businessman by yvon chouinard (review)
46. the family trade by charles stross (review)
47. wyrd sisters by terry pratchett (review)
48. maverick: the success story behind the world’s most unusual workplace by ricardo semler (review)

there are only a few hours left in my work year, so i did a little crunching to see what i accomplished this year. since i started the year with a new position on the maintenance team, there is really one major metric — how many bugs that were assigned to me are now closed. as of this instant, that’s 224. it will go up by another few when some additional fixes are documented. here is the search to see all of the server bugs i have closed. “server bugs” includes bugs in the command-line clients.

that works out very close to one bug per working day. whew!

of course, i’m just one step in the process. sergei golubchik is listed as the reviewer on over 300 of the bugs that were closed this year!