2004 - The Way I Lived

I'm not much for summing up years gone by, but as far as this one goes, it's been pretty eventful, I think. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around my impending marriage (and Mander's) and some other remotely grown up stuff that seemed so far away on my horizon just mere months ago. Although it makes me nauseous at times to think about it, I feel as though things are moving along in a good way. Of course 2005 wouldn't have been as great as it was if weren't for Sean and his uncanny ability to always love me the most, and awesome friends to always listen to my incessant whining.

2005 was rang in by many shots/drinks consumed at the Small Bar. So far my favorite 2005 moment was when Shannon bought us all a round of shots at the complete opposite end of the bar to where we were sitting, and Shawn and I realized after about 5 minutes of table hopping with six shot glasses at 2 minutes till midnight there was no way in hell we were going to be able to get them back to the table so we did three each (I wish I had a picture). It was all down hill from there, as you can imagine.

Anyway, I just thought I would also post my movie and music top 10, since no one at Pat Magazine has asked me to and I meant to last week. I should probably give all my music discovery credit to Sean, since he brought me home every CD I listed, or at least told me enough about the band beforehand so I could go download it from the internet. They are all in no particular order, however my movie selections are solely based upon movies I paid for in the year 2004.

My 2004 Top 10 Movies/Music continues...

Music
1. Antics by Interpol
I am insane Interpol fan, and well, they're always #1 on my iPod and in my heart.

2. Funeral by Arcade Fire
Blisteringly beautiful. Thanks for making me listen to it Sean. Also, they did a great cover of my favorite Talking Heads song.

3. Walkie Talkie by Air
I think I owe my Air fascination to Freddy Freaker of all people, and although I didn't enjoy this as much as their other albums, I still listen to it a lot in my car.

4. Good News For People Who Like Bad News by Modest Mouse
I think I've had "Float On" in my head for like 7 months or something. Still not as good as the Moon and Antarctica.

5. It's Not Funny by David Cross
Makes me feel bad about living in America, in a good way.

6. Uh Huh Her by PJ Harvey

7. Now Here is Nowhere by the Secret Machines
I was hooked when they opened for Interpol.

8. A Ghost is Born by Wilco
Still great, but I'm still missing them being closer to Being There.

9. Summer in Abaddon by Pin Back
Something else I owe to Sean.

10. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain reissue by Pavement
To discover this album now is very sad.

Movies
1. I Heart Huckabees
If Marky Mark doesn't get an Oscar nod for this movie, I will fucking cry.

2. Kill Bill Vol. 2
I almost forgot Uma could act for awhile. And there just isn't enough crazy Michael Madsen in movies.

3. Closer
Not really a date movie, but Clive Owen is hot and I didn't want to punch Julia Roberts in the face this one time.

4. Garden State
My favorite Scrubs star plus my new crush Peter Saarsgard with an awesome soundtrack.

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Still makes me laugh and cry. I think I want to marry Kate Winslet myself.

6. Saved
This movie was just hilarious, period.

7. Spiderman 2

8. Fahrenheit 9/11
Again, makes me sad to be an American. Much better than Bowling for Columbine, I think.

9. Anchorman
I'm glad we have Will Farrell, because I so miss Phil Hartman, and I think for me at least, Will Farrell is the new Phil Hartman.

10. Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Doesn't come close to any previous Wes Anderson movie, but even a so-so Wes Anderson movie is better than most anything else I saw this year.

And there you have it, at least for me. For other great year end round ups, I defer you to New York Times Mag's special The Lives They Lived with a really great remembrance of an old basketball could have been, there also great and gut wrenching photos of the tsunami disaster (via Kottke) and we can recall the heartache of the 2004 election. There's some Chicagoans we know that have posted there favorite music of 2004 over here and a 2004 Chicago restaurant roundup at Metromix (via Gaper's Block).

Of course you should be supporting Pat Magazine in 2005 and here's hoping that I finally get the goddamn Usher song out of my head.