Around this time every year publications begin to publish their "Best of $CURRENTYEAR" lists, each jostling for position as the definitive list of its kind. I have already started to see a few such lists out on the blogosphere, and I am sure that the coming week will bring more. Being more than slightly behind the times when it comes to books, music, and film, I have never been able to make such lists. Instead, the following are Great Things that I read, saw or listened to in 2006, presented without order and only minimal classification. Some were products of this year, some products of the past few years, some much older than that.

Movies

Slither - If you happen to be a fan of silly, funny, gory horror movies, then finding Slither is like finding some kind of Nirvana.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - As I recently told an old friend via email, if you have a low tolerance for gross, disgusting, and offensive things then Borat will likely be the worst movie you have ever seen. If you have a high tolerance for such things, then Borat might be the funniest thing you have ever seen.

Lost in La Mancha - Lost in La Mancha started out as one of those short documentaries that are normally packaged on the second disc of special edition DVD's, a behind the scenes look at Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Instead the filmmakers watched and shot as the film turned into one of the most expensive disasters in cinematic history. Especially fascinating if you are a fan of Terry Gilliam's work. And since he is the man who directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail *and* Twelve Monkeys, what right thinking person would not be a fan of his?

A History of Violence

Books

The Pearl by John Steinbeck - No, I never had to read this in school, unlike a lot of other people it seems.

Watership Down by Richard Adams - Same as above. A great novel that lived up to and exceeded my expectations. No small feat, given the amount of hype I had been exposed to.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby - Painful reading if you are a single, working-class male in his early thirties, but worth every introspective stab.

Music

Rolled Gold by The Action - A collection of demos by the mid-to-late 60's mod rockers that remained unreleased until the early 2000's. A raw, stripped down, beautiful, jangly, soulful album that sounds perfectly true to the period while simultaneously feeling fresh.



Love Is All

Brain



Illinois by Sufjan Stevens - Jaw dropping-ly beautiful. Courageous and personal on both the musical and lyrical levels.



Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois

Chicago



Black Holes and Revelations by Muse - Yes, it's bombastic and over the top, and, no, I don't care. I mean, come on... Radiohead meets techno-emo meets Queen?! I'm there.



Take a Bow
Map of the Problematique



Kicking Television:Live in Chicago by Wilco - Just as I am with Sufjan Stevens, I am arriving at the Wilco party somewhat late. I bought 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot last November and seemingly listened to it on repeat for a few months after that. Some months later I bought A Ghost Is Born and Kicking Television, but have found myself listening to the live versions of the Ghost songs on Kicking Television rather that listening to the studio versions. Since I got into them too late to make it to the show they played at the Alabama Theatre last year, the live show recorded here will have to satisfy me until such a time as they decide to pass this way again.



Misunderstood
At Least That's What You Said

Television [on DVD via Netflix]

Battlestar Galactica - It has been said so many times, in publications like TIME, Rolling Stone, and the Chicago Tribune, that BSG is one of the the best shows on television right now that it seems redundant to say it again, but I will. BSG is easily the best sci-fi t.v. show I have ever watched and is becoming one of my favorite shows of all time.
24 - Seasons One, Two, and Three - I think the best compliment I can pay 24 is to say that the best reason to watch season one is so that you can watch season two. And the best reason to watch season two is so that you can watch season three. It's rare to find a show based upon a gimmicky premise that manages to not wear out it's welcome or overuse it's gimmick, even over the course of several seasons. Season four is already shaping up to be great as well, and I can only hope that season five and the upcoming season six hold onto the quality of the first three.

Videos

Mythbusters - Do Pretty Girls Pass Gas?

travel

Daily Show - God Stuff - Children's Evangelist Pirate

Stevie Ray Vaughn plays a rockin' cover of "Superstition"

Amateur - Lasse Gjertsen

John Coltrane Quartet - Afro Blue - Live on TV