My 2008 in neat little categories

My annual post...

Books

I had a terrible year for reading. I don't know why but I had a long period where I thought I would never enjoy a book ever again. The start of the year was great: Lies of Locke Lamora and American Gods were fantastic. But my favourite book of the year is Keeper's Child. It gets the prize simply because I was thinking about it long after I finished the book. It was also written in a style I don't often find in books and the freshness appealed to me a lot. Plus no other book this year had me as emotionally involved (well... actually Locke Lamora comes equal to it in that). I think I also read and highly enjoyed To Say Nothing of the Dog this year. But then came about seven months of not finding a single book enjoyable (I feel tempted to blame the AA reread for that since everything pales to that book with the exception of AQ...). Now I am actually into two books (The Last Watch and Nation which are both superb but I haven't finished them yet. Actually Nation reminds me a bit of Keeper's Child).

Update: I finished Nation in 2008 and adored it. Fantastic book. It felt like a new (dark) style for Sir Terry but retained his some of his humour

Television

Battlestar Galactica usually fills this position as my favourite show of the year but this season (4) has not captured my enthusiasm in the same way as it used to. The rewatches with skit have been fun though. Talk of disappointing seasons, Dexter season 3 wasn't a patch on the previous two seasons. However, as I watched it on iTunes, I saw Dexter season 2 in 2008 (broadcast on Showtime in 2007) and it really did amaze me. It had the same affect on me as Angel and indeed Assassin's Quest. It made my life brilliant by its mere presence. I was getting by with less sleep and I couldn't stop the feeling of happiness from engulfing me. The guests were perfect: Lundy and Lila. The twists and turns of the story were powerful and the pacing perfect. Dexter's transformation over the course of the episodes was quite phenomenal (indeed, he arced well in season 3 as well) and I have fallen in love with the character so badly.



Mentions should also go to Doctor Who which had a great series with Donna Noble as the companion (except for the final three episodes which I find quite forgettable...) and Torchwood which successfully lightened the mood in its second series making the characters more likable and the dynamic more effective... and hence making me realise that actually the dark and despairing tone of the first series was quite superior and under-rated. The problem with Torchwood was though that only two of the cast could act well and the lead was actually abysmal...



Finally, although my personal vote goes to Dexter, I think that the most perfect shows were Mad Men (second season) which is a work of art with its beautiful sets, directing and cleverly nuanced dialogue plus the highly original and subtly drawn characters, and Lost which, as a result of the writer's strike, produced a condensed season 4 absolutely full of action, answers, scifi and epic love.



Films

I've not really watched many films this year. I saw superhero films only essentially: Iron Man, Dark Knight, Indiana Jones 4 and Wanted. I think Iron Man was my favourite and Dark Knight the best... but honestly, I was not overly inspired by any of them. I watched Atonement on a flight and thought that pretty good for something without big action sequences...



Personal Event

It is always Hobbling related, isn't it? Well, this year I went to Olympic National Park in the state of Washington with our very own Mr Cooper who put me up and put up with me for a longish weekend. It was fantastic. I love the states and I love their National Parks and this one has to be the best... Forest, rainforest, beach and the most amazing snow covered mountains ever... I will never get over how quiet it was up there (and yet how much you could hear from far away...). Absolutely amazing. And the other parts to the trip were great too. Mr Cooper never talks about Carolyn enough who is a truly amazing person. And the community of his town is wonderfully nuts...



I also saw Rian again on that trip (always a great pleasure) and I returned to Silicon Valley to reunite with friends there. Such a fantastic time. I really miss everyone...


Theatre

So this year I saw a few things of note including Speed The Plow with Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Spacey, Revenger's Tragedy with loud music, lots of blood and a rotating stage full of darkness and er... rape, Hamlet starring the Doctor and Captain Picard and also various things at Edinburgh. The best thing I saw was one of those things at Edinburgh: Ben Moor's Not Everything Is Significant. The wordplay, density of ideas and metaphysical and metaphorical story just inspired and amazed me. Pre-order the book now! Speaking of Edinburgh, it was great to finally make it to Scotland and see the beauty of the highlands as well as attend the fringe festival which has been an ambition of mine since I realised what comedy was.