Guess I felt like blogging again.
Meh.
Now, it's December and all, and any and every blogger worth their salt has been coming up with some plain kicktastic end of year lists of the best music and movies of the last 12 months. I don't feel justified in compiling such lists, because my taste in music ain't all that rad compared to some of you others, and while my taste in movies really is awesome, I haven't watched enough films that were actually released this year in order to merit a properly legit list of that kind. Instead, I am just going to put up a list of very random awesome stuff that made the awesome rounds in a most awesome fashion in 2008.
So.
BAP's Stuff That Was Awesome In 2008
(Wait- is it was awesome or were awesome? Stuff is plural, but you can't count stuff...and were just sounds wrong- oh it's Christmas. Screw grammar.)
1. Dengue fever
Now, see, dengue isn't awesome in any way. It's terrible. You're burning up all the time, everything you put in your mouth tastes like garbage (even water, which, as we all know, has no taste) you throw up roughly 2.75 times a day, you throw up even when there's nothing left in your gut to throw up, on account of you not eating because everything you put in your mouth tastes like garbage anyway. But despite all that, the dengue was awesome, because it added to my life experience, in a way. It was the first time in my life I was ever truly sick. It was the first time I had drips put in. It was the first time I had to stay in hospital. Ever. It was the first time I ever had people come visit me in hospital. It was the first time I had my freaking liver damaged. And because I was basically at the final stages of the illness by the time I was hospitalized, I was allowed to eat pasta and stuff from the Pizza Hut next door, which rawked. I don't get takeout in my own house. And I got to skip two days of school. So yeah. Having dengue fever was awesome, to a degree. Just so I can tell people about it and have them feel bad for me.
2. Sigur ros
Sigur ros is awesome all the time. They just never take any time off from their perpetual State of Awesomeness. Ever. And 2008 was no exception, as they released a brand new album, their fifth studio effort (or maybe it's the sixth, I've lost count) með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust ,which is made up of awesometastic proportions, and proved once and for all that this band is simply incapable of producing bad or unawesome music. They just cannot do it. I believe they were also on tour with Bjork at some point this year, and we all know that Bjork is awesome by default.
3. Doctor Who Series 3 Episode 10 : Blink
I have never watched any of the retro Who episodes, but of all the ones I have seen, Blink takes the cake and the icing and the everything. And there is only about 5 minutes of the Doctor himself in the entire 45 minute show, and even that is being generous. Blink is so awesome, I watched it four times. Blink is so awesome it gave me multiple chills, even on the fourth watch. Blink is so awesome it makes me wish I had written it myself. Blink is so awesome, I will never ever look at a statue or a sculpture in quite the same way again. Blink is so awesome it almost made me want to move to Hull and marry a farmhand. Blink is so awesome it made me go around picking random stuff up and wondering if they would be good enough to be utilized as my Timey-Wimey Detector (which goes DING when there's stuff and makes hens explode). Blink is so awesome it has provided me with enough one-liners to last the whole of 2009. Blink is so awesome I want to marry it and have its babies. However inappropriate it may be.
And I'll take Sally for the Doc's next companion, please!
4. Neil Gaiman
Much like Sigur ros (see item no.2) Neil Gaiman never takes a break from his own perpetual state of Awesomeness. Here is a sexy sexy man who writes sexy sexy stories (except the last few chapters of American Gods. I mean, dude, seriously?) and in 2008 the man did not disappoint with his newest offering, The Graveyard Book, a very simply and sincerely told story of a boy with no name who grows up in a graveyard. And that's all you need to know.
Oh and the fact that it is awesome goes without saying, of course.
5. Donnie Darko
Yeah, so I caught up with the Cult of Darko roughly 7 years too late, but as it is in the case of nearly all good things, better late than never. I realize I have been fangirling too much this year to be taken all that seriously, but I honestly believe Jake Gyllenhaal will never be as good as he was in this film, as Donnie. It was an all-encompassing performance, by turns chilling, disturbing, heart-wrenching and full of awesomeness in every scene. An angsty psychopathic pill-popping arsonist with a penchant for art and the ability to see six-foot tall bunny rabbits named Frank and is destined to save the world? I mean, where the heck are you going to get another role like that? Jake was so good in this, I wanted to crawl under the couch and bawl my eyes out. The soundtrack to this movie is so perfect, it hurrrrts. The story appears to make no sense whatsoever, but you know that it is Awesome, and Awesomeness of this breed takes a lot of time and thought to truly be appreciated.
6. Jake Gyllenhaal
I think, that maybe, just maybe, I may have said enough about this individual for the year. I'll zip it. Seriously.
7. Help! The Movie
I don't even want to talk about it, it's too awesomely ridiculous. Go. Go forth and watch, and Bust Thy Guts Laughing.
8. The Pelle Carlberg and Club 8 Gig
Which I attended with Grace and her buddy, Boon Ken, made all the more sweeter by the fact that I almost cancelled my plans to go. I've always intended to put up a proper concert review of sorts, and I am going to do that next month, on the anniversary of the gig. And Boon Ken, if you're reading this, I'm stealing your pictures.
9. English Literature Classes
Which were an absolute lifesaver after the boredom and mind-numbing monotony of school. Sure, I have to bust my ass to get all the way to town to attend (and once, it was pouring with rain,but I went anyway, even though I do have to walk part of the way), and it's quite tough to think all intellectually when you've just had your brain mushed in school and your eyes are burning and and you're dreaming about your dinner, but it's such a relief to be able to talk about books in a language I actually enjoy speaking and writing,with people I can stand to be around, and it's pretty much four hours a week of escapism, really. And I get do it again for another year. Bliss.
10. Novak Djokovic Winning The Australian Open
It was the first time I had really gotten into tennis, and stopped viewing it as a posh rich person's sport where all you do is watch a ball fly back and forth across a net for anywhere between 40 minutes or 5 hours ( sometimes you also get to look at pretty people, I've realized). And I had so much fun with this year's tournament. I even watched repeats. Imagine! Repeats. And when Novak won it felt almost like a personal victory. Of course, after that he turned all whiny and bratty and I'm not quite sure what to make of him anymore.
11. Heath Ledger's Joker
I realize that practically every other blog on the planet is raving about the man, especially now that it's awards season and all, but really, what's not to rave? The dude's portrayal of The Joker was a full on CAPS LOCK AWESOME. I was trying to make up my mind about whether or not he deserves all the plaudits that are being heaped upon him, and wondering if he would have had the same admiring reaction if he were still alive today. And I guess he truly does.Deserve it , I mean. I've always maintained that it was a sort of a blessing that he passed when he did, or he would have been spending the rest of his existence trying to live up to The Joker. Or maybe not, we'll never know now. The man is nothing more than a stranger to me, however connected I may have felt to any of the characters he played onscreen, yet his passing did affect me in a way I'm still having trouble explaining. I mean, the very first song that played on my mp3 player the morning I found out about his death has now become The Heath Song, never to be deleted from the computer, ever (well, the virus messed with that, you know. But still. The BAP has backup files). So yes. Heath Ledger's Joker shall eternally be the epitome of Awesome, the level of Awesome to which all other actors will aspire to and probably never reach. And that's for the best, I suppose.
Oh and just so that we never forget how pretty Heath was:
There. The Joker was AWESOME but that makeup sure didn't do him any favours.
12. Pushing Daisies
Best thingamajibby on the television all year. And now my brother tells me it's being cancelled. Sinful, I tell you. Where else am I going to satisfy my pie needs? And my Ned needs? And my quirky humour needs? And my Kristin Chenowyth needs? And my Ned/Chuck/SQUEE! needs?
13. Radiohead
Yet another group of individuals who are incapable of ever not being Awesome (and Barb, I say that to make you happy). I believe In Rainbows was released last October, but who cares, really. It is packed full of awesome Awesomeness from start to finish, so it doesn't really matter at all what year it was released.
I shall now let the Awesome speak (sing?) for itself.
14. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
The book was a sort of reward to myself for snagging a bunch of As for My Very Important Exams, and it even kept me company during my dengue-afflicted days. It is AWESOME in many ways, my favourite Awesome part being of course Alex's very garbled, very exaggerated and very ridiculous narration of the "Very Rigid Journey". I suppose it's best if you start off reading without knowing a thing about the plot other than the fact that it is Awesome, and also more than a little bit sad. And if you get the chance, do watch the movie adaptation as well. It stars Elijah Wood and that moustachioed freak from Gogol Bordello (who actually does a fantastic job) and boasts a gorgeous soundtrack to boot.
15. James Franco
He's had a pretty awesome year, first with Pineapple Express, Milk, hosting Saturday Night Live, the Golden Globe nomination, and the Acting With James Franco tutorial videos.
The general consensus is that these videos are pretty funny, but I wouldn't know. See, my computer doesn't have any speakers. I know. Not awesome at all. And my lip-reading skills aren't that rad either, so you people will have to watch it and tell me how funny it really is, if at all. All I can attest to is that Franco's younger brother isn't all that bad-looking himself.
For years, I've regarded him as the Very Pretty but Somewhat Mediocre actor from the Spiderman flicks, but then he starts getting good. I mean, like, really good. I mean, like, PHWOAR the boy can ACT! moments of epiphany. Also other moments, like, PHWOAR the boy is PRETTEH! type of realizations. And then you discover less superficial things about him, like he paints, and writes poetry, and reads James Joyce and Doestoevsky on set, and is currently pursuing two masters at the same time at two different universities, and is taking like, I don't know, 62 subjects and scoring all As like nobody's business. I can't remember ever wanting to shag a guy for the sake of his pure brainpower alone this much before (well okay it helps that he's hot). But he has come perilously close to replacing Jake. Not to mention that he is also responsible for what is probably the year's Awesomest interview. And I do indeed look forward to see how his career goes off from here. In the meantime, feel free to talk nerdy to me, Franco.
16. The Many Hours Spent With Grace Who Never Updates
Yes, Grace, I had to put this in. I've had a pretty miserable year all things considered, and all those weekends we spent eating food that wasn't very good for us, spending money we didn't really have, watching movies that probably weren't worth the ticket prices, talking superficial talk, peppered with varying doses of hormonally-charged fangirling while being stared at all the time by other people, those times were utter lifesavers. In fact, they were probably what kept me sane in the year of 2008. So props to you, because you rawkz, and here's to another year of more of the same stuff, dude.
Cheers, and Merry Blogmas to you all, peasants.
Meh.
Now, it's December and all, and any and every blogger worth their salt has been coming up with some plain kicktastic end of year lists of the best music and movies of the last 12 months. I don't feel justified in compiling such lists, because my taste in music ain't all that rad compared to some of you others, and while my taste in movies really is awesome, I haven't watched enough films that were actually released this year in order to merit a properly legit list of that kind. Instead, I am just going to put up a list of very random awesome stuff that made the awesome rounds in a most awesome fashion in 2008.
So.
BAP's Stuff That Was Awesome In 2008
(Wait- is it was awesome or were awesome? Stuff is plural, but you can't count stuff...and were just sounds wrong- oh it's Christmas. Screw grammar.)
1. Dengue fever
Now, see, dengue isn't awesome in any way. It's terrible. You're burning up all the time, everything you put in your mouth tastes like garbage (even water, which, as we all know, has no taste) you throw up roughly 2.75 times a day, you throw up even when there's nothing left in your gut to throw up, on account of you not eating because everything you put in your mouth tastes like garbage anyway. But despite all that, the dengue was awesome, because it added to my life experience, in a way. It was the first time in my life I was ever truly sick. It was the first time I had drips put in. It was the first time I had to stay in hospital. Ever. It was the first time I ever had people come visit me in hospital. It was the first time I had my freaking liver damaged. And because I was basically at the final stages of the illness by the time I was hospitalized, I was allowed to eat pasta and stuff from the Pizza Hut next door, which rawked. I don't get takeout in my own house. And I got to skip two days of school. So yeah. Having dengue fever was awesome, to a degree. Just so I can tell people about it and have them feel bad for me.
2. Sigur ros
Sigur ros is awesome all the time. They just never take any time off from their perpetual State of Awesomeness. Ever. And 2008 was no exception, as they released a brand new album, their fifth studio effort (or maybe it's the sixth, I've lost count) með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust ,which is made up of awesometastic proportions, and proved once and for all that this band is simply incapable of producing bad or unawesome music. They just cannot do it. I believe they were also on tour with Bjork at some point this year, and we all know that Bjork is awesome by default.
3. Doctor Who Series 3 Episode 10 : Blink
I have never watched any of the retro Who episodes, but of all the ones I have seen, Blink takes the cake and the icing and the everything. And there is only about 5 minutes of the Doctor himself in the entire 45 minute show, and even that is being generous. Blink is so awesome, I watched it four times. Blink is so awesome it gave me multiple chills, even on the fourth watch. Blink is so awesome it makes me wish I had written it myself. Blink is so awesome, I will never ever look at a statue or a sculpture in quite the same way again. Blink is so awesome it almost made me want to move to Hull and marry a farmhand. Blink is so awesome it made me go around picking random stuff up and wondering if they would be good enough to be utilized as my Timey-Wimey Detector (which goes DING when there's stuff and makes hens explode). Blink is so awesome it has provided me with enough one-liners to last the whole of 2009. Blink is so awesome I want to marry it and have its babies. However inappropriate it may be.
And I'll take Sally for the Doc's next companion, please!
4. Neil Gaiman
Much like Sigur ros (see item no.2) Neil Gaiman never takes a break from his own perpetual state of Awesomeness. Here is a sexy sexy man who writes sexy sexy stories (except the last few chapters of American Gods. I mean, dude, seriously?) and in 2008 the man did not disappoint with his newest offering, The Graveyard Book, a very simply and sincerely told story of a boy with no name who grows up in a graveyard. And that's all you need to know.
Oh and the fact that it is awesome goes without saying, of course.
5. Donnie Darko
Yeah, so I caught up with the Cult of Darko roughly 7 years too late, but as it is in the case of nearly all good things, better late than never. I realize I have been fangirling too much this year to be taken all that seriously, but I honestly believe Jake Gyllenhaal will never be as good as he was in this film, as Donnie. It was an all-encompassing performance, by turns chilling, disturbing, heart-wrenching and full of awesomeness in every scene. An angsty psychopathic pill-popping arsonist with a penchant for art and the ability to see six-foot tall bunny rabbits named Frank and is destined to save the world? I mean, where the heck are you going to get another role like that? Jake was so good in this, I wanted to crawl under the couch and bawl my eyes out. The soundtrack to this movie is so perfect, it hurrrrts. The story appears to make no sense whatsoever, but you know that it is Awesome, and Awesomeness of this breed takes a lot of time and thought to truly be appreciated.
6. Jake Gyllenhaal
I think, that maybe, just maybe, I may have said enough about this individual for the year. I'll zip it. Seriously.
7. Help! The Movie
I don't even want to talk about it, it's too awesomely ridiculous. Go. Go forth and watch, and Bust Thy Guts Laughing.
8. The Pelle Carlberg and Club 8 Gig
Which I attended with Grace and her buddy, Boon Ken, made all the more sweeter by the fact that I almost cancelled my plans to go. I've always intended to put up a proper concert review of sorts, and I am going to do that next month, on the anniversary of the gig. And Boon Ken, if you're reading this, I'm stealing your pictures.
9. English Literature Classes
Which were an absolute lifesaver after the boredom and mind-numbing monotony of school. Sure, I have to bust my ass to get all the way to town to attend (and once, it was pouring with rain,but I went anyway, even though I do have to walk part of the way), and it's quite tough to think all intellectually when you've just had your brain mushed in school and your eyes are burning and and you're dreaming about your dinner, but it's such a relief to be able to talk about books in a language I actually enjoy speaking and writing,with people I can stand to be around, and it's pretty much four hours a week of escapism, really. And I get do it again for another year. Bliss.
10. Novak Djokovic Winning The Australian Open
It was the first time I had really gotten into tennis, and stopped viewing it as a posh rich person's sport where all you do is watch a ball fly back and forth across a net for anywhere between 40 minutes or 5 hours ( sometimes you also get to look at pretty people, I've realized). And I had so much fun with this year's tournament. I even watched repeats. Imagine! Repeats. And when Novak won it felt almost like a personal victory. Of course, after that he turned all whiny and bratty and I'm not quite sure what to make of him anymore.
11. Heath Ledger's Joker
I realize that practically every other blog on the planet is raving about the man, especially now that it's awards season and all, but really, what's not to rave? The dude's portrayal of The Joker was a full on CAPS LOCK AWESOME. I was trying to make up my mind about whether or not he deserves all the plaudits that are being heaped upon him, and wondering if he would have had the same admiring reaction if he were still alive today. And I guess he truly does.Deserve it , I mean. I've always maintained that it was a sort of a blessing that he passed when he did, or he would have been spending the rest of his existence trying to live up to The Joker. Or maybe not, we'll never know now. The man is nothing more than a stranger to me, however connected I may have felt to any of the characters he played onscreen, yet his passing did affect me in a way I'm still having trouble explaining. I mean, the very first song that played on my mp3 player the morning I found out about his death has now become The Heath Song, never to be deleted from the computer, ever (well, the virus messed with that, you know. But still. The BAP has backup files). So yes. Heath Ledger's Joker shall eternally be the epitome of Awesome, the level of Awesome to which all other actors will aspire to and probably never reach. And that's for the best, I suppose.
Oh and just so that we never forget how pretty Heath was:
There. The Joker was AWESOME but that makeup sure didn't do him any favours.
12. Pushing Daisies
Best thingamajibby on the television all year. And now my brother tells me it's being cancelled. Sinful, I tell you. Where else am I going to satisfy my pie needs? And my Ned needs? And my quirky humour needs? And my Kristin Chenowyth needs? And my Ned/Chuck/SQUEE! needs?
13. Radiohead
Yet another group of individuals who are incapable of ever not being Awesome (and Barb, I say that to make you happy). I believe In Rainbows was released last October, but who cares, really. It is packed full of awesome Awesomeness from start to finish, so it doesn't really matter at all what year it was released.
I shall now let the Awesome speak (sing?) for itself.
14. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
The book was a sort of reward to myself for snagging a bunch of As for My Very Important Exams, and it even kept me company during my dengue-afflicted days. It is AWESOME in many ways, my favourite Awesome part being of course Alex's very garbled, very exaggerated and very ridiculous narration of the "Very Rigid Journey". I suppose it's best if you start off reading without knowing a thing about the plot other than the fact that it is Awesome, and also more than a little bit sad. And if you get the chance, do watch the movie adaptation as well. It stars Elijah Wood and that moustachioed freak from Gogol Bordello (who actually does a fantastic job) and boasts a gorgeous soundtrack to boot.
15. James Franco
He's had a pretty awesome year, first with Pineapple Express, Milk, hosting Saturday Night Live, the Golden Globe nomination, and the Acting With James Franco tutorial videos.
The general consensus is that these videos are pretty funny, but I wouldn't know. See, my computer doesn't have any speakers. I know. Not awesome at all. And my lip-reading skills aren't that rad either, so you people will have to watch it and tell me how funny it really is, if at all. All I can attest to is that Franco's younger brother isn't all that bad-looking himself.
For years, I've regarded him as the Very Pretty but Somewhat Mediocre actor from the Spiderman flicks, but then he starts getting good. I mean, like, really good. I mean, like, PHWOAR the boy can ACT! moments of epiphany. Also other moments, like, PHWOAR the boy is PRETTEH! type of realizations. And then you discover less superficial things about him, like he paints, and writes poetry, and reads James Joyce and Doestoevsky on set, and is currently pursuing two masters at the same time at two different universities, and is taking like, I don't know, 62 subjects and scoring all As like nobody's business. I can't remember ever wanting to shag a guy for the sake of his pure brainpower alone this much before (well okay it helps that he's hot). But he has come perilously close to replacing Jake. Not to mention that he is also responsible for what is probably the year's Awesomest interview. And I do indeed look forward to see how his career goes off from here. In the meantime, feel free to talk nerdy to me, Franco.
16. The Many Hours Spent With Grace Who Never Updates
Yes, Grace, I had to put this in. I've had a pretty miserable year all things considered, and all those weekends we spent eating food that wasn't very good for us, spending money we didn't really have, watching movies that probably weren't worth the ticket prices, talking superficial talk, peppered with varying doses of hormonally-charged fangirling while being stared at all the time by other people, those times were utter lifesavers. In fact, they were probably what kept me sane in the year of 2008. So props to you, because you rawkz, and here's to another year of more of the same stuff, dude.
Cheers, and Merry Blogmas to you all, peasants.
