the Mol semi-year in review

well, not really, but i figured if everyone else is, why can't i? i just checked and it looks as though i didn't do this last year so i guess i'm overdue, but i'm not going to bother with 2006. read the past entries if you want some sort of sense of 2006.

but that's now 2 years ago. so, 2007. what can i say about it other than 'eh'. sure there were some high points, no real major low points so i guess all in all, it was an ok year. so a few quick highlights and we'll see where this goes.

molius musical find of the 2007: Porcupine Tree PT is one of those bands that somehow i managed to completely miss and boy did i miss them. they fall into that 'prog' category, but i'd consider it more an evolving prog than anything. if you listen to the early stuff, it bears little resemblance to what their sound is currently. very few bands are able to continually evolve these days and PT is one of the few. live they put on one hell of a show and i'm frustrated that i fell into them late, or i would have tried to see them this year. thank goodness to the tapers who have shared their recordings of the current tours. to each of them, i tip my hat and give a very hearty thanks. (past winners: 2006 - Tom Waits, 2005 - The Residents)

runner up: Battles

molius album of 2007: Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet. pure and simple, this album is the one that when i needed something to listen to, i would listen to. didn't matter what my mood was or if i didn't know what i wanted to listen to, this one fell into my CD player and if you don't have it, i'd strongly suggest picking up a copy.

runner up: Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

molius reunion of 2007: Led Zeppelin. there were a few this year, but none of them made a splash like the return of Led Zeppelin on December 10, 2007 at the O2 Arena in London. 2 hours and 12 minutes of what for myself (and Zep fans around the world) had been waiting for since Bonzo died. the setlist that they played was solid (including the first full performances of Good Times, Bad Times & Ramble On and first ever of For Your Life) and covered many of the 'hits'. for me In My Time of Dying was blues brutality at its best (pure dirty sleezy blues). Kashmir was crushing with its new strings. it certainly wasn't the best ever performance by Led Zeppelin, (Montreux 8/7/71, Seattle 6/19/72, San Francisco 4/26/69 are all very high on my list) but emotionally, it was one of the most powerful shows by the band ever. Jason did his father very proud. and it may be possible that they get this honor two years in a row - it's looking as though they may tour.

runner up: uh...no one qualifies.

molius movie of 2007: No Country for Old Men. i actually managed to see more movies in the theater in 2007 than i have in a long time, but while some were good, none of them ultimately entertained (and amused) me the way No Country did. it's a movie that moves at its own pace (rather than hurry hurry hurry hurry) and is just so twisted that i couldn't help but really enjoy it. it's just one of those movies that you just have to see (prolly more than once) and then you'll start to understand why i like it so much. when a movie makes me smile just thinking about it, you have to know i liked it. and this one makes me smile. so to the Coen Brothers - thanks for making the movie. it's a wonderful (and bloody) headtrip that just makes me smile every time i think about it.

runner up: i really don't know. outside of No Country, for what i saw in the theaters, there really isn't a single movie that would qualify. sure i enjoyed most of what i saw in the theaters, but nothing really jumps out at me. Simpsons, Bourne are the better movies i thought. Spidey 3 was disapointing. Beowulf was visually interesting, but the story was lacking. I Am Legend suffered from my (and M) reading the original story so the entire time we were both thinking 'that wasn't in the original story' or 'that's a change' which i felt detracted from the movie.

molius (over)hype of the year: Apple iphone what an over-rated pretentious piece of hardware.

molius disapointment of the year: christmas holiday season: i'm not really one to care about the holidays, but that thing in the back of my mind that does like it found that this year was the most non-festive holiday season ever. while i really don't care for the holiday season and feel that it's a waste of time and money, i do appreciate (how ever much it makes me sick) the decorations and music that goes along with it. but for political correctness reasons, this year's holiday season was AWFUL. minimal decoration and whenever i went shopping, there was this lack of holiday spirit in the air which was frustrating. this overly political correctness shit that we are now being sucked into blows.

runner up: writers strike. this is directly affecting my television and movie viewing and i don't like it. i understand to some degree what the problem is, but all the strike is doing is allowing the bulk of reality tv to take over. the one upside that i can see (and saw in some article) is that the whole notion of the fall season will go away and shows will move to the more cable minded 'when new seasons are ready, air them' rather than wait for the traditional september/may seasons. i think that the networks would be able to get more of my attention if they did that rather than have everything airing at the same time. i like both Bones and NCIS, but at 8pm on Tuesday, it sucks and i have to pick which i watch and which i tivo. but if i have the choice of a new Bones or a repeat NCIS at 8pm on Tuesday, which do you think i'll watch?

i guess those are my big things for this years list. i didn't read as many books as i would have liked, plus the bulk of what i like to read has been out for some time so i can't offer my book of the year. no real song of the year. didn't goto any concerts so can't add that (tho i spose bootlegs could count)

a pair of enjoyable vacations (Vegas in April, Brussels/Brugge/Cologne in September) certainly qualify as highlights. tons of pictures from each and plenty of memories. need to plan where the next one will be. Hong Kong sounds nice...

well, i'm pretty much out of thoughts at this point. i hate my car. i hate snow. i need more time to listen to music and read. but what else is new? other than 2008. i wonder what will happen in 2008. other than a fucking abysmal presidential election.

to my small circle of friends: thank you. thank you for your friendship. thank you for your support. and you need only to ask.

happy 2008.

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random bits

well, the move is complete. that's not to say that everything is as it should be in the new office, but for the moment at least things are quiet. i considered going to the new office today, but opted out which was a mixed blessing. i hate being dragged into other projects that have the cart being drawn before the horse. what a fucking mess that is turning into.

finally got around to seeing Saw IV in the theater last night. i thought it was ok, nothing great or special, just ok. i didn't think that it was bad, but i liked how the first 3 played out and this one had the feeling of trying to fit into them, but didn't quite make it. it certainly had a few moments, but all in all it was just ok. i've always been a fan of the series, but now i'm wondering if there wasn't a bit of shark jumping with this one.

M stopped by last night and startled me a little - i was debating what i wanted to watch on dvd tonight and she opened my door. it didn't help that i was listening to music and completely missed her call so it wasn't until i saw my door opening out of the corner of my eye that i realized what was going on. i rather enjoy being lost in my world of music, and i suppose that's my achilles heel - once i tune in, i tune out the world around me.

while she was here it dawned on my that as of 11/8/07, i am by definition debt free. there will always be bills, but i no longer have any loans hanging over my head as my final student loan payment has come and gone. it was so very nice to see this when i logged in to check on it:

Loan Balances
You do not currently have any active or fully disbursed loans on our system.

it took a few moments for that to sink in, but it's really nice to think that the chunk of change i've been sinking into paying that off now sinks into my bank account. i'll try and enjoy this while i can, but at the same time i also know that i have a new car coming in the coming months (i'm finally fed up with my explorer - i don't want it anymore but will suffer thru the winter to save down payment money to help minimize that loan) and of course once the house hunting starts up again, that's going to put me in debt for pretty much the rest of my life. so i'll have to enjoy it while i can.

weather has turned brisk around here which i suppose is expected for this time of the year. and it looks like the trees around the house which had their leaves up until very recently have finally dropped most of them. it's been odd to see just how many leaves haven't fallen yet, of course they are shades of brown, so it's not as nice as leaf peepers would like. tho i do have to chuckle at a sermon the assistant priest in high school gave about how he enjoyed fall and the fall colors, but how one year in school it was explained why the leaves change color - the are dying and when dying they go from green to the bright vivid colors, etc. anyways, he had a hard time dealing with that as he couldn't figure out why if they were dying were they so vividly colored. eventually it clicked that it wasn't a bad thing as in the spring there was a rebirth and life would return, etc.

i always found it amusing as i guess i never looked at leaves that way. sure i knew why they changed colors, but i never gave it much thought other than to wonder why they'd change to the color they did (yellow, orange, red, etc). he certainly got over it, but it was some time before he shook that memory, eventually relating it to whatever bible story was the subject of that sunday sermon (most likely rebirth or something along those lines). but i guess it's since stuck with me - i still smile a bit when i think about it. anyways, moving on.

Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet is a current front runner for the Molius Album of the Year award (sounds fancy). if you haven't heard it, it's well worth plunking your hard earned money down for.

and on that note, i'll wrap this up.

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