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An End Of Year List (kinda)

 
 
 

 

 
 

Good God, they don’t make words strong enough for how far behind I am. I mean, Jesus H. Fuck, I’m backlogged. I’ve got a gazillion CDs lying around the place, most of them having sat idly in the ‘to be reviewed’ stack for 6 months or more, with very few of them actually having been reviewed. And now I look up and the calendar spits December 30 out at me with as much venom as an inanimate object can muster. Good Lord, what is a poor Minion to do?

Okay, so here’s my plan. I’m going to combine a few tasks together here and try to hack my way free of this jungle. Specifically, I’m going to go through all of these damnable CDs. (Is there a 12-step program for compulsive CD buyers?) I’m going to sort them out into piles by Number of Sponges, then I’m going to list them for y’all, starting with the lowest sponge collectors and moving through to them what seem to me to be worthy of the high praises. If the disc in question has been reviewed already, I’ll try to point you to it. If it hasn’t, I’ll point out some of the ups and downs in a mini-review as we go.

And yes, I do in fact get this damnable accent every time I go south to visit the parents.

So, here we go. Beginning with the crap… (You might want to re-read the rating system.)

 
         
 
Two Sponges:
  Drugs Sex and Discotheques by The Prima Donnas  
         
 
Four Sponges:
  Brushfire Fairytales by Jack Johnson
The Reputation by The Reputation
Odds And Mods by The Small Faces
 
 
     
 
Five Sponges:
  England Half-English by Billy Bragg and The Blokes
      I actually wrote a full review of this one. However, upon further consideration (and having reviewed the rating system for the first time in over a year), I think it deserves a bump up to five sponges. But I’m not appalled at having given it four.
Reservoir Song by Crooked Fingers
Demolition by Ryan Adams
 
         
 
Six Sponges:
  Burn and Shiver by Azure Ray
Amore Del Tropico by The Black Heart Procession
Folklore by 16 Horsepower
Blacklisted by Neko Case
The Instigator by Rhett Miller
OK Go by OK Go
In Streams by Centaur
Wiretap Scars by Sparta
 
         
 
Seven Sponges:
  Source Tags and Codes by …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
Listen Hard by Melissa Ferrick
For the Birds by The Frames
Day of the Ray by The DeathRay Davies
On by Imperial Teen
Left and Leaving by The Weakerthans
Situationist Comedy by The Dillinger Four (review to follow)
 
         
 
Concerts:
  And how about concerts, you say? My top five live shows… (In chronological order)

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young at Phillips Arena on 17.Apr.02
THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS w/ The Frames
THE WEAKERTHANS
Billy Bragg and Ian McLagan at The Roxy Theatre on 24.Oct.02
THE ROCK*A*TEENS w/ The 45s at The Echo Lounge on 31.Dec.02

God bless Alex and the Echo…

 
         
 
Films:
  Movies? Okay. The big pictures I remember seeing. (Note: I am not a film snob.)

Spiderman (Not especially good, but memorable.)
Minority Report (I really liked this movie.)
Donnie Darko (On video, but probably the coolest thing I watched all year)
The Sum of All Fears (I like Morgan Freeman.)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Orc blood!)

I was terribly disappointed by Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, for the record.

 
         
 
TV:
  Okay, I can do TV, sort of:

Monk -- USA
Stargate SG1 -- Monday nights all night, Sci-Fi (I’m a geek, see).
Buffy The Vampire Slayer -- UPN (I am a big fan).
Smallville -- WB
John Doe -- Fox

But by far the best thing on television last year, far and away the best show any network has carried in the last 10 years or so, and which has since been cancelled after 8 episodes because network executives are FUCKING MORONS…

Firefly, Fox (hopefully soon to be picked up by another network)

For info on this great show, see:

HTTP://www.fox.com/firefly/
HTTP://www.fireflysupport.com/

 
         
 
Related Links:
  Return to the End Of Year Lists menu.
Read Malimus' lists from 2000.
Read Malimus' lists from 2001.
 
         

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