Tim's Top 5:
I was going to say films to win best picture, but since I'm quite certain I'm the only person on here who can tell you definitively how much worse The English Patient was than Cimarron...I figured I'd keep it current.
(For convenience sake, at the end, I've included all the films that fall into the category. For the record, I've not seen Babel nor Atonement. This completes the list of movies I haven't seen on said list. I suspect both might crack my top 5 list)
1) The Hours - This movie reads like a lifetime original motion picture. Nicole Kidman got an Oscar for being ugly in the same way Bill Murray almost came away with an Oscar for not being funny (see #2), and a movie that's supposed to be about women comes off as being one of the most chauvinistic films in decades. Women get by because of their gay friends with AIDS (Ed Harris in a truly punishing performance), or they don't get by at all. Meryl Streep comes off as an awful stereotype of the independent woman who is, as I wrote in my initial review "perpetually smug"...aw, hell, I have to quote me here "[Streep] occupies the screen like she's paying rent there, and emotes her way through an agonizing, yet critically-acclaimed performance." But since Streep is the focal point of the movie, there's little else to say. It's a dreadful assemblage of thin characters and obvious motifs.
2) Lost In Translation - Sofia Coppola has made three films, two of which I've had the misfortune of seeing. But while The Virgin Suicides suffered from a creepy narrator and not much of a story, Lost In Translation suffers from the fact that no one bothered to check whether the movie was finished before releasing it. You watch Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray, they do things, they develop a bit of a relationship, and then the oh so touching ending THAT NO ONE WROTE. If you invite me to pay $10 for a movie, the least you can do is actually have a beginning, a middle, and an end -- not just make the entire movie hinge on words that no one hears. I love this -- someone trying to defend the movie on the IMDb said "pointless, plotless, and boring?" to try and defeat a straw man. But actually, they summarized it pretty beautifully -- I'll strike the question mark and this movie finally has an ending.
3) The Green Mile - Few movies have the gall to be so openly manipulative as The Green Mile, which is a woeful failure in all the ways The Shawshank Redemption was successful. Tom Hanks tries to play a bladder infection for laughs and fails, the Christian allegory is horrifically transparent, the movie is three hours long, and it manages to make every character unlikeable. Then throw in some heavy-handed Hollywood nostalgia. Also, if possible, try to make the movie completely anachronistic in geography and time period. Hey, you did it. Thanks.
4) No Country For Old Men - Few movies have left me feeling so angry. I walked out of there pretty much holding my head with anguish at what had just been declared a massively successful film achievement. While The Departed was a profound disappointment that amounted to little more than a bloodbath, there was a point...sort of. Nearly everyone's dead, you get to watch a lot of gruesome deaths, the sound is horrifying (I'll give them props, they were robbed at the Oscars, listening to this movie made me ill), and Bardem is pretty good at playing the remorseless psychotic with no purpose in killing, but it still adds up to a movie that leaves you pretty much where you started or worse. Fatalism and nihilism doesn't make for good filmmaking unless there's some sort of devolution throughout the film.
5) A Beautiful Mind - So how do you make a terrible biopic? Well, cast someone really unsuitable for a role -- wiry mathematician...enter Russell Crowe. Wipe their life story of anything the least bit controversial -- take that communist tendencies and homosexuality. Throw in a love interest that's not believable -- Jennifer Connelly with mathematician...check. Now add things that are utterly preposterous (like a mythical roommate) and change everything about the story to make it more Hollywood. Shudder. This is fish-in-a-barrel drama, but it's still executed as badly as Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile.
Honorable mention: Finding Neverland - Enough with the Johnny Depp blowing, film critics, it's been a while since he's made a good movie; The Sixth Sense - when you've got a one-bit premise, try not to make it totally obvious. Unbreakable was infinitely better; Chocolat - a film that was so painfully American in attempting to be French or Italian. Harvey Weinstein definitely engaged in sexual favors for it to be nominated; Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - what happens, exactly? I'm not a fan of LotR, so I could go on, but all others like opaque cinema where you can actually see Peter Jackson making decisions with extreme close-ups, slow motion, soft focus, and everything but a constant barrage of center wipes; The Departed - it sucked. Scorsese needs to stay out of Boston.
Best Picture Nominees:
2000-2008
American Beauty
Atonement
The Aviator
Babel
A Beautiful Mind
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Chicago
Chocolat
The Cider House Rules
Crash
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The Departed
Erin Brockovich
Finding Neverland
Gangs of New York
Gladiator
Good Night, and Good Luck
Gosford Park
The Green Mile
The Hours
The Insider
In the Bedroom
Juno
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World
Michael Clayton
Million Dollar Baby
Moulin Rouge!
Munich
Mystic River
No Country For Old Men
The Pianist
The Queen
Ray
Seabiscuit
Sideways
The Sixth Sense
There Will Be Blood
Traffic
Ryan's Top Five
I have not seen but 30-40% of this list. I shall persevere.
1. "The Sixth Sense" - Tim's right--"Unbreakable" was a lot better (read: good, not bad).
2. "Lost in Translation" - I only saw this once, but damn, this movie was boring. I have to like characters to get involved, and I didn't like any of these people.
3. "Ray" - Jamie Foxx deserved to win best actor. That said, biopics BORE THE BEJESUS out of me.
4. "The Fellowship of the Ring" - I really liked "The Two Towers," this one as boring as sin. Seriously.
5. "Little Miss Sunshine" - I do really like this movie and Steve Carell was great, but the ending was a bit too off for it to be a "best movie." (Keep in mind there are probably many movies I could see that would knock this one off the list.)
Dan's Top 5:
I actually like all the films in the list that I saw in the aforementioned list, with exception of what is noted below.
1. Mystic River - I just flat out didn't like it.
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - All I remember was seeing a bunch of flying around on wires. I didn't get to see the full movie, but I doubt I would have liked it.
3. Erin Brockovich - I like this movie, actually. But I get it already - the main character is a woman.
4. Little Miss Sunshine - Probably one of the worst endings ever, especially for india cinema.
5. Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World - I can't remember the main conflict of this movie. I've seen it, but nothing stuck. I was really expecting more out of this movie.
Honorable mention: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Showing posts with label 2007. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2007. Show all posts
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Top 5 Albums of 2007
We're going to jumpstart this thing...maybe we'll make it to weekly posts by the end of March or April.
Tim's Top 5:
2007 wasn't a bad year for music. It wasn't great, it brought disappointing albums from Kanye West, Jay-Z, an awful live album from Guided by Voices, and Fountains of Wayne, who managed to cash in on their fame by going into total hiding and not even getting their middling album promoted.
1) Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild -- Wow. There are a lot of bands that are such figureheads that their lead singer could branch off and create a great album on his own that's basically indistinguishable from the band's own work. Well, that's not what this album is. It's exceedingly brief, with a number of songs that are barely even long enough to be Robert Pollard-written, but it's mastery of the stripped-down musical ambience that a story like Into the Wild demands. I just can't envision how a story as magnificent as Into the Wild, merged with a soundtrack that's so perfect that even the book should be read to it, could be anything but the best film of 2007 (or, with little hyperbole, the best film in a decade), but that remains to be seen. "Hard Sun" is a great song, "Far Behind", "Society", "No Ceiling" and "Setting Forth" are all its peers or superiors. It took a second listen before I started to really enjoy it, it took me starting to read the book before I fell in love with it, but it's now an absolute essential to my playlist.
2) Bruce Springsteen - Magic -- I didn't notice that Radio Nowhere really did appear to be Springsteen channeling Eddie Vedder's voice until reading it in someone else's review, but it does seem true. The album as a whole is coherent, tight, and pretty even. It has definite highlights -- "Last to Die" and "Livin' in the Future" are among the best in recent years, but most of all it proved that The Rising was not a one-off, Springsteen's still more than capable of rocking out ("Radio Nowhere", "Last To Die"), but still has the ability to write evocative and emotional songs ("Terry's Song"). Perhaps most importantly, Clear Channel has refused to play anything from it, because it apparently commits the sacrilege of not giving George W. a big, sloppy kiss (though it's not necessary to treat it as a political album).
3) The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon -- Well, you can't write a band off just because their first album was disappointing. Granted, I only found out it was disappointing because I was so enamored with The Sun and the Moon that I bought the debut off ITunes a day later, but it is. The Sun and the Moon, on the other hand, has fed XM Radio two of the most pleasantly overplayed songs in Believe and Time Won't Let Me Go. The songs in between the two on the album fit in perfectly and capture the faux British sound that I clearly am totally susceptible to (let's be honest, Guided by Voices spawned it, Spoon is an obvious offspring of it, and The Bravery doesn't fall far from that tree, and neither do the Killers. Then about 75% of the other bands I like are British)
4) Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions - American Land Edition -- I can't even begin to describe how much I thought the Seeger Sessions sounded like an awful idea. I wouldn't have ever listened to a single track from the album had I not landed tickets to see Springsteen at Giants Stadium in July. When I saw he was playing American Land to close out every show, I felt like I just about had to hear it and acquire it. That led to ITunes...which led to me buying the album. Now I can only say it's a shame that I'm ranking this behind Magic, because I think on so many levels this might be a better album, it's just not one you can just turn on and listen to in the same way. But what it surrenders in accessibility it makes up for in overwhelming greatness. This is one of those experiments that could have and probably should have gone horribly wrong. It didn't.
5) Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare -- Fluorescent Adolescent is one of my songs of 2007, Brianstorm is the most annoying single Arctic Monkeys have put out, and it's still great, it's just a totally listenable album that I think matches or exceeds the promise of their first album, even if this one pretty much stayed under the radar in both the United States and the U.K. (comparatively, it was still a #1 album in the UK, but it sold considerably less). This is what cements Arctic Monkeys in the "must buy" list. Now I just need to get back to the UK to get Who The F*** Are Arctic Monkeys for the price it should sell for.
Honorable Mention: The Shins - Wincing the Night Away -- It took me way too long to really enjoy anything on the album, and so much is wrapped up in the fact that Phantom Limb is the catchiest song of 2007 that I can't really say I'm a fan of the album as a whole; Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga -- Initially a disappointment, but it's a great album and The Underdog is definitely a rival with Phantom Limb for the song I'm most likely to listen to eight times in a row; The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible -- This is penalized for me having only listened to it once thus far (I bought it on a whim with The Sun and The Moon three weeks ago), but I think it could join a serious conversation for #5; lastly, Jay-Z - American Gangster -- Yes, I described it as disappointing, but I'm starting to appreciate it, and it has a couple tracks for the canon. I just don't want to pull a Sam's Town and look back a year later in disbelief that I didn't consider it an elite album.
The only album I know of that I feel like I need to hear from 2007 that's not on this list is Interpol, which I just got from the library. For now, it warrants an asterisk.
Take it away, other people, knowing full well that the Top songs of 2007 (where I really make my love for poppy, commercial music obvious) looms in the immediate future.
Dan's Top 5:
1. The Good, The Bad & The Queen – The Good, The Bad & The Queen – When Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) does anything, odds are it's going to be good. Add to that Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Africa 70), and you have the definition of a supergroup. Oh, and Dangermouse produced it, too. The thing is, most supergroups have traditionally put out crappy music. Or so I'd assume. I imagine everyone involved would be overplaying their parts and egos would be clashing. Not the case here. And hey, it's British and it sounds British. There's a definite London motif about the album, to the point where it makes me wonder if I'm missing out on what they're singing about.
2. Panda Bear – Person Pitch – If it's possible that one song can carry an album, it would be the opener to this little masterpiece, "Comfy in Nautica." It's one of the best and most addicting musical pieces I've heard, and apparently I'm not alone in thinking so. Rolling Stone called it the #74 best song of the year. If nothing else, it earns you points when you listen to it because no one is listening to it either. Unless they pay attention to Pitchfork, which called it the best album of the year. Then again, they take the art of being a pretentious music snob to another level.
3. Radiohead – In Rainbows – Alright, maybe I have rose-colored glasses on when it comes to Radiohead, but I'd argue against that. To this day, I still don't like Pablo Honey, Kid A or Amnesiac. The rest of their discography, however, is fucking brilliant. That being said, I'd say that this album isn't as good as Hail to the Thief was. It's very chill, and with the exception of "Bodysnatchers," it stays that way the whole way through and offers not much else to listen to. It could have been better, but it's still amazing.
4. Gogol Bordello – Super Taranta! – Gypsy Punk Music. That's a pretty accurate description. And if that's not enough to get you interested in listening to this album, I don't know if the rest of the words that follow will do much else. I had the privilege of seeing the band live, and it's something else entirely. If you like taking into account a band's originally, then this band is one of the most original you could ask for. What is helpful is that I believe any thirty-second clip of the tracks from this album will give you a pretty accurate indication of what they sound like. So check it out.
5. Duran Duran – Red Carpet Massacre – This last spot was tough, but I have to go with my old favorite. I had already heard that Justin Timberlake and Timbaland had done a good job making pop music. They both collaborated with the Fab Five on "Falling Down," resulting in one of the best songs I've ever heard. That song and the rest of the album prove that Duran Duran can still sound fresh and original, and they haven't done that since The Wedding Album.
Honorable Mentions: Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet, The Bravery – The Sun and the Moon (didn't make the top 5 since Tim already mentioned it.), The Go! Team – Proof of Youth
Ryan's Top Five
I will attempt to make a credible list despite my lack of albums from last year. That said, the only stuff I've heard has to be the best, right? Right?
1. Various Artists - "The Darjeeling Limited" Soundtrack - OK, I am cheating here but still, this was the best album I bought last year. Awesome songs from The Kinks, et. al.
2. Kanye West - "Graduation" - Not nearly as good as College Dropout, but miles better than Late Registration. I love "Good Life" and "Flashing Lights."
3. Various Artists - "Hot Fuzz" Soundtrack - Cheating again. "The Village Green Preservation Society" is one of my all-time favorites.
4. The Editors - "An End Has A Start" - OK, this is probably better than #4 on this list, but I haven't listened to it enough to slot it any higher.
5. Talib Kweli - "Eardrum" - Talib Kweli is like a poet who raps--literally, he references Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, and others in songs from this album.
Tim's Top 5:
2007 wasn't a bad year for music. It wasn't great, it brought disappointing albums from Kanye West, Jay-Z, an awful live album from Guided by Voices, and Fountains of Wayne, who managed to cash in on their fame by going into total hiding and not even getting their middling album promoted.
1) Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild -- Wow. There are a lot of bands that are such figureheads that their lead singer could branch off and create a great album on his own that's basically indistinguishable from the band's own work. Well, that's not what this album is. It's exceedingly brief, with a number of songs that are barely even long enough to be Robert Pollard-written, but it's mastery of the stripped-down musical ambience that a story like Into the Wild demands. I just can't envision how a story as magnificent as Into the Wild, merged with a soundtrack that's so perfect that even the book should be read to it, could be anything but the best film of 2007 (or, with little hyperbole, the best film in a decade), but that remains to be seen. "Hard Sun" is a great song, "Far Behind", "Society", "No Ceiling" and "Setting Forth" are all its peers or superiors. It took a second listen before I started to really enjoy it, it took me starting to read the book before I fell in love with it, but it's now an absolute essential to my playlist.
2) Bruce Springsteen - Magic -- I didn't notice that Radio Nowhere really did appear to be Springsteen channeling Eddie Vedder's voice until reading it in someone else's review, but it does seem true. The album as a whole is coherent, tight, and pretty even. It has definite highlights -- "Last to Die" and "Livin' in the Future" are among the best in recent years, but most of all it proved that The Rising was not a one-off, Springsteen's still more than capable of rocking out ("Radio Nowhere", "Last To Die"), but still has the ability to write evocative and emotional songs ("Terry's Song"). Perhaps most importantly, Clear Channel has refused to play anything from it, because it apparently commits the sacrilege of not giving George W. a big, sloppy kiss (though it's not necessary to treat it as a political album).
3) The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon -- Well, you can't write a band off just because their first album was disappointing. Granted, I only found out it was disappointing because I was so enamored with The Sun and the Moon that I bought the debut off ITunes a day later, but it is. The Sun and the Moon, on the other hand, has fed XM Radio two of the most pleasantly overplayed songs in Believe and Time Won't Let Me Go. The songs in between the two on the album fit in perfectly and capture the faux British sound that I clearly am totally susceptible to (let's be honest, Guided by Voices spawned it, Spoon is an obvious offspring of it, and The Bravery doesn't fall far from that tree, and neither do the Killers. Then about 75% of the other bands I like are British)
4) Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions - American Land Edition -- I can't even begin to describe how much I thought the Seeger Sessions sounded like an awful idea. I wouldn't have ever listened to a single track from the album had I not landed tickets to see Springsteen at Giants Stadium in July. When I saw he was playing American Land to close out every show, I felt like I just about had to hear it and acquire it. That led to ITunes...which led to me buying the album. Now I can only say it's a shame that I'm ranking this behind Magic, because I think on so many levels this might be a better album, it's just not one you can just turn on and listen to in the same way. But what it surrenders in accessibility it makes up for in overwhelming greatness. This is one of those experiments that could have and probably should have gone horribly wrong. It didn't.
5) Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare -- Fluorescent Adolescent is one of my songs of 2007, Brianstorm is the most annoying single Arctic Monkeys have put out, and it's still great, it's just a totally listenable album that I think matches or exceeds the promise of their first album, even if this one pretty much stayed under the radar in both the United States and the U.K. (comparatively, it was still a #1 album in the UK, but it sold considerably less). This is what cements Arctic Monkeys in the "must buy" list. Now I just need to get back to the UK to get Who The F*** Are Arctic Monkeys for the price it should sell for.
Honorable Mention: The Shins - Wincing the Night Away -- It took me way too long to really enjoy anything on the album, and so much is wrapped up in the fact that Phantom Limb is the catchiest song of 2007 that I can't really say I'm a fan of the album as a whole; Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga -- Initially a disappointment, but it's a great album and The Underdog is definitely a rival with Phantom Limb for the song I'm most likely to listen to eight times in a row; The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible -- This is penalized for me having only listened to it once thus far (I bought it on a whim with The Sun and The Moon three weeks ago), but I think it could join a serious conversation for #5; lastly, Jay-Z - American Gangster -- Yes, I described it as disappointing, but I'm starting to appreciate it, and it has a couple tracks for the canon. I just don't want to pull a Sam's Town and look back a year later in disbelief that I didn't consider it an elite album.
The only album I know of that I feel like I need to hear from 2007 that's not on this list is Interpol, which I just got from the library. For now, it warrants an asterisk.
Take it away, other people, knowing full well that the Top songs of 2007 (where I really make my love for poppy, commercial music obvious) looms in the immediate future.
Dan's Top 5:
1. The Good, The Bad & The Queen – The Good, The Bad & The Queen – When Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) does anything, odds are it's going to be good. Add to that Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Africa 70), and you have the definition of a supergroup. Oh, and Dangermouse produced it, too. The thing is, most supergroups have traditionally put out crappy music. Or so I'd assume. I imagine everyone involved would be overplaying their parts and egos would be clashing. Not the case here. And hey, it's British and it sounds British. There's a definite London motif about the album, to the point where it makes me wonder if I'm missing out on what they're singing about.
2. Panda Bear – Person Pitch – If it's possible that one song can carry an album, it would be the opener to this little masterpiece, "Comfy in Nautica." It's one of the best and most addicting musical pieces I've heard, and apparently I'm not alone in thinking so. Rolling Stone called it the #74 best song of the year. If nothing else, it earns you points when you listen to it because no one is listening to it either. Unless they pay attention to Pitchfork, which called it the best album of the year. Then again, they take the art of being a pretentious music snob to another level.
3. Radiohead – In Rainbows – Alright, maybe I have rose-colored glasses on when it comes to Radiohead, but I'd argue against that. To this day, I still don't like Pablo Honey, Kid A or Amnesiac. The rest of their discography, however, is fucking brilliant. That being said, I'd say that this album isn't as good as Hail to the Thief was. It's very chill, and with the exception of "Bodysnatchers," it stays that way the whole way through and offers not much else to listen to. It could have been better, but it's still amazing.
4. Gogol Bordello – Super Taranta! – Gypsy Punk Music. That's a pretty accurate description. And if that's not enough to get you interested in listening to this album, I don't know if the rest of the words that follow will do much else. I had the privilege of seeing the band live, and it's something else entirely. If you like taking into account a band's originally, then this band is one of the most original you could ask for. What is helpful is that I believe any thirty-second clip of the tracks from this album will give you a pretty accurate indication of what they sound like. So check it out.
5. Duran Duran – Red Carpet Massacre – This last spot was tough, but I have to go with my old favorite. I had already heard that Justin Timberlake and Timbaland had done a good job making pop music. They both collaborated with the Fab Five on "Falling Down," resulting in one of the best songs I've ever heard. That song and the rest of the album prove that Duran Duran can still sound fresh and original, and they haven't done that since The Wedding Album.
Honorable Mentions: Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet, The Bravery – The Sun and the Moon (didn't make the top 5 since Tim already mentioned it.), The Go! Team – Proof of Youth
Ryan's Top Five
I will attempt to make a credible list despite my lack of albums from last year. That said, the only stuff I've heard has to be the best, right? Right?
1. Various Artists - "The Darjeeling Limited" Soundtrack - OK, I am cheating here but still, this was the best album I bought last year. Awesome songs from The Kinks, et. al.
2. Kanye West - "Graduation" - Not nearly as good as College Dropout, but miles better than Late Registration. I love "Good Life" and "Flashing Lights."
3. Various Artists - "Hot Fuzz" Soundtrack - Cheating again. "The Village Green Preservation Society" is one of my all-time favorites.
4. The Editors - "An End Has A Start" - OK, this is probably better than #4 on this list, but I haven't listened to it enough to slot it any higher.
5. Talib Kweli - "Eardrum" - Talib Kweli is like a poet who raps--literally, he references Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, and others in songs from this album.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Top 5 Things You Want for Christmas
For simplicity's sake, I'm going to limit this to things that are withing the realm of reasonable expectations. So no private jets, getting to meet non-Baldwin celebrities, or personal slaves. Also, this list is in no way a petition to anyone for gifts - just another Top 5 list. That established, here we go:
Dan's Top 5:
1. Amazon.com Gift Cards - For prices on DVDs and books, there's really no beating Amazon.com, and DVDs in particular are my drug of choice. The only forseeable downside I can see to this one is having to get another DVD shelf, and packing even more crap up when I leave Blacksburg.
2. A Great Album on LP - Trying to find good albums that I feel are worthy of owning on LP is usually a pain, and there's a chance I've overlooked a really great album on my occasional eBay searches. Of course, the drawback is that it's not for anyone who has a lack of knowledge of my taste in music. There's also the chance that I may already have it.
3. Money - Really, this is probably the one thing I could really use the most, but the brutal irony of money is that, while the most useful gift, it shows the least possible amount of thoughtfulness. I know that I'd feel like shit if I just handed a small wad of cash to someone for Christmas, even if it's what they - like me - really wanted. It doesn't show that I really know their likes and dislikes, which is what everyone really wants - proof that someone "gets" them.
4. A USB Recording Interface - Like the Mbox Mini or something. I've recorded my Bass PodXT to the computer before, bit it sounds like there's a lot missing and it's not recording properly. Having recorded through a friend's Mbox unit, I think it will do the trick for any and all music recording needs I have.
5. A Nice Thiers-Issard Straight Razor - I have two straight razors so far, but only my Henckels is a real pleasure to shave with. However, I'd feel like a real jackass asking for one more shaving item when I've already well-established in that hobby.
Dan's Top 5:
1. Amazon.com Gift Cards - For prices on DVDs and books, there's really no beating Amazon.com, and DVDs in particular are my drug of choice. The only forseeable downside I can see to this one is having to get another DVD shelf, and packing even more crap up when I leave Blacksburg.
2. A Great Album on LP - Trying to find good albums that I feel are worthy of owning on LP is usually a pain, and there's a chance I've overlooked a really great album on my occasional eBay searches. Of course, the drawback is that it's not for anyone who has a lack of knowledge of my taste in music. There's also the chance that I may already have it.
3. Money - Really, this is probably the one thing I could really use the most, but the brutal irony of money is that, while the most useful gift, it shows the least possible amount of thoughtfulness. I know that I'd feel like shit if I just handed a small wad of cash to someone for Christmas, even if it's what they - like me - really wanted. It doesn't show that I really know their likes and dislikes, which is what everyone really wants - proof that someone "gets" them.
4. A USB Recording Interface - Like the Mbox Mini or something. I've recorded my Bass PodXT to the computer before, bit it sounds like there's a lot missing and it's not recording properly. Having recorded through a friend's Mbox unit, I think it will do the trick for any and all music recording needs I have.
5. A Nice Thiers-Issard Straight Razor - I have two straight razors so far, but only my Henckels is a real pleasure to shave with. However, I'd feel like a real jackass asking for one more shaving item when I've already well-established in that hobby.
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