Everyone does year-end reviews. Film, music, literature, even global events make top-ten lists of the year’s best-of (or ‘impacting’ as it applies to global happenings). When it comes to the arts, I find year-end best-of lists utterly pointless. When it comes to music specifically, if a record stands the test of time and, ten years from now, is still as appreciated, then it was worth the mention given it. Unfortunately, too many year-end best-of lists are jammed packed full of records that, even two years from now, most people will have completely forgotten in favour of that year’s best-of. The same goes for films. Literature, on the other hand, being a medium that is, by nature, far more resounding in its longevity, is a different matter.
This brings us to global events, all of which, despite wishes to the contrary, are almost entirely represented by tragedies, conflict, death, despair, and so forth.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Somalia, Pakistan, and a whole host of other negatives constitute the year’s most important and memorable issues. So too does the fact that President Bush, who has enough blood on his hands as to stupefy the imagination, hasn’t been confronted by Congress and impeached. That, of course, was one of the issues that the now Speaker Of The House vowed to pursue, one that all but magically vanished once her ass cheeks graced the Speaker’s chair for the first time.
Murder, death, destruction, poverty, disease, exploitation, deceit, greed, fear, and the abuse of power. That’s this year’s top ten. The thing is - that was last year’s top ten, and it’ll be next year’s as well, sure as there’s carts to horses.
Unlike this year’s top ten albums, these yearly reoccurrences will be around in a decade’s time; just as impacting, just as divisive, supported and justified by those too idiotic to see them for what they are, and too seemingly overwhelming for those that aren’t.
Tomorrow is the first day of a new year, but it is only a date on a calendar. It does not, unfortunately, represent anything besides. For change to occur in this world, no fixed date is required for hope to be renewed. No marker need exist to represent a point from which the creation of best and worst-of lists can commence. Life is not measured in retrospectives, it is measured in moving past them having realized that, despite their lessons, the status quo is history’s greatest weapon.
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There are only two dates I look forward to right now. 07/28/08 and 01/20/09. And while I agree with your realistic view I do have a list I like. Please forgive me.
http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/17538811/dickheads_of_the_year/photo/1/large
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Have a safe and Happy New Year to all the great people who make this site possible and the people who comment here that provoke thoughtful introspection. May everyone get the threesome they asked santa to bring, but didn’t ;-)
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D. Lilly - There are only two dates I look forward to right now. 07/28/08 and 01/20/09
I get the 01/20/09 date, unless we get an October surprise that starts with martial and ends with law, but what is going down on 07/28/08?
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I turn golden.
50
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Quasi-related. Sorry, don’t know how to make it pretty (embedded).
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
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D.Lilly - I turn golden.
You’re already gold in my books, besides your font doesn’t look a day over 23.
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Quoting D. Lilly:
Me too!
Happy new year everyone. Thanks to everybody here for opening my eyes a little wider…
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My best of…taken from matthewgood.org in march of this year:
“Sometimes, for some of us, there are battles within that cannot be won. There is no shame in admitting this, even though the society we live in often condemns such admissions. It is often our collective condemnation of such alleged weaknesses that ensures that we never have to really deal with our frailties, ones that we all share, and that we are simply doomed to dwell in this awful juxtaposition, one in which we are brothers and sisters of a common parent, pledged to the maxim of fellowship, and yet are so quick to automatically treat one another with suspicion and cruelty.
Some of us know this battle on more intimate terms than others. Some refuse to even acknowledge its existence, claiming those who are unable to overcome that which has taken hold and cast them into darkness as weak or unstable…And sometimes it is harder to surrender than to allow ourselves to be taken prisoner.”
- Matt wrote this for a friend of mine who tragically passed away in March of this year. Most of us recognize that Matt is a brilliant singer, but even more so, Matt is an outstanding writer.
Thank you Matt for your kind words. All the best to you, your family, your friends and fans in 2008.
Allen
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You are forgetting it is the birthday of the Earth.
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Best of year in review…
for me two things..
I “discovered” Matthew Good’s music.. hell thats enough to be happy about-and I survived a stupid incident..in which Matt’s music was a beacon for me and really did pull me through some God awful moments where I thought I was going to lose my mind..
The second.. my Grandmother who had battled cancer finally came to peace.. she passed in March. For many that would be a sad thing.. but she suffered for so long, we all were happy in the saddest of ways to see her at peace.
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Best TV Show: Family Guy
Best Movie: Knocked Up
Best Album: The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
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Thanks Matt, for making me feel less shtty that i have no parties to go to, by pointing out the meaninglessness of the occasion.
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Knocked up!!! Shit, that was the movie I couldn’t remember I wanted to rent.. So we rented Superbad instead, tonite. Seth Rogeeeeeen… Or if you go by how the spelt it on the dvd case from Rogers Vid… Seth Rogam… I was so annoyed, I actually said something to them..
HELLO HE’S FROM VANCOUVER, SPELL HIS NAME RIGHT.
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Quoting Unknown:
well said, and so true, the occasion has absolutely no meaning to anyone who really needs change. tonight we, and by we i mean the so-called “developed” world, are celebrating the coming of a new year, hoping that our minor troubles will be dealt with so that we can live with ourselves for one more year. Yet while we are boozing up, or even just sitting comfortably in our homes, the rest of the population won’t even know that it is a new year except for a date on a calendar.
for them, tomorrow, and the new year, will be exactly what it has been for years before; filled with real problems. problems that involve life or death and not a few pounds that make you feel insecure about yourself in a swimsuit. but hey maybe the new year will bring some luck. maybe some small village will be “freed” by the americans, or maybe if there really lucky a company might come in and give them money to support themselves as they cut down a few trees(but nothing significant) or maybe, just maybe, some other small village might get a well and then get featured in a commercial.
On the other hand, things might never change for them, so in the spirit of things, Happy New Year Everyone, hope that you can see through my cynicism and see the truth behind it.
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oh and sorry to anyone who is trying to lose weight, i know these days it is a serious thing and a real problem for some, but it had to be mentioned for those who make the resolution just for the sake of self comfort
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Vid store still open?
Rent Superbad.. never laughed so hard in my life.
Knocked up is starting.
Happy New Year all!!!!
t
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Koolaid, anyone?
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The powers that be love to condition us through violent movie desensitization, but don’t like to advertise the atrocities they have committed.
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I’m getting ready to do my own personal music best-of list. As trivial as it is, it’s a least a recap some of the lighter moments outside of my trip to Europe AKA the only three weeks out of the year I can’t remember crying through.
Of course, my dear Mr. Good, Hosptial Music is number one. I swear to God the only reason you are 2nd to the Beatles are because they reason I fell in love with music and if I didn’t have music, I’d be dead long ago. Thank you so much for that magnificent record, the show in Sarnia, and the little boost to keep going. :)
I wish you all the best in the New Year. :)