My five by five of 2008

I haven't updated this blog in months. I was really busy with school, and then winter break has kind of gotten away from me. I wanted to at least write up a list (or five) of my favorite things of 2008.

1. Movies I saw in theaters:

*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is an epic, Forrest Gump-type movie about the life of a man who is born old and ages backwards. Brad Pitt, never one of my favorite actors, does a good job, but Cate Blanchett is amazing. It's based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that I haven't read, but I've read that it's just kind of loosely-based on that. I can believe that since the movie is almost 3 hours long. Parts are a little too...sentimental...? I don't know. The story is being told to Blanchett's Daisy as she lies dying in a New Orleans hospital room by her daughter while Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on them, and those were my least favorite scenes. Just everything having to do with the daughter could have been cut and I think the movie would have been better for it. Other than that, it's a beautiful movie that holds your (or at least my) interest for the entire length of it with some really good performances, including the one by the actress who plays Benjamin's adoptive mother, Taraji P. Henson. See it!

*Doubt. Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman both do a really good job in this movie about a nun who suspects a priest at a Catholic school of abusing a young student. I don't want to give too much away, but I thought the best part of this movie was how open-ended it was; there is no definite answer, no neat conclusion, you're just left with a sense of doubt (apt title).

*WALL-E. I've written about this before, but I just watched it again the other day and want to reiterate how great it is. I still think it should be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, but it probably won't be.

*The Dark Knight. I also wrote about this before. Best comic book movie ever!

*Atonement. I don't think I've seen a movie quite so heart-wrenchingly depressing all year. But it was very well-made, very well-acted (even by Keira Knightley, an actress I usually can't stand), and very good at making you, the watcher, lose all hope for life.

2. Movies on DVD:

*The Darjeeling Limited

*Into the Wild

*There Will be Blood

*John Adams mini-series

*Gone Baby Gone

3. Books:

I took the 50-book challenge this year, and was actually able to finish 51 books by December 31st, due in large part to the fact that I spent so much of my free time reading this summer. My favorite five (that I had never read before this year) are:

*Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Meeting him is still one of the best moments of the year :).

*Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Never thought I'd like a western, but this is so good. Don't let the length scare you away; it's a relatively quick read.

*The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. My only complaint about this book is that there are too many footnotes that interrupt the flow of the story. I understand the book is based in all the history of 20th century Dominican Republic, and that that history needed to be explained in part to help the average reader's understanding of what was going on, but they were too long and too numerous.

*The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. This book is actually kind of similar to Oscar Wao, in that it's a story about a particular family through several generations. It's really great, and has made me want to read more of her stuff.

*Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. The only book on this list that wasn't read as part of my two-person book club, and the only one that isn't fiction. It's a very interesting look at fundamental Mormonism, and all the convoluted, patriarchal beliefs upon which that religion is based.

4. TV shows I watched for the first time this year:

*Mad Men

*Six Feet Under

*Pushing Daisies

*Gossip Girl (don't judge me, I know it's trash)

*Flight of the Conchords

5. Favorite Christmas presents:

*Digital picture frame. I love pictures, I love picture frames, I have a small apartment with limited space in which to put all of my picture frames. Perfect solution!

*iPod speakers. Now I can listen to my iPod in my room with better sound quality than that provided by my laptop.

*Gloves masquerading as mittens from J Crew.

*WALL-E on DVD

*A personal travel mug coffee maker.