I realized it’s been about a year since I finished recording a song and posted it here. I’ve made a few attempts at recording since then, but none of them came out particularly well, so I haven’t put anything up. A few weeks ago, I hauled out an old song I had half-written years ago. Back then, it was a song about the third-tier Golden Age comic book character, The Spectre. For those not familiar with the character, he was a cop (Jim Corrigan) who was killed, stuffed in a barrel, dropped in the ocean, and then resurrected as the spirit of vengeance. I never quite got the verses down, and the choruses got thrown off when I realized I had misremembered what city he lived in, so the lines I had no longer really fit. The whole song was also in waltz time and, in general, ended up slipping into “Abigail, Belle of Kilronan” whenever I tried to play it.

Anyway, I decided to take another crack at it, keeping most of the chorus, but switching the subject to another comic book character who got dumped underwater and approached by a supernatural entity. It’s now a song about the (much more well-known) character, Jean Grey. I’m reasonably pleased with the song (even if writing a song about a comic book character is fairly embarrassing). My vocals aren’t great, but I got tired of recording them after the twentieth take or so, so I pretty much gave up trying to get them perfect. It’s also worth noting that I am playing every instrument on here (guitar, banjo, ukulele, bass, keyboards, drums), in addition to singing. This is the first time I’ve used my own drumming, and, while it was a pain to record, I think it came out pretty well. Feedback is always welcome.

Oh, I’m also now using the moniker “F. S. Merriwether” for my solo stuff. Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

Jamaica Bay

It’s nearly three weeks after the Oscars, which is, really, the end of the 2008 movie viewing season, so I’m way behind on writing this up. Normally, around this time of year, I try to come up with the top ten movies I watched this year, but I feel so indifferently about nearly everything I saw that came out last year, that it was kind of hard to come up with 10 films I really liked. It’s hard to claim that all of this year’s entries are really films I unambiguously enjoyed, but they’re all at least somewhat interesting.

But first, some raw numbers (because I love data).

Movies Watched in 2008: 172
      in the Theater: 37
2008 Releases Seen To Date: 59

That’s quite a lot of movies, really. I don’t think I realized I’d seen quite that many. You’d think I’d be able to come up with a proper top 10 list out of that.

1. Synecdoche, New York

I was profoundly depressed for days after seeing this movie. I am pretty sure I haven’t been this completely crushed by a movie since Heavenly Creatures, but, whereas that preyed upon all those powerful teenage feelings of infatuation, this connected with all my adult feelings of impending death and overall personal failure. I have a very hard time recommending this to anyone, due to the soul-crushing capabilities, but, even setting that aside, the craft in the screenplay is fairly mind-bending.

2. Timecrimes

Sure, it’s pretty much Primer with all the science stripped out, but I really like Primer. This was good enough that I was happy to watch it twice in the same week and will happily watch it again next time I talk a friend into watching it.

3. Be Kind Rewind

I know some people (like my lovely wife) found the ending of this way too hokey, but I was perfect okay with it. I have some issues with Gondry’s attitude to technology, and I think his knee-jerk Luddism works against the cheap, community made media he’s pushing for here, but it’s hard not to get behind his vision of participatory entertainment.

4. Dance of the Dead

Probably the most pleasant surprise of a movie I saw this year. I feel like I haven’t seen a good, high-school themed horror film in years, so this was immensely satisfying. I will likely try to inflict it on everyone I can at next year’s Halloween party.

5. Searchers 2.0

Not sure if this actually counts as a 2008 release, since it doesn’t seem to be getting any sort of theatrical release at all (which is, perhaps, not surprising as the video quality is, admittedly, terrible), but I really liked Cox’s tribute to the marginally working actor much more than I would have expected from the kind of rough opening bits. Once it switches into the kind of absurdity I loved in Repo Man and Straight to Hell, it’s a pretty great movie.

6. In Bruges

Arguably the best introspective hit man movie I’ve seen. I still have some issues with Ralph Fiennes’ bizarre performance (or, more specifically, with his fake teeth), but it’s still a very well-crafted film. And makes me want to visit Belgium.

7. Vicky Christina Barcelona

Not really one of the top tier Woody Allen films, but the scenes with Bardem and Cruz almost push it up there. It’s certainly sticking with me more than any of his recent Euro films have.

8. City of Ember

Honestly, this may be on here more for set and costume design more than anything else. It entirely falls apart at the end (when it turns into a pitch for a theme park ride), and there are plot payoffs that feel incredibly lazy (and I imagine would have been smoothed out had this not been a “family” film), but, for the first hour, it’s a pretty enjoyably odd post-apocalyptic dystopia film for the whole family, which is hard to argue with.

Honestly, I have no idea what to put in the last two positions. There were some Oscar bait pics that I enjoyed a lot more than I expected (Frost/Nixon, Milk, Cadillac Records), some trashy action flicks that were kind of fun (Transporter 3, Punisher: War Zone, Doomsday), and some bizarre films that are worth noting for their weirdness (War, Inc.), but I’m not sure I liked any of them enough to include them on a top 10 list. So, this year it’ll be a top 8. Maybe movies will be better next year.

I’m probably not going to put together a worst list for the year (unless there is public demand), but, if I did, I’m pretty sure Burn After Reading would be at the top.