2009 Questionnaire
Modified version of “5 Questions”
- What was the best book you read in 2009?
- What book (that you read this past year) would you recommend to other idiots?
- What was your favorite 2009 movie?
- What was your favorite non-2009?
- What movie (2009 and non-2009) would recommend to other idiots?
- What was your favorite musician and/or recording that you listened to in 2009?
I’ll answer these now that the year’s over.
Probably The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakariah. I didn’t read many books this year, and a lot of my reading was really re-reading some of the books from my youth. It’s very seldom that the my best book in any year is non-fiction, but Zakariah’s book is very well-written and gave me some new frameworks through which to view liberty and democracy.
Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park. Flawed though it was, it’s a good example of some of the nice stuff being put out for young readers today. Park is a Newbery winner and the first Asian-American writer to be so honored.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Such a gorgeous movie. Yes, there was too much snogging, but it also feels like the The Empire Strikes Back of the series, full of foreboding and sobriety. Harry seems to have shaken most of his surliness and moves through the halls of Hogwarts (not to mention his encounters with his long-time schoolmates) with the self-assuredness that comes when one knows he is in his element. Fun quidditch sequences, too.
Um, movie? Tender Mercies, probably. I also really liked Get Thrashed.
I guess Adventureland, ‘though let it not be said that I dared to recommend a film for Reid. I didn’t see anything this year that I’d be that confident in.
Weird question. My favorite musician that I listened to in 2009 is the same favorite musician I listened to for the past two decades: Bruce Cockburn. That’s unlikely to change. My favorite recording that I listened to in 2009? Is that a song, an album, or a performance? I guess I’ll go with Bruce Cockburn’s Nothing but a Burning Light and Dart to the Heart, still my two favorite albums from him.
What was the best book you read in 2009?
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
What book would you recommend to other idiots?
In addition to Watchmen, I’d recommend Go With Me by Castle Freeman. It’s not so much a novel as much as a screenplay for a Coen Brothers’ film.
What was your favorite 2009 film?
2009 has not been a good year so far, imo. The film I enjoyed the most was Star Trek. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed an action/sci-fi film as much as I did this film.
What was your favorite non-2009 film
Man, there were a lot (Splendor in the Grass, Vertical Ray of the Sun, The Edge of Heaven, I’ve Loved You So Long, Gone Baby Gone), but if I had to choose one, it would be Harakiri.
What non-2009 and 2009 film would you recommend to other idiots?
2009: The Hurt Locker. I think most idiots would like this one.
Non-2009: Harakiri, Splendor in the Grass, Vertical Ray of the Sun, The Edge of Heaven, I’ve Loved You So Long, Gone Baby Gone and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.
Favorite musician/recording in 2009?
Honestly, I didn’t have one. I guess the closest might be Eliane Elias’ Dreamer album, which I listened to a bunch of time at work.
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