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oh, and i’ve totally forgotten to blog in ages, haven’t i? tahoe was super fun even though the snow was sub-par. saturday night jessica took me out to a romantic dinner for early-valentines so we didn’t have to fight crowds or get up early the morning after, which was brilliant. we opted for sleeping in and mimosas instead, a truly wise decision. so that night made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

we even went on a pre-dinner art gallery visit and bought a pair of beautiful prints by an artist named scott saw, one for each of us; she got the birds and trees, i got the skulls and butterflies. it was another in the long line of nights that make me pretty sure my girlfriend is better than everyone else’s — sorry guys, i guess i just lucked out.

two films you should absolutely see if you get the chance:

pan’s labyrinth – 4 stars

the problem with american trailers to foreign films is they never have any dialogue, so all you get is a visual montage. based on that and the mumblings i’d heard, i thought this would be a wild, trippy alice-in-wonderland type film. it turned out to be only partly that, but much more a gripping and frightening human drama, with elements of fantasy as a young girl yearns to escape her reality. the mix of the two in the heartbreaking story of young ofelia made this a really amazing film, which i appreciate more the more i mull over the ending, which sealed off the tragic yet hopeful story in a perfect way.

the animation show 3 – 5 stars

every time one of these comes out i will guarantee you one ticket in los angeles will be purchased by yours truly. i can’t sing the praises highly enough, and this year didn’t let me down. don hertzfeldt’s latest, “everything will be okay” was particularly great, definitely his best work yet, and along with shane acker’s beautiful film “9”, probably worth the price of the ticket alone. throw in some other great bits ranging from bizarre to beautiful to hilarious (oh man, plympton’s “guard dog” was a crack-up too), and you can hardly beat it for range and quality.

also, i picked up the box set for the past two years’ shows, so if anyone wants to borrow that let me know… i can’t wait to dig into some of the bonus stuff myself. i had bought the first year’s separately already, but i had to have the pretty two-volume set like a typical nerd. anyone want to buy the stand-alone first volume for cheap?

so it’s oscar season and i still haven’t done my best movies list from last year. as it stands, i think i’ve only seen two of the big contenders this year (departed and pan’s labyrinth, both great), so don’t expect there to be too much of an overlap, but i still intend to do it, and soon.

not this weekend though, because i will be up in tahoe snowboarding my heart out, and i can’t wait. it’s been almost two years since i’ve been on a board i think and it’s gonna be wonderful. i can’t wait. i also hope i haven’t forgotten all the progress i’d made over the previous years of snowboard trips. we’ll see when i hopefully return sunday night in one piece and happy instead of heavily bruised.

music-wise everyone is buzzing about a bunch of bands playing at coachella around here, but the album i’ve most recently acquired and listened to most has to be the new of montreal. i can’t even how many times i’ve been walking around the office singing, ‘come on chemicaaaaaals‘ under my breath this week. so there’s your pay day song.

let me tell you how rad my friends are, once again, in regard to making my birthdays great. the party saturday night was pretty much perfect (not that i take full credit for all those that showed up, of course). lots of people but not too many. lots of drinks but not too many. great music and dancing and fun well into the morning hours. one of the best gifts i’ve received in a while (not including the latest in a long line of unbelievably cool gifts i’ve received from my unbelievably nice girlfriend). even the cake was tastier than normal. all around it was an amazing, if somewhat exhausting time. mike and dom even made it down from SF, which took it to another level.

when things go this well for your birthday, getting a year older is in no way a sad moment — cause there’s a good chance the next year will be just as good as the last. party on guys, and if you were a part of it thanks so much.

in case you didn’t have it etched into your calendars already, you should know that today is my birthday. before noon, i’d toasted at midnight last night with all my best friends, gotten a text from my girlfriend as soon as i woke up, received an email, a couple instant messages, and an e-card wishing me happy birthday, and gone out to a nice long lunch with my coworkers for pizza and beers. not to mention the thoughtful cards from parents and grandparents with generous checks enclosed. so i’m feeling pretty great today, and it’s not even half over yet!

last night, talking to justin (whose birthday was yesterday), we mutually agreed that 26 is not the year to start acting responsible or worrying about the future, and that we’d be perfectly happy just continuing on the path of fun and partying we did a great job of as 25-year-olds. so cheers to another year of good times and great friends.

still slacking on favorite movies of ’06, i keep forgetting to flip through ticket stubs and make up that list. weekend was great though. gino’s birthday at busby’s on friday night was a pretty great night, and i’ll write up a review of pan’s labyrinth along with the movie picks, hopefully tomorrow if i can get around to it.

most importantly, though, the big day has arrived and i’ve fallen way short once again. maybe an additional new year’s resolution for the coming year should be to not let my personal prejudices and wishes cloud my judgment when gambling. but hey, it was fun and the lineup is pretty massive this year, so i have a tough call ahead of me. check out the blog for the results if you’re interested (and you should be, we need more participants next year so the winner might actually be able to buy at least a day pass with the prize money).

the coachella pool 2007 winners

MLK weekend was lots of fun with the wine parties and beer pong and all — you should seriously try to catch the demetri martin special on comedy central too — but we’ve got work to do here, people.

	albums i enjoyed most in 2007
alright, again, i don’t buy nearly enough albums in a year to consider this a definitive list, nor is it objective or based on the artistic merit from an unbiased reviewer. these are more like, ‘albums that spent the most time on my ipod once i uploaded them and got skipped the least when they came on shuffle’. but hey, that just proves that all these are extremely likeable and hold up to several listenings.
	#7: night ripper – girl talk
mashups are on the wane, and sure, this album can be a little ADD when listened to end to end, but i swear if you’re in the right mood it’s like a music junkie’s wet dream: an hour-long game of ‘name that sample’ from all over hip hop, dance, pop and indie rock. where the hell else are you gonna hear dj’s sampling neutral milk hotel and the rentals? also, surprisingly good music to exercise to, not that i’m any sort of authority on that. it can make a commute feel much more like a dance party though, that’s for sure.
	#6: the body the blood the machine – the thermals
total surprise. they opened at a cursive show and were so fun to watch i picked up the disc, and ended up loving the whole album. it really tickles my ‘used to be into a lot of punk in high school’ bone in a way that doesn’t annoy my more mature indie tastes of today, so i found it a hugely satisfying rock album. plus there’s hardly a skip-worthy track, which in itself is a huge deal these days.
	#5: get lonely – the mountain goats
normally the goats would be fighting for the one or two spot, but although it’s still a great album, it’s so much more somber than i’m used to it fell a few notches on the favorites list. still wonderful writing but give me a little more frustration and bitterness with the heartbreak or you veer dangerously close to making a ‘sleepy’ album. not that that’s always bad — i’m just hoping it isn’t a permanent trend
	#4: oh you’re so silent, jens – jens lekman
may have come out originally last year, but i didn’t get a hold of it until this spring, at which point i rode this sucker into the ground. mostly the stephen merrit style vocals and the sweeping music that both sets it apart from everything else i listen to and makes it a great lovesick pop album.
	#3: the life pursuit – belle & sebastian
like some people i know, i appreciated these guys before, but this album really turned me around into active love. the songs are just so clean and beautiful and warm and the soft crooning vocals mix in to make wonderful feel-good songs. then when they turn out to be about anything but feeling good with their dark and troubled lyrics, you’ve really got a treat of a song worth listening to over and over.
	#2: with love and squalor – we are scientists
this is probably my pick least likely to crack anyone else’s ‘best of’ list, not because it’s so obscure and hip, but the opposite. and you know what, this might be a radio-friendly power-pop album, but i really need one of those once in a while that’s just fun to listen to and sing along with. bonus points if it’s all about getting drunk and screwing up with girls and easily relatable to almost every earthly male. super extra bonus points for the guys in the band being really clever and sarcastic in general, putting out funny music videos, a website that actually makes me laugh, and the best promo sticker i’ve ever seen on the front of their album in the form of a mad lib saying “The (laudatory adjective) debut album featuring the (overblown superlative) single ‘Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt.” this is my kind of band, whether that costs me your respect or not.
	#1: the crane wife – the decemberists
i’m so in love with this band these days they really can do no wrong in my eyes, so i don’t know what i can say that will be taken seriously. all i know is that this album felt so well-realized musically and lyrically that the stories it tells come out big and important and i can’t stop listening to them.
honorable mentions…
&nbsp	albums i really wanted to like but which only had a couple songs each worth remembering:
sorry guys. maybe next time.

i’d love to give my annual ‘i listen to hip hop too’ award to a great album i played the heck out of this year, but fishscale from ghostface came closest and still doesn’t quite do it for me in the long run. if anything, i’d have to give it to immortal technique’s couple-year-old album revolutionary vol. 2, which i liked way more than anything else i heard this year. and if you’re up to some political ranting and offensive rhymes, i’ll even make that this week’s pay day song by sharing a track: freedom of speech. check it out and enjoy.

yes, yes, every year it takes me at least half of the first month to finally get around to chronicling my favorite stuff from the year prior, but after a bad habit persists long enough, you almost have to start calling it ‘tradtion’. now let’s get started shall we?

	books i enjoyed most in 2007
i read an embarrassingly low number of books this year — i won’t even say how many — so i’m going for a top seven instead of ten, and promise to do better next year. all these were worth recommending to any of the lit junkies who might read this.
	#7: anansi boys – neil gaiman
i’ve always been a huge fan ever since my junior-high introduction to the sandman series, which i still hold as all-time favorites. his latest was obviously an attempt at a more casual and humorous novel, which was still enjoyable if not as satisfying as his other work that really plumbs the depths of the world’s intertwining mythologies. less references but more jokes isn’t necessarily a bad thing, right?
	#6: blindness – jose saramago
the first of two on this list i’d never heard of but received as a gift from my wonderful girlfriend and ended up loving. mixes a little bit of lord of the flies and apocalyptic terror with a tragic and moving depiction of what it would be like to be suddenly struck blind on a personal level. page-turning and thought-provoking.
	#5: snow crash – neal stephenson
i try to hit up all my favorite genres at least once a year, and this year’s sci-fi pick was a winner. paced like a good action or suspense movie with a big brain and a cool sense of style, i had a great time reading this even if the abrupt ending left me wanting to know what might have happened next.
	#4: kafka on the shore – haruki murakami
the mixing of mundane and magical he comes up with always pleases me, even if i’m usually left wondering at the end what i was supposed to have learned, gained, or realized from the story. still, they’re fun journeys to take and i never regret the time spent. not sure if this is his best (wild sheep chase and wind-up bird chronicles were perhaps more charming and meaningful) but definitely worth picking up for fans.
	#3: the long goodbye – raymond chandler
i’m fairly sure that any year i decide to pick up a chandler novel will find my putting it on my ‘best of’ list, just because you can’t touch the writing style. not on the same level of cool language and serpentine plot as the big sleep, but even a step down from that is still brilliant.
	#2: men and cartoons – jonathan lethem
i love me a good short story, and i don’t think there was a miss in this collection. they’re smart, they’re funny, and they touch on some nerves from minor coincidental encounters to overarching societal problems, whether through personal narratives or bizarre visions of the future. another gift from my lady i’d never even heard of but turned out to be fantastic.
	#1: home land – sam lipsyte
like i said before, you can’t beat an over-educated writer frustrated with his utter lack of success in life and writing about his frustrations. he just has too many hilarious ways of describing his dissatisfaction or reframing his world to make himself seem like a hero instead of the loser he is. i wish more books were this honest and funny and intelligent all at once. or if you know of some, let me know.
honorable mentions…
	best worst book: don quixote – miguel de cervantes
i plodded my way through this book over the course of half the year, and you know what, i don’t regret reading it, i just regret taking so long to do it. if i had been able to just charge through it, i might not have this resentment toward it, and be able to appreciate it for what are really a lot of interesting reflections on the human need to tell and be a part of stories. although yes, it could have been a whooooole lot shorter. maybe a better discussion piece than a reading experience, so attempt at your own risk.
	best comic i read this year: batman: the long halloween – jeph loeb
tough not to give it to ANY alan moore book, but between the excellent darkness of the story and the drawings, and it being my personal favorite batman, you seriously can’t lose. so good, so good.

the usual caveat applies that no, i can’t possibly keep up with all the latest greatest books, so if there are any glaring omissions or you disagree violently, please let me know in the comments. movies and music to follow shortly.

i recently signed up for one of the lamest things ever but i have to admit i find it kind of funny. automated blogs are so weird.

but hey, this isn’t about me being lame, it’s about being excited about 2007. so i was looking at my new year’s resolutions from last year, and i did alright in some places, not so great in others.

looking them over though, other than some minor adjustments, this list is so good and so tight i might have to just make some minor tweaks and try to keep them all going instead of making any drastic changes.

so here they are, again, mostly for my own benefit:

–be smart
last year:read at least as many books as last year, do more and better writing, renew my subscription to harpers at some point, keep notes on all the crap i read and the ideas it’s (supposed to be) inspiring. dig deeper.

this year: alright, i actually read a 5-year low in number of books in ’06, but i mostly blame the beast that is don quixote. that’s behind me, so i should be able to crack the 1.5/month (18) mark again this year. that’s my goal. and also to do more reading about the reading i’m doing to get the most juice out of all the great literature i’m wading through. also, i’ve become a total crossword addict, which doesn’t hurt either.

–be social
last year: get outside of my comfortable circle of friends more, but not at the expense of spending time with the people i love. talk more to people i don’t know already. stay in better touch with the ones i’ve known for ages.

this year: i’m kind of over the feeling that i’m obligated to expand my circle forcefully. my circle is pretty large, and it’s awesome, and it expands naturally over time. in terms of being social though, i do want to make sure i don’t start settling in too much just because i’m content staying in with my wonderful girlfriend five nights a week… i do probably have to push myself to keep getting out enough. i’m just about to turn 26, and that’s far from the point where i should become socially isolated.

–be active
last year: keep playing lots of volleyball when it’s nice at the beach. ride my bike to work once a week. stay trim.

this year: the bike thing didn’t work out at all. and i’m probably slightly less trim from a lot of beers at a lot of parties and football games. so if i ditch the bike thing and just work on losing a few pounds with some regular exercise and i’ll be golden. can’t wait for volleyball season to start back up either.

–be adventurous
last year: go to some new restuarants. switch apartments. go on spontaneous outings. use those frequent flier miles to go somewhere i’ve never been. take a road trip in a new direction.

this year: didn’t switch apartments, but that’s a good thing because ours is pretty perfect still. did go several places i’ve never been (buenos aires, santa barbara wine country). did not take a road trip anywhere crazy. so for this year i’m hoping to just replicate my successes… some cool trips with jessica, more explorations of what LA has to offer, and maybe throw in a road trip if i can, we’ll see.

–be better
last year: move up in the ranks at work because i’m doing great and deserve it, not just because another year’s gone by. push myself to contribute more at this place i spend five days a week.

this year: did alright. i’m not promoted yet, but it takes longer the higher up you get and i’m making progress. if i can be proactive and a little more detail-oriented — the two things i’ve always had trouble with, but which i’m really working on — i think it’ll be a good year.

–be romantic:
last year: the girl i like is not just a female buddy that spends the night. more surprises and special moments this year, i say!

this year: i’d say this is the one i really excelled in. the past year with jessica has been the best relationship of my life so far and it continues to surprise me how smoothly it’s going. we never fight and we always have a great time together, and i’m so much happier for it. this year i just want to keep earning this great thing that i have by continuing what’s been working so well for us along the way.

–TOP PRIORITY: DON’T SLOW DOWN.
last year: continue going out a lot. keep having parties. have the most fun possible. make every night count, not just weekends. stay up late. crack lots of jokes. 25 is not even close to time to settle down, so don’t.

this year: well, i definitely went to tons of parties and hosted my share of them as well. maybe i don’t stay up as late, but i do pack it in when i can. i’d say this is going well and i don’t forsee a drastic stall in my social calendar any time soon, so as far as fun goes, i’m all set.

new additions:

–be creative
i’m very interested in the idea of starting some sort of small enterprise on the side of my regular job just to see if i can take a few hours a week and start something original. i don’t have an idea yet, but i do have the feeling that i can create something original and make something out of it, i just have to push myself to actually try. now is totally the time to do it.

–be conscientious
there are a few things i’ve let slip this year that i should get a better handle on. my spending can get a little carried away sometimes. i shouldn’t smoke as much, especially in social situations where it isn’t called for. eating a little better wouldn’t hurt, nor would trying to do something for the community here or there. mostly i just want to keep an eye on myself so everything stays well-balanced.

there, done. if you read this, well, hold me to these things when you see me, or have fun watching me blow it and try again next year.

i haven’t managed to do my year-end/year-beginning chores just yet cause i’ve been busy with some nerdy stuff like playing a lot of xbox or reading or doing crosswords with my girlfriend.

why, just today i must have spent at least a couple hours on and off tinkering with this logic puzzle, which yes, i finally finished much to my satisfaction. if you check it out and just can’t imagine how it’s done, i can even send you the solution i worked out. in excel.

like i said, NERDY.

cool stuff shall return soon, i promise!