2003 and All That

Continuing a three-year tradition of end-of-year lists (2000, 2001, 2002). Ten just doesn't seem like enough, so this year it's twelves.

Top Twelve Movies I Saw This Year

  1. City of God
  2. Goodbye Lenin!
  3. The Magdalene Sisters
  4. Lilya 4 Ever
  5. Etre et Avoir
  6. Whale Rider
  7. Intolerable Cruelty
  8. Kill Bill Vol. 1
  9. About Schmidt
  10. Spellbound
  11. Catch Me If You Can

... and one space reserved for you-know-what, which I'm hoping will lob into the top three. A tough call on the last few spots, with strong contenders like Finding Nemo, Nicholas Nickleby, Spirited Away, American Splendor, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Terminator 3, The Quiet American, Bright Young Things and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Best pre-2003 movie caught on DVD was Harry, He's Here to Help.

Top Twelve CDs First Heard This Year

  1. Lemon Jelly, Lost Horizons
  2. Muse, Absolution
  3. The Dandy Warhols, Welcome to the Monkey House
  4. The New Pornographers, Electric Version
  5. Elbow, Cast of Thousands
  6. Radiohead, Hail to the Thief
  7. Blur, Think Tank
  8. Catatonia, Paper Scissors Stone
  9. Manic Street Preachers, Know Your Enemy
  10. Various Artists, Popshopping Vol. 1
  11. The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
  12. Elliott Smith, Elliott Smith

Numbers 1 and 8-12 are pre-2003 releases; number 10 is a collection of German ad jingles from the '60s and '70s (groovy!). Other 2003 contenders include Alfie's Do You Imagine Things?, the Proclaimers' Born Innocent, Travis's 12 Memories, Goldfrapp's Black Cherry, the Super Furry Animals' Phantom Power, and not much else thanks to the blight of copy-protected disks.

Top Twelve Books Read This Year

  1. Michel de Montaigne, Essays (translated by J.M. Cohen)
  2. Mil Millington, Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About
  3. Giles Milton, Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
  4. David Gelernter, The Muse in the Machine: Computers and Creative Thought
  5. Jonathan Coe, What a Carve Up!
  6. Sue Townsend, Number Ten
  7. Jonathan Coe, A Touch of Love
  8. Mil Millington, A Certain Chemistry
  9. Larry Gonick, The Cartoon History of the Universe III
  10. Lawrence Lessig, The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
  11. James Woodford, The Secret Life of Wombats
  12. David Lodge, Nice Work

A few potentially good ones still on the book-pile for December, but these'll do.

Cities I Visited This Year

In chronological order; the first three more than once. This was more an exploring-the-countryside year than a city-hopping one.

  1. Glasgow, Scotland
  2. Aberdeen, Scotland
  3. Perth, Scotland
  4. Inverness, Scotland
  5. London, England
  6. Carlisle, England
  7. Durham, England
  8. Newcastle, England
  9. Melbourne, Australia
  10. Hobart, Australia
  11. Nottingham, England
  12. Derby, England

And will have visited by the end of the year: Gothenburg, Sweden.

10 December 2003

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