My Favorite Music, Movies, Video & Books of '12!

Movies
The Dark Knight Rises
I'm Now: The Story of Mudhoney
Searching for Sugar Man
Notes: Of the 19 movies I saw this year, eleven of which were 2012 releases, and just these three of those I deemed list-worthy... I got myself all psyched for The Amazing Spider-Man, but it turned out to be a proverbial turd in the punchbowl... And the less said about Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the better.

Video
Breaking Bad: Season 4
Eastbound & Down: Season 3
Get a Life: The Complete Series
Louie: Season 2
Notes: This doesn't include stuff from the "Movies" list above, just TV shows... Still need to see season five of Mad Men, released this year... Can't wait 'til the latest seasons of Breaking Bad and Louie are out on video, hopefully in 2013.


Songs
Best Coast - "Mean Girls"
Dum Dum Girls - "I Got Nothing"
Bob Dylan - "Pay in Blood"
Ben Gibbard - "Ichiro's Theme"
Japandroids - "The House That Heaven Built"
King Tuff - "Bad Thing"
Melvins - "Let Me Roll It"
Bob Mould - "The Descent"
Public Image Ltd. - "One Drop"
The Rolling Stones - "Doom and Gloom"
Soundgarden - "Been Away Too Long"
Bruce Springsteen - "We Take Care of Our Own"
TacocaT - "Cat Fancy"
Thee Oh Sees - "Lupine Dominus"
Jack White - "I'm Shakin'"
Notes: I just don't get into new albums as much as individual songs anymore, though the exception this year would be Best Coast's The Only Place... A couple older acts I became obsessed with in 2012 are the Beach Boys and Hüsker Dü (the first rock concert I ever saw was the Beach Boys, at the Puyallup Fair in 1981 or '82, and I regret not seeing them on their 50th anniversary tour this year; I saw Bob Mould open for the Pixies in '89 (and thought he sucked)... I'm also bummed that I again missed the original Dinosaur Jr. lineup when they came through town... Otherwise, I saw some classic rock bands for the first time (Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Heart) as well as a couple new favorites (Best Coast, Dum Dum Girls), plus some old standbys (Girl Trouble, Melvins, Young Fresh Fellows).

Books
The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy
Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman
The Obamas by Jodi Kantor
Everybody Loves Our Town by Mark Yarm
Notes: I didn't read much this year. The other ten books I did read were either published in previous years (the best of which was Duff McKagan's It's So Easy (And Other Lies)), or comics...

Comics
The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist by Alvin Buenaventura
Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank
Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland by Harvey Pekar
New York Drawings by Adrian Tomine
Notes: I still wanna read Chris Ware's Building Stories.

For those keeping score, here are my favorites from 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006 (movies and music).
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Gimme Gimme Gimme

Tomorrow's Black Friday, so now's as good a time as any to drop fat hints about all the weird stuff you should buy me. None of these things I can't live without, and I'd probably own 'em already if they weren't so elusive and/or expensive (or if I never got rid of some of these items in the first place). I guess it's their current elusiveness that makes them so desirable.

Like this Billiken bank, above. My grandma had one of these, which her dad bought her at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. I don't know whatever happened to it, but I don't think I'd want any other than that one in particular.

I used to have these bitchin' Batman View-Master reels, which aren't all that rare, and that I can re-experience here and here (albeit without the stereoscope action). Still...

I also used to have a Mariners inaugural 1977 season program, like this one. These are always on eBay, except the one I want: it's from the first ballgame I ever went to, sold during the June 3-4-5 Cleveland series. It profiled Seattleite-turned-Indian Paul Dade, and had a photo feature of the first-ever M's triple play -- Reynolds to Meyer to Jutze.

Also on the baseball tip, I'd go for a vintage Pilots pennant or any other such ephemera - a pocket schedule, a scorecard, a media guide or a yearbook. But it's all too expensive.

All the heshers at Sequoia Junior High wore this KISW tee (most likely purchased at the Squire Shop, along with a pair of James Jean painter pants). Now I want one too.


Also on the rock 'n' roll tip, this Girl Trouble Live CD. The only time I ever saw one was at Fallout, but I passed on it that day. Haven't seen it since.



I'm also missing issues 1-9 and 11-13 of Wig Out!, Girl Trouble's self-produced fanzine, along with issues 1-9 and 11 of Roctober, a whole heap of Murtaugh back issues (featuring Tony Millionaire's Batty comics), and Motorbooty #2. I haven't even seen a picture of this issue, making me wonder if it ever even existed... This is an ad from around that era (circa '89) -- if it did exist, perhaps that's what the cover looked like?

Finally, I've mentioned before that I want a Six Million Dollar Man Bigfoot, but I wanna Beastie Boys Bigfoot even more. Supposedly just 70 of these were released in 2004 to promote "Triple Trouble" -- the figure wears an apron, just like in the video.

Alright, I gotta be at Mervyn's at 4 a.m... Let the war on Xmas begin!
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Remembering KJET

This week over at Lamestain, Los Bros Ojendyk have been documenting the people, the places, and the people that figured prominently in Seattle's circa-'87 music scene, when grunge was still in utero. Included in today's post is my own contribution, a short bit about my favorite radio station during my '80s teens... In case you missed it, in January Lamestain also ran my post about Girl Trouble... Thanks again, dudes!
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Bill and Tom's Excellent Blog Venture

I'm forever grateful to Bill and Tom Ojendyk for publishing my first-time-ever- in-print anything, an article about pinball, which they ran in a 1994 issue of their fanzine Bopsicle.

These days, Los Bros. Ojendyk are busy with the awesome Lamestain, a blog about the lesser-known- but-no-less-deserving acts of Seattle's grunge era. Their we-were-there insight covers such under-appreciated outfits as the Melvins (seen here), the Wipers, Green River, Dickless, and the Freewheelin' Mark Arm. Also, there's a cute picture of Bill's baby in a Motörhead onesie.

Today I'm grateful to Bill and Tom for inviting me to do a guest-post on Lamestain -- Girl Trouble: Grunge By Association went up this morning.

Thanks dudes!
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