2007 In Review

One of the more common hold ups to getting the Golden Monkey Head Awards posted on ADH was simply all the problems that came up trying to think of people to give certain awards to, especially worst album and video as I try my best to avoid music I will remotely dislike let alone listen to a whole album of it, and do they even still show videos anymore? So now I don’t have a format to stick to so I’m just going to go on a little rant about the best and the worst of what Hollywood and the media gave us in 2007. And like usual this is all based on things I’ve seen/read/heard myself so if you’re shocked that I don’t have an opinion on something, I probably just haven’t seen/read/heard it yet.

Movies
As usual the bad ones stick out in my head the most: Transformers, I already explained what I didn’t like about that one, Ghost Rider was really lame with a lot of great possibilities they hint at but never do anything with, and Rescue Dawn though very well acted just felt really hallow and pointless.

And the biggest disappointment for me this year was Spider-Man 3. While I didn’t hate all of it, I just have a lot of issues with it. I absolutely loved everything with Eddie Brock as they did a great job of making him absolutely insane, and I mean that in the truest sense. He had a cup of coffee one night with a girl and his mind honestly translated that into an “incredible night” and had him believing they were then in a relationship. I am also one of the few who really liked the new goblin outfit and the tandem fighting at the end. However that’s about it. Fortunately I don’t feel I need to explain what I didn’t like sense everyone else on the interweb has already said it, but here’s a break down of topics: Keep your mask on (same goes for Venom), stop crying, why did the butler wait ‘till people were almost killed several times over, Sandman should be a villain through and through, there was no reason for Gwen Stacey to be in there, and why was evil Peter sporting an emo haircut when he’s not going to cry when he’s evil.

Now for the good stuff.

Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer while it had a few plot holes, they were easily forgivable because it was a fun movie. If they make a Spider-Man 4, the people doing it need to watch this movie. Lots of action and not a lot of drama, they trusted the audience to have figured out the characters well enough from the first movie to not shove character development down our throats and just let us enjoy it. Shoot’ Em Up was so perfectly over the top cliché that it’s delicious. Super Bad was another “shut down your mind and just enjoy it,” movie for me. And despite a horrible director (they invented steady cams for a reason you pompous @$$), the Bourne Ultimatum was a fantastic addition to the Bourne story which started as a total sleeper hit.

But my hands down favorite movie of the year is easily Knocked Up. Combining a fantastic story about growing up and becoming responsible with honest humor and raunchy humor, this movie was just perfect to me. Judd Aptow is slowly working his way into my ranks of favorite story tellers with people like Jim Henson, Mike Mignola, and Dwayne Gay.

It looks like we’re going to be in for a real treat in 2008 with both Iron Man and The Dark Knight! There are a few other movies coming out that look interesting, but these two should be the standout hits of the year.

Television
Much like with music, I try to avoid things I know I won’t like. But this year I picked a few duds to watch; Bionic Woman, Flash Gordon, and Moonlight. The best of the three was Bionic Woman, which isn’t horrible, it’s just bland and I in no way care about any of the characters. Woman gets bionic parts from clandestine military group, woman helps said group run covert ops because she can, that’s it for motivation really. Flash Gordon is one of those shows that’s related to the source material in name only. No space ships and a ridiculously unimposing actor for Ming the Merciless are just the two most obvious problems. And Moonlight is just another attempt at, “vampires are real but what you think you know about them is wrong,” and yet it’s painfully clichéd with the vampire falling for a human. That same vampire also works as a detective and refuses to drink blood directly from humans (he picks up bags from a coroner).

On the same note there have been three stand out hits for me this year: Human Weapon, the Dresden Files, and Burn Notice. What I love most about Human Weapon is the history they cover, and the ancient forms of training they go through. The Dresden Files was an incredibly fun show about magic and monsters in modern day Chicago (see Other Stuff for why I said “was”). And Burn Notice, man, everything about the show is just fantastic, and it’s a lot of subtle things that do it for me. Like how nearly every episode is book ended with things involving the over all story arch. I’m so glad Bruce Campbell is in this or I may have not heard of it, but as huge a Campbell fan as I am even I’ll admit that him being in the show is just an added bonus because Jeffrey Donovan is simply amazing. My favorite subtle moment of the first season was when Donovan’s character is talking to his new Russian land lord and the land lord says, “So you’re the real Michael Weston? The KGB tells stories of you; they say you make too much trouble to be just one man.” Now while that may seem like a lot when you read it, they presented it in a way that it seems like casual conversation between the two of them yet it goes a long way towards establishing just how good Weston is in the spy world.

What I can’t wait for in ’08 is the return of Burn Notice, the new season of Doctor Who, and finally getting the third season of The Venture Brothers!!!

Music
I honestly don’t remember what came out this year because there is only one album that mattered: Dethalbum by Dethklok, the Metalocalypse soundtrack. Such an insanely good album from a “fake” band, and to me nothing is better than when you can tell a band is really having fun making an album. This has that in spades with phenomenal music coupled with goofy lyrics.

Now I’m not sure what’s in store for the music scene in 2008 other than a new album from Weezer, which I hope is fantastic because as a long time fan I was very disappointed with Make Believe.

Other Stuff
The only book that I read that came out in ’07 was Baltimore: or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola and Mark Compass, which was fan-freaking-tastic. A dark yet beautifully told vampire story set during the post World War I flu outbreak in Europe, and at the same time a reflection of The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Anderson, and still so much more.

The sports world gave us more than our share of train wrecks. From Barry Bonds breaking the home run record with the help of more drugs than I have fingers (and an arm brace that actually enhances his swing) to the sick tale of Michael Vick and the resulting humor from those defending him (especially Deon Sanders) or showing concern for his career, and oh so many other things that make the NFL forcing the cancellation of Playmakers because it portrayed football and athletes in general in a bad light, all the more funny.

Over at the Sci-Fi Channel, studio president Bonnie Hammer showed off why a lot of people think executives, producers, and presidents live in a reality all of their own. Even though it constantly got tremendous ratings the Sci-Fi Channel cancelled The Dresden Files after its first season because those ratings came in from “the wrong demographic.” So it was getting better ratings than they thought they would, but since it was with a different group of people than they thought it’d appeal to, they’re cancelling it. And who the heck did they think the show would appeal to? It clearly isn’t a family show, and it feels like it was very much geared to males from 16-50, that’s a wide range there, and as far as I know that’s who was watching it. So instead they shove the new Flash Gordon down our throats, where everyone I know who were looking forward to it, stopped watching after 3 episodes (and they only watched that third to remind themselves why they wanted to stop watching after the second).

And since it is no secret that I love self induced train wrecks I must send a shout out to the person who provided more entertainment than anyone: Britney Spears. Because even though I love hearing about train wrecks, I hate the idea of actually putting effort into finding out about them through trash magazines and gossip shows. However she has been such a complete wreck that I find out things through my normal, casual daily activities. For my part she capped off the year perfectly with her release of a new video where she takes shots at the paparazzi, you know the people she herself calls before she leaves the house so they can follow her and take pictures of her, oh and one of whom she is currently paling around town with. Fantastic. Simply fantastic. But look out Britney, the year has ended with your sister ramping up the crazy and could take your throne by the end of ’08.

I must throw out an honorable mention to my friend Kristen’s former neighbors though. My only regret is that she had to deal with them. Here’s the breakdown: moving in a few apartments down from Kristen was a woman and her two kids. Moving in on the floor below her was the father of those kids with his girlfriend who turned out to be a legitimate pimp and ho duo and were arrested for such in Minneapolis. Though I feel bad that there were kids involved, the stories Kristen told such as coming home to the guy’s belongings being thrown out onto the front lawn during a fight kept me smiling for weeks on end.

So here’s to you 2008, and the inevitable train wrecks you will contain. With an election there in, you know it’s going to be good.

EDIT: I wrote this blog up on December 28th, making only a couple adjustments over the following days, mostly grammatical, but after this morning I have to throw this information in: HAPPY FREAKIN’ NEW YEAR TO ME!!! Britney Spears has gone completely insane!!! Three hour stand off!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!