Christmas + looking ahead to 2013

How was your Christmas? Unfortunately there was a great deal of illness in our family this holiday season, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves anyway. I somehow avoided becoming sick (so far). Fingers crossed.


Get any cool gifts? Here's a list of several of mine:

Books:
The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies and What They Did to Us - David Thomson
Cronenberg on Cronenberg
Quiet - Susan Cain
Sight and Sound film magazine subscription

DVDS, all of them random surprises:
Backwoods (2006)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
The Black Dahlia (2006)

Looking over my film watching numbers the last two or three years, I regret watching too many average new films. So one of my mini goals for 2013 is to cut back on that, and focus on diversifying film watching, so I watch films from different decades.

I've decided to simplify things, and rank my favorites by IMDb year, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and so forth. I've seen so many from those four years, and some years way back hardly any, so that it's very unbalanced viewing.

I'd love to compile a Top Fives by Year, which other cinephiles are working on. Perhaps going back to 1920. It's a lifelong hobby. I stumbled upon Jandy's and Jeff's. Looking at their ambitious lists puts me to shame (:

I've taken a step in that direction by compiling a blindspot list for 2013 of about 50 classic films I've not watched. If I watch half of them, I'll be happy.

On the music front, I don't have anything definite planned. I feel a similar way as above, that I ought to listen to the old albums a lot more, and diversify.

Here are a few on my list to explore:

60s: The Beatles, Bob Dylan,

70s and 80s: Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, The Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, Brian Eno, Genesis, The Smiths, Ultravox, A-ha, Tangerine Dream, Big Star, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, The Pretenders, Vangelis, Daniel Johnston,

90s and 00s: Beck, Joan As Police Woman, Nick Cave, Fiona Apple, The Antlers, The National, Feist, The Radio Dept, Burial, Keane, Corinne Bailey Rae, Tindersticks, PJ Harvey, Air, Thievery Corporation, Eels, Enigma, Blur, Goldfrapp, Moby, Lenny Kravitz, Sinéad O'Connor, Phoenix, Massive Attack, Sneaker Pimps, Camera Obscura, Regina Spektor, Gotye, The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, David Gray, Sebastien Tellier, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Lush, The Vaccines,




Which mini goals, in terms of movie watching, or life in general, do you have for 2013? Receive any great gifts from under the tree? I hope you had a nice Christmas, and wish my readers a Happy New Year!