Current mood:	contemplative
Current music:	Tom Jones

A Quick Look Back
Much of 2008 sucked for me as well as many others, but at least there were a few pleasant distractions along the way. Here’s some of what I enjoyed this past year …

I saw 17 films during 2008, a couple of them twice, including what was easily my choice as the best of the year: “The Dark Knight.” As my son Bill put it: "It's the Batman film I always hoped would be made." And Heath Ledger's Joker is an unforgettable performance. My other favorite films of the year: the French “Tell No One,” an engrossing Hitchcockian thriller; “Iron Man,” with Robert Downey Jr. owning the screen as millionaire-turned-superhero Tony Stark; and “Cloverfield” (my other two-timer), a stylish reinvention of the monster movie.

Also enjoyable: Tom Cruise trying to kill Hitler in “Valkyrie,” Daniel Craig on a mission of vengeance as 007 in the lean, mean “Quantum of Solace,” the extremely well-cast remake of “Brideshead Revisited,” the more character-driven, fan-friendly “The X-Files: I Want to Believe,” the fast, furious, over-the-top “Wanted,” and the French spy farce “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies” and its Hollywood cousin “Get Smart” (especially Anne Hathaway).

And then there were the films I went to for one reason or another that proved to be decent entertainment, though not all that memorable: “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and “Vantage Point.”

On the tube, the sci-fi mindscrambler “Lost” turned in a consistently engrossing season and remained atop my favorites list, but it had strong competition from the 1960s-set Madison Avenue drama “Man Men,” which is easily the smartest, most impressive series on TV. I also really enjoyed HBO’s sexy, bloody vampire series “True Blood,” and I was glad to see that by midseason the new “X-Files” wannabe “Fringe” was starting to hit its stride. I continued to enjoy the trio of “Law and Order” series, though I don’t think any of them is having as good a current run as they did in the season that wound up last May. I also enjoyed the sporadic episodes of the demon-battling series “Supernatural” that I saw. And I continue to be a regular viewer of “Late Show With David Letterman” and thought Dave was in top form during the fall presidential campaign.

Musically, my favorite albums of the year were Paul McCartney (as the Fireman) merging his melodic and experimental sides on the superb, challenging “Electric Arguments”; Coldplay’s relentlessly melodic and thoughtful “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends”; California folk-pop-blues chanteuse Tristan Prettyman’s playful and always tuneful “Hello…x”; James Taylor’s commanding remakes on “Covers”; and Shelby Lynne’s Dusty Springfield tribute album, “Just a Little Lovin’.”

Also worth repeat plays: the welcome comeback album “Meet Glen Campbell”; “Rockferry,” the debut album by Welsh retro-soul singer Duffy (the single “Mercy” got on my nerves a bit but the rest of the album is top-notch material and drew a Grammy nominee for best pop vocal album); “19” by Adele, another of the new breed of British blue-eyed soul singers, who has an impressive voice though her tunes aren’t as good as Duffy’s, with the exception of “Chasing Pavements,” which is a Grammy nominee for Record of the Year and Song of the Year (Adele and Duffy are both up for best new artist and best female pop vocal performance); Tom Jones’ “24 Hours,” his first new U.S. studio album in 15 years and an enjoyable showcase for what’s still a terrific voice; the rootsy folk tunes of Atlantan Shawn Mullins on “Honeydew”; and the charmingly retro indie pop/alt country of “She & Him,” the album debut of actress Zooey Deschanel as a singer-songwriter. My son Bill introduced me to that last release. A couple of compilations I’m glad I picked up: Frank Sinatra’s “Nothing But the Best” and “The Dave Clark Five: The Hits.” And also worth getting is the 30th anniversary edition of Billy Joel’s “The Stranger.” My favorite bootleg release: Paul McCartney's Ukraine concert.

Single tracks that particularly appealed to me this year include: Sheryl Crow’s “Love Is Free” and “Detours,” R.E.M.’s “Supernatural Superserious,” Jack Johnson’s “Hope,” Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours,” Gavin Rossdale’s “Love Remains the Same,” the Killers’ “Human,” O.A.R.’s “Shattered (Turn the Car Around),” Guster’s “Satellite” (which actually came out in 2007), Loudon Wainwright III’s “School Days” (the version on his recent “Recovery” album), Shawn Mullins’ “All in My Head,” Linkin Park’s “Shadow of the Day” (also from 2007) and David Gray’s “You’re the World to Me” (off his 2007 “Greatest Hits” … hey, sometimes it takes me a while).

The only concert I saw this year: Coldplay, arena rock at its best, artfully presented.

Of the many new DVD releases I picked up this year, here are a few highlights I recommend: The “Walt Disney Treasures” edition of “Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh” (with Patrick McGoohan!), “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: The Best of Season 3” (even if it doesn’t entirely live up to the title because it doesn’t include the two Beatles shows), “Classic Albums: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” (with wonderful interviews about the making of the album), “Birds of Prey: The Complete Series” (an underrated short-lived TV version of the Batman comic spinoff), “Serial” (the long-awaited DVD debut of the classic Martin Mull-Tuesday Weld satire of late ’70s Marin County, California … sex, drugs, psychobabble and health food), “War Games: 25th Anniversary Edition (still a terrific film, with a young Matthew Broderick at his best), “Mad Men: Season One” (a great way to see what all the fuss is about), “The Invaders: The First Season” (the ’60s sci-fi classic with Roy Thinnes), “Matlock: The First Season” (for Andy Griffith fans, including the terrific two-hour pilot filmed in Atlanta) and “This Is Tom Jones Volume 2: Legendary Performers” (more from his ’60s variety hour, featuring guests ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to Janis Joplin).

And the best development in radio for me this year: the arrival of Scott Shannon’s True Oldies Channel on the Atlanta airwaves. At last, a station with a playlist that isn't limited to a couple of hundred songs!

MOVING ON TO THE NEW YEAR: The first film Leslie and I have seen in 2008 is the French drama “I’ve Loved You So Long,” starring the bilingual Kristin Scott Thomas as a bit of a mystery woman who is released from prison after serving 15 years for murdering her own son. She goes to live with her younger sister, who is anxious to re-establish a relationship while at the same time not wanting to dwell on what happened and why. The sister’s husband is understandably nervous, since they have two adopted daughters. What transpires is an intelligently observant piece, worth seeing just for the performance of Scott Thomas, who is brilliant portraying a woman slowly coming back to life. Elsa Zylberstein is also great as her endearing, if somewhat neurotic, sister. Scott Thomas, by the way, recently signed to play John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi in “Nowhere Boy,” a forthcoming film about the Beatle’s childhood.

QUICKIES: I don’t usually watch “Saturday Night Live” past the opening bit, but I stayed tuned last night to catch Nashville sensation Taylor Swift as the musical performer. The 19-year-old is, of course, stunningly beautiful, but she also writes interesting tunes, though what I’ve heard from her latest album doesn’t really have much connection to country music. Swift, who was obviously thrilled to be there, came off pretty well, though she doesn’t have the strongest voice around. However, her band’s antics behind her were unintentionally amusing — like a parody of every rock-star pose you’ve ever seen onstage. … What’s in a name? Well, when it comes to the British buying public, apparently not enough. I read recently that in Britain Cadbury finds it necessary to print a warning saying “CONTAINS MILK” on its Dairy Milk candy bars and a “CONTAINS NUTS” warning on its Dairy Milk Whole Nut bar. It seems they’re simply following in the steps of the U.K. supermarket chain Tesco, which three years ago started putting “CONTAINS MILK” warnings on, you guessed it, cartons of milk. … Parents too often take for granted that their children understand what they’re hearing until their kids amusingly show otherwise. When our daughter Olivia was 4 years old, there was a gubernatorial campaign going on in which the Republican ran nonstop ads labeling his opponent, Roy Barnes, “too liberal” for Georgia. One day at my folks’ house, Barnes came on the TV screen and Olivia exclaimed to my father, “Papa, there’s Roy Barnes, he’s too LITTLE for Georgia!” More recently, my brother’s 4-year-old grandson spotted the president-elect on the tube and identified him as “The Rock” Obama! Mmmm, smell what The Rock is cooking in Washington.

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