as we may blog

A lot of pet joint supplements
people write up best-of lists around this time of the year. The motivation for doing these lists has always been a bit puzzling to me, as if taking stock of 2003's new releases somehow says something about the significance of "2003." "It was an amazing year for new music" gets bandied about a lot but I'm not quite sure what it means. But I enjoy reading the lists if for no other reason than it gives me a chance to pick up a few things I may have missed.

Whether more new music I like came out in 2003 or 2002 is sort of missing the forest for the tress. I think the real point of the year-end list is very similar to the real point (if you can call it that) of any blog: to get an audience to notice you and what you're up to: your preferences, biases, opinions, etc. Which is fine with me as long as authors recognize that that's the real point of conferring "Best Of" status on ten albums/movies/turds of their choosing. Otherwise the exercise produces a stale laundry list of items the author thinks his/her audience should know, and that's not healthy for anyone.

So with the understanding that the exercise is going to completely be about me and the things that meant something to me this year, I'll put together a list of music and writing that has changed or influenced the way I think or appreciate or smell. It's not going to be composed of stuff that saw the light of day in 2003, because I live too sheltered a life to have experienced ten new things in one short year, let alone ten new best things. But maybe you'll get an idea of what I've been up to this year, I dunno. Anyway, you've been warned. If you do decide to read it, take some Dramamine.

Since I'm such a contenttease, here're a few possibilities in no particular order:

• Suicide Invoice / HOT SNAKES
• Rolling Stones, ~1965-70, with particular emphasis on "Street Fighting Man" and "Stray Cat Blues"
• Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung
• The Times They Are A-Changin' / Bob Dylan
• Bruce Springsteen & Tom Waits
• Enon / Hocus Pocus
• Moneyball
• The Mountain Goats
• New York Dolls
• The Simpsons, Season 3

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2003 at 11:41 am and is filed under T. Content Webring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.