Here’s my off-the-cuff, completely unscientific prediction for the Iowa caucus results:
Ron Paul–22%
Mitt Romney–20%
Rick Santorum–16%
Everyone Else–Whatever
Santorum will probably flame out after New Hampshire. Paul will eventually suffer the same fate, but the devotion of his supporters may give him slightly more staying power. It’s still Romney’s nomination to lose and none of the other candidates seem to pose a serious long-term threat.
Only ten more months until Election Day…
My extended vacation is coming to an end, so I’m trying to cram in a little more loafing before returning to a bureaucrat’s life. I hope you all had a happy New Year and that 2012 treats you well. I’m not in the habit of making resolutions, but I’m looking forward to new challenges and perhaps a little serendipity. Whatever happens, you’ll likely read about it here (unless legal concerns demand otherwise).
Best Album I Listened to in 2011: Father Son Holy Ghost by Girls Who knew that surfer pop could be so melancholy? The second album from the California one-man band is a downbeat affair. It’s something that you might listen to while sitting on the beach just after breaking up with someone. But for all its mopey tendencies, Girls still has a sense of humor. The track “Vomit” may not have the most appealing title, but it’s one of the most gorgeous ballads of the year.
Best Book I Read in 2011: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart Several of my friends from book club didn’t care for this novel about an ill-fated relationship set in a near-future dystopia where the American economy is teetering on the brink of collapse. I can certainly understand their reasons for disliking the book. The two main characters are shallow narcissists who are stuck in late-stage adolescence and they live in a world where consumerism is the only driving passion. But I still found the characters fascinating and their voices compelling. Shteyngart has accomplished a rare feat: writing a book with no likeable protagonists that still keeps the reader turning the page.
We’ll look at TV and movies today while tomorrow will focus on music and books.
Best TV of 2011: Breaking Bad In some alternate universe where Breaking Bad doesn’t exist, I might have chosen the superb Game of Thrones, which presented a fantastical story firmly rooted in human frailty. But this season of Breaking Bad stood above all contenders. It’s now obvious that Walter White’s story will end in tears, but this fourth season showed White finally embracing his destiny as a criminal–and perhaps even a villain. White knows he’s damned, but he refuses to enter the abyss without pushing a few others over the brink first. And if Giancarlo Esposito doesn’t win an Emmy for his masterful portrayal of the meticulous and quietly raging underworld mastermind Gus Fring, a terrible injustice will have been committed.
Best Films of 2011: Melancholia and Super 8 I couldn’t make up my mind between these two cinematic polar opposites, so I’m exercising blogger’s perogative and listing both. Melancholia is a cold, beautiful film about damaged and petty people behaving badly as a rogue planet bears down on Earth. Only the clinically depressed Justine (Kirsten Dunst) is able to confront the imminent catastrophe with anything approximating dignity. The images from this movie stayed with me long after I saw it.
Super 8 is a love letter to the films that captivated me as a kid–Close Encounters, E.T., and the like. It intertwines a sweet coming-of-age story and a raucous monster movie to create the best kind of popcorn entertainment. It’s even got the requisite Spielberg face moment. Super 8 probably won’t be remembered as a great film, but of all the movies I saw this year, it had the most heart.
While my parents were in town for Christmas, I spent some time helping my dad familiarize himself with his new iPad (a gift from me and my siblings). He was a bit tentative at first, but once I showed him how to download and use apps, his enthusiasm for the device increased substantially. I doubt he’ll ever use Twitter or play Angry Birds, but he seems happy enough to be able to read The New Yorker and play chess. I’ll be curious to see whether his iPad eventually supplants his desktop computer. He may find the iPad’s interface and portability more enticing. As long as he doesn’t have to fuss with the settings too often, I can’t imagine he’ll have many problems with it. At least, I hope not. The closest Apple Store is a couple hundred miles from Green Bay.
If the trailers are any judge, 2012 should be a good year for movies aimed at the geek demographic. Next summer brings Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s kinda-sorta Alien prequel. The trailer is certainly reminiscent of Alien; everything from the slow reveal of the title to the glimpses of an alien ship’s interior seem to intentionally evoke the 1979 film. How this film fits into the previously established Alien mythology will probably be the subject of much fanboy speculation over the next several months.
Next December brings the first part of The Hobbit. The first moments of the trailer are a bit heavy on the slapstick, but then the tone seems to shift to something more foreboding. We don’t get to see Mirkwood spiders or the dragon Smaug, but Gollum and The One Ring make appearances. And check out Thorin Oakenshield as the first sexy dwarf in cinematic history.
This Times story about the relationship between two college students with Asperger’s Syndrome is a wonderful read. The couple featured in the article are exceptionally forthright in discussing the peaks and valleys of their relationship and how their respective diagnoses affect their capacity to connect with each other. I’m sure that plenty of young people on the autism spectrum have questions about whether it’s possible to meet someone who will accept them for who they are. There’s no guarantee that any of us will find such a person, but stories like this are important because they demonstrate that discovering love can and does happen even when the people involved don’t fit society’s definition of “normal”.
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend. I just finished up some last-minute preparations before family arrives tomorrow. The lack of snow here in the Twin Cities is a little dispiriting, but it does make errand-running much easier.
I’ll be back next week with my usual year-end wrap-up. See you then.
Star Wars: The Old Republic shares a lot in common with World of Warcraft, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Like WoW, The Old Republic has all the standard features of a massively multiplayer game: quests, leveling up your character, and killing all manner of baddies. Even SW:TOR‘s interface looks a lot like WoW‘s. But despite all its similarities with its predecessor, SW:TOR is quite compelling. BioWare has polished the game’s narrative to a high sheen, creating an emotional connection to the storyline that I never really developed with WoW. So far, I’ve rolled a Smuggler and a Sith Inquisitor and I’m having a blast playing through both storylines. Playing through all the game’s content will probably require hundreds of hours.
I can play the game without much trouble using just the mouse and on-screen keyboard. It would be nice if the interface allowed for additional customization, but that will probably come in time. The graphics and sound are top-notch, as is the voice-acting. SW:TOR has earned my subscription dollar, at least until I run out of things to do in the game universe.
When the Wall Street Journal editorial page starts bashing House Republicans for failing to extend the payroll tax cut, you know that the GOP is heading over a cliff. I’d really like someone to explain what Republicans were thinking when they decided to block a tax cut extension that the Senate passed with an overwhelming majority. Did they really believe they would score political points by opposing Obama on a tax cut? Has conservative ideology become so nihilistic as to cause its followers to take complete leave of their senses? Meanwhile, Obama is enjoying a modest but still noteworthy rebound in the polls. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Republicans have a secret compulsion to throw the election to the President. So far, their strategy seems to be working.