Here's my year end for 2004:

Movies

I saw 27 movies in the theater this year, 3 more than last year (I see many more at home.).

My favorites (in the order I saw them):

The Cooler
Touching the Void
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kill Bill Vol 2
Spider-Man 2
Napoleon Dynamite
Metallica, Some Kind of Monster
Shaun of the Dead
Team America, World Police
Kinsey
A Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

(Man F911 was so bad. It was so bad that it would have ruined the whole year for movies if there were just good movie, but luckily, we had Team America, Kinsey, Shaun of the Dead, and The Eternal Sunshine. Anyone one of those movies would be a fine best movie of the year. Man, does Moore suck. )

I put video, broadcast, DVD, and TiVo, together.

I saw 72 video things (28 more than last year but about 20 of those were screenings of "The Aristocrats." Also whole season of 24, CSI, and Law & Order only counted as one each, and the TiVo TV shows don't count at all - it has to be a movie if it's on TV. ) - here's the ones I liked in the order I saw them:

I'm off my Perry Mason kick. I got really sick and watched a lot of CSIs and Law & Orders. I like them, they hold my attention and I like that CSI celebrates rational (but made- up) thinking. I do get disgusted by how anti-sex and pro- police they all are. There's a given that rights just get in the way. I still love Columbo, but we've seen most all of them, even the late sucky ones.

This year was a LOT of South Park. I don't think there are smarter people alive. Every one of these shows takes my breath away. Genius. Real, no kidding genius.

I watched a few more Da Ali G shows. They make me uncomfortable while watching, but after they make me laugh. That's a cool style.

Here's what I liked, in the order I saw them:

Rebecca
The Aristocrats (all 20 or so versions - it's amazing)
The In-Laws (the original, please)
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Stooges shorts (lots of them)
Rounders (you know, I'm a poker guy)
Being John Malkovich
Mad Dog and Glory
Murder's Row (Matt Helm)
The Shipping News
The Hustler
Vova & Olga Galchenko (by Jason Garfield)
Die Hard
Michael Moore Hates America (even though I'm in it)
Team America (on video, unfinished with Trey singing and acting it out)
Pope of Greenwich Village
The Big Blue
The Comedian Harmonists
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Rosemary's Baby
The Big Bounce
The Human Stain
Rope
Casablanca
Charade
24 - Season Three
Shattered Glass
The Other Final

Bands

I saw 17 bands (2 more than last year) in 2004 and my favorites were:

Death To Dogma
Clint Holmes
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
NRBQ, 35th Anniversary
NRBQ, 35th Anniversary Reunion Show (night two)
Patti Smith
The Lon Bronson All-Star Band
The Beatles, Back in the NFLD
Lon Bronson All Stars
Julian Fleisher, Martha Plimpton, Together Again (for the third time), Unplugged, Uncorked,
Bruce in the USA
Morrie Louden Duo
Colorado Quartet

Comedy Shows

I saw 10 comedy shows in 2004 (6 more than last year) and my favorites:

Julia Sweeny - Losing God
Urgent and Confidential: The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam
Carnival Knowledge
The Beatles, Back in the NFLD
Vinnie Favorito / Mike Close

Magic Performances

I saw 16 magic performers in 2004 (8 more than last year) and my favorites were:

Steve Forte (at his home)
The Tower Magic Bar - (Eric Mead, Chris Corn)
Monday Night Magic - (Todd Robbins)
Carnival Knowledge
John Graffeo
Magic Castle (Billy McComb)
Kard Klinik (Eric Mead, Mike Close [Jamy ran it but didn't really perform and I didn't see his lecture, but Eric and Mike killed me dead.])

Plays

I saw 12 plays (10 more than last year). Here's the ones I liked in the order I saw them:

Julia Sweeny - Losing God
Urgent and Confidential: The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam
Avenue Q
Carnival Knowledge
Assassins
The Beatles, Back in the NFLD
Julian Fleisher, Martha Plimpton, Together Again (for the third time), Unplugged, Uncorked, Unrehearsed
Urgent and Confidential, The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam

Vegas Shows

I saw 30 Vegas shows in 2004 (Same as last year and the year before), my favorites were:

Bond Con
Julia Sweeny - Losing God
The Nigerian Spam Scam
Death To Dogma
Clint Holmes
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
Morrie Loudon and his piano player
Freedom Fest (Harry Browne)
The Lon Bronson All-Star Band
Moscow State Circus
Lon Bronson All Stars
Michael Badnarik Libertarian meeting
San Gennaro Feast
Kard Klinik
Fetish and Fantasy Ball
Vinnie Favorito / Mike Close
Bruce in the USA
Morrie Louden Duo
World Juggling Federation 2004 Convention
Colorado Quartet<

Books My book list is less complete, I read about 17 books this year and liked most of them. That's more than last year, but man, it's not enough. It's only a bit more than one book a month. Of course that doesn't include Moby Dick, which I'm always reading and listening to in the car and "The Road to En-Dor" that I'm reading over and over with hopes of a movie with Neil Gaiman.

Ellen in Love (First Draft) - Kaye Gibbons
Sleeping Where I Fall - Peter
Positively Fifth Street - Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker - James McManus
Against Love, A Polemic - Laura Kipnis
The Spook And the Commandant - Group Captain C.W. Hill
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon
The Georgia Wonder - Lulu Hurst and the Secret That Shook America - compiled and introduced by Barry H. Wiley
Freethinkers, A History of American Secularism - Susan Jacoby
The Substance of Style, How the rise of aesthetic value is remaking commerce, culture, & consciousness - Virginia Postrel
Checkpoint - Nicholson
American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll - Orvin Larson
Phantoms of the Card Table - David Britland & "Gazzo"
Chronicles Volume One - Bob Dylan
The Prisoner of Vandam Street - Kinky Friedman
I, Fatty - Jerry Stahl
Beg the Question - Bob Fingerman

Penn

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