Arty Things I Liked in 2006

MOVIES:

Lessee, what I like? BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, CAPOTE, THE QUEEN, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, HALF NELSON, STRANGER THAN FICTION, and I'm still waiting to see BABEL and NOTES ON A SCANDAL, and THE HOLIDAY.

BOOKS:

I never read new fiction, well, I do, but only after everybody else and his dog has worn it to a bone, but a few books I read this year that I liked (that spring to mind) were Lillian Hellman's PENTIMENTO, Louise Welsh's TAMBURLAINE MUST DIE, Augusten Burrough's RUNNING WITH SCISSORS (oddly, I didn't see the movie) and THE WORLD OF CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE by David Riggs.

MUSIC:

This is the year I became enamoured of THE PET SHOP BOYS (after my withering initial putdown of them sounding bland and over-medicated) when Scotty made me sit down and listen to all of their stuff. I came away entranced by the sheer subtle brilliance and wit of their music. Scott also got me onto THE SCISSOR SISTERS, with the end result that I adore them even more than PSB. I'd marry Jake Shears in a second (if he asked me). You see why its important to have brilliant friends who take your stupidity with a grain of salt? Scotty's a virtual Job with me.....

DVD:

One of the wonderful things about DVD's is that its so much easier to have a proper movie library now. And a lot of old and not-so-old wonderful stuff is coming out on disk collections, having been totally remastered. A couple of winners I saw this year was the Tennessee Williams' collection, (with a wonderful and seldom seen NIGHT OF THE IGUANA with Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr and a brilliant Ava Gardner in I think, her best performance ever) THE JAMES DEAN COLLECTION, (with a brilliant transfer of EAST OF EDEN). I also adored THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, FUNNY FACE, ELIZABETH, ANOTHER GAY MOVIE, and the original 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA....

That's just a taste of what I remember. I'm sure there's more. If I can think of anything else, I'll add it on later....