Books I Read in 2012

I only read 26 books in 2012, down from 36 in 2011 and 40 in 2010 but I still managed to find a new addition to my Top 10 All-Time Favourites List in Room by Emma Donaghue. The rest, in order read.

1. A Feast for Crows - George R.R. Martin
2. Bossypants - Tina Fey
3. Room - Emma Donaghue
4. Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
5. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
6. Heavy Weather - P.G. Wodehouse
7. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
8. Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris
9. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
10. At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O'Brien
11. Little Princes - Conor Grennan
12. Dogs in Books - Catherine Britton
13. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
14. The Farthest Shore - Ursula K. Le Guin
15. Boy Meets Boy - David Levithan
16. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
17. Saturday - Ian McEwan
18. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
19. The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss
20. Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson
21. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
22. Eating the Dinosaur - Chuck Klosterman
23. A Dance with Dragons - George R.R. Martin
24. Come, Thou Tortoise - Jessica Grant
25. Of Bees and Mist - Erick Setiwian
26. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole (re-read)

COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS
1-5. Sandman Vol. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 - Neil Gaiman
6. Bone: One Volume Edition - Jeff Smith

Aside from Room, my other favourites were Then We Came To The End (a workplace satire told in first-person-plural), Little Princes (not usually much for non-fiction but this was really great), Saturday and Behind the Scenes at the Museum.

After a re-read, A Confederacy of Dunces still holds up as my second favourite novel of all-time.

The Walking Dead - Season 3, Episode 8 - "Made to Suffer"

The Walking Dead

Season Three, Episode Eight

"Made to Suffer"

“You is kind, you is smart, you is important.”

THIS IS IT, BOYS, THIS IS WAR

It’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.

That somebody ended up being The Governor, who lost an eye and the apple of his eye at the hands of Michonne. We’re going to see a darker, more bloodthirsty Eff You Mode Governor in the second half of the season come February. Not only did he already want to wipe out the prison for previously stated preservation reasons, now it’s personal. Also, he now gets to dip into the villain costume box and accessorize with an eye patch.

Before we get to more speculating, let’s rewind the tape. Shard of glass pops out of eyeball, katana retracts from zombie daughter, bullets go back into guns, rescue mission backtracks out of Woodbury, Glaggie return to being prisoners and Merle reverts to being in the Governor’s good graces. Let’s start with the new kids on the block.

Obviously this Tyreese fellow, who from what I understand is a popular character from the comics (that’s all I know), is going to become a bigger character. He’s the only one of his group that has a name so far. This does not bode well for the survival of his companions. Tyreese seems to be a gentle, level-headed fellow from his conversations with his group and Carl. He may remind Rick of himself before circumstances changed him. I noticed he made a subtle decision to refer to Carl as a man and show him respect. A respect that was well-deserved, too, as Carl is turning into a miniature Jack Bauer.

Minor character development alert! Axel is established as being horny and creepy.

I was wondering if they were going to include the prison at all this episode, being as all the action was going to be at Woodbury. Being as they did, I’m glad it was for an interesting subplot and not some time-filler like “Beth gets lost in the prison and Carl has to save her” or something like that, only for the sake of giving those characters some screen time. Now, on to Woodbury.

It doesn’t take long for all hell to break loose and impressively, the biggest action sequence the show has ever produced didn’t involve a single zombie.

Gunshots rang out like a bell, I grabbed my nine, all I heard was shells fallin’ on the concrete real fast.

On the Andrea front, I was disappointed that she didn’t find out that it was Rick’s group rescuing Glenn and Maggie. She does find out that Daryl was one of the “terrorists” in the final scene, though, so it wasn’t a total loss. At one point in this episode, I got the feeling Andrea was going to die. She didn’t but I’m thinking now maybe she should have. Maybe defending the Governor from Michonne? At least that would have developed Michonne’s thin character a little more. I guess they need to keep Andrea around a while longer to be the common thread with conflicted loyalties between the two groups.

I identified Oscar as a dead man walking last episode (the rescue group had to have at least one casualty and he was the obvious pick) and it came true (deadpool win!). Glaggie is rescued and Michonne finds her way back to the team after she is finished turning The Governor into a Revenge Monster but Daryl is captured, eventually giving us the brotherly reunion we’ve been waiting two years for. Is it going to be Dixon vs. Dixon in the zombie gladiator ring? How is Daryl going to get out of this pickle? Is it curtains for Merle?

Steve, are you not entertained?

Steve?

Oh, right. Steve is off in the Caribbean getting married so he wasn't able to catch this one on time. Congratulations, Steve! Look for his thoughts on this one coming up on his blog sometime in the next few weeks.

See you in February.

BURNING QUESTIONS

-How long before Rick and The Governor meet face to face? I’m assuming probably not until towards the end of the second half of the season, but man, that is going to be awesome.

-How are Rick and Co. going to defend against The Governor’s superior fire and manpower? At least the prison is ideal for defense.

-What does this POW experience do to Glaggie? I really hope Glenn doesn’t get all weird and suspicious that Maggie is lying about not getting raped.

-What does Rick’s hallucination of Shane mean? Probably that Rick isn’t quite out of Crazytown quite yet.

Blair’s Episode MVP: The Governor
Blair’s Episode Grade: A-

Blair’s Deadpool Pick: Axel

Movies for Periodic Table Enthusiasts: A List

Freshly rejected by McSweeney's Lists...

The Bad News Barium
Dude, Where's My Carbon?
Helium Got Game
Beverly Hills Copper
The Color of Antimony
Argon Baby Argon
As Good As Yttrium Gets
Saturday Nitrogen Fever
The Wizard of Osmium
Risky Bismuth
Iron Man

Best Albums of 2011

I'm not a music writer so I have a hard time explaining exactly why I like the albums below but I did want to share them to whoever might be interested and/or is looking for new music to check out. Let me know if you think I'm right or wrong. My picks for best albums of 2011:

20. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
19. Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean

18. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar

17. Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys

16. Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne

15. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

14. Destroyer – Kaputt

13. The Lonely Island – Turtleneck and Chain

12. Real Estate - Days

11. Low – C’mon

Best Songs of 2011

Here are my picks for Best Songs of 2011:

Guilty Pleasure: The Warblers - Misery

25. Wild Flag – Romance

24. Foster the People – Helena Beat

23. Real Estate – Out of Tune

22. Jay-Z and Kanye West – N****s in Paris

21. Wye Oak - Plains

20. The Black Keys – Lonely Boy

19. Death Cab for Cutie – You Are a Tourist

18. St. Vincent - Cruel

17. Beirut – East Harlem

16. Bon Iver - Holocene

15. The War on Drugs – Baby Missiles

14. The Joy Formidable – Whirring

13. Iron & Wine – Tree By the River

12. The Lonely Island – Jack Sparrow

11. TV on the Radio – Will Do

10. The National – Think You Can Wait

9. Madison Violet – Christy Ellen Francis

8. Low – Especially Me

7. Feist – The Circle Married the Line

6. Destroyer – Savage Night at the Opera

5. M83 – Midnight City

4. Beirut – Santa Fe

3. Wye Oak – Civilian

2. The Antlers – I Don’t Want Love

1. Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks

Best Music of 2010

Before I post my picks for Best Music of 2011, I thought I'd put up the lists I meant to post last year for Best of 2010.

Best Albums of 2010

1. The National - High Violet

2. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

3. Beach House – Teen Dream

4. The Black Keys – Brothers

5. Vampire Weekend - Contra

6. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

7. Broken Bells - Broken Bells

8. Josh Ritter - So Runs the World Away

9. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

10. Seabear – We Built a Fire

Best Songs of 2010

1. Josh Ritter – "The Curse"

2. The Black Keys – "Tighten Up"

3. LCD Soundsystem – "Home"

4. Kanye West – "Monster" (ft. Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver, Jay-Z, Rick Ross)

5. Broken Bells – "The Ghost Inside"

6. Vampire Weekend – "White Sky"

7. Tokyo Police Club – "Bambi"

8. Sarah Harmer – "Late Bloomer"

9. The Arcade Fire – "We Used to Wait"

10. The National – "Bloodbuzz Ohio"

Man Crush

Jack Bauer

Man crush – A heterosexual man admiring another man to an extreme in a non-romantic or sexual way.

You might have a man crush if you are a man and catch yourself thinking these things about another man:

“That guy is awesome.”

“I want to hang out with that guy.”

“I want to be that guy.”

“I want to build a statue of that guy on my front lawn.”

“I want to murder him so I can wear his skin like a suit.” (if your man crushery has gotten this bad, you may need to seek some professional help. Ah, who am I kidding? You're probably fine.)

Jack Bauer is fictional. I am aware of that.

I am also aware that Jack Bauer is arguably the most badass character to grace the small screen. How could I not have a man crush on him?

You can’t be badass without some controversy, though, and Jack’s frequent use of torture to obtain information in the series has come under much scrutiny. In season seven, he provides some insight into his view of torture:
“I see fifteen people held hostage on a bus, and everything else goes out the window. I will do whatever it takes to save them, and I mean whatever it takes. ... Laws were written by much smarter men than me. And in the end, these laws have to be more important than the 15 people on the bus. I know that's right. In my mind, I know that's right. I just don't think my heart could ever have lived with it.”

As the seasons of 24 progressed, Jack only picked up more and more emotional baggage. With the people he loved and were close to continually targeted and often killed, he became more and more isolated and distant. It also made him more dangerous, in the nothing-to-lose kind of way.

In the seventh episode of season eight, Jack gets accidentally stabbed by his partner, Renee Walker. As the bad guys run in, Jack instinctively yanks the knife out of his chest and throws it across the room, nailing the bad guy right in the throat. It was at that point that I smiled to myself and thought Okay, now the season has started. Because a season of 24 hasn’t officially started until Jack Bauer busts out some badassery.

The evidence after the jump (click Read More below)