Despite the difficulties that came with 2009, I can say I had plenty of good things to watch, read, and listen to.  This list isn't necessarily things that came out this year, but things that I enjoyed this year.  Here are my top picks and why:

Music

Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)

      If you haven't listened to these guys you must.  I'm not sure it's on purpose, but they have some of the most deeply theological lyrics I have heard in a long time.  The music is also just beautiful as well.

 

Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

      This album is a bit different than their previous albums, but they still sound like a bit of Eden.  What else to say--they are Sigur Ros?

 

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

      She is just very talented.  I also find her tolerable first thing in the morning on a road trip--this is important.

Camera Obscura- Let's Get Out of this Country 

      B rad got me this album because had they not been doing a show in Glasgow and ended the set early, we may never have met.  So, while one might guess that I would only appreciate this album for sentimental reasons, I kind of like the music as well.

Green Day- American Idiot

      Ten years ago, I would not have guessed that Green Day would still be making music, much less putting out the best rock album of the year.  This is amazing--not only because it protests the war, mocks evangelicalism, and spews anger at all things I also deem idiotic in America, but also because it brings back rock ballads and the concept of a rock opera. 

Books

The Sacred Body: Asceticism in Religion, Literature, Art, and Culture  by David Jasper

      So, this might just be a shout-out to my advisor, but really truly it was the best book I have read this year and the best book he has written to date.  I can't get over his incarnational theology--I think that is all there is.

 

Holy Fast, Holy Feast: the Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women by Caroline Walker Bynum

      While the book is about fasting among mainly female saints, it is really about gender issues and how historians understand things pertaining to gender.  It has really changed the way in which I understand gender issues and history.  The book is also a really fascinating read even if you don't completely get her underlying themes.

 

Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularism 1800-2000 by Callum Brown

      This book also has changed the way I understand secularization and gender issues.  All of which might sound boring, but to me quite interesting.  I would love to write an American version of this book, although the title would have to be something like the Everlasting Life of Christian America or something like that.

 

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

      Admittedly this is not actually a very good book.  But, it was the only page turner I read this year and for that reason it makes the list.  I had heard much about Victorian page turners and highly doubted the possibility they could make me do the same.  I was wrong.

Lady Chatterley's Lover and Apropos to Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

      I had read this book before, but completely missed how theological it was.  This coincidentally may have something to do with the fact I didn't read A Propos to Lady Chatterley Lover, which is a sort of afterward that reinforces most of what I believe about sacramental marriage.  I also understand it as an argument against what most evangelicals teach about sex and marriage.  The book is still quite timely in the age of Mark Sanford and the such.

 

New Movies

Funny People-Judd Apatow

    I actually really like Jude Apataw movies.  This was one really good (plus we watched it a drive-in...my first experience with that).  I'd be curious to watch it again to see if I still like it, but it sticks out as good.

Fantastic Mr. Fox- Wes Anderson

    This movie was simply magical.  I loved it--every part of it, down to the miniature Le Creuset cookware in the kitchen and handknit teeny tiny fox sweaters.  Plus, a great voice cast.  

Old Movies

Brad and I have continued in our 'history of film' DVD watching through Netflix.  This year we made it up to the 1960s.  Things are now mainly in color!  The worst movie was probably tied with The Greatest Story Ever Told and  My Fair Lady.  I love Audrey Hepburn, but the dumb movie was long, poorly written, awful music, and so overwhelmingly misogynistic.  And since we had already watched Pygmalian (which it was based off) we knew the story could be done much,  much better!

 

Killer's Kiss-Stanley Kubrick

     Probably the most cheerful of all Kubrick's films (which is not to say that it actually is cheerful!), I found this movie to be incredible if only for a scene that takes place within a mannequin factory.  The movie not only hints at his upcoming genius, but displays that genius as already developed.  I actually didn't enjoy watching this film, but looking over the titles from the last year, it certainly was one of the best done films.

Vertigo-Alfred Hitchcock

     We watched a lot of Hitchcock movies this year and this was my favorite.  Mainly because it didn't have a slasher shower scene.  Actually this movie was just filled with so many fun twists and turns and details.  It was quite good.  Plus, we got to visit some of the sights in the movie while in San Fransisco this past fall.

Lawrence of Arabia-David Lean

    Brad was extremely lucky to see this on the big screen while living in Chicago.  I can't even imagine how visually magnificent it was to see it that way.  On our smallerish TV, it was still stunning.  Additionally, Peter O'Toole is one of the most striking male movie stars I have ever seen, and an incredible actor to boot.  This movie truly deserves all the accolades it has received.

The Trial-Orson Welles

    This is Welles favorite of his own films and I think I'd have to agree.  Very well written, visually interesting, and just overall very creative.  It wasn't a very fun film to watch, but was definitely a wonderful piece of work.

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World-Stanley Kramer

     So, this is not a 'great' film by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the most fun thing I watched this year!  An all-star cast (which is the first time that has happened in our film watching since Sunset Boulevard) and high adventure for almost a straight 3 hours (that flew by).  It definitely competes with anything popular Hollywood puts out these days.

Tipples

Bison Brewing Company's Chocolate Stout  --my new favorite beer.  It's is amazing.  You shouldn't be surprised that I love a good chocolate beer!

Guinness and Raspberry Lambic-- a cocktail made with Guinness and a fruity lambic.  What is there not to love in that?  It's also very pretty in its layered coloring.

Thomas Family Winery Gale's Hard Cider Chieftan's Blend -- The Thomas Family Winery is a winery about two hours from us and they are just produce some of the best wine in Indiana, with some really interesting stuff, like ciders and sherry.  They also have a fun pub-like place to hang out.  This is some of the best cider I have had--extremely dry.  Their family has been making cider since Prohibition--I like that too!

Andrew Murray 2006 Syrah--from the first winery we visited in CA and among the best that we had on our overall trip.  Fabulously dry and rich.  An ideal Syrah.

Ladera Winery Cabernet--We tried various cabernets here that are practically unaffordable.  Unaffordably fabulous, that is.  So, it was nice to sample them!  It was also the most beautiful winery we visited, with very nice people running the place.  We did end up buying one of the (lower end, but still amazing!) bottles and maybe someday when we're rich and famous, we'll buy it by the case.

So, what were highlights of 2009 for you?

Happy New Year!

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to live in the midwest.  When I first moved here, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to road signs, but as I've been driving to Louisville fairly often lately, they have caught my attention.  Signs to Lexington, Cincinnati, St. Louis.  St. Louis?  Honestly, I have no idea how far away St. Louis is, but where I used to live (Pennsylvania) it was eternally far away.  And these cities are our landmarkers?  I grew up with signs to Baltimore, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, New York.   Cincinnati seems like a pithy place compared to Philadelphia.  Midwestern cities are so odd to drive towards as well.  They seem to spring up in the middle of cornfields.  Houses dot the plain and then, boom, there's a city.  But not a city by northeastern standards.  They are not old or stately or even gritty.  I don't know them well enough to explain them adequately, but they are different.  These cities also do not rest on coastlines.  Some form at a meeting place for rivers, but others are even more isolated. 

It is strange to live so far from any ocean.  This changes the way you view your home, land, and those around you.  I think it even effects the way you think of God.  I haven't placed my finger on it yet, but here in the middle, things are different. 

Yet surrounded by all this land, things are isolated.  People are more self-reliant and internalized than back east.  Less social, more familial.  It may be true that no man is an island, but those who live in the middle part of this island have driven themselves far away from the central social zones of a country.

I hope I haven't put this in seemingly negative terms.  I don't mean it like that.  I am just amazed that there is so much and so little that binds us as a country.  The things that bind us, although not completely, these are regional too: name brands, governmental systems, language, social movements, and cultural concepts such as freedom.  So, we can traverse this country and on the surface everything is familiar, but the more time you spend in a place, you realize it's completely different than the last.

One social movement that seems to be sweeping the nation (slowly) is the local food movement.  It appears that this existed here in Indiana long before it was written about in books and magazines.  Just about every back road here begins with a large handwritten sign advertising produce from one of the locals residing in the direction the arrow takes you.  Travel through the maze of roads aimlessly and you will stumble across zucchini, peaches, cantaloupe, tomatoes, maple syrup, eggs and home-made baskets.  The road not taken could keep you from an enviable smorgasborg. I have yet been brave enough to knock at anyone's door to buy something.  Not that this exactly takes bravery, but I do feel shy when thinking about the concept of just visiting a stranger at their home.  Fortunately, our local co-op and farmer's market carries many of these wares--and more.  Our farmer's market keeps growing exponetially; it currently has 65 different vendors, which is truly amazing, since it is held in a town of 5,000 people and a tiny county of 20,000 in the middle of truly nowhere. 

We have therefore been feasting.  I can't get enough of tomatoes.  I could just survive on a diet of fresh salsa alone.  Just the thought of those tomatoes, cilantro, limes, peppers.....my mouth is watering now.  Tonight's dinner consists of local: eggs, French bread, orange and red tomatoes, basil, oregano, thyme, green peppers, garlic, eggplant, zucchini.  It's going to turn out to be vegetable torte (chocolate tortes are MUCH better, I know, but this will do) and buschetta. I was thinking about throwing in a local wine, for good measure, but we also have this Spanish white wine and I don't want to have local overkill, right?

While I am speaking about local food, I must face the facts of this location.  As I mentioned above, we are obviously far from any ocean.  I have a friend moving to Florida and we went on www.localharvest.org to check out what kind of local produce and such she has in her new home.  I shouldn't have looked because I became jealous almost immediately.  My farmer's market is pretty good, but hers is going to sell freshly caught local seafood.  I think I may need to visit!

Last summer we had a drought.  Everything turned to dusty straw.  I drank copious amounts of water to attempt to overcome the heat.  And I thought global warming had doomed us to hell.  The last part still has time to come to fruition (why, oh, why did I choose last summer of all times to watch Al Gore's film--it felt so apocolyptic when everything around mestarted dying).  We had a cool, wet spring this year that everyone but me complained about.  I hate cold and hot, so give me cool or warm any day.  Currently, we are on the brink of August and the weather is still lovely.  We've had the heat and humidity, but we've also had our share of just absolutely perfect days weather-wise.

With the summer comes fruit.  Vegetables come also, but who cares about them when there are peaches around?  I bought lots of extra peaches and blanched them, put them in a honey/water syrup, and froze them in single servings for my morning oatmeal come December.  My friend Abbey gave me a heart-shaped silicon cup-cake pan  as a present that is perfect for freezing things in; said frozen objects slip right out.  Plus, they are super cute, as much as that counts for frozen fruit.  They might even make me smile before having coffee in the dusky, dead of winter mornings.