Fragmentary Pop

Alas, I never had a chance to finish my 2009: A Pop Culture Year in Review -- and it doesn't look like I'll be getting to it anytime soon. I had all these grandiose visions of books, movies, TV shows making their way on here, but I've decided to publish this partial post I wrote up around the end of December. Enjoy.
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I love this kind of stuff. Making lists. Capturing a year through art, pop culture. Finding meaning in our lives through stepping stones—visual, musical, you name it – that bring us back to certain experiences and life lessons. As time goes on, I’m always fascinated by how my connections to certain songs, movies, TV shows, etc. change based on where I am – and who I am – and even whom I’m with at given moments; in other words, how I feel may change radically as my personality changes and thus what I’m drawn to in art. (Forrest Gump? Used to love you back in ’94. Now I find you to be more cloying and forced in your emotions, except for the scenes with Jenny and Major Dan, which still ring true and raw and sad and hopeful).

But isn’t there also something special, say, about a film we go back to and find we still love, and maybe even more so? With a more matured perspective we can appreciate something about it we hadn’t before; this new angle actually deepens our relationship with the artist’s vision. (Case in point: Poltergeist. Always thought you were a scary mother-fucker, but re-watching you – many times now – as a grownup I’m impressed by your layered commentary on suburbia, family values, facing our fears, American consumerism. And I see you more as a drama than a horror film; I care about that darned Freeling family and really want them to pull through together!)

So here’s my “Best of 2009” list. I’d love to hear from you – got your own list waiting in the wings? Bring it on!

BEST MUSIC RELEASE

White Birds – Sarah Fimm

This six-song EP, clocking in somewhere around 27 minutes, packs quite a punch of melody and melancholy. I can just picture Sarah Fimm sculpting each song to perfection, making sure that the layered vocals and instruments were tuned to a frequency of loss and healing. Standout track: “Tamara Song” (but really, all six songs are 100% thumbs up material). I cry A LOT when listening to this song, but in a cathartic way. Perfect for taking a walk through a park under the sun, driving in your car with the window down, or playing for a grieving friend. I’ve emailed a bit with Sarah Fimm, and while I’ll keep our exchanges about this song private, I will say that she writes from a place of working her way through the death of a loved one.

Runner-up: Two Suns – Bat for Lashes. This takes second place by default; White Birds entered my life on a very special day and thus takes the cake. Who doesn’t love that frontwoman Natasha Khan records wind through trees and layers them through some songs, or that they play live on a stage filled with angel dolls, stuffed crows, a howling-wolf-against-the-moon backdrop, Jesus Christ statuette, and glitters and stars and strobe lights? Standout track: “Daniel” (and you get bonus points if you youtube the “Daniel” video). Perfect for Halloween, waiting for flights in airports and people watching, walks through graveyards, sitting on a beach and looking at ocean waves and thinking about dolphins and sharks, and/or trying to save your true love from black dressed specters who want to hitchhike their way to stealing and warping your loyalty (again, watch that video!).

Honorable Mentions (*in no particular order): Abnormally Attracted to Sin – Tori Amos, New Moon soundtrack, Ellipse – Imogen Heap, Bomb in a Birdcage – A Fine Frenzy, 500 Days of Summer soundtrack, Other Lives (self-titled debut album)

BEST MOVIE RELEASE

Where the Wild Things Are – Directed by Spike Jonze

Sometimes a movie comes along that taps us into our childhood like a bolt of lighting while at the same time tethering us to our adulthood, where we look back and see the elusive, indefinable bridge connecting the phases of our lives. Where the Wild Things Are is one such movie. A big part of this is because I relate so intrinsically with the protagonist Max; I feel like the opening and closing scenes with his family and neighborhood kids could’ve been yanked right from my own life. Those scenes between Max and his mom, played perfectly by Catherine Keener? Heartbreaking. Poignant. As for the time spent with the Wild Things, I can’t say that my fantasy worlds (or are they fantasy?) held such creatures: mine were more along the lines of unicorns and mermaids, harpies and dragons. Still, I was drawn into the sad, lesson-filled woods where Max (emotionally) grew up as he deepened his relationships with those giant furry folks. And what’s even more beautiful about Jonze’s vision is that he didn’t create some cookie-cutter, sanitized version to appeal to the masses. He took a chance, went deep and adult, and stayed true to author Maurice Sendak’s haunted, nostalgic, mystical children’s book (that isn’t just for children). I left the movie theatre on opening weekend and had to find a quiet spot in the parking lot so I could cry and let out everything this film stirred up in me.