Media review of the year

History’s greatest diarist, Samuel Pepys, made a practice of reviewing his progress over the past year, financially, culturally and sexually. As always with him, these accounts were never self serving; rather they were brutally honest accounts of a man’s life in full. The following then, is an attempted emulation of the great man’s end-of year reviews.

BOOKS

I read 47 books last year- a new record. Some of them, it is true, were slim volumes of verse, but some were long and demanding. Many were directly related to MA course, though no less entertaining or enlightening for that. I propose a list of 6 of the best of them, all of which carry my strongest recommendation:

1. LIFE A USER’S GUIDE, by George Perec
2. A MEAL IN WINTER, by Hubert Mingerelli
3. A TIME OF GIFTS, by Patrick Leigh Fermor
4. TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG, by Peter Carey
5. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS, by V.S. Naipaul
6. THE RINGS OF SATURN, by W.G. Sebald

Looking through my full list I find I have to leave many marvellous books out, which is a shame. But to add these to your reading list this year, have you not already encountered them, would enrich your life enormously. Go ahead! Get in there!

FILMS

I saw 105 films for the first time this year, just 2 short of my all-time record. Here I propose listing ten movies which affected me greatly this year, some old, some brand-new, all unmissable:

1. NAPOLEON, D- Abel Ganz (1927)
2. LOGAN, D- James Mangold (2016)
3. BLADERUNNER 2049, D- Denis Villeneuve (2017)
4. CASQUE D’OR, D- Jacques Becker (1952)
5. LA NOTTE, D- Michelangelo Antonioni (1961)
6. FAT CITY, D- John Huston (1973)
7. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, D- Kenneth Lonergan (2016)
8. THE SET-UP, D- Robert Wise (1949)
9. THE AMERICAN FRIEND, D- Wim Wenders (1977)
10. CLASH, D- Mohammed Diab (2016)

TV

I watched an unbelievable amount of tele last year; nothing unusual there it’s true, but never before has the box been so important in helping maintain my sanity than it was last year. So let’s give a big hand to some of the programmes which passed my famous ‘20 minute rule’: if they kept me from thinking about the possibility of my shortly being sent to prison for the rest of my life for crimes I did not commit for 20 minutes at a time, they qualified. There weren’t many.

1. FRASIER
2. FARGO
3. BOARDWALK EMPIRE
4. GAME OF THRONES
5. THE VIETNAM WAR (documentary series)

All the other TV I watched? I just sat there and worried. I still am. But by the end of February it will be over, and I’ll either be a free man or working out how to post my blogs from a prison cell. Wish me luck. I’ll need it.

STOP PRESS!

I have just noticed something important: This blog is number 1001. Something of a milestone, I think you’ll agree. I’m thinking of holding an ‘I’m Free!’ Party later this year, especially if I am. I was also thinking of throwing a party to celebrate 1000 blogs. Guess I’ll just combine them. I’ll let you know when- you’re all invited!