Target 2006: Year in Review

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 1:36 am

Organised by that Spidey chap.

http://transfans.net/interviews_2006.php

Submissions still welcome; holiday seasons get busy.

Post by **Best First** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:11 am

i'm mortified that i forgot to mention both My Name is Earl and Best Thing Ever (TM) Nextwave.

marvel at my mortification true believer.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:37 am

So what are everybody elses faves? Join in you comely forum members!

I love Biff.

Jack Cade · Post by **Jack Cade** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:58 am

Favourite Films of 2006:

'Pan's Labyrinth' was ghoulish and enchanting. I was iffy about going to see 'Little Miss Sunshine', but that turned out to be just the right kind of black and quirky. Loved 'Dead Man's Chest'. 'The Exterminating Angel' was rereleased on DVD - amazing stuff. The landed classes find themselves trapped in a small room for no real reason (the way out remains clear - they just can't use it) and go all Lord of the Flies.

Favourite Albums of 2006:

'Fur & Gold' by Bat For Lashes is like Kate Bush dueting with a wild wind on the moors. 'Harpo's Ghost' by Thea Gilmore is like a cross between P. J. Harvey and Ryan Adams; she also risks impassioned political protest and comes out not sounding like a naive sixth former, which is some achievement. 'Blue Alert' by Anjani - I think it was this year - was the closest we got to a new Leonard Cohen album (she used new writing of his as lyrics) and puts Cohen's emotional slapstick in a sumptuous, jazzy aural setting. Oh, and John Power returned to form with the bouncy, rootsy, woodsy 'Willow She Weeps'.

Favourite TV of 2006:

Torchwood is good fun. Doctor Who was lacking. The second series of Green Wing was the best thing on TV though, followed by My Name Is Earl. Wish I'd seen more of Time Trumpet and Man To Man With Dean Learner too.

Favourite Comics and/or Books of 2006:

I don't think I read many 2006 books - it's one area where there's really no point in trying to follow the 'scene' - books are more exciting when you discover them yourself than when you believe all the literary nepotism that goes on in the papers. Tony Harrison's Collected Poems is awesome stuff. He makes formal verse - sonnets and the like - look like natural speech, and it's so distinctly Northern. I'm reading 'I Am Alive and You Are Dead' at the moment, a biography of Philip K. Dick by Emmanuel Carrere. Compelling stuff. Also, Umberto Eco's new one - 'The Mysterious Flame of Queen Larocca' - was good, though a little tame by his usual standards. It's all about a man rebuilding his memory through his library of pulp and literary fiction.

Comicswise - Mike Carey rescued X-Men, although he doesn't read as well without Chris Bachalo. I've loved almost everything IDW has done for Transformers. I'm on the lookout for other bits of IDW stuff too, because Marvel and the rest have really failed to engage me lately.

Personal Highlights of the year:

Moved to London and got away from a godawful job selling mortgages. Got to be poetry editor of 'the roundtable review', which is quite an exciting new British arts magazine. Got a piece published in McSweeney's. Completed NaNoWriMo.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 1:44 pm

Thats a really enjoyable read, I liked Bestys input because it made me laugh in a way only Besty makes me laugh

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:52 pm

Jack Cade wrote:Tony Harrison's Collected Poems is awesome stuff. He makes formal verse - sonnets and the like - look like natural speech, and it's so distinctly Northern.

Anything you'd particularly recommend? I've got a 1987 "selected poems" volume, and like Following Pine and v. Generally prefer Larkin, though admittedly I don't read very widely in the area...

Jack Cade wrote:Completed NaNoWriMo.

Madman.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:42 am

Favourite Films of 2006:

I'm going to have to go with Children of Men. It was a great film in just about every way that I can rate films. Good mix of action, drama, comedy (Michael Caine!), and suspense with spectacular cinematography and a storyline that honestly didn't feel like it belonged in a movie. Children of Men narrowly edges out every film I saw this year that was Eragon. Sweet Jebus, that film was terrible! Special props go to Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. A great film that I'll surely watch dozens of times (a replacement for The Big Lebowski, perhaps), but I enjoyed Children of Men more.

Favourite Albums of 2006:

The Pick of Destiny from Tenacious D. I like humor/rock, so it was a tough call between this and Straight Outta Lynwood from Weird Al. I've got to give props to DJ Ozma's debut CD, I (heart) Party People, though.

Favourite TV of 2006:

I don't watch much TV. I couldn't avoid seeing a bunch of Lost, though, so I'll give that my pick.

Favourite Comics and/or Books of 2006:

Comics really didn't do anything for me this year. So nothing of note.
Books: The God Delusion.

Personal Highlights of the year:

It's been a hell of a year for me. I had a really great time at BotCon. I bought my first car and promptly crashed it into a drug dealer. But, for the absolute highlight, I'm going to have to say that moving from Chicago to Fukuoka, Japan was the highlight of the year. I had a lot of expectations when I left the US for Japan, and I was surprised to find that all of them were exceeded. As a friend of mine once said, "It sucks that I missed one of my favorite bands playing a concert on my birthday, but then I remembered that I live in paradise and it all kinda evened out."

Happy New Year!

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:32 pm

Favourite Films of 2006:
Nacho Libre
"V" for Vendetta

Favourite Albums of 2006:
That Cold Play one

Favourite TV of 2006:
Lost, The Simpsons, and yes I hate to say it, American Idol

Favourite Comics of 2006:
Shockwave Spotlight
Hot Rod Spotlight
Stormbringer 1-3
Annihilation Nova mini

Favourite Books of 2006:
Road of the Patriarch by R.A. Salvatore

Personal Highlights of the year:
I'm still alive
Family alive and healthy
Bought my first car
Moved to Florida, took a new ophthalmology position

Jack Cade · Post by **Jack Cade** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:43 pm

"Anything you'd particularly recommend?"

v. is his most impressive work, but you've read that. I generally like his sonnets - he released a whole book of them, but I forget what it's called (in the volume I've got, there's a generous selection of them). I never thought before that sonnets could read like conversational, light-of-touch free verse. He's got a fair few about his father and their relationship (he was an aspiring poet, even as a young man, while his dad was a staunch working class 'no fannying about' type) up to his death, which are far, far better than the usual 'ode to my father' fair. There's also an oddly amusing piece about a compulsive flasher, called 'The Pocket Wars of Peanuts Joe'.