Best of 2009

I’m not going lie, this will be the longest or most up to date list. I am usually late to the party. Except for things that I utterly adore and am constantly on the lookout for, it seems to take me a while to come across things that people have been raving about all year. I blame this partly on the fact that I lead a very busy life, but also on Florida. Maybe because it is the southernmost state, and Miami is all the way down toward the tip of the thumb, news takes forever to arrive here. There is, comparatively speaking, such a small audience for independent anything here that most things usually arrive here after they’ve been on the scene for a couple of years. That’s really a rant for another time though. This year, overall, has been a pretty good one and I do find myself a little more in the know, maybe because I’ve been actively seeking new entertainment. So here’s a list is a list of things I’ve enjoyed the most throughout 2009.

Penelope Cruz

I fell in love with Penelope this year. I feel she’s really blossomed as a performer. Her choices in film have become wiser, more selective, and her acting more intense and fierce. I truly believe her work in Almodovar’s films has provided her with an opportunity to show off her acting chops. No longer relegated to “sexy Latin lover” roles, her 2006 lead in Volver proved she was truly capable as an artist. Almodovar, throughout her career, has handed her better, more intense parts in his films, and now, in Broken Embraces, the faith that Almodovar has always placed in her as an actress really seems to pay off. While not her biggest fan at the onset, she’s really proved to me and to her audience that she’s not just a pretty face and a rocking bod. What I love about her the most is that she’s an actor whose work still seems full of integrity and passion.

True Blood

I’ve always had a special place in my heart for vampires. In a world where vampires are now bedazzled and abstinent, True Blood brings back the sexy, tortured tormentors I grew up with. Not only are these vampires as they should be (dark, lusty and blood thirsty), True Blood also isn’t taking itself too seriously. At this point there’s something almost comical about the tortured and sexy vampire, falling for the virginal young women so hard he can’t be with her because his love is a danger etc. etc. True Blood took those vampire stereotypes, ran and played with them and presented us with vampires like Eric and terms like fangbanger. Full of sex, lust, blood and torture, it also packs in a fair share of campiness that makes the entire cocktail a delight to swallow. One of the shows best moments and also a good example of what it’s all about is Eric descending from the stairs with foils in his hair and then dismembering a man in his basement. Afterwards he asks of another very scared prisoner, “Did I get blood in my hair?” Hilarious and disturbing, just like vampires should be.

Fables

Fables, Bill Willigham’s popular comic book series, spin-offs included, have really caught my attention this year. The idea that all those familiar fairy tale characters have been displaced from their lands and kingdoms and are now living in a secret community within New York is just brilliant. The story telling is epic, sweeping and beautiful and the art work an excellent homage to the beatific images of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty we all have stored in our childhood memories, with an adult twist of course. One of the great things about reading Fables is that it feels as if I’m catching up on the juicy back-story of all these Fable characters. It never negates any of the childhood stories we’re most familiar with, but rather fills you in on the adult material we couldn’t have understood when we were first introduced to that that world, making it much more complex and rich. Prince Charming’s womanizing prowess, The Big Bad Wolf’s complicated relationship with his father, Hansel’s murderous tendencies; it challenges the tried and true happy endings, making them much more intriguing and enriching.

Super Mario Bros. Wii

Perhaps my opinion is a bit biased as I have very fond memories of playing Super Mario Bros. on my brother’s Super Nintendo, I, in my enthusiasm, jumping whenever Mario did and accidentally disconnecting the remote from the system time and time again. It’s hard for me to find fault in the franchise and whenever I see the iconic mustachioed gentlemen in their red and green suits respectively, I can’t help but get a little bit excited. Super Mario Bros. Wii saw the return of the Koopa Kids as well as introducing a 4-player mode. I could sit down with my husband and two of five nephews and really go at it with them. While it can get a little confusing (especially if I’m not wearing my glasses) and while it’s not all roses (having to replay levels in order to save kidnapped toads is plain useless in my opinion) the game does recapture a lot of what was great about the old games and it’s a lot of fun.

Coraline

I love Neil Gaiman and I love the Nightmare Before Christmas so when Coraline, based on Gaiman’s novel and directed by Nightmare’s Henry Selick, was announced I was very excited. It was a mission and a half to get my five nephews to agree to watch a movie with a female protagonist, but their exhilaration and proclamations of “Wow, that was good!” once we left the theater proved me right once again. While not entirely true to the novel, the film stuck to the books Gaimain-esque mixture of wit and creepiness. Selick’s artistry was marvelous, it’s almost impossible to believe that so much of it is hand crafted. Even the inclusion of 3D serves to enhance the entire movie experience, creating breath taking sequences out of already amazing footage.

Anthony Bourdain

I’ve been a fan of the Travel Channel’s No Reservations and host Anthony Bourdain for a long time now, but this year cemented my love for him, the show and what it all represents. I finally sat down and read Tony’s 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential, the one that launched his television career, and I also saw him at the Arsht Center, alongside Jaques Pepin, whom he gushed over a little like a fanboy, and Eric Rippert. Not only is he as wonderful and cantankerous in person and on paper as he is on TV, even the show throughout the years seems to have grown and taken off into something much more wise and thoughtful than a travel guide. That mixture of dirty humor, begrudging acceptance and almost philosophic prose has made the show one of my absolute favorites and Bourdain someone I deeply respect. His approach to food, but more importantly culture and humans is fresh and something not at all present in the shows of that guy that goes around eating weird shit or that other guy who basically just proves how much of a glutton he is. No matter how sarcastic, no matter how unpleasant, Bourdain always comes through as honest to a fault and deeply respectful of the very different cultures he visits.