Somehow we seem to be almost two weeks into 2013 already, but my brain doesn't seem to have left 2012 behind just yet. It's time to take stock of my most cultural year ever and look back fondly on some of my favourite things from the past year.
Countries visited: 3 - Iceland, Germany (a weekend in Gelsenkirchen) and Belgium (Brussels).
Festivals attended: 7
Ffresh Film Festival, Newport; Wales One World Film Festival, Cardiff; Minas - Heart of Brazil, King's College London; Arts and Humanities Festival, KCL; London Spanish Film Festival; London Latin American Film Festival (never got around to blogging that one, but it was good!); RADAR: Signals from the New Writing World, Bush Theatre, London.
Films watched: 126 (not counting films watched two or three times)
Favourite film of the year: Christophe Honoré's Les Bien-Aimés (Beloved)
I'm a huge fan of Christophe Honoré, especially his previous musical Les Chansons d'amour (Lovesongs), so when I heard of Les Bien-Aimés I couldn't wait to see it. As well as the rare skill of uniting Alex Beaupain's hugely catchy songs with a beautifully tragic story, Les Bien-Aimés has the added bonus of bringing together real-life mother and daughter Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni. I also have a weakness for stories that tie individual dramas to major historical moments (see Any Human Heart) and all the period details. When I first saw the film at Chapter, I felt it was a little too long (not feeling well didn't help, neither did being surrounded by elderly viewers disapproving of some of the racier scenes), but it still made me cry when I left. I've since watched it three times, and loved it more every time, as I've noticed the tiny details that mean so much more when you know what they are pointing towards. Not just my film of the year, but now one of my all-time favourites.
I was going to write some runners-up too, but looking back over my list, there are too many films that I've loved this year, I couldn't decide between them. If you're really bored, the whole list is here.
Books read: 45, a mixture of fiction (lots from Venezuela unsurprisingly and essays/textbooks (only ones read cover to cover get on the list). The list.
Favourite book read: Blue Label/Etiqueta Azul by Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles (Caracas: 2010)
This was quite a hard decision as I've read a lot of amazing books this year (one of the many perks of a literature based PhD!) but I love pretty much everything about this book: the way it played with my emotions, how genuine the characters seem, the use of language, the non-linear timeline, the interweaving of Venezuelan politics with the story, the fact that I've already written two papers about it and I've still barely scratched the surface, and how it has made me love Bob Dylan's Visions of Johanna.
Theatre trips: 31, I think, counting from my reviews page, ranging from student performances to full on West End blockbusters.
Favourite show: Pippin @ Menier Chocolate Factory.
It was the first of many many shows this year, and yet it remains unbeaten, for the mixture of incredible cast, catchy songs and above all spectacular staging, turning the show into a computer game complete with Twitter revolutions and porn pop-ups. There seems to be no recording of this production anywhere, which is a real shame. However, you can watch the entire original 1982 production on YouTube, which is some consolation. The wonderfully inventive staging is missing, but you still get the songs and the Fosse choreography
Creative people I spoke to: The Siren Sisters, Terry Victor (writer/director) and Sam Harding (actor), Helen Griffin (actress/writer), Annette Mees (writer/director), Amy Hodge (director), Julian Ovenden (actor/singer) and David Charles Abell (conductor), Madani Younis and Omar Elerian (Artistic Director and Associate Director at the Bush Theatre), Anne Chmelewsky (composer/theatremaker), Katherine Pearce (actress/wrtier).
Gigs attended: 4. We Are Augustines @ Thekla, Bristol; Elephant Talk @ Bath Folk Festival; Mozaiek Musik @ Beursschouwburg, Brussels and Voodoo Love Orchestra @ Southbank Centre (something I'm meaning to blog at some point). Rubbish! I still love live music but seem to have had very few opportunities to catch any this year. They were all great gigs though - Elephant Talk and Moziaek Musik involved lots of crazy flailing, and being in the front row for We Are Augustines' grizzly rock was a fan-girl dream, even if their set was cut painfully short by the stingy curfew.
Favourite song: FUN - We Are Young. I don't think I'm alone here, but this song has so many great memories attached. It was played every five minutes on Icelandic radio, at my favourite club night (Stereotypes @ Moles, Bath), and constantly in the Social Programme Office.
A very close runner-up is the cover of Young the Giant's Cough Syrup by Darren Criss (aka Blaine from Glee):
Most watched YouTube clips: I seem to get stuck in YouTube loops most days, in the background while I'm working, usually consisting of songs from musicals, Glee or Venezuelan rock/dance. I've watched each of these at least fifty times:
Sierra Boggess and Julian Ovenden, with the John Wilson Orchestra, performing The Balcony Scene from West Side Story at the BBC Proms this summer:
Ben Vereen and the original cast of Pippin performing Glory live in Toronto, 1982.
Biggest TV obsession: Glee. When it comes to TV, I'm still a 15-year old, and obsessed with Glee in general, and the Kurt/Blaine relationship in particular. It amazes me that TV has the power to make me care so much about completely fictional characters. I've also just realised that I somehow managed to watch all four series of The O.C., all six series of Gossip Girl, the first series of Smash in two days, and a lot of American sit-coms this year, hmm...
So that was 2012 for me. What films/books/music/TV/productions did you most enjoy? I'm always interested in recommendations!
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