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Froggy Goodness Top Dozen Media Bits, 2005 Edition

Once again, a recap of the rules: new to me (not necessarily new to the world) media bits I’ve experienced in the last year. These have to be things other people can go see/read/listen to (otherwise, why put out the list?) so live shows or art gallery openings aren’t in the running. No blogs or websites either. I keep threatening to make a separate “12frogs thinks these blogs really kicked ass this year” list, but so far I still haven’t done it.

This year’s list is in no particular order, except for the last bit, and really I liked that one best of all.

Joss Whedon’s Firefly tv series (seen thanks to Netflix) and the Serenity movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, get the DVDs now.

“Smile Time”, the puppet episode of Angel. Made every bonedheaded episode worth watching. (I liked the series, but there were a few clunkers, namely, the incredibly stupid WWII submarine ep.)

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil and Pastoralia: Stories by my favorite sick funny genius, George Saunders.

The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater, by Ralph Eugene Meatyard who took endlessly fascinating photographs .

Magic For Beginners, a book of short stories by Kelly Link. Zombies, catskins, and a world in a purse. So much to love.

Kilter: 55 Fictions, by John Gould is a collection of ultra-short stories that make you nod your head, laugh, or react like you just got jabbed.

Removing all doubt about my not-cutting-edge not-hipster status (I sometimes like to pretend the casual reader may wonder) this year some music makes my list: Green Day’s American Idiot, Bleed Like Me from Garbage, and the self-title album from Daniel Powter.

The Truth About Stories by Thomas King is simply one of the best books I have ever read. A must read for anyone who believes in the power of stories — or even for people who don’t, because this book is that important. If you only check out one thing on this list of twelve, make it this book.

That’s right, no Star Wars this year. The Frankenstein-like “Nooo!” at the end nudged it out of the top twelve. Or, like the t-shirt makes clear, we have a new master now.

More:
Lists from 2002, 2003, and 2004.

What a dangerous list! I’m a sucker for the well-done short short story (have you ever read Jack Ritchie’s _Little Boxes of Bewilderment_?) and the Thomas King sounds like the perfect companion to Jane Smiley’s _13 Ways of Looking at the Novel_. I added both the King and the Gould to my Amazon wish list.

[...] For the completists or the curious, bits from the past: 2005, 2004, 2003, and 2002 [...]