Handwriting Day

Best Books Read in 2007

My Previous Best Books: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.

I read fourteen books last year. Surprisingly, only three of these were novels: Waiting, Bangkok 8, and Thank You for Smoking. The rest were wonderful non-fiction books, my favorites being The Looming Tower, Voyage of The Manteño, and The Smartest Guys in the Room.

I'll be writing reviews of Waiting and Voyage of The Manteño, as these my among my favorites from 2007.

Martin Luther King Day

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I hope we're getting close.

Best Movies Watched in 2007

(This is my seventh such list.)

My favorite movie from 2007 was No Country for Old Men. A very close second was Michael Clayton.

"No Country" is a powerful movie. A treacherous criminal on the chase, a hero on the run, and an old cop on the watch are the principal characters in the Coen Brother's finest work. Perfectly paced, minimally scored, and as serious as a choke hold, the movie is just too good. Praise is coming from everywhere on this movie, and it's deserving.

"Michael Clayton" is the other compelling offering from 2007. A forlorn lawyer, played by George Clooney, has to come to grips with the limits of his own ethics, and his firm's. A criminal plot involving one of his colleagues forces him to act, but it strains his reserves. This is a dark and brooding film, the kind I like. But its touch of clarity makes it less ambiguous than "No Country", which pushes that film to the top.

• Best DVD Commentary: Seabiscuit, Saw, Old School


• Favorite Male Acting: Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Infernal Affairs)


• Favorite Female Acting: Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)


• Finally Glad I Watched: "Stranger Than Fiction", "Old School", "Finding Forrester", "A History of Violence", "Saw"