A
PERSONAL LIST OF
10s
An ephemeral list of events, people, encounters, travels, books, movies, foods, websites, etcetera.
1. TRAVEL: A 23-day 12,500-mile cross-country odyssey, camping in U.S. National Parks.
2. TRAVEL: Ati-Atihan Festival, Kalibo, Aklan. The Mardi Gras of the Philippines, a January harvest thanksgiving celebration honoring the Sto.Niño, in Kalibo, Aklan. A weekend of uninhibited merriment, of endless parades and processions of grouped revelers, sooted and intricately costumed, marching an endless loop of streets, dancing to the continuous, rhythmic and hypnotic beating of drums, while countless Sto. Niño statues are carried by or hoisted over the parading crowds or pushed through small make-do floats. It is a non-stop hyperkinetic street celebration, from morning until dusk, gradually building to a maddening merging of dance, drumbeats and bacchanalia.
3. TRAVEL: NEPAL, TIBET (October 2001), VIETNAM, CAMBODIA (July 2004)
4. NON-FICTION: COLOSSUS, THE PRICE OF AMERICA'S EMPIRE, by Niall Ferguson. . . "sure to shake the assumptions of both fans and critics of the American Empireincluding those who deny that such a thing even exists. . . . (Max Boot, Olin Senior Fellow in National Security Studies) ; An immensely learned and useful book written with great verve and historical breadth (William Roger Louis); . . . Vifgorous, substantive, and worrying. . (Timothy Garton Ash).
5. NOVEL: LIGHT HOUSE by William Monahan, 2000. A great book-sale find! A salmagundi of philosophy, sex, murder, with a wicked collection of characters, in an outrageous plot that turns in every chapter, and a dialogue that serves a howling laugh or two in every page. Funny, funny, funny. . . incredibly funny.
6. MUSIC: Leonard Cohen's THE FUTURE
7. MOVIE: KANDAHAR - Journey into the heart of Afganistan: Film by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Winner of the Jury Prize, 2001 Cannes Film Festival. An epic tale of hope and courage, inspired by the true story of a woman's attempt to enter Afghanistan. Unforgettable and extraordinary.
8. NOVEL: THE CAMERA MY MOTHER GAVE ME by Susanna Kaysen, 2001. "Disguised as plain, brown memoir, a voluptuous exploration of sexuality, aging, the failures of modern medicine, attempts at self-knowledge, and the meaning of pain." - Kirkus Reviews
9. NOVEL: Sea Biscuit, An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand, 2001. Remarkable, fascinating, captivating, memorable, irresistible, gripping, compelling, engrossing, fast-moving, spellbinding, riveting American classic. The movie is entertaining, but falls short of the novel.
10. MOVIE: OSAMA - Winner of the 2003 Globe Best Foreign Film award. First film made in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. "Bold, powerful, beautiful, astonishing, and deeply moving. The harrowing and confusing journey of a 12-year old girl disguised as a boy, trying to avoid discovery by the watchful eyes of the Taliban.
11. NOVEL: Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Hands-down, one of the best books I have read. . . ever. Provocative, enlightening and entertaining.
