2012 in Review

The year 2012 went by rather quickly for me — one day at a time, as it were. It was a year of many moments spent with my wife and son and remarkably not too many spent attending concerts and movies as in years prior to Chaim being born — but we are quite okay with it and know that it too shall pass and we will eventually have a sitter over more than once every half a year or so.

Musically speaking, it was a fantastic year. I was privileged to go and see John Darnielle and his band The Mountain Goats play live, which was the only concert that I saw. It was a phenomenal concert and many songs were played from the new record as well as plenty of classic gems from the past.

I rather wanted to see Phish at some point in time but it did not work out — the tickets for their New Year’s concerts in New York sold out quickly and were soon being scalped for a ridiculously large sum of money.

In the realm of movies, there is only one film that I can really mention, even though I saw two — The Avengers and To Rome With Love. I have nothing but the greatest respect for director Woody Allen who writes, directs, and sometimes acts in one year every single year and has done so for well over forty years. So many other of my favorite directors have entirely stopped putting out films — Kevin Smith, one of my favorite directors of all time, is said to be retiring after either the next film he makes or the one after that. The movie To Rome With Love was a delightful set of stories that all tied together fantastically.

On television, I had a few more candidates to consider as far as quality went — it’s easy to switch on the television after Chaim goes to bed and does not require hiring a babysitter. Many of the television programs that we watched are the same as the ones that we watched the previous year, but one in particular stood out to me and not just because of its peculiar name — Don’t Trust The B– in Apartment 23.

I believe that outside of the United States and when it is referred to in less prude publications, the full title is spelled out with a less than pleasant word that rhymes with witch. It is a fantastically funny program about a woman who struggles with living in New York after moving in with a roommate who, at least at first, just wanted to drive her to move out so that she could collect the security deposit. Said roommate, mind you, happens to be friends with none other than Dawson’s Creek’s James Van Der Beek, played brilliantly by the actual James Van Der Beek. Perhaps it was kismet that I wrote this year in review when I did because James Van Der Beek tweeted that he is pretty sure the show is cancelled at this point in time.

I wonder if this, 2013, will be the year of seeing more concerts and movies. We had tremendous success with a babysitter when we went to see To Rome With Love and I don’t see why we shouldn’t go out once in awhile and see a movie or a concert if it is possible. Until then, of course, we have a big DVR that is full of clever programming waiting for us to watch it.