Jim’s Year in Review: 2012

Best Movie:

Jiro Dreams of Sushi, ALSO: Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, Safety Not Guaranteed 

Best Song you Heard this year:

Favorite for sure: Japandroids: Continuous Thunder.

ALSO:

http://thedirtynil.bandcamp.com/track/little-metal-baby-fist

http://addrecords.bandcamp.com/track/start-me-on-interferon

http://theslowdeath.bandcamp.com/track/song-one-side-a-demo

Best Show:

Arliss Nancy at the fest.  ALSO: Pretty much every other show I saw at the fest.  

Most Cathartic Moment:

This will be INCREDIBLY douchey and very sophomore in college but here it goes:

Right before my 30th birthday I freaked out and took a solo trip around the world in 9 days.  The first day I landed in London, it was snowing, I’d never been out of North America and I was freaked out.  I walked around for hours, got a little drunk and headed to St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Occupy London was set up outside the steps of the church.  A bunch of people sleeping on the cold snowy ground in a tent village eating from the communal food tent.  Say what you will but it’s a lot to do for something you believe in.  As I walked inside, the afternoon mass was starting and they were in the middle of an anglican chant, like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Px12gtcZvg

I looked around at this massive church and all these people who believed so whole-heartedly, and cried.  Cried out of nowhere, very cathartic.  This building is older than pretty much any building I’ve ever seen.  I thought of all the people that had come through the same doors as I over the last 350ish years.  I thought of how small I am in the grand scheme of things, how none of us have any real concrete concept of what life is or what we should do.  But we are willing to sleep in a tent in the cold, build massive beautiful buildings and the millions of other crazy things people do because they believe.  Most importantly we come together in groups, make little tribes and make each other feel less scared and alone.  I walked outside and gave my coat to a punk dude wearing a Guy Fawkes mask running the donation tent.  

Best Moment with your Friends:

Here it goes AGAIN.  The past year was one of my favorite and best years of my life, because of the times I spent with friends.  Going to California with Mike and having him see the pacific ocean for the first time, hanging out with Joe Q and Joey shotgunning beers and smoking cigs on a condo balcony in California like nothing had changed in the 8 years since we all lived together, going to Italy with Monica getting loaded on wine and acting like little kids in a super fancy restaurant while I had the best meal of my life, snowboarding with Ryan and Matt smoking weed and hitting jumps, rediscovering skateboarding with Jesse back in town, skydiving with Mike, hanging out with Ryan at work listening to podcasts making tshirts, throwing parties and being so happy to see how much fun everyone else is having, the Gypsy Run, the day at the fest when everything hit the fan and we said fuck it and drank beers next to the pool and tried to figure out what to do, shooting pool in Jay Van Staveren’s basement.  Not only were those the best moments with my friends, they were the best moments of the year.  Definitely not work being busy, definitely not buying a car, definitely not starting a savings account.  

Most Annoying Friend:

Definitely me, I’m old as fuck and can’t hang at night-time.

Best Smooch:

Coming home from traveling and kissing Monica at JFK.

Favorite TV Show:

Breaking Bad, New Girl, Happy Endings, Workaholics

Favorite Friend’s House

They’re all good, preferably one with a house party in it.

Favorite Meal

Antica Trattoria in Sorrento.  Holy shit.  

Time you got the most drunk

Drank a fuck ton of white wine at Bacchus when Jessica Skinner was in town.  Puked my ass off, peed on the building in front of a huge window, rode home with a plastic bag hooked around my ears like a feed bag.  I was so hungover that I couldn’t stand still.  It was the best/worst.  Now I can’t drink the chard anymore, it’s a real shame

Babe of 2012

Aubrey Plaza in Safety not Guaranteed.  

Best thing you saw on Instagram

Can’t think of anything of the top of my head.  Jono explaining his curatorial take on Instagram and deleting a bunch of old photos was way funnier than anything I remember seeing on there.  Also, Joey Coleman being a straight skate celeb on there.  That dude definitely deserves everything he’s getting.

Coolest thing you did this year

Turned 30.  I was so bummed and freaked out about it, turns out it’s awesome. I feel like I can only be a better person from here on out and things can only get better.

Favorite outfit of 2012:

I wear the same thing everyday, I usually look like a shitty uncle.  Always have ink somewhere and my pants stink cause I never wash them.  My clothes have about 3 hours of life in them before they are dusty as all hell.