Lee Nau

I wrote 192 reviews on 50 Words in 2009. Of these, only 30 were reviews of things I saw, read, or listened to before 2009.

I’ll recap the year with four top ten lists, one bottom ten list, and a Nominee Project status. The books, TV series, and music I reviewed were all decent.

The Best Movies

1. Once (2006) – Grade: A+
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) – Grade: A+
3. Milk (2008) – Grade: A+
4. No Country for Old Men (2007) – Grade: A+
5. The Double Life of Veronique (1991) – Grade: A+
6. The Dark Knight (2008) – Grade: A+
7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) – Grade: A+
8. The Spanish Apartment (2002) – Grade: A
9. Before Sunrise (1995) – Grade: A
10. Juno (2007) – Grade: A

The Best Music

1. India.Arie — Acoustic Soul (2001) – Grade: A+
2. Sonny Stitt — The Good Life (1980) – Grade: A
3. Norah Jones — Come Away With Me (2002) – Grade: A
4. Dizzy Gillespie — Dizzy Gillespie Jam: Montreux ‘77 (1992) – Grade: A
5. DJ Sake1 — Fania Live 03 (2008) – Grade: A
6. Antonio Carlos Jobim — Live at Minas (2004) – Grade: A
7. Norah Jones — Feels Like Home (2004) – Grade: A
8. Take 6 — The Standard (2008) – Grade: A
9. Andy Caldwell — Late Night with Andy Caldwell (2005) – Grade: A
10. Aya — Strange Flower (2004) – Grade: A-

The Best Books

1. Daniel Coyle — The Talent Code (2009) – Grade: A+
2. Twyla Tharp — The Creative Habit (2005) – Grade: A+
3. Richard Bode — First You Have to Row a Little Boat (1993) – Grade: A+
4. Cormac McCarthy — The Road (2006) – Grade: A
5. Steven Pressfield — The War of Art (2003) – Grade: A
6. Pavel Tsatsouline — Enter the Kettlebell (2006) – Grade: A
7. Jim Johnson — The Sixty Second Motivator (2006) – Grade: A
8. Josh Waitzkin — The Art of Learning (2008) – Grade: A-
9. Karen Salmansohn — The Bounce Back Book (2008) – Grade: A-
10. Pavel Tsatsouline — Power to the People (1999) – Grade: A-

The Best TV on DVD

1. John Adams (2008) – Grade: A+
2. Carnivàle, Season 1 (2003) – Grade: A+
3. Roswell, Season 1 (1999) – Grade: A
4. Long Way Round (2004) – Grade: A
5. Roswell, Season 2 (2000) – Grade: A
6. Heroes, Season 1 (2006) – Grade: A
7. Californication, Season 1 (2007) – Grade: A
8. Long Way Down (2007) – Grade: A
9. Heroes, Season 2 (2007) – Grade: A
10. Roswell, Season 3 (2001) – Grade: A

The Worst Movies

1. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008) – Grade: F
2. Treasure Island (1999) – Grade: D-
3. A Delicate Balance (1973) – Grade: D-
4. A Boy and His Dog (1975) – Grade: D
5. Nowhere (1997) – Grade: D
6. Darkon (2006) – Grade: C-
7. Timeline (2003) – Grade: C-
8. True Stories (1986) – Grade: C-
9. 10 (1979) – Grade: C-
10. Pizza (2005) – Grade: C

Nominee Project Status

• Total films: 2512
• Viewed: 740 (29.46%)
• Unavailable: 312 (12.42%)
• Left to see: 1460 (58.12%)

Review Stats

• Movies: 138 (GPA: 3.21 – B+)
• Music: 24 (GPA: 3.65 – A-)
• Books: 13 (GPA: 3.77 – A-)
• TV: 17 (GPA: 3.76 – A-)

• Total: 192 (GPA: 3.35 – B+)

Between January 1 and August 1, I wrote 128 reviews on 50 Words. Most of them are things I’ve seen, listened to, or read for the first time. Here are the highlights:

The Best Movies

1. Once (2006) – Grade: A+
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) – Grade: A+
3. Milk (2008) – Grade: A+
4. No Country for Old Men (2007) – Grade: A+
5. The Dark Knight (2008) – Grade: A+
6. The Spanish Apartment (2002) – Grade: A
7. Before Sunrise (1995) – Grade: A
8. Juno (2007) – Grade: A
9. Cloverfield (2008) – Grade: A
10. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) – Grade: A

The Best Music

1. India.Arie — Acoustic Soul (2001) – Grade: A+
2. Sonny Stitt — The Good Life (1980) – Grade: A
3. Norah Jones — Come Away With Me (2002) – Grade: A
4. Dizzy Gillespie — Dizzy Gillespie Jam: Montreux ‘77 (1992) – Grade: A
5. DJ Sake1 — Fania Live 03 (2008) – Grade: A
6. Norah Jones — Feels Like Home (2004) – Grade: A
7. Take 6 — The Standard (2008) – Grade: A
8. Aya — Strange Flower (2004) – Grade: B+
9. DJ Rumor — Fania Live 01 (2007) – Grade: B+
10. John Tejada & Arian Leviste — The Dot and the Line (2004) – Grade: B+

The Worst Movies

1. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008) – Grade: F
2. Treasure Island (1999) – Grade: D-
3. A Delicate Balance (1973) – Grade: D-
4. A Boy and His Dog (1975) – Grade: D
5. Nowhere (1997) – Grade: D
6. 28 Up (1985) – Grade: C-
7. Darkon (2006) – Grade: C-
8. True Stories (1986) – Grade: C-
9. 10 (1979) – Grade: C-
10. Pizza (2005) – Grade: C

A little over 18 months ago, I posted here about The Nominee Project. Recently, I finally got around to adding the nominated movies of the 2009 Awards shows to the database.

Since that post a while back, I’ve added two years worth of nominees to the database. As is obvious from the frequency I post here, I’m not Johnny-on-the-spot with updates. I’m trying to rectify that in the future.

Today, the tally stands as follows:

• Total films: 2512
• Viewed: 723 (28.78%)
• Unavailable: 316 (12.58%)
• Left to see: 1473 (58.64%)

Since last time, I’ve seen 104 nominees. That’s about 1.3 per week. I’m never going to knock out the back log at that pace. Thankfully, the nearby public library supplements my Netflix queue. Check your local public library. They probably let you check out DVDs. Just watch the due date.