rednoW Favorites 2008

This time of year is all about remembering what has been and getting ready for the change that will be. In a year that has had "change" as its montra, we here at rednoW are looking back and remembering the things that have changed us through the wonderful expereince of wonder.

We aren't making a ‘Best of 2008' list in the sense that this is an exhaustive list of all things good - it is simply what we happened to engage with in 2008 that has caused us to think more about what is going on in this world, in our lives and the reality behind it all.

Films

Few things cultivate wonder in us more than the marriage of story, images and song. This year brought many films that made us laugh, cry, call the White House, love people better, and otherwise contemplate our lives. If you are looking for a way to bring a little wonder into your rental cue, allow us to make a few recommendations.

Compiled by the rednoW team (and friends), our Films of Wonder 2008 are listed by US release date rather than some ranking of 'greateness' - if they made the list, we think they are worth your time and money.* But do check back in the next week, we will announce our rednoW film (and album) of the year.

Think we missed something? Tell us what and why....we're all ears.

* NOTE:  There are few "late releases" (don't you love how they wait until the end of year to release?) we have not seen... who knows, we might add some.

rednoW Favorites 2008

This time of year is all about remembering what has been and getting ready for the change that will be. In a year that has had "change" as its montra, we here at rednoW are looking back and remembering the things that have changed us through the wonderful expereince of wonder.

We aren't making a ‘Best of 2008' list in the sense that this is an exhaustive list of all things good - it is simply what we happened to engage with in 2008 that has caused us to think more about what is going on in this world, in our lives and the reality behind it all.

Albums

Thanks to transcendent sounds or depth of lyrics, each album grabbed us in some way this year and still has not let go. If you are looking for a way to bring a little wonder into your ear buds, allow us to make a few recommendations from the year that has been.

Compiled by the rednoW team (and friends), our Albums of Wonder 2008 are listed by US release date rather than some ranking of 'greateness' - if they made the list, we think they are worth your time and money. But do check back in the next week, we will announce our rednoW album (and film) of the year.

Think we missed something? Tell us what and why....we're all ears.

In 1960 Disney Studios adapted a well-known children's novel by Eleanor H. Porter into a film by the same name: Pollyanna. The character, a young orphan girl who finds the good in every situation, no matter how dire, became cultural shorthand for naive optimism. Calling someone a Pollyanna is less a compliment about that person's positive disposition than it is a critique of how out of touch from the real world the person is.

Porter's character has resurfaced and been reinvented throughout the years. In Mike Leigh's latest film, Happy Go Lucky, some have wondered if Pollyanna has been spotted again. This time she is Poppy, a schoolteacher in North London. From the first scene the comparison is understandable. After repeated cheerful attempts at small talk with a grumpy bookstore clerk, Polly walks outside to find her bike has been stolen. Through her smiling reaction to this loss ("I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye"), the film quickly reveals Poppy's abnormal way of interpreting her life.

It’s not often that you can pinpoint the exact month and year of a transient moment of ecstatic, even transcendent emotion in your life. In my experience, such feelings tend to be vagrant and never leave much trace, like instances of joy when you step outside and catch a glimpse of a particular slant of sunlight against a tree. The emotion arrives and vanishes as quickly as the phenomenon that spawns it.

In the case of pop culture, however, a force that can be as evanescent and startling as nature in its quick passage through our lives, we have a record. If we heard a particular song on a specific day at a swimming pool in West Texas, and we have a rough sense of its origins, we can find out exactly when it was released. The same goes for movies, TV shows and, in my case, comic books.