2007 recap - entertainment

Some faves from the past year...

MUSIC (2007 Music Journal)
Favorite albums I listened to for the first time in 2007 (not necessarily released in 2007)...

"Accelerate", Testimony A Capella - Shally and I got some free tickets to a local concert where this Stanfurd a capella group performed. I wasn't expecting much, but afterwards I ended up purchasing the album - their harmonies were on point and they had someone to do beatbox percussion.

"In Between Dreams", Jack Johnson - one of the most relaxing albums that I own.

"Glo", Delirious - I didn't get into this band aside from their modern worship stuff until I took a chance on this album. They've done a great job continuing to grow their sound into modern atmospheric rock a la U2.

"Recollection", Nichole Nordeman - her debut Wide-Eyed is one of my favorite albums. This best-of collection has a pretty good cross-section of the rest of her catalog.

"Rodrigo y Gabriela", Rodrigo y Gabriela - unique, Latin/flamenco/metal inspired acoustic rock. It's like nothing else I've ever heard.

"Better Questions", Todd Agnew - surprisingly smart songwriting from this musician, best known for his single "Grace Like Rain" that had success on Christian radio. This album didn't have anything as radio-ready as that CCM hit, but did a pretty good job posing questions to God that many Christians face.

"Mute Math", Mute Math
"Cities", Anberlin
- straight up modern rock

BOOKS (2007 Book Journal)
Favorite books...

Pleasure reading:
Various books, Lee Child - Mike L introduced me to this thriller/action writer and I ended up devouring 4-5 of his novels about his hero, Jack Reacher, over the course of 2007.

Various books, Bill Watterson - I also had the chance to re-discover my love and enjoyment of the Calvin and Hobbes comic book series. Shally was cool enough to check out from the library a few of the compilations I hadn't read before, and now I have the full compilation on my bookshelf as a Christmas gift from her!

Christian stuff:
"Practicing God's Presence", Brother Lawrence - this was a theme for myself and many folks in the church for much of this year - being able to experience God in day-to-day life and not just in "church" stuff. The text of this classic can be found here.

"Authentic Christianity, Ray Stedman" - I also got turned on this year to the teaching of the late Pastor Ray Stedman from PBC. I find his stuff a good combination of practical, relatable teaching and theological complexity. This online book provided several insights into living an authentic faith in words that I hadn't necessarily considered before.

"Leading Congregational Change", Jim Herrington
"Communicating for a Change", Andy Stanley
- reading for church leadership purposes

Personal development and other non-fiction:
"Tipping Point", Malcolm Gladwell - fun read about how trends begin and are sustained

"Now Discover Your Strengths", Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton - learned a lot this year about how people are wired and uniquely created by God - strengths, weaknesses, personality, spiritual gifts, etc. This was a good handbook on the idea of unique strengths and helped me discover and clarify some of my own.

FILMS (2007 Film Journal)
Favorite films first viewed in 2007 (not necessarily released in 2007)...

"Ratatouille" (theater, DVD) - takes the top spot. I ended up watching this 3 times.

"The Bourne Ultimatum" (theater) - storyline and script was better than the first two. Much easier to follow.

"The Simpsons Movie" (theater) - Spider-pig, spider-pig...

"Amazing Grace" (DVD)
"Blood Diamond" (DVD)
- watched the two of these within the space of 3 days... both were surprisingly moving, not just for the story they told but also for the social justice causes that formed the backdrop for each movie - the English slave trade and diamond mining/child warfare in Africa.

"Serenity" (DVD) - bring back Firefly!

TV

24 - disappointing season 6. Was hoping for a bounceback season 7, but looks like that won't be happening any time soon.
Lost - boring 1st half, awesome 2nd half. The first 8 eps of this season should help sway public opinion to the side of the screenwriters in the strike.
Top Chef - my bro turned me on to this reality show, which was surprisingly fun to watch as much for the personalities of the chefs as the mouth-watering culinary creations.

Sports
2007 marked a wonderful turnaround for one of my teams and the cementing of a legacy for another.

For the Warriors, the revamp of the team from the lovable-yet-frustrating losers of the last decade to the tough, fun, still-occasionally-frustrating team of today was immensely gratifying to watch. Warriors fans are perhaps the best in the NBA - enthusiastic and knowledgeable even for midseason games. SJax provides toughness and surprising versatility. Biedrins has grown into a surprisingly effective inside player, Monta can score from anywhere, and Baron holds everything together. Man, it feels good to be respectable.

For the Spurs... I guess the 2007 championship is kind of like business as usual for one of the classiest and most successful organizations in sports.

Video Games
Edited this post to add this section... figured I might as well highlight all the gaming I did in 2007. The following games got a lot of play in Chris' XBox360, my PS2, and just in my general social circle:

Guitar Hero II (PS2) - my bro gave me his old copy, I bought a second guitar off Amazon, and ever since Shally and I have been enjoying rocking out.

Lego Star Wars I and II (PS2) - two bastions of my childhood combine to form a surprisingly entertaining game that I played through with both Shally and Chris.

Gears of War (XBox360) - this dominated evenings after community group in the first half of 2007. Ladies were especially put off by the "chainsawing bad guys in half" sound effect. Being able to play co-op and using cover made for more interesting gameplay than typical first-person shooters.

Rainbow Six: Vegas (XBox360) - IMO, a better game than Gears, but it didn't quite catch on outside of the Kittoe household. Still has a lot of replay value. Nothing more satisfying than ducking out of cover into heavy fire, sniping a terrorist, and sliding back into cover.

Rock Band - Drums, guitars, and vocals may dominate the next year or so. Talk about a cool drum learning tool!