Review of the year: Excellent (Part Two)

One of the most moving things I ever saw was a child falling off a bike and really hurting himself. Not because it was hilarious to watch... I'm not saying that. I hardly laughed at all. But because of what his friend did. These were two boys, probably about ten years old or therabouts... maybe older. I can't really work out the ages of children between birth and the point where they start paying income tax. But lets say ten. Anyway, the other boy, seeing that his friend had fallen and was in pain, dropped his bike straight away and left it where it fell, running towards his friend to make sure he was alright. No macho posing, no laughter, just concern. I thought it was really nice, and it's stayed with me as an example of something lovely in a world that generally looks like it was designed by evil vampire wasps.

All of which is my way of saying... here are some nice things, to end the year on. Things that pleased me and made me glad to be alive in 2010. Absorb them, seek them out for yourselves, buy them for me as presents.

The Walking Dead

At last somebody has realised that the best way to faithfully adapt a novel - especially a graphic novel like The Walking Dead - is not to attempt to cram it all into 2 hours of blockbuster cinema. Yes, films are big and shiny and have lots of money to spend, but if you're looking at doing justice to the slow burn narratives and complex characterisation of a novel, you need to make a television series.

TV is brilliant these days, and the last ten years or so have seen the art form raise in quality to such an extent that it is no longer the unloved little brother of cinema, good only for hitting and stealing sweets off. Now TV has grown surprisingly tall and strong, and cinema is really wishing it had been nicer to it when it was younger, and is desperately hoping TV doesn't remember the day cinema pulled the head off his Boba Fett and laughed when he cried.

Sorry. Flashback. Anyway, it was with great joy that I welcomed the news that Robert Kirkman's ongoing tale of the zombie apocalypse was to be allowed full reign on television.

It's a slow burn, and the six episodes that have aired so far have not got us very far plotwise. But the point of the show - and indeed all zombie narratives - is to show us how the living respond to the situation they are in, and reveal their true selves once the bonds of civilisation have dissolved. The title explicitly refers not just to the zombies themselves, but also to we the living, for what are we but the dead waiting to happen?

The zombie moments themselves are also terrific: well realised Romero-style shufflers rather than the sprinting ghouls of other films, and blessed with really gross faces. The violence is explicit and necessarily horrifying and the situations really have you going 'Arrg! Aarg! Nooo!' and spilling your wine. Against all the odds, it has done well and been given a second series. I dance a joyful zombie dance.

 

Aha's farewell tour

Upon being told that I went to see Scandanavian pop band Aha in concert this year, most people's responses fell into one of the following categories:

a) Aha? Didn't they split up in 1987? No? Really? I'm sure you're wrong. You're probably thinking of Keane. I like Keane.

b) Aha? Who are they? Being under 20 I have no idea what you are talking about. Now get out of my bedroom or I'll call my dad.

c) I know you went. I went to see them with you. I bought the tickets.

d) I know you went. I'm Morten Harket, lead singer of Aha, and I saw you in the crowd weeping like a child. Now get out of my bedroom or I'll call my dad.

Well, they are still together, except they're not because this was their farewell tour. Aha are absolutely fantastic and have probably done their best work in the last dozen years or so. Here's an example.




The farewell concert was gorgeous, full of amazing songs that were frankly impossible to sing along to due to Harket's still impressive vocal range.They are an incredible pop band with some top melodies, and in a fair world (i.e. one not dominated by radio stations terrified of anything older than last week) they would have continued to be huge.

The really odd emotional highlight was an audience singalong of the chorus to 80s Bond Theme The Living Daylights. In case you can't remember how these incredibly profound lyrics went, it was something like this: 'Whoah, oh oh oh, The Living Daylights.' It was great, and weirdly bonding.

Amusingly, near the end, a middle aged man behind us inadvertently revealed that he'd never ever been to a gig before. The band had said goodnight and left the stage, but hadn't yet played Take On Me - probably their most famous song. Would they come back, do you think, to round off the evening with their most triumphant creation? Probably not, according to this bloke, who got up, put his coat on and complained loudly 'I would have thought they'd play Take on Me!'.

I loved this gig. It awakened in me a renewed love of the band, and of the possibilities of intelligent pop in general. One of the highlights of my year.

Matt Smith as Doctor Who

I remember quite well the day the fourth Doctor Who, played for seven years by Tom 'mad as toast' Baker, fell off a big tower and thunked into the ground, hurting his back and triggering the swirly BBC effects of  regeneration. It was inconceiveable to my ten year old self that anyone could take his place. When Peter Davison's first story rolled around a few months later I was sure of only one thing: I hated this new guy, and it would be really nice if he could fall off something too, preferably onto a spike, and turn back into my curly haired hero.

I imagine Matt Smith set off similar thoughts in a lot of children this year, as he took over the best role in the world from uber-popular David Tennant, who had spent four glorious years being quite, quite brilliant as Doctor Who and winning over the hearts of an entire generation. Heck, forget children - most adults I know went into terminal denial at the idea of anyone else stepping into those battered Converse trainers.

Well, take a bow Matt Smith. You started brilliantly and just got better, becoming a totally new and yet instantly recognisable Doctor. Funny, weird, clever and heroic, you made the Doctor all the things he needs to be - a role model to anyone who watches, who loves all the strangeness of the world and hates injustice with a passion. Great stuff. Please keep doing it.

Toy Story 3

I really, really liked Toy Story 3. If you don't like it, it is because you haven't seen it. Or because you are evil. A glorious, life affirming, brilliantly constructed story that says gorgeous things about life, friendship and change. That is all I have to say.





And finally... 

I do have one more thing to stick on my list, but I've decided to give it its own entry, on the grounds that it's probably my favourite thing of all my favourites. So I'll see you next time for that. In the meantime, enjoy those around you (unless they are Nazis), have a cup of tea and avoid spoilers.