John Beck

Happy New Year! 2009 has come and gone and has left us with many great memories.

My favorite film of the year was Inglorious Basterds. I also really enjoyed Moon. Sure I haven’t gotten to the movies that much this year but those two were my favorite.

I have watched a whole lot of TV this year though, that’s a fact! My favorite show of the year was Battlestar Galactica. I still think about that mind-blowing final episode. Wow! There were a lot of other great shows in 2009 so I have to also give credit to Dexter, Curb Your Enthusiasm, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Entourage. Some of the best shows on TV. Of course I have to give an honorable mention to Dirty Jobs, that show is always a sure thing.

I also listened to a bunch of great new albums this year and if you’re a regular reader of my blog you know that I’ve been talking about the Fever Ray album all year. It’s made many best of 2009 lists. Also, another album that is my favorite of the year is “Merriweather Post Pavillion” by Animal Collective. Those 2 albums are my most listened to of all the new releases of 2009. They’re both extremely unique and fantastic albums, not to mention the Fever Ray concert that I went to in September is probably the best concert that I’ve ever been to.

I also have to point out these other great albums, “Two Suns” by Bat For Lashes, “March of the Zapotec/Holland” by Beirut, “Eating Us” by Black Moth Super Rainbow, “Bromst” by Dan Deacon, “Veckatimest” by Grizzly Bear, La Roux, “Living Thing” by Peter Bjorn and John, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” by Phoenix and “Dance Mother” by Telepathe.

I should also point out that a new Depeche Mode album came out this year. Sure it’s far from my favorite of the year but I just felt that I should point it out because they’re one of my favorite bands.

That’s all, be sure to check out Fever Ray and Animal Collective, Inglorious Basterds and the final season of Battlestar Galactica! and Happy New Year!

Here’s some of the stuff that Santa brought me for Christmas. I’m telling you, that dude totally rocks!

a Baltimore Ravens shot glass, the incredible book Sharp Suits, Jack Daniels coffee, a Baltimore Ravens lighter, a Ryan Newman license plate frame, a beautiful new pair of Doc Martens, a sweet pair of Kenneth Cole cuff links and a gorgeous Kenneth Cole tie bar, a stick of hard salami, Depeche Mode – Sounds of the Universe CD/DVD and a Baltimore Ravens toothbrush!

What did everyone else get?

Merry Christmas, my buddy James out in San Francisco sent me a Christmas card. Here’s what he wrote inside:

Thanks buddy! Merry Christmas to you too! I hope you come back to NJ soon!

Here’s my design for my 2009 Christmas card that I will be giving out. What do you think?

Last year were hand drawn cards of sardines which came with a can of sardines. This year it’s a collage. I originally wanted to incorporate random images from Wikipedia entries. That was taking a lot longer than I had hoped so I just went with the minimal route, which is more my style anyway. What do you think?

On Sunday my mother and I went to Keris Christmas Tree Farm. I know the owners of the farm. They’ve been customers of mine for years and I recently found out about the farm. So, this past Sunday my mother and I went. It was a cold and rainy day but it was still a nice visit. The trees (from what we saw) looked beautiful. On the grounds there were a few structures up, the main one was a Christmas shop. All kinds of odd and not so odd Christmas ornaments and decorations. Right when we walked in there was Santa sitting next to the fire place. I KNOW HIM!!!! He gave us a candy cane each. My mother bought a couple of unique looking ornaments. Outside there was another structure that was giving away hot cocoa, coffee and warm apple cider. We both had the cider from a big pot and it was DELICIOUS! As we were pulling away I noticed another barn in the back with a sign that read “barbecue”. I wish it wasn’t so miserable outside, I would have certainly investigated that.

On Monday Big Rick and I went down to Philadelphia to pick up honey balls from Cosmi’s Pastries. We went there last year during Christmas as well. Cosmi’s makes the best honey balls. He also got me a tray of Italian cookies for helping him out. They sure were good!

A couple of weeks ago a customer of mine gave me the coolest gift. He works in television and he knows how much I love TV and he got me the series finale of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. I mean, that in itself is awesome, but what he got me is even more awesome, it is the DVD that the Sci-Fi network gives to the judges of the Emmy awards. It turns out that he’s one of the judges and gave me this special DVD. it’s packaged in this red cube that is labeled “For Your Consideration”. It’s so sweet. I’ll post pictures later. I was about to take some but my camera isn’t working. My sister broke it! Check back soon!