The choices here are ones I have seen, read, heard, or otherwise experienced. So while, for example, some might tag Cold Mountain as film of the year, I can’t since I haven’t seen it.
Previously: Best of 2001, Best of 2002
Bill’s Best of 2003
- Family: I’m going out on a limb this year and choosing my sister Joanne, her fiance Larry and his four children: Kristopher, Danielle, Devin and Jonny; we just cannot wait for the wedding this June.
- Movie: All the best choices were British this year. Pick of the newly released would have to be Lord of the Rings: Two Towers Extended Edition, followed by Love Actually; classic fav, no doubt, is Sense and Sensibility with the delicious and wonderful Emma Thompson. Worst, especially given the hype and awards it got, was Monster’s Ball.
- Music: Sadly, little new music this year caught my attention but the one that did was a doozy. Warren Zevon had the strength to hang on long enough to see reaction to The Wind though not it’s five Grammy nominations.
- TV: The Wire had a brilliant second season, continuing to follow the bad guys from last year and integrating a new crime crew and storyline, was tops by me; HBO posted an excellent post-season interview with creator David Simon. I remain amazed at the enduring creativity of The Simpson’s writing staff; by contrast Law & Order is still a fine show but no longer very original. Finally, props to strong seasons from 24, Alias and Arrested Development. Ultimately extremely disappointing was Angels in America which wound up on many critics’ best lists–great, emotive acting does not make a great film.
- Software: Not too many new applications that I used this year but for everyday use nothing beat the .NET-based, free as in beer RSS aggregator SharpReader from Luke Hutteman followed closely by Stephen Chambers’s IE shell SlimBrowser.
- Trip: Only one trip out of the area this year but as wonderful as that week was, I’ll go with my morning coffee walks with Evan which, due to conciding time not working, took place nearly every weekday morning of 2003. Actually we started doing this around March of 2002 and it’s something I’ll miss a lot when I do go back to the grind.
- Photo: We’re Married, ’nuff said!
- Sports: The San Jose Earthquakes, led by the amazing Landon Donovan, won their second MLS Cup in three years. Lance Armstrong won his fifth consecutive Tour de France.
- New website: SportsFilter, more daily fun than shaving!
- Food product: Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream, oh so delicious and only 3 grams of carbs per serving!
- Consumer product: Given the attempts in this household to minimize spending the whole year, there are few candidates in this category and none that stand out: a new cellphone (the cheapest Sprint offers), a new Toshiba laptop that’s nice but nothing special and a very cheap no-name desktop PC, a wall-hung coatrack. At least I got excited when I was able to put up the coatrack.
BillSaysThis 