John's 2007 Sevens

JOHN HANLON, Brooklyn NY
7 Good Things I Saw In A Movie Theater In 2007
1. The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward
Robert Ford
2. Brand Upon The Brain! (Guy Maddin’s latest, performed with a sound effects crew, a small orchestra and a guest narrator. The night I attended it was Crispin Glover.)
3. No Country For Old Men
4. Out 1 (Jacques Rivette’s legendary 12 hour film about acting, conspiracies, love affairs, the death of the 60’s, and silliness as a way of life. I never thought I would get to see it, and now that I have, I want to see it again.)
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark – The Adaptation
6. The Swing Dance Sequence in Hellzapoppin!
(Most of the movie is self-referential Marx Brothers/Tex Avery-style anarchy. Then one of the most astonishing dance sequences I’ve ever unreels, and time seemed to stop as I experience something truly transcendent.)
7. What Is It?
(Crispin Glover’s first film. Unlike most experimental films, it’s never boring though it is incomprehensible.)

(I’m not sure what it means that every movie choice this year – apart from What Is It? – is either from, or concerned with, the past. Guess I’m getting old.)

7 Good Things Outside A Movie Theater in 2007
1. Battlestar Galactica
(It’s as good as everyone says.)
2. Endless Things by John Crowley
(Final volume in a series that’s among the best things I’ve ever read. In the previous books, Crowley wrote himself into a corner and in this one, he nimbly writes himself out, without it seeming like a cop-out or disappointment.)
3. Peter Evans Quartet
4. The Sopranos
(Obviously the end of the last episode, but the entire season was great.)
5. The “Tab” episode of The Sarah Silverman Show
(It’s as if I couldn’t laugh hard enough to express how funny this was.)
6. “Videotape” by Radiohead
(These lines, sung by Thom Yorke in that soaring voice of his, get me every time: “No matter what happens now/ I won't be afraid / Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen.”
7. White Chalk by PJ Harvey

Pops' TG7 of 2007

POPS GUSTAV, Hoboken NJ
7 THINGS THAT I DID ENJOY IN 2007
1) NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Best film I saw in ’07, no contest, Friend-o.
2) THE SOPRANOS. Especially the cut to black. Genius.
3) the Shins, WINCING THE NIGHT AWAY. Maybe the only album I loved start to finish all year?
4) Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Dozens of visits, Hundreds of margaritas, tens of All Chopped Ups. Yum.
5) Pickle Licker. Nothing made me laugh harder or longer or more times in ’07 (for better or worse).
6) THE SPIRIT by Darwyn Cooke. Simultaneously updating and respecting Eisner’s legacy.
7) JOURNEYMAN. I’da watched it even if my friend Gretchen weren’t one of the stars. It’ll be missed.

7 THINGS THAT DROVE ME BATTY IN 2007
1) God. As in, a fantasy that is the most powerful force in our politics and culture right now. The mind boggles.
2) The administration. The cowards in Congress. The candidates. I grieve for our future. But it’s our fault, now, isn’t it?
3) Rewarding Stupidity. Chris “Leave Britney Alone!” Crocker and that stupid Miss Teen Whatever USAmericans idiot and Sanjaya… they deserve to fade away after the laughing stops, not development deals and guest spots on TV shows.
4) The Writer’s Strike. Hey, greedy multinational corporations making money off the internet: It’s simple: PAY THE CREATORS FOR THE PRODUCT FROM WHICH YOU PROFIT.
5) Judd Apatow. An overrated one-note hack whose sporadically funny output is a mask for a truly reprehensible conservative proselytizing.
6) the American Health Care Industry. An oxymoron if ever there was one. They do not care.
7) My chronic lack of focus and drive.

Miss Tanya's Seven Favorite Things in '07

TANYA MANCINI, Hoboken NJ
In no particular order-
1. The Pickle Licker Girl from The Soup.
This clip which originated on Supernanny never failed to make me laugh while played incessantly on The Soup this year. Sometimes wrong is right.
2. Band of Horses: Cease to Begin
This too-short album has been on repeat in my iPod since it was released in November. Country fried shoegazing.
3. Mad Men
I was worried this gem of a 1960s ad agency show would be overlooked, and worse, cancelled. I was wrong. Great storylines that leave me wanting more, amazing attention to detail and fantastic clothes. It's just about perfect. Don Draper, you're the dreamiest.
4. La Vie En Rose
Edith Piaf bioflick. Tortured, depressing and ultimately, if you're a fan you know how this story ends. It's a tad melodramatic, but Marion Cotilliard's performance is simply spectacular.
5. Scrabulous
I am old. I play Scrabble with my friends on the internet. It is awesome.
6. Love Is a Mixtape by Rob Sheffield
I don't usually like books by rock journalists, I'm not a big Klosterman fan. But Sheffields memoir of losing his wife to a pulmonary embolism at 31, was a tale told through speakers and headsets. For romantics and music fans - one and the same, right?
7. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
How had I not fucking read this before? I was up until 4am finishing this, and then up until 6am all creeped out.

Dave's TG7s of 2007

DAVID CALAMONERI , Hoboken NJ
My 7 "Biggest" "Big" news stories of 2007 (in no particular order)
1. Homophobe Senator Larry Craig in gay bathroom sex scandal
2. Tony Blair resigns/New PM Brown starts pulling English troops out of Iraq.
3. Democrats take control of the House and Senate (look for "Dems find the their balls" in 2008)
4. Subprime Mortgage bubble bursts.
5. The Virginia Tech shootings
6. The wildfires in California
7. US ally Pakistan's State of Emergency / Top challenger, of US backed Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto MURDERED.

7 news stories receiving Honorary Mention to My 7 "Biggest" "Big" stories of 2007 :
1. US Military temporarily misplaces 6 nucLEar warheads.
2. The Chinese toy recall.
3. "Family Values" Senator David Vitter in D.C. Madam's little black book.
4. Buddhist Monks protest in Myanmar (previously known as Thailand)
5. Al Gore and UN Scientists get the Nobel Prize for climate crisis work and warning.
6. US contractors (Blackwater) murder Iraqi civilians and have their immunity revoked.
7. karl rove and alberto gonzales join the droves of resigning bush appointees.

7 Least "favorite" "Big" stories of 2007
1. Britney shaves her head.
2. The cost of John Edwards hair cut.
3. Don Imus says "nappy headed hoes"
4. Anna Nicole Smith dies.
5. Amy Whinehouse does drugs.
6. The last Harry Potter book.
7. O.J. gets busted for trying to steal his stuff back.

7 favorite 2007 lists
1. Time Magazine
2. Mad Magazine's 20 Dumbest people, places, and things of 2007
3. Bill Maher's Dickheads of the Year
4. Popular Science's Innovation's of the Year
5. Best of 2007 by David Cross
6. Best viral videos of 2007
7. List of lists of 2007

7 Reasons Why Disney World is Still Fun at 36 Years Old...

HAVEN S. BLEU, Hoboken NJ
1. Nothing beats a really good roller coaster.
2. Instant childhood refresher.
3. They sell booze. A lot of booze.
4. Space Mountain is still the same, never updated.
sooo futuristic 1970's style. Nice.
5. Turns out, I'm still afraid of the dark... and I like it.
6. It is a small world after all!
7. Mouseketeer ears never get old.

Good Songs to Hear or Sing at a Karaoke Bar

JOHN HANLON, Brooklyn NY
(based on experience)
1. Delilah
2. Enter Sandman
3. Green Green Grass of Home
4. Moon River
5. People = Shit
6. Sexbomb
7. The End