The Best of 1998
I've actually never done one of these before, but a few weeks I was thinking that it feels like I've actually seen and done enough to put together a "best of" list for the past year. One disclaimer, though: This is a list of things that I experienced during 1998, not (unless noted) things that were actually released in 1998.
Best Novel: Dark Water's Embrace, by Stephen Leigh. I actually picked this book up on a lark, because the cover blurb was interesting and the price (as with all books in the new EOS imprint from Avon) was low. It is a terrific piece of work, touching on some of the themes of Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, but I actually think DWE is a more powerful and more focused book. If you prefer extra-hard SF, then you might find the mechanics of the planet in this novel disappointing; I just consider them to be the background which gets the story moving, and I didn't feel I needed what would have been an impossible (and tedious) detailed explanation for the book to work for me.
Best Album: Moodswing, by the Joshua Redman Quartet. I discovered jazz music this year, and bought or listened to several dozen jazz albums in the second half of the year. I think this was the best of them, with a clean sound, a good variety, and more emotion in the tunes than in any of the other albums. And that includes several albums which are themselves excellent, such as Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Oscar Peterson's Night Train, Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage and Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus.
Best New Movie: The Truman Show. This one gets the nod over Saving Private Ryan. Truman is a successful and intelligent science fiction short story brought to life on screen, with a good soundtrack (including pieces by Philip Glass) and strong performances by Jim Carrey and the supporting cast. It accomplishes what it sets out to do without going over-the-top at any point.
Best Old Movie: A Streetcar Named Desire. I'd never seen this film before, and seeing it made me understand why Marlon Brando gained his reputation, as his performance here is excellent, overshadowing the other (themselves solid) performances in this rendition of the hard-hitting play.
Best TV Show: Homicide: Life on the Street. I started watching this show in this seventh (and current) season, and have enjoyed it immensely. I went back and watched many of the old episodes on re-runs on Lifetime, and hope to see many more next year on Court TV. (Unfortunately, my Mom doesn't get CTV, so I'm missing the 24-hour marathon today.) A humorous, understated and fairly realistic show, few episodes are disappointing, and those that are are usually the ones that try to be "sensational". (Homicide easily beats the very disappointing fifth season of Babylon 5.)
Best Sports Moment: Kerry Wood striking out 20 Houston Astros early in the baseball season. In a year when everyone was just marking time until Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' home run record, Wood stepped up and delivered on his promise by tying another record, and incidentally becoming the oldest pitcher ever to strike out his age in a single game. (Runner-up: Garlic fries at Commercialstick Park in June.)
But things turned around, especially when I replaced my hemmhoraging old Macintosh clone with a new G3, and then went to visit my friend John in San Francisco in June. The second half of the year has been grand, with my job getting better, diving into my new interest in jazz, keeping up with my old interests in science fiction and comic books, and biking to work regularly from early July through mid October.
Next year, I begin my fourth decade on this planet. My third decade has been a very mixed one. Hopefully the upbeat manner in which it's ended this year heralds good things for the future.
See you in 1999!
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