I Resolve …

Like everyone else, my Facebook feed has been inundated with Happy New Year wishes and links to both thoughtful and clichéd pieces on New Year’s resolutions (Summary: set intentions instead of resolutions, take stock of the good stuff you did last year, make a goal to be healthy instead of a goal to lose weight (but secretly you want to lose weight).

2011 was a hell of a year for me and some important things got lost in the shuffle of living. I’m ready to make a fresh start and get back on track, but instead of putting my energies into losing weight — er, being healthy — or trying to be a better person, I think my life in music, books and movies needs some attention. So, below are my Pop Culture intentions for 2012:

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1) I will stop being so apathetic about music. I spent a good part of 2010 and almost all of 2011 really bored with music. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t listen to music, it just means that I listened to my tried and true favorites over and over without venturing out of my musical comfort zones (which might be more varied and larger than the average non-music geek, but still). I’m old and I’ve listened to enough music to know that newness is not a virtue in of itself, but I’ve been missing the thrill of finding something that makes me sit up and take notice, listening to tunes that give my stride a different pace or hearing lyrics that make me see something new, recognize something old and true about myself, or (best of all) both at once. Something like this.

2) On a related note, I will go and see some live music. Going to see a show is a huge pain in the ass these days. There are funding issues, babysitters to hire, trains to ride, the aforementioned oldness. But I love live music; there is nothing quite like the energy between live musicians and their audience. And if I’m not letting oldness stop me from wearing denim cutoffs with tights underneath, it certainly shouldn’t stop me from seeing a band I like play.

3) On the other hand, I will let go of romantic notions about seeing movies in the theater. It’s time to face facts — I may have happy memories of idling away hundreds of hours watching every film that I could in theaters (before kids, sometimes several a week), but those times are past. Nothing good ever comes to the theatres that are 30 minutes away from where I now live. It’s time to accept what is.

4) I will actually use my LoveFilm (UK Netflix equivalent) membership. Weirdly enough and despite my love of movies, I am guilty of renting movies and then keeping them for for weeks on end if I don’t watch it right away. There is no logic behind this, just inertia.

5) I will explore new territories. Perhaps a few of you will remember this post I wrote last year about reading something you think you’ll hate and shaking up your reading habits. Yeah — that didn’t happen. In 2011, I stuck to my usual fare of novels, short stories, a few biographies and books about Buddhism. But I’m not ready to give up on this idea yet.

6) I will go and do cool things of my own volition and not just because I have nice friends.  Last year I went to a poetry reading, a literary festival and saw a play and a musical in London’s West End. Each event was incredibly refreshing, cathartic and inspiring. All of them came about through invitations and goodwill from friends. This year, I will find some cool things to see and do the inviting.

7) I will keep reading poetry. Confession time: I have always been a little cynical about and scared of poetry. I mean I’ve read a lot and I’ve written about it academically, but I don’t think I ever really let myself enjoy it. There was always this asshole part of me floating up above my body making fun, kind of like the old dudes at the end of The Muppet Show. But something has clicked in the last few years and this last year, I read collection after collection just because I like it.

8) I will keep watching awesome television. I may be in a cinematic slump, but television continues to deliver challenging and compelling narratives and characters. Last year, I enjoyed  Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, Bored to Death and The Hour. Not to mention the continuing comforts of 30 Rock, Modern Family, Wallander and The Killing (first and second series of the Danish version, haven’t seen the American) the cheap thrills of True Blood, or The Sopranos, which I’m coming to better late than never. I can’t wait for the fifth season of Mad Men  and the second season of Game of Thrones and maybe some of the other US shows that I’m itching to see will make it across the pond.

9) I will support local and new artists. One of the most rewarding things that happened last year was seeing my brother, his wife and their friend earn the funding to complete their series of short films, the Lost and Found Series, through Kickstarter. A lot can be said about the lightening speed with which we can access art and invest hours fetishizing our favoured niches, or how the Internet gives too much voice to a ravenous, forgetful public. Those are valid criticisms and a good topic for another day, but I will say that the democratizing force of our digital does allow us to connect with and support millions of artists we might never find and helps us bypass art cooked up by marketing executives. I’ve been keeping my eye on Kickstarter for another project to support, but I’d also like to support local artists and musicians.

10) I will make something myself. As Sugar says, “Don’t lament so much about how your career is going to turn out. You don’t have a career. You have a life. Do the work. Keep the faith. Be true blue. You are a writer because you write. Keep writing and quit your bitching. Your book has a birthday. You don’t know what it is yet.” I don’t know if the stories in me will have a birthday in 2012, but I do know that it will never be born if I don’t write.