Ahem... merry Xmas and all that. A busy time of year and it's taken me until the 27th to get around to sitting in front of this computer to type something out. I'm off work until the 3rd, so I'll write something decent before I go back, but until then here's a pit stop. I have not much of anything planned for the week-and-a-bit off, though it looks like I could be one hell of a busy couch potato. The weather is unseasonably cool, the sky has actually dared to grace us w/ a few showers (note to foreigners: South-Eastern Australia is currently in the grips of its worst drought on record) and I have a ridiculous number of DVDs to watch: three seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm, two series of Deadwood and the final season of Six Feet Under. Since I can purchase CDs dirt-cheap through various connections - or even get them free - all friends and family members have obviously decided that buying myself music for Xmas is off limits, which suits me fine. So, DVDs it will be. Oh, there was one more DVD Santa bought me for Xmas: Gigli. Thanks for that.

But anyway, as a quick space-fill, here is the absolutely, positively final round-up for the Best Of 2006:

THE NECKS - Chemist CD (Fish of Milk)
THE MELVINS - (A) Senile Animal CD (Ipecac)
SCOTT WALKER - The Drift CD (4AD)
EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING - s/t LP/CD (Dropkick)
WILLIAM PARKER - Long Hidden: The Olmech Series CD (Aum Fidelity)
BRIAN TAIRAKU RITCHIE - Ryoanji CD (Thylacine)
ORNETTE COLEMAN - Sound Grammar CD (Sound Grammar)
TENGIR-TOO - Music of Central Asia Vol. 1: Mountain Music of Kyrgyzstan CD/DVD (Folkways)
TOM WAITS - Orphans 3CD (Anti-)

REISSUES:

PORTER WAGONER - The Rubber Room CD (Omni)
JOHN D. LOUDERMILK - The Open Mind of John D. Loudermilk CD (Omni)
RUTHANN FRIEDMAN - Constant Companion CD (Water)
VARIOUS - The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of 2CD (Yazoo)
VARIOUS - Friends Of Old Time Music 3CD (Folkways)
SANDY BULL - Still Valentine's Day 1969: Live at The Matrix, San Francisco CD (Water)
THE KHAN JAMAL CREATIVE ARTS ENSEMBLE - Drumdance to the Motherland CD (Eremite)

BEST FILM:

United 93

WORST FILM(S):

Miami Vice (I didn't want to see it, and am sorry I did. An action-free action film: a whole new concept); The Departed (marginally pipped at the post by The Gangs Of New York as Scorcese's worst film yet)

AUSTRALIAN BAND OF THE YEAR:

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - for releasing an excellent record and not blowing their cool

WORST AUSTRALIAN BAND:

Ummm... I can't say this one without the possibility of assault next time I enter various local establishments

BEST TV SERIES:

Deadwood - hands down. As Leapin' Larry L noted: it's so good, you can't believe it's on television!

BEST MUSICAL BLOG:

Agony Shorthand - now deceased

WORST MUSICAL BLOG:

I don't waste my time reading bad blogs as I'd never leave the house otherwise. And don't expect me to put Blog To Comm in here, because in between the insults and tantrums I do actually find things of interest.

There ya go, that's my wrap-up for 2006. Perhaps I should get out more. Again, if I'm missing something, let me know.

I've been blissfully counch-bound the last 48 hours, and here's the soundtrack to a Xmas coma: Whitehorse - Caverns/Live '04 CDs; Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby LP; Universal Congress Of - LP; John Martyn - So Far So Good LP; George Harrison - Electronic Sound CD; Swans - Cop LP; Fripp & Eno - No Pussyfooting LP; Glenn Branca - Symphony #6 CD; Chris Smith & Justin Fuller - CD; Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking CD; Seeds - Flower Punk 3CD; Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity CD; Sidney Bechet - New Orleans/Paris CD; Serge Gainsbourg - 5CD box; Saint Vitus - Born Too Late CD; Cluster - '71 CD; Pearls Before Swine - The Wizard Of Is 2CD; Slovenly - Riposte LP; Don Cherry - Where Is Brooklyn? CD...