2012 happened pretty much, and it left us in Kuwait with a certain amount of worldly confusion. We were listening to the BBC in the car the other day, which has adequately substituted for NPR here, and there was a program on the science of "happiness," a relatively new discipline that seems to be on the verge of inviting skepticism but so far has proven fascinating. There were three invited guests, all professors of happiness, and they were asked to summarize their theories, give an example, and then attempt to synthesize some of their findings. The first guy talked of curiosity--really, he meant the active pursuit of new experiences and thoughts and then producing a narrative of new experiences--as the greatest marker of lasting happiness. I disagreed with his initial view, but the more he explained it the more plausible it seemed, although he needed to find a better way of explaining it. The second guy discussed the relationship to the natural world as the conduit to happiness, and he talked about our attempts to simulate our original habitat as humans, the African savannah. This invited even more skepticism, but I was amused at his explanation of golfing as the draw to a space that includes sparse trees, cultivated shrubbery, and water as the key elements of our contentment. I would have argued that a golfer's contentment comes from his ability to pay for a round of golf ("we're not rich!" we used to yell at them), but the pull of nature as an indicator of happiness is more compelling than I am giving it credit. At least in my life. The last lady on the program spoke of time and our ability to keep it under our control by allowing it to move in its proper pace. It actually made a lot of sense, but I am not gonna spend any more time on the theory for obvious reasons. So here is a list of their happiness frames:
1) curiosity through new experiences
2) return to nature
3) pleasant syncopation with time
The panel discussion sent me searching for my own science of happiness. I couldn't help but think about our experience here in Kuwait and how it fit into those categories. We are clearly taking advantage of the first theory, clearly not taking advantage of the second, and always working towards the third, which has been helped by my two-week holiday. But during the Christmas season, I have had to produce other means towards happiness, and I have spent some time thinking about the consumption of music, literature, and art as perhaps my greatest means. I even had a post planned about Christmas music because it had meant so much more to me than I expected, but I didn't have the time to put it together, so I am thinking of a different approach: end of the year lists. I have discussed end of the year lists before, but I admit I look forward to them every year, and they really are representatives of a yearly happiness, so I am going to make some of my own.
I have posted my 2012 movie list elsewhere, but it is worth revisiting with explanations:
The Ten Best Movies I Saw This Year, from this year:
1: The first half of Moonrise Kingdom: I am a sucker for Wes Anderson creations, and this movie was fantastic for its first half, introducing us to a world and characters that had a mystery and wonder and tenderness. It also had that for the second half, but I had changed.
2: The preview of Samsara: never got to actually see it, but its existence was enough for me to be happy. Baraka, its precursor, has certainly brought an inordinate amount of happiness for me in the past.
3: Premium Rush: This movie was tonally consistent with its subject matter and central conceit (the fixed-gear bike), it had a perfect bad guy, and it did exactly what it should have. I don't know why more movies aren't made just like this.
4: The first half of Brave: This was a severely underrated movie, but its second half couldn't hold up under the weight of the first.
5: Pirates! Band of Misfits: like Premium Rush, a tonally consistent film and it provided my kids with more enjoyment than any other movie this year. Besides, seeing Queen Victoria as a tyrant with a penchant for dining on rare, endangered, and exotic animals was great. I liked telling the kids, when Kathryn was watching Young Victoria or something with Emily Blunt, that this was the same queen that hated pirates and tried to dine on a Dodo. If my kids are going to get crazy history, I would like them to get it from the people that made Wallace and Gromit. Charles Darwin as a sadsack hopelessly in love with Queen Victoria also made my day. I can't say enough about this movie--just great.
6: The parts of Prometheus when they weren't talking: the dialogue was terrible unless it was the robot character David talking to himself, but the movie was otherwise great.
7: The middle part of Safe House: overlooked thriller of the year with a chase through Cape Town in its middle portion. Cape Town!
8: All but 25 minutes of unnecessary scenes in The Five-Year Engagement: This was a very good movie but for some reason it failed at the box office. It was 25 minutes too long, but this is what it had in the good parts: sharp dialogue, expert physical humor, honest situations, a decent foray into Michigan, romance, and all the things that a rom-com should do. It earns its R, by the way, but if they took out those 25 minutes of unnecessary scenes, it wouldn't really earn its R.
9: Preview of Beasts of the Southern Wild: I now own this, and the anticipation of seeing it is greater than my commitment to actaully seeing it.
10: Remembering parts of Children of Men from another year: I was in the shower recently and I started to remember a brilliant scene in which the ragtag group protecting the pregnant women are driving through the country when they start to get shot at. Then I started to remember some other scenes, and then I thought to myself: "How come this movie isn't on everyone's best of the 21st century list?" And those memories made me love movies.
Best Albums I Listened to in 2012, from 2012:
1. Max Richter, Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons
2. Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
3. Sigur Ros, Valtari
4. Arvo Part, Adam's Lament
5. Nils Frahm, Felt
6. Now, Now, Threads
7. How To Dress Well, Total Loss
8. Bonnie Raitt, Slipstream
Best Books I Read in 2012, from 2012:
1. Marilynne Robinson, When I Was a Child I Read Books
2. Stuart O'Nan, The Odds
3. Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
4. Richard Strier, Unrepentant Renaissance
5. Terryl and Fiona Givens, The God Who Weeps
6. Alice Munro, Dear Life
Best Restaurants I Went to in 2012:
1. Screen Door, Portland, Oregon
2. Little French Place or something, Lake Oswego, Oregon
3. Burger Box, Salmiya, Kuwait
4. Pita Inn, Skokie, Illinois
5. Lemonade, Pasadena, California
6. Sparti's, Coralville, Iowa
7. Dog Haus, Pasadena, California
8. Basta, Iowa City, Iowa
9. Big Al's, Chicago, Illinois
10. Sheep's Head, Kuwait City
Best Activities I Did in 2012
1. Oregon Coast with the Bluths
2. Running with Kathryn through Lake Oswego
3. Bike Riding through Pasadena
4. Visiting the Chevron Beach for the first time
5. Bus ride through Chicago
6. Coronado with the Barkers
Most reliable meal in 2012:
Italian Combo with Greek Salad from Panera
Most annoying gadgets to have in a house with kids in 2012:
Ipad
portable speakers
Ikea alarm clocks
Most pleasant evening activities in 2012:
Walking a couple blocks
Dishes
Arab TV
New Yorker with Winged Victory for the Sullen
Meanest Experiences of 2012:
Political discourse
Facebook
Faculty meetings
Happiest Experiences of 2012:
last semester in Iowa City before moving into student housing
Church in Kuwait
Teaching Thousand and One Nights
10 year anniversary
Paleography course at Huntington
kids doing things that are funny to them but not to me
Family walks to get treats continuing in Kuwait
1) curiosity through new experiences
2) return to nature
3) pleasant syncopation with time
The panel discussion sent me searching for my own science of happiness. I couldn't help but think about our experience here in Kuwait and how it fit into those categories. We are clearly taking advantage of the first theory, clearly not taking advantage of the second, and always working towards the third, which has been helped by my two-week holiday. But during the Christmas season, I have had to produce other means towards happiness, and I have spent some time thinking about the consumption of music, literature, and art as perhaps my greatest means. I even had a post planned about Christmas music because it had meant so much more to me than I expected, but I didn't have the time to put it together, so I am thinking of a different approach: end of the year lists. I have discussed end of the year lists before, but I admit I look forward to them every year, and they really are representatives of a yearly happiness, so I am going to make some of my own.
I have posted my 2012 movie list elsewhere, but it is worth revisiting with explanations:
The Ten Best Movies I Saw This Year, from this year:
1: The first half of Moonrise Kingdom: I am a sucker for Wes Anderson creations, and this movie was fantastic for its first half, introducing us to a world and characters that had a mystery and wonder and tenderness. It also had that for the second half, but I had changed.
2: The preview of Samsara: never got to actually see it, but its existence was enough for me to be happy. Baraka, its precursor, has certainly brought an inordinate amount of happiness for me in the past.
3: Premium Rush: This movie was tonally consistent with its subject matter and central conceit (the fixed-gear bike), it had a perfect bad guy, and it did exactly what it should have. I don't know why more movies aren't made just like this.
4: The first half of Brave: This was a severely underrated movie, but its second half couldn't hold up under the weight of the first.
5: Pirates! Band of Misfits: like Premium Rush, a tonally consistent film and it provided my kids with more enjoyment than any other movie this year. Besides, seeing Queen Victoria as a tyrant with a penchant for dining on rare, endangered, and exotic animals was great. I liked telling the kids, when Kathryn was watching Young Victoria or something with Emily Blunt, that this was the same queen that hated pirates and tried to dine on a Dodo. If my kids are going to get crazy history, I would like them to get it from the people that made Wallace and Gromit. Charles Darwin as a sadsack hopelessly in love with Queen Victoria also made my day. I can't say enough about this movie--just great.
6: The parts of Prometheus when they weren't talking: the dialogue was terrible unless it was the robot character David talking to himself, but the movie was otherwise great.
7: The middle part of Safe House: overlooked thriller of the year with a chase through Cape Town in its middle portion. Cape Town!
8: All but 25 minutes of unnecessary scenes in The Five-Year Engagement: This was a very good movie but for some reason it failed at the box office. It was 25 minutes too long, but this is what it had in the good parts: sharp dialogue, expert physical humor, honest situations, a decent foray into Michigan, romance, and all the things that a rom-com should do. It earns its R, by the way, but if they took out those 25 minutes of unnecessary scenes, it wouldn't really earn its R.
9: Preview of Beasts of the Southern Wild: I now own this, and the anticipation of seeing it is greater than my commitment to actaully seeing it.
10: Remembering parts of Children of Men from another year: I was in the shower recently and I started to remember a brilliant scene in which the ragtag group protecting the pregnant women are driving through the country when they start to get shot at. Then I started to remember some other scenes, and then I thought to myself: "How come this movie isn't on everyone's best of the 21st century list?" And those memories made me love movies.
Best Albums I Listened to in 2012, from 2012:
1. Max Richter, Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons
2. Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
3. Sigur Ros, Valtari
4. Arvo Part, Adam's Lament
5. Nils Frahm, Felt
6. Now, Now, Threads
7. How To Dress Well, Total Loss
8. Bonnie Raitt, Slipstream
Best Books I Read in 2012, from 2012:
1. Marilynne Robinson, When I Was a Child I Read Books
2. Stuart O'Nan, The Odds
3. Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
4. Richard Strier, Unrepentant Renaissance
5. Terryl and Fiona Givens, The God Who Weeps
6. Alice Munro, Dear Life
Best Restaurants I Went to in 2012:
1. Screen Door, Portland, Oregon
2. Little French Place or something, Lake Oswego, Oregon
3. Burger Box, Salmiya, Kuwait
4. Pita Inn, Skokie, Illinois
5. Lemonade, Pasadena, California
6. Sparti's, Coralville, Iowa
7. Dog Haus, Pasadena, California
8. Basta, Iowa City, Iowa
9. Big Al's, Chicago, Illinois
10. Sheep's Head, Kuwait City
Best Activities I Did in 2012
1. Oregon Coast with the Bluths
2. Running with Kathryn through Lake Oswego
3. Bike Riding through Pasadena
4. Visiting the Chevron Beach for the first time
5. Bus ride through Chicago
6. Coronado with the Barkers
Most reliable meal in 2012:
Italian Combo with Greek Salad from Panera
Most annoying gadgets to have in a house with kids in 2012:
Ipad
portable speakers
Ikea alarm clocks
Most pleasant evening activities in 2012:
Walking a couple blocks
Dishes
Arab TV
New Yorker with Winged Victory for the Sullen
Meanest Experiences of 2012:
Political discourse
Faculty meetings
Happiest Experiences of 2012:
last semester in Iowa City before moving into student housing
Church in Kuwait
Teaching Thousand and One Nights
10 year anniversary
Paleography course at Huntington
kids doing things that are funny to them but not to me
Family walks to get treats continuing in Kuwait
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