The year is winding down, and I've been seeing a lot of lists of people's favorite music and/or concerts from 2005. It occurred to me that I haven't been to enough concerts this year to justify picking out a top 10. I can say that just about all of the live music I saw this year was good, and most of it was free too, thanks to me having friends in bands or actually being involved in the show myself. This is just one more way to stretch the dollar. Anyway, here's the list - not a top 10, but a list of all of the shows I saw this year (to the best of my recollection)

irr.app.(ext.) and Spoonbender 1.1 @ the Elbo Room
Lhasa at the Great American Music Hall
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum @ The Independant
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Faun Fables, and Dot Dot Dot
Om and Six Organs of Admittance at Bottom of the Hill
irr.app.(ext.), Moe!chestra, Barely Human Dance Theatre, French Radio, & Drew from Matmos
- Benefit for Dax
M.S. Waldron & J.B. Haynes at some venue in S.F. whose name escapes me.
Dungen, Faun Fables, and The Lonelyhearts at Bottom of the Hill
Circle, Merzbow, Earth, & Growing at the Great American Music Hall
Wooden Octopus Skull Pfestival at various venues around Seattle
In Gowan Ring at Adobe Books
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum @ The Attic
Current 93, Om, Baby Dee, Simon Finn, Maja Elliot, Six Organs of Admittance, and Pantaleimon at the Great American Music Hall
Simon Finn and Whysp at the Hotel Utah Saloon

I might come up with a list of favorite cds of 2005 before the end of the year. Like anybody besides me cares...

I've had a rather extended weekend which was actually almost a week. I've actually been kind of slacking off, sleeping in and wasting time on the computer. That's not to say that all of my time has been wasted. I'm pretty much done with my holiday shopping. The tree is up and decorated. The lizard cages are clean. Nate had a party at the cheese rat place. I saw King Kong with my mom and thought it was brilliant! Peter Jackson has managed to stuff more creatures into his version than they did in the original, not to mention the creepy islanders who I think are the main reason that Nate and Alex aren't going to get to see this one. He's even given us his version of the "lost" footage excised from the original for being too gruesome (a chasm full of sailor-eating invertebrates of various types and sizes - another reason Nate and Alex won't see this). There is a blatant reference to his earlier film, Dead Alive (aka Braindead) as well. In addition to this, he's managed to give it much more emotional depth than the original. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not knocking the original, which is a classic in its own right. Oh, and I also have to mention that I was very impressed by the recreation of a depression-era New York. A little something for everybody here - over the top at times, but endlessly entertaining.

Now we're halfway through re-watching the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Movie nerds through and through.

The picture is of Willow jumping on the bed - something she does incessantly.