Contest Results: best book, music, blog, film

The first Wandering Through Contest is now done! I know you want to know who won but before that there is tons of stuff to discuss. So let's get to it shall we?

There were some great entries for almost every category in my contest and I think it is not only fun but absolutely imperative to share them. This way we can collectively marvel at the eclectic and interesting choices of our (or my) friends and also have a ready list of recommendations for our collective summer reading, listening and viewing pleasure.

Best Book: (A wide range of choices here with John le Carre being the only repeat).

Chris and Mike only read academic articles (Guys, stop making the rest of us feel guilty).
Tulip- Dewey the Library Cat Book (she does love this book, I was witness)
Bluebell chose Eat, Pray, Love! and my latest 'best book of the year':A most Wanted Man by John le Carre! This latter choice was seconded by my dad in the following way: 'the old master can still tell a tale and relate it to the mood `just now'.
Daisycat: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Claudia: Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials) series and Moazzam Begg's biography about being held in Guantánamo.
Eric: Wittgenstein's Poker
Pine-tree: Jane Goodall ‘Africa in my Blood’ consisting of Goodall's letters to her family from Kenya
Vlad: Shadow and Claw (fic); Recovered Roots (academic)

Vivek: The Great War for Civilization, Robert Fisk, Robert Heinlein's Citizen of The Galaxy
Kam: a 1918 book on symmetry. Also foundation series by Isaac Asimov
Violet: "Empire Falls"
Heather: “I’d Rather Teach Peace” by Colman McCarthy as much for the stories as for the dedication which reminded me to always remember the reason I started this whole grad school journey and never to let myself forget it...
Itenerant- Sea of Poppies
Chanbong: Nick Hornby, SLAM.
Rebekah: The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion (John Zaller) (Special mention for most intimidating entry in this category)
Saffron: “The Grandmothers” a collection of short stories by Doris Lessing that I read early last year. I also really enjoyed the book “A Thousand Hills” on post-war Rwanda.

Best Album/Song/Musical Discovery: (This category saw the most wide range and detailed entries for albums, songs and styles. Coldplay, Duffy, Neko Case were mentioned more than once)

Chris: The Raconteurs; Runner up, Cold Play, "Viva la Vida"
Chanbongl: Interpol's latest album: Our Love to Admire
Re: Coldplay's Viva La Vida 2. the classic, John Mayer (we can call him a classic right?), who appears multiple times in my Top 25 Most Played songs on iTunes. (Brownie points from lightlight for mentioning JM)
Eric: Modern Guilt- Beck
Claudia: Day & Age, The Killers!!! Or The Weepies – Hideaway
Papa: Beethoven`s symphonies, this and every year
Vivek: Nujabes, Departure
Daisycat: Warwick Avenue, Duffy
Kam: always late baroque and classical style of music
Violet: Neko Case
Heather: Radiohead- In Rainbows, Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago (my recent love for this album was aided by the concert I attended in December! I <3 Cambridge!) Best Song(s) Slow Show- The National (early this year and still hooked), Good Days-Fembots (Even though they are Canadian, this song is a the perfect anthem for November 2008 in America in my humble opinion!), My Body is a Cage-Arcade Fire, Kids-MGMT. Trading mixes/albums with my musically savvy friends. Note to self: do more of this in 2009. Amen on the last thought. See why her entries rocked?

Mike: old school alice in chains
Itenerant: Kailash-Kher (Saiyaan)
Tulip: Rediscovering my favorite soundtrack, Dil Se, and using Chaiya Chaiya to get my baby to sleep.

Vlad: John Dowland Complete Lute Music (Prize for most esoteric choice)
Asli- JT Chop me up, Damien Rice
Pine Tree: Soul’d Out- Japanese pop at its best
Saffron: My favorite new musical discovery is Neko Case, thanks to one Ms. Heather

Best Blog: (So, blogs are not a big thing with you guys. This was made obvious to me by the number of people that chose mine as their best blog! Not that I have any problems with that!)

Chris, Claudia, Saffron and Rebekah abstained on this.
Violet, Pine-tree, Bluebell, Kam and Tulip chose mine and mine alone (clearly they don't know too many blogs) while Heather and Dasiycat chose mine plus another, including Heather's brother's philosophy of science one with a rather interesting name http://hnsttl.blogspot.com/
Chanbong: foodporndaily.com -click, drool, repeat
Eric: Duck of Minerva
Papa: Sepia Mutiny
Vivek: penny-whereimat, on blogspot.
Daisycat: www.leadertalk.org and yours!
Mike: stuff white people like
Vlad: http://photomans.livejournal.com
Finally, itenerant chose an excellent blog (that he needs to update more hint hint)- his own.

Best Movie:

Ratatouille was the big winner here with Daisycat, my dad and Pine tree choosing the cutest rat but there are some other good suggestions too:

Chris: This is not a deep, profound, or thoughtful selection, but Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever; Quantum of Solace.
Chanbong: Burn After Reading (go Coens!)
Rebekah: Love Actually
Eric: Dark Knight
Claudia: erm... haven't seen any this year!
Vivek: The Boss of it all, After the Wedding, Downfall, Tekkonkinkreet.
Kam: Sherlock Holmes films protrayed by Jeremy Brett
Violet: Once - beautiful music!
Heather: Dark Knight (with honorable mention to Iron Man), also Slumdog Millionaire and Doubt but also There Will be Blood and SINGLES
Iternerant: Edge of Heaven
Mike: by the way...my "best movie" is actually my "best blog"(Prize for strangest answer).
Tulip: Wall E
Vlad: Body of Lies
Bluebell: Lives of others
Pine Tree: Fanaa (yay for Bollywood)
Saffron: If I had to pick a most memorable, I would choose No Country for Old Men. But, perhaps it was very memorable because I had nightmares about the man in the film for weeks! Ok, it was also a very good movie.


Lots of stuff to catch up on next break!