Art Absorbed in 2008: The Books, Music, Movies, and Plays

Here is the list of just about everything I saw, read, or listened to in 2008. Peruse the list and talk to me about the things I absorbed, this list is meant to stimulate discussion.

BOOKS I HAVE READ

PROSE

NOVELS
A is for Alibi
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
Ender’s Game
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
A Walk to Remember
The Horse and his Boy
Many Waters
A Swiftly Tilting Planet*
The Last Battle
The Magician’s Nephew
1984
Son of a Witch
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Twilight
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
A Lion Among Men
A Christmas Carol
Answered Prayers
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The Tales of Beedle the Bard**

SHORT STORIES
Quantum of Solace (For Your Eyes Only)
Harry Potter Prequel
The Unicorn In The Garden
The Wasp in a Wig (Through the Looking-Glass)
The Master Cat
House of Flowers
A Diamond Guitar
A Christmas Memory
The Thanksgiving Memory
Mojave
One Christmas
The Walls Are Cold
A Mink of One’s Own
The Shape of Things
My Side of the Matter
A Tree of Night
The Bargain
Among the Paths to Eden
Children on Their Birthdays

NON-FICTION
Velvet Elvis
Shakespeare
The Gospel of Luke
Benjamin Franklin
Esther

ESSAYS / ARTICLES
Thoughts from the Tao Te Ching (A World of Ideas)
The Qualities of the Prince (A World of Ideas)
The Origin of Civil Society (A World of Ideas)
Total Domination (A World of Ideas)
Civil Disobedience
The Allegory of the Cave (A World of Ideas)
The Sermon on the Mount
The Declaration of Independence
Genius or Dynamic Learner? Benjamin Franklin's Path to Greatness.
Benjamin Franklin: Philosopher of Progress.

SATIRE
A Modest Proposal
The Letters of Silence Dogood

DRAMA

CLASSICAL
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Tartuffe
Antony and Cleopatra
Macbeth
As You Like It
Titus Andronicus
Romeo & Juliet
Cymbeline
Timon of Athens
Henry VIII
The Tempest
The Winter’s Tale
Dido, Queen of Carthage
Doctor Faustus
The Jew of Malta
The Massacre at Paris
Tamburlaine the Great: Part 1
Edward the Second
Tamburlaine the Great: Part 2***
Twelfth Night
Hamlet

MODERN
The Coast of Utopia: Voyage
The Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck
I Am a Camera
Tevye and His Daughters
Billy Budd
The Ritz
Master Class
Laughter On The 23rd Floor
The Philadelphia Story
M. Butterfly
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Author’s Voice
Rabbit Hole
The Little Dog Laughed
Androcles and the Lion
Kimberly Akimbo
Radio Golf
The Vagina Monologues
The History Boys
The Lady From Dubuque
The Adding Machine
The Madwoman of Chaillot
Fortinbras
The Colored Museum
FOB
The Matchmaker
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You
International Stud (Torch Song Trilogy)
Fugue in a Nursery (Torch Song Trilogy)
Widows and Children First! (Torch Song Trilogy)
Speed-The-Plow

MUSICALS
Fiddler on the Roof
Company
Cabaret
Sweet Charity
RENT
Nine

SHORT PLAYS
Botticelli (Terrence McNally - 15 Short Plays)
Andre’s Mother (Terrence McNally - 15 Short Plays)
Hidden Agendas (Terrence McNally - 15 Short Plays)
Words, Words, Words (All In The Timing)
The Universal Language (All In The Timing)
Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread (All In The Timing)
The Philadelphia (All In The Timing)
Variations on the Death of Trotsky (All In The Timing)
Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue (All In The Timing)
A Singular Kinda Guy (All In The Timing)
Enigma Variations (Lives of the Saints)
The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage (Lives of the Saints)
Babel's in Arms (Lives of the Saints)
Soap Opera (Lives of the Saints)
Lives of the Saints (Lives of the Saints)
Arabian Nights (Lives of the Saints)
Captive Audience (Lives of the Saints)
Long Ago and Far Away (All In The Timing)
Mere Mortals (All In The Timing)
English Made Simple (All In The Timing)
Seven Menus (All In The Timing)
Speed-The-Play (All In The Timing)
Mrs. Sorken (Durang / Durang)
For Whom The Southern Bell Tolls (Durang / Durang)
A Stye of the Eye (Durang / Durang)
Nina in the Morning (Durang / Durang)
Wanda’s Visit (Durang / Durang)
Business Lunch at the Russian Tea Room (Durang / Durang)
Sex Lives of Superheroes
The Actor's Nightmare
The House of Sleeping Beauties
A Waitress In Yellowstone or Always Tell The Truth
Blind Date
Bette and Me (Seven One-Act Plays)
Waiting For Philip Glass (Seven One-Act Plays)

COMIC

GRAPHIC NOVELS
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume 1
DC: The New Frontier: Volume 1
Pride of Baghdad
Sandman: Volume 1 - Preludes and Nocturnes
Batman: Year One
The New Teen Titans: The Terror of Trigon
Runaways: Volume 1.2^
Fables: Legends In Exile
Sandman: Endless Nights
A Contract With God
Fagin the Jew
Runaways: Volume 2.1
Runaways: Volume 2.2
Runaways: Volume 2.3^^
Fables: Animal Farm
A Life Force
Dropsie Avenue
Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers
Fables: The Mean Seasons
Fables: Homelands
Bone: Out From Boneville
Sandman: The Doll’s House
Civil War
The Plot
In The Shadow of No Towers
Fables: Arabian Days and Nights
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume 2
Tintin In America
The Dark Knight Returns
Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale; Volume 1: My Father Bleeds History
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale; Volume 2: And Here My Troubles Began
The Trials of Shazam! Volume 2
The Sandman: Endless Nights
Fables : Wolves

SHORT GRAPHIC NOVELS
The Princess and the Frog (Will Eisner)
Moby Dick (Will Eisner)
Sundiata, A Legend of Africa, The Lion of Mali (Will Eisner)
The Last Knight, An Introduction Don Quixote By Miguel De Cervantes (Will Eisner)

ONLINE COMICS
Zot! Online: "Hearts and Minds”
I Can’t Stop Thinking!
My Obsession With Chess
Making Comics

COMPILATIONS
Across The Universe: The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore
The Best of The Spirit

NON-FICTION
Understanding Comics
Reinventing Comics

POETRY

The Lady of Shalott
Sonnet 22
The Hunting of the Snark

FRIENDS

S. Bradford Long
A Diary of Saint Sebastian (Non-Fiction)

David Brendan Hopes
Edward the King (Drama)
Gilgamesh (Drama)
Hat (Drama)^^^
The Beautiful Johanna (Drama)
Four for the Gospel Makers (Drama)
Awake, Awake, Deborah (Drama)

Rob Taylor
Honeymoon (Drama)
Kidnapped (Drama)
American Royalty (Drama)

Greg R.-Gassler
A Christmas Carol (Drama)
Mysteries of the Underworlders (Drama)

John Rowan (Father of Bill Rowan)
A 1944 Christmas in Stalag Luft III (Short Story)

*Completed “Time Quartet”
**Completed Harry Potter Literature
***Completed “Plays of Christopher Marlowe”
^Completed “Runaways Volume 1”
^^Completed “Runaways Volume 2”
^^^Completed “Crown of Shadows”

MUSIC I HAVE READ

POP / ROCK
In Utero
TOMMY
Modern Times
The Definitive Bob Dylan
Best of Bowie
Castaways and Cutouts
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day’s Night
HELP!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Magical Mystery Tour
Yellow Submarine
Let It Be
The Beatles 1
Pet Sounds

THEATRE
March of the Falsettos
Spiderman: The Musical Demo
In The Heights Off-Broadway Demo
Kismet Lincoln Center
Parade (Jerry Herman)
Adding Machine
A Catered Affair
Shrek: Orchestra Tests
Cry Baby Demo
Evening Primrose
Legally Blonde Opening Night Gift
Lestat Demo
The Threepenny Opera: NYSF
The Little Mermaid OBCR
Chicago - The Composer’s Demo
Sweet Charity Re-mastered OBCR
Company OBCR
The Producers OBCR
Sunset Boulevard Premier American Recording

COMEDY
Kathy Griffin: For Your Consideration

MOVIES I HAVE SEEN

FILMS
Atonement
Ms. Pettigrew Lives For A Day
Redwall: The Movie
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Anastasia
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Dark Knight
Shakespeare In Love
Mamma Mia!
Get Smart
Titus
Twelfth Night
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Hamlet 2
Stardust
Finding Forrester
Moulin Rouge!
The Birdcage
Garden State
Wilde
Les Diaboliques
Romeo and Juliet
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
STAR WARS Episode IV: A New Hope
STAR WARS Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
WALL-E
Doubt

TV
Black Adder Series
Return to the Batcave
The Thanksgiving Episodes of F*R*I*E*N*D*S
Truman Capote - A&E Biography
J. K. Rowling - A Year in the Life

OTHER
Star Wars: Empire of Dreams
Free To Be... You And Me
Dressed to Kill
Circle
The Beatles Anthology


THEATRE I HAVE SEEN

LIVE
References To Salvador Dali Makes Me Hot - NCSC / Scapegoat
Bat Boy - HART
Annie - ACA
The Philadelphia Story - ACT
The Asheville Shakesperience - The Montford Park Players
I Hate Hamlet - ACT
On the Verge / Below the Belt - NCSC / Immediate
Chesapeake - NCSC
The Best Man - ACT
Song of Robert - NCSC / Corpus
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) - Montford
out there, out here - NCSC / Catalyst
Defiance - NCSC
Doubt - NCSC
Free To Be... You And Me - NCSC / TheatreUNCA
Two Rooms - NCSC / Catalyst
The Apple Tree (The Apple Tree) - Montreat
Miss Julie - AB Tech
The Bernstein Brothers’ Christmas Spectacular - NCSC / In the Moment
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC January - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC February - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC March - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC April - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC May - NCSC
The Best of No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC 2007-2008 - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC July - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC September - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC October - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC November - NCSC
No Shame Theatre Asheville, NC December - NCSC

RECORDINGS
Saints At The River - AB Tech (Recording)
Camelot (Recording)
Putting It Together (Recording)
Edward the King (Recording)
Gilgamesh (Recording)
Hat (Recording)