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It's time for the 2004 Zeitgeist! The year-end compendium of things that, in some way or another, found their way onto my list of things experienced—and enjoyed—since the year's onset. So we have...

...in music: The Streets, A Grand Don't Come For Free; Heiruspecs, A Tiger Dancing; Jeff Austin & Chris Castino, Songs From The Tin Shed; Beastie Boys, To The 5 Boroughs; Lyrics Born, Later That Day; Simple Kid, 1; Modest Mouse, Good News For People Who Love Bad News; The Music, Welcome To The North; Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Shake The Sheets; David Byrne, Grown Backwards

...in film: Collateral; The Incredibles; The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou; Napoleon Dynamite; Touching The Void; Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle; Garden State; Dawn Of The Dead; Fahrenheit 9/11; Anchorman

...in print: The Fortress Of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (2003); Strange Days, Dangerous Nights by Larry Millett; Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris; Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss; "The Promise Of Something" by Cheryl Printup (2003); Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman; "The Futile Pursuit Of Happiness" by Jon Gertner (2003); "We Have A Pope!" by Christopher Buckley (2003); "Secret Names" by David Mamet (2003); "Screenwriter" by Charles D'Ambrosio (2003)

Okay... I haven't actually seen The Life Aquatic yet, but first, I know I'll love it, and second, I didn't actually see that many great movies this year, as is obviated by the presence of the likes of Anchorman and Harold & Kumar, which, though fantastic films, aren't exactly the kind of brass-garnering ones I'd generally feel comfortable putting on a list of movies enjoyed by myself over the course of this spin 'round.

And the books? And the articles? Here's the thing... I don't read that much. At least not outside of those time-consuming, mind-blowingly expensive tomes prescribed to me by professors in whose classes, it turns out, I may have not done so well after all. So do not add to that list the several thousand pages on Museum Studies, Modern Art, Stagecraft and Sociology that I misread and bungled along the way this semester.

Mom broke her ankle.