Here’s a look back at 2008 — a summary of my work, travel, dining, media consumption, and sports endeavors throughout the year.
NOTE: I haven’t limited my books, music, and film pics to 2008 releases. Some of these were new to me this year, but didn’t come out in 2008.
Writing and journalism
Print and radio journalism
Contributed to the following outlets, among others:
- Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia
- AFP
- ABC News Radio
- ABCNews.com
- Forbes Traveler
Multimedia work
Two items posted on newley.com:
Fiction writing
- I’m happy to say that I completed National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2008, which entailed writing 50,000 words during the month of November. So I now have a first draft of a novel. It…needs a lot of work. But it’s a start! I’ll devote a future post to this experience. Trust me.
International Travel
Trips abroad included:
- Vietnam (motorcycle trip: Hanoi and northeast — pictured above)
- United States
- Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City)
- Indonesia (Jakarta and Bali)
Thailand Travel
Trips within the Kingdom included:
- Beach trip: Pranburi
- Work trip: Koh Chang and Koh Kood
- Beach trip: Koh Samet (twice)
- Ayutthaya
- Road trip along Mekong river: Nong Khai to Ubon Ratchathani
Books
A couple of my favorite reads:
- Fiction: Blinding Light, by Paul Theroux
- Nonfiction: Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer, by Chuck Thompson
Music
A song that I really like:
TV
- My favorite show — what I would argue is some of the best television ever created — concluded this year. I speak, of course, of The Wire
Movies
- I really liked No Country for Old Men
.
Food and Drink
- My favorite Thai food restaurants are mom-and-pop joints and street stalls throughout Bangkok. One collection of vendors that I like a lot is Langsuan soi 9. Don’t miss Austin’s blog post from a trip we took there. And some readers will recall that this is where the infamous Thai ladies laughing at me video was filmed.
- Other memorable meals include an excellent khao phat gai (chicken fried rice) in Mukdahan, Thailand, overlooking the Mekong river and Laos beyond. And A and I had some excellent ribs, burgers, and bloody marys at the legendary Naughty Nuri’s in Ubud, Bali. We also enjoyed the tasting menu at Ubud’s Mozaic restaurant. And Chesa, an excellent Swiss restaurant here in Bangkok, serves a mean Sunday brunch that we were lucky enough to enjoy a few times. And finally, my brother C and I did some epic eating in Saigon. One word: pho.
Sports and fitness
- I continue to play football (soccer) in the MBMG league here in Bangok.
- Also, I’m grateful to my college buddy Danny, at The New York Fitness Institute, for introducing me to Crossfit back in September. Crossfit is an exercise regimen to which I’ll be devoting a future post. For more info, check out the official site or the Wikipedia entry.
The Web
And finally, here’s an A-Z of some of my favorite sites:
-
A — Austin Bush Photography (Honorable mention: Angshuman Gosh Films and his Flickr photostream)
B — Bangkok Pundit (Honorable mention: Brad Linder.)
C — CommonCraft (Honorable mention: Common Sense Journalism and Cyrus Farivar.)
D — Daily Routines
F — Frugal Traveler
G — Goalkeepers’ Union (Honorable mention: Good Experience.)
H — Hit & Run
I — is.gd
J — James Fallows (Honorable mention: Jay Rosen on Twitter)
K — Kottke.org
L — Laughing Squid
M — Mindy McAdams’s Teaching Online Journalism
N — Newsless
O — On the Media
P — Popurls (Honorable mention: Publishing 2.0.)
Q —
R — Red Cross Chat (Honorable mention: Romenesko)
S — Soccernet
T — Twitter (follow me here) (Honorable mention: Transom, Thomas Crampton, and The Glove Bag)
U —
V — Video.google.com (Google Video)
W — World Hum (Honorable mention: Winterspeak and Wise Kwai’s Thai Film Journal)
X —
Y — Yelvington.com
Z —
So. That was 2008. Here’s to more adventures — both online and offline — in 2009.
(Inspiration for this annual report came from The Feltron Annual Reports.)
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post Newley. I like the idea of an “annual report.” Is that you in the photo of the motorcycle and buffalo? Where in Vietnam is that?
Hi, Lee. Thanks! It was fun to put this post together.
Yes, that’s me on the motorcycle with…a friend I met along the way
That photo was taken in northeast Vietnam, about a day’s drive outside of Hanoi, toward the China border. The trip was a memorable one.
Thanks for the linkage. I tried reading Blinding Light, but didn’t get very far. And this despite the fact that I like Theroux! Will have to try again.
Incidentally, if you like his fiction, try reading any of his early novels: Jungle Lovers, Fong and the Indians, Girls at Play, Saint Jack; they’re really fun.
Thanks, Austin, for the tip — have been meaning to check out Theroux’s early novels.
Thanks for the shout out!