Favorite films of 2013

In 2013 I saw 28 new movies — maybe fewer than you, but more than the average moviegoer’s six or eight — and as usual at this time of year, I’ve ranked them. (I’ll include a 29th, “Inside Lewyn Davis,” which I saw Jan. 5.)

Plenty of high-profile movies passed me by during the year, including “The Butler,” which looked too corny, and “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which is too long, and I haven’t made it to “Her” or “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” yet. I’ve listed everything, letting you see what I watched and what I didn’t. Our tastes may differ radically, or they may be close enough that some title here will appeal to you. Feel free to comment either way and to list your own favorites.

My top 10, in roughly descending order: All is Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, Frances Ha, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, Before Midnight, 12 Years a Slave, The Way Way Back, Inside Lewyn Davis, Fruitvale Station.

11 to 20: Machete Kills, Enough Said, Don Jon, Captain Phillips, The World’s End, Gravity, Blue Jasmine, In a World, Zero Dark Thirty (a late 2012 release), American Hustle.

21 to 29: Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 42, This is 40 (a late 2012 release), Django Unchained (ditto), Oblivion, Iron Man 3, When Comedy Went to School, Thor: The Dark World, Man of Steel. (It was cinematic Kryptonite.)

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Reading Log: December 2013

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Books acquired: “Los Angeles in the Thirties: 1931-1941,” David Gebhard and Harriette von Breton; “A Small Place,” Jamaica Kincaid.

Books read: “Everything is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson,” Kevin Avery, ed.; “Chronic City,” Jonathan Lethem; “The City on the Edge of Forever,” Harlan Ellison.

To end 2013, I read three books in December. Two of them have a subtle connection.

“Afterthought” is a biography and best-of of the late Paul Nelson, in the late 1970s and early 1980s an editor and reviewer at Rolling Stone, and prior to that the A&R man who signed the New York Dolls, and prior to that a folk music writer who introduced Bob Dylan to Woody Guthrie’s music and memoir. Nelson met a sad end as a virtual recluse in NYC. Among his friends was Jonathan Lethem, now of Claremont, who is quoted extensively in the biography and whose novel “Chronic City” has as its main character a pop culture visionary based on Paul Nelson.

The Nelson book was a labor of love on compiler/biographer Kevin Avery’s part. I liked this book a lot, even if watching Nelson’s slow-motion decline was a queasy part of the appeal. Lethem’s novel, meanwhile, was giddy fun for this fellow pop culture aficionado, who was fascinated by the mixture of fact and fancy and the Philip Dickian flourishes.

(Amusingly, I discussed “Chronic” on New Year’s Eve with a friend who’s read more Lethem than I have. I told him it was by far my favorite. He said it was by far his least favorite. “I was embarrassed for him for having written it,” he said. There’s no accounting for taste, especially other people’s.)

So this was a case of perfect timing. Had I read “Chronic” earlier, it might not have meant so much to me. The Ellison book made sense to read for another reason, and not just that it has “city” in its title; in November I read another Trek book, the last of the Blish adaptations and my first Trek reading in maybe 35 years. As Hillary said (Edmund, not Clinton), it was there. Before lifting myself out of whatever slough of despond led me to read it, I read the only other Trek book I have, Ellison’s teleplay of his famous episode. I’m an Ellison completist and would have got to it eventually.

The teleplay is good, of course. So was the finished episode. Ellison’s heavily footnoted, spittle-flecked 73-page rant about changes to his script 30 years earlier contrasts neatly with D.C. Fontana’s calm, six-page explanation of how and why his script was rewritten. Dismaying from a writer of Ellison’s abilities. Shouldn’t he be above this sort of thing? What with the lousy layout and cheap presentation, it looks like some nut’s homemade fanbook. Suggested alternate title: “Ego on the Edge of Losing It.”

I was embarrassed for him for having written it.

How was your reading month? Did you squeeze in anything between gift shopping and eating? Coming soon: a list of every book I read in 2013. (Or you can piece it together yourself by rereading the previous 11 of these.)

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Column: Closing the book on Mrs. Nelson’s after 28 years

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La Verne’s Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop shuts its doors Sunday (!), a speedy end for the store’s closing sale. Sunday’s column pays tribute.

Above, Shawn Carlson helps daughter Megan, 6, compose her thoughts for a message for the Memory Wall behind them. Below, Judy Nelson, left, goes over details with employee Annie Bigelow toward closing time Thursday.

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Restaurant of the Week: Tamarind

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Tamarind, 4047 Grand Ave. (at Pipeline), Chino; open daily

In honor of Boxing Day, let’s visit a restaurant serving the cuisine of a former British colony. Tamarind is in the Chino Spectrum shopping mecca, a little hidden beyond a Starbucks and Jollibee and next to a Philly’s Best, facing Pipeline on the south side of Grand. It serves Indian and Pakistani food.

Two of my friends are crazy about it. I joined them one lunchtime for the buffet, which it seems every Indian restaurant is required by law to serve. It was $9 and we liked it, even yours truly, an Indian buffet-avoider. But they said dinner is better, and as I prefer ordering what I want instead of taking what I get, I joined them one evening.

We had the saag shrimp ($14.75), lamb shahi korma ($13.25), paneer tikka masala ($10.75), vegetable samosas ($3.75) and two orders of garlic naan ($3 each). Well, this was more like it, some of the best Indian food I’ve had in these parts. I would order any of those items again, and maybe one or two of the tandoori items.

“You’re missing out if you only go to the buffet,” one friend advised, because the kitchen doesn’t put out pricier lamb or shrimp dishes at lunch. The two of them always order three items to end up with leftovers, which they said are just as good the next day.

The restaurant is small, seating maybe 30 or 40. There’s a banquette running the length of one wall and a few tables. Hanging globe fixtures and mirrors add some panache. Service was attentive, although when I asked what items were specifically Pakistani, the answer was vague.

At lunchtime, Tamarind is busy, but there’s no wait for a table at night. “I don’t understand why there’s not more people here,” one of my friends said, mystified. We were the only diners. Everyone else was missing out.

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Column: At year’s start, these items finally achieve their potential

In Wednesday’s column, in an annual ritual, I clean my desk, mostly, of accumulated newspaper clippings, press releases, reader mail and other items that piled up as I wondered what to do with them or thought I might need them later.

I wish I’d had more time, but I made a good dent in the time I had. My desk hasn’t looked this good since last Jan. 1, and maybe not even then. Confidentially, there’s still a two-inch high stack of items from 2008 to 2010. It’s too late to pick through those for column items, so I’ll essentially give up on them and file them with other correspondence. Still, 2014 will start with a neater desk, ready for the year ahead. Can’t wait.

Oh, and Happy New Year! Any particular resolutions or goals you’d care to share?

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