The Late, Great Harley ...

... has dropped in from wherever kitty souls go to wish you all a happy New Year. POLers may remember my tribute to our little kickass Manx stumpy when she passed away back in 2006. Dave just unearthed this picture, and I couldn't resist sharing it. This was Harley in her prime, when her motto was Don't Fuck With Me. She got fragile and senile as she aged, but I prefer to remember her young and scary.

Harley's ghost seems like good company for saying goodbye to 2007. I don't know about you, but I could use a little extra fighting spirit to help me shake off the pall of this past year and stir up some enthusiasm for the next. It's not easy to stomach the fact that the best case scenario for 2008 is Hillary Rodham Clinton as president, a mild recession, and a war that doesn't re-escalate. The worst case is something I don't even want to think about, but I'll say this: If Rudy Giuliani wins the election, I'm gonna round up all the witches I know and do a mass spell to send every ferocious housecat on the planet to take care of him. Harley will come back from the dead to lead them. (Okay, serious Pagans, I'm just kidding. I know that kind of thing is Not Done. But I can dream, can't I?)

Enough negativity. What were some things I liked this year? Perfume-wise, there was Alice in Wonderland (Parfums d'Imperfiction), Kaffir (Anya's Garden), Moss (Ava-Luxe) and Ambre Sultan (Serge Lutens). Lots of others, too, but those especially stand out. Many, many thanks to Chaya, Leo, Besotted, Ruby, Renee, Jen and all the other delightful perfume freaks who shared their collections with me.

It was a weird year for books, in that I read a number of things I admired but didn't really enjoy. There were a few titles I found myself waving obnoxiously at friends, including Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton, Apollo's Fire by Michael Sims, Intifada: The Long Day of Rage by David Pratt and An Explanation of America by Robert Pinsky. I've been enjoying brief visits with A. Van Jordan's Quantum Lyrics, and I swear I'm going to blog about it as soon as I get around to giving it the attention it deserves.

As for movies, I'm getting to be quite finicky about what I'll go see, so there's a very short list of things I loved and would recommend: Killer of Sheep, Pan's Labyrinth and (assuming you don't think "Washington Bullets" is an NRA publication) Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten.

As for music, it's too complicated to even get into it. I am constantly falling in and out of love with stuff. I'm afraid if I tout something as a 2007 fave here, a month from now I'll be cringing at the thought that I ever listened to it. I know one song I'll never tire of, however, is Leon Russell's "Stranger in a Strange Land." I've loved it since I was a kid and it's been stuck in my head since I read this terrific little essay about Leon at Counterpunch. That's an earworm I can live with.

And that's quite enough looking back. I hope you're all enjoying a nice holiday, doing whatever magic you do to bring health and happiness in the New Year.