There are omissions to this list, I assure you. In fact, there are so many omissions to this list that I almost don't want to post it. The thing is that many of these albums (in fact, most of them) I hold in almost equal regard, so saying that number one is better than number fifteen is accurate but saying number two is better than number three is just barely accurate, by very teeny tiny degrees of measurement. I limited myself to fifteen, but this list could have easily contained fifty. I also limited myself to five honorable mentions without explanation. Okay? Okay. Share your thoughts.
15. In Your Honor - The Foo Fighters
Picks: "The Best Of You" and "Friend of a Friend"
The Foo Fighters have been around for a long time now. Their debut album came out in 1995, and they have released a steady stream of moderate to great albums since. They're consistently satisfactory, often good, sometimes amazing. Frontman Dave Grohl took a gamble releasing In Your Honor as a double CD. In fact, this is more two different albums than one complete album. The first disc is hard rocking, classic Foo Fighters, and produced a number of singles. But it's the second, acoustic disc that earns this album a spot on my list. Listening to it, you can hear Grohl's artistry and shortfalls all at once. "Friend of a Friend," a track off the second disc, is Grohl at his most emotionally raw. Listen to it and you find yourself remembering that Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana, and that he probably wrote this song about Kurt Cobain, which gives the album's title more weight. The only major issue I had with this album was the Sony DRM that came with it, which opened up your computer to easy virus infection and prevented you from listening to this fine music on your iPod. Thanks, Sony, for making us buy it twice. Oh, wait...you recalled the discs? Yeah, I never turned mine in...guess I missed that boat.
14. Franz Ferdinand: Limited Edition Bonus Disc - Franz Ferdinand
Picks: "Jacqueline" "All For You, Sophia" and "Words So Leisured"
Franz Ferdinand is a fun band to listen to, but especially their debut album. They sing songs not about love or romance, but about the parts of relationships that precede all that. They sing about the things we do to each other. They sing songs with vague homo-erotic undertones. The only reason I specifically put the limited edition is because of the song "All For You Sophia," which is a frenetic musical tribute to the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand and contains some amazing lines; "Bang bang Gavrilo Princip/Bang bang Europe's gonna weep" and "Bang bang history's complete." Nicely steeped in history and well written to boot. Franz made a misstep with their follow up, sadly, but this remains one of the best debut albums of the last decade. Also on the bonus disc, a second version of "Darts of Pleasure" is presented with a slow tempo bearing the name "Words So Leisured" and that is worth a listen.
13. Hot Fuss - The Killers
Picks: "Andy, You're A Star" and "Believe Me Natalie"
Another fantastic debut album of the last decade, The Killers brought glamour back to rock 'n' roll without bringing any kind of parody. Much like Franz Ferdinand, The Killers sing of many of the same subjects (including the vague homo-erotic undertones). What The Killers brought to glam rock was actual artistry, for the first time since David Bowie and Queen held sway. Of course, their next album smacked of Bruce Springsteen (which is not a bad thing, per se) and their most recent album may have that terrifically annoying tune with the line "Are We Human or Are We Dancer?" in it (that's not even grammatically correct in the least bit), but I still take this one on road trips because it's just so much damn fun to listen to.
12. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party
Picks: "Helicopter" and "So Here We Are"
Oh Bloc Party. You showed such promise with this album. "So Here We Are" especially showed me that you were an up and coming musical force to be reckoned with. And tunes like "Helicopter" and "Banquet" showed your versatility and fun and...and then, well, maybe it was just too much to live up to. And that's why you called it quits. I wish that instead, you had released another album as awesome as this one. Maybe you'll reunite in a few years and spark that magic again.
11. Come On Feel the Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens
Picks: "Come On Feel The Illinoise!" and "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!"
Sufjan Stevens (and that name is pronounced Soo-fi-yann)embarked on an epic musical adventure when he released Greetings From Michigan and, after the heavily Bible-themed Seven Swans released Illinoise. Rumors begat rumors which eventually stated that Stevens planned on recording an album for each of the United States. It was going to be great; each state would have its own flag, bird, motto, quarter and now album. But sadly, it looks like Illinoise will be the last. Maybe the rumors weren't true (and they were not) or maybe, Stevens realized that if he did one for each state, D.C. and the Territories might feel jealous and then he'd have to record some more, and all the travel/research not to mention songwriting for more than fifty albums might put a bit of a strain on him and kind of a noose around his creativity. But if he had to stop somewhere, I'm glad he stopped in Illinoise because the first time I heard "They Are Night Zombies!!" posted on a friend's livejournal (which I am pretty sure she hasn't updated since facebook became her everything) I rushed out and bought* this album. And a good thing I did, too, because each tune on this album is at least half as good (which puts this album in good musical standing). So why number eleven? Well, what I like about this album is the cohesiveness; each tune is about the state of Illinois, or its history, or some aspect of it, in some way. But that is also its downfall. I love albums with a theme for some reason, but to base an entire album on a state does seem a bit heavy. Kudos to Stevens, though; any other artist I can think of trying to pull this off, they don't show up on my top fifteen.
10. Kid A - Radiohead
Picks: Whole Album
Radiohead started out as a straight British Rock 'n' Roll band of the Nineties with their first album Pablo Honey. They gained notoriety with their song "Creep" which to this day I still get chills if it comes through my speakers and it's been a while since I've heard it. They solidified their standing with The Bends and that albums' seemingly endless depth. With OK Computer they took a slight tip toe down an experimental lane, with tunes like "Subterranean Homesick Alien." And on this, their fourth album, they sprinted down that experimental electronic boulevard. This wasn't just a new album, it was a reinvention of the band. It was a gamble, and it paid off in a big way. There was a chance that fans would not follow this new direction but Radiohead plunged onward, unwilling to sacrifice their art for its consumers. It was enough for Rolling Stone to name this their pick for album of the decade, so it worked fairly well. And while my favorite track wavers between "Kid A" "Idioteque" and "Motion Picture Soundtrack" I urge you to listen to this album as a whole.
9. Tradin' Dollars for Dimes - The Rum Drum Ramblers
Picks: "I Feel It Too" and "Ain't Happy With You"
Many of my readers may be scratching their heads on this one. "The Rum Drum who whats?" "Tradin' whats-its for whatchamajigs now?" For those of you not in the know, The Rum Drum Ramblers are a folk/blues band based in St. Louis affiliated with Big Muddy Records, and this is the album they released in fall of 2009. They busk, they sing, they play, they rock. They sound like they could be grizzled old blues men, but they're in their mid twenties. These three young men are masters of their craft already, each doing amazing things with their respective instruments (upright bass, guitar, and one man supplying lead vocals, harmonica, washboard, snare drum, tambourine and much more). I could very easily have also included their 2008 8-track Hey Lordy Mama Mama Get Up and Go along with Tradin' Dollars but felt like that may be giving them too much to live up to. I will admit to being a bit of a sycophant when it comes to these guys.
8. Eisenhower - The Slip
Picks: "Airplane/Primitive" and "Paper Birds"
The Slip is a Boston based group with roots in the jam-band scene, but they operate in relative obscurity. I myself would never have heard of them if I weren't a subscriber to NPR's "All Songs Considered" podcast. But they're a fun band to listen to, though fair warning that in order to get to the best this album has to offer you have to get through the first track "Children of December" which is strained and flat and does not do well to introduce you to the rest of the album. Tunes like "Even Rats" and "Airplane/Primitive" showcase the groups' diversity and the album is tied together at the end with the outro to "Paper Birds" which does a very nice job of referencing other tunes on the album without it turning into a gimmick.
7. We Have the Facts And We're Voting Yes - Death Cab For Cutie
Picks: "Company Calls" and "Scientist Studies"
Before Death Cab for Cutie broke out onto the scene big with Transantlantacism in 2003, they released this gem of an album which follows a loose conceptual theme throughout. In fact, if you listen close, the album seems to tell a tale about an unexpected, welcome but ultimately doomed love, taking the journey from friendship to the next level, to betrayal, to that stage where politeness takes over, and then ends in sorrowful longing. The juxtaposition of tone between "Company Calls" and "Company Calls: Epilogue" is the best example of the depth this album carries itself. Possibly Death Cab's most underrated album, give me We Have the Facts over Plans or Transatlanticism any day (full disclosure: I have not heard Narrow Stairs all the way through).
6. The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
Picks: "The Island" "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)" and "The Crane Wife 1 & 2"
The Decemberists might, with the help of a handful of other bands who have gained notoriety recently, someday be credited with saving the album from the ninety-nine cent song download. This folk-rock band has brought great artistry with them. Exhibit A is The Crane Wife, an album which can be characterized by what I have started referring to as the Three L's: Longing, Legends, and Loss (I could throw a fourth L, with Love, but that's not surprising as probably about 90% of all songs are about love of some kind). The story of The Crane Wife is a Japanese legend which gets not one but two retellings on this album ("The Crane Wife 3" begins the album, "The Crane Wife 1 & 2" comes toward the end). This legend is filled with longing and loss; the second track "The Island" does what the Decemberists' next album would do start to finish: tells a story in musical movements like a symphonic piece. "Yankee Bayonet" feels like war-torn lovers writing letters back and forth. There is even a song about the German siege of Leningrad during World War II. Frontman Colin Meloy does not typically concern himself with writing pop songs, but rather with crafting folk songs which tell stories. You must listen to this album. You will thank me later.
5. Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse
Picks: "The World At Large" "Ocean Breathes Salty" and "The View"
On a bad day, nothing picks me up better than this album does. It's actually a strange effect it carries, since for the most part the lyrics are dark and cynical. Take, for instance, this line from "The View": "As life gets longer, awful feels softer/it feels pretty soft to me/And if it takes shit to make bliss/then I feel pretty blissfully/If life's not beautiful without the pain/well I'd just never ever even see beauty again." How could that make a person feel good? That's the magic of this album for me. Maybe they knew people of a certain pessimistic temperament would love this album. It's full of bad news, really, but I love it. Pay close attention to "The World At Large" which is a beautiful piece of music. Unfortunately for me, thanks to my friend Tyler's senior video project at college, I can't hear the closing tune "The Good Times Are Killing Me" without seeing a floating skeleton doll anymore, which makes me kind of have a bad day. So I listen to the album again.
4. Riverboat Soul - Pokey LaFarge and The South City Three
Picks: "Claude Jones" "Hard Times Come Hard Times Go" and "Bag of Bones"
Pokey LaFarge is another local boy, like the Rum Drum Ramblers. And again, by local "boy" I mean that he is younger than I am (which makes him a boy, I guess). This album, released in the fall of 2009, is not Pokey's first full length album but his first with The South City Three, his backing band. Pokey is on Big Muddy Records as well (for the time being) and, Big Muddy being a smaller label, there is generally a lot of crossover and familiar faces in their bands, so it seems fitting that the South City Three contains two of the Rum Drum Ramblers (and the third Rambler has been known to jump onstage with Pokey and the SC3 on occasion). But where the Rum Drum Ramblers are blues-folk, Pokey is bluegrass. His songs tell stories of bootleggers ("Claude Jones"), allude to the troubles we conjure up when we think of depression-era music ("Hard Times Come Hard Times Go") and he even sings of love. At times, Pokey can seem whimsical, but taking one listen to "Bag of Bones" will show you just how serious these young musicians can be. Again, I may be a bit sycophantic with Pokey and the Three, but it's hard not to like these guys. Trust me.
3. Frances The Mute - The Mars Volta
Picks: Whole Album
Remember, a few notches down the list, when I said that The Decemberists and a handful of other bands were helping to bring back the album? The Mars Volta is one of those bands, and Frances The Mute is an example of how they are bringing the album back. This is an album you cannot listen to in pieces (and the fact that the record company pushed for "L'Via L'Viaquez" as a single (the album version is twelve minutes long) shows just how ridiculous a record company can be. Frances the Mute tells the story of a woman in search of her biological family, and switches from English to Spanish and leaves no room to breathe between the tracks (in order to maintain continuous sound, the vinyl versions locked themselves into a closed groove at the end, repeating the same measure of music until physically stopped and flipped). While this album may be a little heavy, it is evocative of the progressive rock bands of the 70's and 80's who wrote rock symphonies instead of two or three hit singles padded with filler material.
2. How it Ends - DeVotcka
Picks: "The Enemy Guns" and "Twenty-Six Temptations"
Nick Urata's voice haunts me. Listen to the way it strains on "The Enemy Guns," the way it bends ever-so-slightly, the way it soars into the stratosphere and lands with authority on "Twenty-Six Temptations." Listen to this album's title track and I dare you to not be moved. You may know this band (and may have heard a part of "How it Ends") if you've seen the film Little Miss Sunshine, as they scored the film and used some of their existing music. What is most amazing about this band is their eclectic instrumentation. This album has standard pop fare-guitar, bass, drums-but also comes with sousaphone, trumpet, theramin, accordion, melodica, organ...the list goes on. Sometimes they play and sound like a Mariachi band; other times, they sound like an Eastern European street band and still other times like a rock band. This is a group to keep your ears tuned to. Need more proof? Check out their cover of Siouxsie & The Banshee's "Last Beat of My Heart" on DeVotchka's Curse Your Little Heart EP.
1. The Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
Picks: Whole Album
Amazingly, The Decemberists get to be the only repeat band on my list (you may recall how well NBC was featured on my Television list, and how much I must love Pixar from my Film list). If The Crane Wife is exhibit A in proving the album is still alive, The Hazards of Love should be Exhibit N, as in "No need for further exhibits, you've got the jury fully convinced now." Here is what I suggest you do when you give this album a listen: 1) Turn off or unplug your telephone so it will not ring. 2) Make sure you have just had a well-balanced meal before listening. 3) Get yourself a really nice pair of speakers and lock yourself in the room with them. 4) Put this album on and listen to it, start to finish, once. 5) Reflect; hum the tunes that stuck with you while you go about your regular business. 6) Wait two or more hours. 7) Repeat as necessary. I'd say "The Decemberists did it again!" but that's not true. If they had done "it" again (it, in this case, referring to how very great The Crane Wife was) then this would be an accomplishment of a much lesser degree. No, this time, The Decemberists outdid themselves in the studio and then went on to outdo that on tour. That's right; due to the integrated and seamless aspect to the tunes on this album, and their knowledge that at best they could only turn one of them into a single ("The Rake's Song"), the band went on tour to support this album by playing the entire album live at each show. And after the whole album was played, the band would continue and play some of their earlier work. And it wasn't just the idea of the album that carried this to the top of the list; the story it tells is interesting, the characters as well rounded as a loose rock opera would allow, and filled with such beauty and danger that every time I listen, I hear something new. Listen. Now.
Honorable mentions:
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
( ) - Sigur Ros
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Diary: Remastered - Sunny Day Real Estate
Yes, I am well aware that a remastered version of an album originally released in 1994 has no business being on a "Best of the Decade 2000-2009" list, but I felt bad their one offering for the decade (2000's The Rising Tide) didn't come close to making the cut.
So, there you have it. My best-ofs for the decade. I hope in ten years, blogging is still cool enough that I'll feel like doing this again will be worth it.
Happy New Year!
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*Of course by "bought" I mean that I may or may not have obtained it through what may or may not have been an illegal file-sharing network.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
I Haven't Forgotten...
...about the top albums of the decade. I am writing that post in spurts and will post when I am finished.
However, first I wanted to vent about something that just happened to me.
You may recall my undeniable love for Sunny Day Real Estate and especially for Diary, their first album. You may also remember that I mentioned how the band had released remastered versions of Diary and LP2 this year to coincide with their reunion tour. You might remember, too, that I said they were available on vinyl. And finally, you probably forgot that I told you that I received LP2 Remastered on vinyl for my birthday. What you definitely don't know (because I haven't told you yet) is that for Christmas, my friend Beth gave me Diary Remastered on vinyl the Saturday before Christmas. The very next day, I put it on my turntable and lowered the stylus onto the record. I waited for the needle to find the groove. I watched as a really nasty warp kicked the stylus up and off of the record. I swore.
I called Beth up just to ask where she bought it, and she told me Amazon.com. So I called Amazon, and set up a gift return (I was trying to set up an exchange, but apparently the guy I was talking to did not understand that concept). So, I printed out the shipping label, sent it off on the Tuesday before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, I got an e-mail saying they had received the package and that I had been refunded with a gift card, so on Christmas Eve I ordered the album again.
So today, four days after Christmas and a good ten days after I received the album as a present, I checked the tracking status of my order and saw that it had arrived at my door. I had to stay late at work, which of course made the anticipation nearly kill me, but I waited it out and returned home two and a half hours late. I ate dinner, took a shower, threw in a load of laundry, talked to Kathy, then unboxed the record, removed the shrink wrap, put the first record on the turntable and lowered the stylus onto the record. I waited for the needle to find the groove. I watched as a really nasty warp kicked the stylus up and off of the record. This time, I really swore.
It was then I noticed the condition of the album cover; the upper left corner is all mashed up. This thing looks like it had been shipped from Seattle to Kentucky to St. Louis to Kentucky to St. Louis. In short, I am fairly certain Amazon.com shipped me the record I just returned to them as broken. Which means I will have to wait another four business days at least before I can listen to my record. Considering Friday is New Year's Day, that translates to at the very earliest I will be able to listen to this record next Tuesday, nearly two and a half weeks after I got it as a present.
I asked when I authorized a return this time if I could get the refund on my credit card rather than as a gift card. No can do. I asked, "What if the same thing happens again?" Then the same thing will happen again, and I can get the refund on my credit card if when I check out the next time I buy it with my credit card. That means I will have an Amazon gift card to spend, sure, but this is the only thing I am wanting to buy right now. Sure, down the road, I will buy something else on Amazon, but it's not like I was planning on buying a movie at Best Buy and might as well buy it online and get the record at Euclid Records or Vintage Vinyl here in town. I don't plan on spending they money, you know?
I guess the moral of this story is, if you're going to buy vinyl records, don't buy them on Amazon.com, buy them at a local record shop. If you're unlucky and don't have one of those anymore, you'd probably have better luck opening a local record shop yourself rather than ordering vinyl from Amazon. If you don't have the means to do this, you'd probably have better luck driving several hours to some other locality's local record shop. Bottom line, this experience has taught me to never order vinyl from Amazon again. I will gladly order DVDs, books, and other crap. But never will I ever order vinyl from Amazon.com. EVER. /End Rant.
However, first I wanted to vent about something that just happened to me.
You may recall my undeniable love for Sunny Day Real Estate and especially for Diary, their first album. You may also remember that I mentioned how the band had released remastered versions of Diary and LP2 this year to coincide with their reunion tour. You might remember, too, that I said they were available on vinyl. And finally, you probably forgot that I told you that I received LP2 Remastered on vinyl for my birthday. What you definitely don't know (because I haven't told you yet) is that for Christmas, my friend Beth gave me Diary Remastered on vinyl the Saturday before Christmas. The very next day, I put it on my turntable and lowered the stylus onto the record. I waited for the needle to find the groove. I watched as a really nasty warp kicked the stylus up and off of the record. I swore.
I called Beth up just to ask where she bought it, and she told me Amazon.com. So I called Amazon, and set up a gift return (I was trying to set up an exchange, but apparently the guy I was talking to did not understand that concept). So, I printed out the shipping label, sent it off on the Tuesday before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, I got an e-mail saying they had received the package and that I had been refunded with a gift card, so on Christmas Eve I ordered the album again.
So today, four days after Christmas and a good ten days after I received the album as a present, I checked the tracking status of my order and saw that it had arrived at my door. I had to stay late at work, which of course made the anticipation nearly kill me, but I waited it out and returned home two and a half hours late. I ate dinner, took a shower, threw in a load of laundry, talked to Kathy, then unboxed the record, removed the shrink wrap, put the first record on the turntable and lowered the stylus onto the record. I waited for the needle to find the groove. I watched as a really nasty warp kicked the stylus up and off of the record. This time, I really swore.
It was then I noticed the condition of the album cover; the upper left corner is all mashed up. This thing looks like it had been shipped from Seattle to Kentucky to St. Louis to Kentucky to St. Louis. In short, I am fairly certain Amazon.com shipped me the record I just returned to them as broken. Which means I will have to wait another four business days at least before I can listen to my record. Considering Friday is New Year's Day, that translates to at the very earliest I will be able to listen to this record next Tuesday, nearly two and a half weeks after I got it as a present.
I asked when I authorized a return this time if I could get the refund on my credit card rather than as a gift card. No can do. I asked, "What if the same thing happens again?" Then the same thing will happen again, and I can get the refund on my credit card if when I check out the next time I buy it with my credit card. That means I will have an Amazon gift card to spend, sure, but this is the only thing I am wanting to buy right now. Sure, down the road, I will buy something else on Amazon, but it's not like I was planning on buying a movie at Best Buy and might as well buy it online and get the record at Euclid Records or Vintage Vinyl here in town. I don't plan on spending they money, you know?
I guess the moral of this story is, if you're going to buy vinyl records, don't buy them on Amazon.com, buy them at a local record shop. If you're unlucky and don't have one of those anymore, you'd probably have better luck opening a local record shop yourself rather than ordering vinyl from Amazon. If you don't have the means to do this, you'd probably have better luck driving several hours to some other locality's local record shop. Bottom line, this experience has taught me to never order vinyl from Amazon again. I will gladly order DVDs, books, and other crap. But never will I ever order vinyl from Amazon.com. EVER. /End Rant.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas From Your Writer & His Family
Acrodyl Joseph, Christmas 2007.
Amethyst Bernardette, Christmas 2008
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Top Ten (erm...Fifteen) Films of the Decade
This is where things will start getting heated. Many of my readers are very opinionated and plugged in to the world of film, and have incredibly different views than I do. Well, that's what this is for...discussion. As I said in my book list, I had trouble narrowing this down to ten so I expanded it by five. Let me know what you think.
15. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Lucasfilm
I know what everyone is thinking: Really, Elliot? Really? That was one of the worst films I've seen in the last ten years. In fact, that was one of the worst films I've seen, ever. It's only good in comparison to Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. But here's the thing; if George Lucas had made the first two in the new trilogy with as much story and energy as he put into the third one, we would hate the new trilogy a lot less. The dialog was terrible, yes. The acting wooden, yes. The...wait. Maybe I did hate this film. But for all of the anticipation I had for this movie, I'm tricking myself into it being a better film than it actually was.
14. Little Miss Sunshine
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Not just because the soundtrack is DeVotchka and Sufjan Stevens heavy (though that helped), this film was an achievement for cast and director alike. While everyone turns out incredible performances, Steve Carrell and Paul Dano provide amazing turns as (respectively) Frank Ginsberg, a suicidal gay professor and Dwayne, the quintessential dark teenage boy. And even though Dano doesn't speak for the better part of the film, when he finally speaks he has some of the best lines of the film. Some I have spoken to despise the climactic scene, decrying what Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) does at the pageant as disgusting. If this was you, then you totally missed the point. I'd suggest rewatching just the pageant scene.
13. Ratatouille
Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar has yet to disappoint, which is a dangerous position to hold in an industry as unforgiving as the film industry. Everyone knows that when giants fall, they fall much harder than anyone else. So what is Pixar's secret? Well, it's revealed in the very opening sequence of this film, as the camera (even though it's animated, it feels like it was shot) zooms in on an old-fashioned television. The high pitched ringing you hear isn't a problem with your ears or with your home theater system or anything like that; it's Pixar throwing in a realistic element most filmmakers would manipulate to remove. It's that old fashioned television ringing in your ears. It's the cracked linoleum in the same place every time. It's the uneven lines in the grout of the linoleum (it is much easier to animate a straight line but they don't like easy). It's the realistic whiskers on the rat. It's the way the neon lights flicker on atop the restaurant. It's the way you can almost smell the food. It's the way you want to eat the food when you leave the show. That's what it is. This is a prime example of Pixar's awesomeness.
12. Everything is Illuminated
Warner Independent Pictures
Liev Schreiber and Everything is Illuminated author Jonathan Safran Foer have much in common. Both are up and coming in their field, and represent the newer generation of Jewish artists. This film, based on Foer's debut novel, is Schreiber's directorial debut (and the only director credit he has to this point). Everything is Illuminated is a beautiful and faithful adaptation of about two thirds of the book or so. Moments range from the humorous to the heart wrenching. Eugene Hutz turns in a great performance as Alex, the Ukrainian translator for Jonathan (Elijah Woods). Alex has a loose grasp on the English language and American Culture, causing him to hire a street band (Hutz's real life band Gogol Bordello) to play the Star Spangled Banner upon Jonathan's arrival. Wood himself avoids sentimentalism as Jonathan Safran Foer, a fictional version of the book's author. Jonathan collects mementos of his trip in a black fanny pack. It takes guts to wear one of those after 1992. And despite the fanny pack, this film is beautiful.
11. There Will Be Blood
Ghoulardi Film Company
I'm a fan of character-driven narratives, and There Will Be Blood delivers exactly that. I could give you the basic plot in probably a few sentences, but the plot is not what's important. What's important is Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his character arc. He begins as a mineral prospector and ends as a rich oil man, and on the way you see what he is willing to do to get what he wants. Paul Dano (again he crops up in my list...I think I kinda like this guy) shines as Eli Sunday, a preacher intent on reaping the benefit of the oil for his church (Dano also plays Paul Sunday, Eli's twin brother). While this film can be, at times, heavy handed, Daniel Day-Lewis' performance stands out as the best of the decade.
10. The Incredibles
Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios
Reason number two Pixar makes great films: Story. From concept to execution, this film has it done right. Sure, we've seen this idea about Super Heroes and their identity crises. Since Superman met Clark Kent this has been going on. The idea of the general public turning against the heroes, forcing them into obscurity? Also not new. But the way it is done works very well. For instance, when Mr. Incredible returns home from a night of vigilante heroism and is confronted by his wife, the moment feels real. It's almost as if she caught him returning from a late night tryst. The film is also funny when it needs to be but dark, like all good super hero fare. The only bad moment comes when Violet tells her brother "Their lives could be in danger, or worse; their marriage!" But, I guess that's a teenager for you...
9. High Fidelity
Dogstar Films
I'm a sucker for a film about a music snob. It's like looking into a moving, celluloid mirror. Throw in some stuck up beer snobbery and references to Italian bicycles and German cars, and Rob Gordon (John Cusack) could very easily be an alternate reality version of this blog's author. But relatability isn't the only reason this film lands in my top ten. It's also the structure; the in-moment narration, the breaking of the fourth wall, it all works so well. Rob invites us into his world and shows us more than he intends to. We know he's an idiot, but he remains more or less clueless throughout. Jack Black also shines as Barry, a brash music snob who works at the record shop Rob owns. I am happy to say that I am not Rob Gordon, but if I squint hard enough I can see that parallel universe. The book would have made it onto my last top ten list, but alas! it was published in 1996. I highly recommend adding this to your list. Caveat; there are those who do not like John Cusack films because they seem to always include Joan. She's in this one, but it's my favorite role I've seen her in so you should totally give her a chance.
8. Star Trek
Paramount Pictures
Let me give you the standard rundown I always give regarding Star Trek films: watch the even-numbered ones and you will only be slightly disappointed when you get to Nemesis, the last Trek film released (which was basically The Wrath of Kahn but with the Next Generation cast). Generally skip the odd numbered ones (although The Voyage Home will make no sense without The Search for Spock) because the original is pretty but boring, the third one feels a bit forced, the fifth one is flat out terrible, Generations is pretty meh, and Insurrection isn't even good enough to be a bad science fiction film. But then director J.J. Abrams took the helm and made number eleven and it kicks ass. Like The Wrath of Kahn, this is a great science fiction film apart from being a Star Trek film. It would have been very easy to do this wrong (look at The Phantom Menace) but Abrams avoided the fanboys' cries of "You're messing with canon!" by flat out rewriting it. Watch. This. Film.
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Anonymous Content
Jim Carrey can be a good actor. He has shown this before, in The Truman Show, in The Man on the Moon and in Liar Liar (underrated). But this is also the man who gave us Ace Ventura, The Cable Guy and Me, Myself & Irene. In Eternal Sunshine, Carrey proves again that he is a capable actor. Maybe he just enjoys acting in terrible roles. Maybe he likes the idea of jumping on a motorcycle in a hospital gown and letting the audience get a look at his crack (Yes Man, I'm looking in your direction with partially closed eyes), I guess. Please, please do more films like this one, Jim Carrey. Joel Barish (Carrey's character) is one of the most sardonic protagonists to grace the silver screen. Not to mention the beautiful script. Kate Winslet shows her range, too, playing the Bohemian Clementine. Elijah Wood (looks like I like him, too) does a good job, too, as Patrick, a man who uses what he gleans about Clementine from Joel to pursue a relationship with her. Part Drop Dead Fred, part Being John Malkovich, this movie will make you think about the good and the bad parts of relationships, asking us to consider how we could walk away from the good when all we can see is the bad.
6. Lord of the Rings: The Complete Trilogy
New Line Cinema
Clearly, I do like Elijah Wood. Except that, well, it's not that I don't like him, I just happen to like some of the films he's been in. It's not always because of him. In fact, I'd say that though he is the main character of at least the first of these three films, (Viggo Mortensen taking over in the second), it was not his performance that landed these films the collective six spot on my list. No, I will give the credit to director Peter Jackson, for his vision and attention to detail and balls of steel. It's one thing to tamper with a beloved world that's been around for thirty years (like Star Wars) or forty years (like Star Trek), but author J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth has existed since 1937. Its history is rich and detailed and has an established mythology (read The Silmarillion; it is basically Middle Earth's bible) and people know the history. So to tackle a project like this, just...wow. It's sweeping and epic but it never feels like it's straining to cover its bases. Originally, Jackson broke the three novels into two scripts, believing it would make the project marketable. At the time, Miramax held the film rights and asked Jackson if he thought he could change his plans from two films to one. That would have been straining. When New Line Cinema picked up the option, they called Jackson for a meeting to discuss the "two-film" approach, which they felt was wrong. Ready to defend against a single film, Jackson was delighted to find New Line's quibble wasn't that two films was too much, they were concerned that two films would not be enough. These three films go together on the list as an achievement of modern film-making and of script adaptation; the performances of the actors carried this up to the number six spot.
5. Snatch
Columbia Pictures Corporation/SKA Films
Nobody thought director Guy Ritchie could outdo Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels at all. When I first saw the trailer for Snatch, I was worried. It looked like Ritchie had just remade Lock Stock with a bigger budget and some bigger names (Benicio Del Toro as Frankie Four Fingers, Brad Pitt as Mickey). I'll admit, I did not see this one in theaters. In fact, I waited two years before I finally rented it, waiting for it to come off the new release wall at Blockbuster (wow, remember when we used to rent our movies at Blockbuster?) before shelling out money to see it. What a mistake that was. This movie doesn't rehash Ritchie's previous offering, it obliterates it. It's multifaceted, multi-layered and hilarious. Ritchie proved again that he is a master of the complicated screenplay. Jason Statham gives us his best role to date as Turkish, the film's main character and narrator. A friend once explained Snatch like this; "If you've seen Crash, you know how all the characters affect all the others, even though they may not actually meet? It's like that, only, you know, hilarious." Unfortunately for Ritchie, his follow-ups have been let downs (though I have not yet seen RocknRolla or Sherlock Holmes) with duds like Swept Away and Revolver. Oh, Guy Ritchie; if only Madonna would have helped your career.
4. Finding Nemo
Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar again, and this time they gain a spot because of the emotion they can bring. If we were really going for one-time emotional punch, I would have included Up! on the list merely for the first twelve minutes (I ball my eyes out every damn time). But Nemo gives us a shock followed by a slow release of emotion. Clownfish get eaten by barracudas. It happens. We shouldn't care, it's part of nature. But we do care. And then we fall for Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) because he finds the one remaining egg and gives it the name his wife wanted. It's a great story about a single parent raising a small child in the dangerous, every day world. Except their fish. But Pixar makes us care about the fish. They pay close attention to the movement of the water, the movement of the fish, to make everything as real as possible. Obviously, a talking fish is not real. The emotion is. The emotion is very, very real.
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Touchstone Pictures
Dear Critics, you're all idiots. What was it about this film that you didn't like? Seriously? You all loved the music and hated the film when it was released, but now it's cropping up on your best-of-the-decade lists. Was it that even though it was based on Homer's Odyssey, it was too loose for you? Come on! The film itself was a great story, hilariously told and rich with what could, I guess, be called 1930's pop culture references. The music helped everything in this film (without the music, the film would be on my top ten, but not in the top three). You're all morons, all of you, and I question every review you all write from here on out in perpetuity.
2. Wall-E
Pixar Animation Studios
This is, in my opinion, Pixar's masterpiece. This will be the Pixar film (and computer-animated film) against which I judge all of Pixar's future films (or other computer-animated films). While other animation studios are concerned with the cleanliness of the world they animate (and dirtiness in the script...Shrek I'm looking in your direction this time), Pixar is more concerned with a beautiful script, a beautiful story, and a beautiful rendering of an imperfect world. Like the uneven grout in the linoleum in Ratatouille, like the dirty floor in Monster's, Inc and like the garbage-encrusted Earth in Wall-E, Pixar knows how to do it. Many filmmakers try to avoid accidental soft-focus and lens flares. Pixar works hard to get them in. Bottom line; many films shot with cameras look like they were rendered on a computer but Pixar makes their computer rendered films look like they were shot with cameras. And aside from that, Wall-E gets the top of the Pixar heap because it is beautiful to look at, has a great message and carries a great warning. The ultimate irony, though, is that Disney financed and distributed this film about the Earth being corrupted and destroyed by a giant corporation bent on selling the world a bunch of crap that ends up in landfills.
1. The Royal Tenenbaums
American Empirical Pictures
Wes Anderson showed he was a genius with Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. Then he released The Royal Tenenbaums and cemented his status. I can't say anything about this movie, though, because once I start, I don't stop. If you haven't seen it, well...get on it. Hilarious cross-reference: Best TV Show star Jason Bateman once described Arrested Development as "Royal Tenenbaums shot like Cops." Now stop reading and update your Netflix queue.
15. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Lucasfilm
I know what everyone is thinking: Really, Elliot? Really? That was one of the worst films I've seen in the last ten years. In fact, that was one of the worst films I've seen, ever. It's only good in comparison to Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. But here's the thing; if George Lucas had made the first two in the new trilogy with as much story and energy as he put into the third one, we would hate the new trilogy a lot less. The dialog was terrible, yes. The acting wooden, yes. The...wait. Maybe I did hate this film. But for all of the anticipation I had for this movie, I'm tricking myself into it being a better film than it actually was.
14. Little Miss Sunshine
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Not just because the soundtrack is DeVotchka and Sufjan Stevens heavy (though that helped), this film was an achievement for cast and director alike. While everyone turns out incredible performances, Steve Carrell and Paul Dano provide amazing turns as (respectively) Frank Ginsberg, a suicidal gay professor and Dwayne, the quintessential dark teenage boy. And even though Dano doesn't speak for the better part of the film, when he finally speaks he has some of the best lines of the film. Some I have spoken to despise the climactic scene, decrying what Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) does at the pageant as disgusting. If this was you, then you totally missed the point. I'd suggest rewatching just the pageant scene.
13. Ratatouille
Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar has yet to disappoint, which is a dangerous position to hold in an industry as unforgiving as the film industry. Everyone knows that when giants fall, they fall much harder than anyone else. So what is Pixar's secret? Well, it's revealed in the very opening sequence of this film, as the camera (even though it's animated, it feels like it was shot) zooms in on an old-fashioned television. The high pitched ringing you hear isn't a problem with your ears or with your home theater system or anything like that; it's Pixar throwing in a realistic element most filmmakers would manipulate to remove. It's that old fashioned television ringing in your ears. It's the cracked linoleum in the same place every time. It's the uneven lines in the grout of the linoleum (it is much easier to animate a straight line but they don't like easy). It's the realistic whiskers on the rat. It's the way the neon lights flicker on atop the restaurant. It's the way you can almost smell the food. It's the way you want to eat the food when you leave the show. That's what it is. This is a prime example of Pixar's awesomeness.
12. Everything is Illuminated
Warner Independent Pictures
Liev Schreiber and Everything is Illuminated author Jonathan Safran Foer have much in common. Both are up and coming in their field, and represent the newer generation of Jewish artists. This film, based on Foer's debut novel, is Schreiber's directorial debut (and the only director credit he has to this point). Everything is Illuminated is a beautiful and faithful adaptation of about two thirds of the book or so. Moments range from the humorous to the heart wrenching. Eugene Hutz turns in a great performance as Alex, the Ukrainian translator for Jonathan (Elijah Woods). Alex has a loose grasp on the English language and American Culture, causing him to hire a street band (Hutz's real life band Gogol Bordello) to play the Star Spangled Banner upon Jonathan's arrival. Wood himself avoids sentimentalism as Jonathan Safran Foer, a fictional version of the book's author. Jonathan collects mementos of his trip in a black fanny pack. It takes guts to wear one of those after 1992. And despite the fanny pack, this film is beautiful.
11. There Will Be Blood
Ghoulardi Film Company
I'm a fan of character-driven narratives, and There Will Be Blood delivers exactly that. I could give you the basic plot in probably a few sentences, but the plot is not what's important. What's important is Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his character arc. He begins as a mineral prospector and ends as a rich oil man, and on the way you see what he is willing to do to get what he wants. Paul Dano (again he crops up in my list...I think I kinda like this guy) shines as Eli Sunday, a preacher intent on reaping the benefit of the oil for his church (Dano also plays Paul Sunday, Eli's twin brother). While this film can be, at times, heavy handed, Daniel Day-Lewis' performance stands out as the best of the decade.
10. The Incredibles
Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios
Reason number two Pixar makes great films: Story. From concept to execution, this film has it done right. Sure, we've seen this idea about Super Heroes and their identity crises. Since Superman met Clark Kent this has been going on. The idea of the general public turning against the heroes, forcing them into obscurity? Also not new. But the way it is done works very well. For instance, when Mr. Incredible returns home from a night of vigilante heroism and is confronted by his wife, the moment feels real. It's almost as if she caught him returning from a late night tryst. The film is also funny when it needs to be but dark, like all good super hero fare. The only bad moment comes when Violet tells her brother "Their lives could be in danger, or worse; their marriage!" But, I guess that's a teenager for you...
9. High Fidelity
Dogstar Films
I'm a sucker for a film about a music snob. It's like looking into a moving, celluloid mirror. Throw in some stuck up beer snobbery and references to Italian bicycles and German cars, and Rob Gordon (John Cusack) could very easily be an alternate reality version of this blog's author. But relatability isn't the only reason this film lands in my top ten. It's also the structure; the in-moment narration, the breaking of the fourth wall, it all works so well. Rob invites us into his world and shows us more than he intends to. We know he's an idiot, but he remains more or less clueless throughout. Jack Black also shines as Barry, a brash music snob who works at the record shop Rob owns. I am happy to say that I am not Rob Gordon, but if I squint hard enough I can see that parallel universe. The book would have made it onto my last top ten list, but alas! it was published in 1996. I highly recommend adding this to your list. Caveat; there are those who do not like John Cusack films because they seem to always include Joan. She's in this one, but it's my favorite role I've seen her in so you should totally give her a chance.
8. Star Trek
Paramount Pictures
Let me give you the standard rundown I always give regarding Star Trek films: watch the even-numbered ones and you will only be slightly disappointed when you get to Nemesis, the last Trek film released (which was basically The Wrath of Kahn but with the Next Generation cast). Generally skip the odd numbered ones (although The Voyage Home will make no sense without The Search for Spock) because the original is pretty but boring, the third one feels a bit forced, the fifth one is flat out terrible, Generations is pretty meh, and Insurrection isn't even good enough to be a bad science fiction film. But then director J.J. Abrams took the helm and made number eleven and it kicks ass. Like The Wrath of Kahn, this is a great science fiction film apart from being a Star Trek film. It would have been very easy to do this wrong (look at The Phantom Menace) but Abrams avoided the fanboys' cries of "You're messing with canon!" by flat out rewriting it. Watch. This. Film.
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Anonymous Content
Jim Carrey can be a good actor. He has shown this before, in The Truman Show, in The Man on the Moon and in Liar Liar (underrated). But this is also the man who gave us Ace Ventura, The Cable Guy and Me, Myself & Irene. In Eternal Sunshine, Carrey proves again that he is a capable actor. Maybe he just enjoys acting in terrible roles. Maybe he likes the idea of jumping on a motorcycle in a hospital gown and letting the audience get a look at his crack (Yes Man, I'm looking in your direction with partially closed eyes), I guess. Please, please do more films like this one, Jim Carrey. Joel Barish (Carrey's character) is one of the most sardonic protagonists to grace the silver screen. Not to mention the beautiful script. Kate Winslet shows her range, too, playing the Bohemian Clementine. Elijah Wood (looks like I like him, too) does a good job, too, as Patrick, a man who uses what he gleans about Clementine from Joel to pursue a relationship with her. Part Drop Dead Fred, part Being John Malkovich, this movie will make you think about the good and the bad parts of relationships, asking us to consider how we could walk away from the good when all we can see is the bad.
6. Lord of the Rings: The Complete Trilogy
New Line Cinema
Clearly, I do like Elijah Wood. Except that, well, it's not that I don't like him, I just happen to like some of the films he's been in. It's not always because of him. In fact, I'd say that though he is the main character of at least the first of these three films, (Viggo Mortensen taking over in the second), it was not his performance that landed these films the collective six spot on my list. No, I will give the credit to director Peter Jackson, for his vision and attention to detail and balls of steel. It's one thing to tamper with a beloved world that's been around for thirty years (like Star Wars) or forty years (like Star Trek), but author J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth has existed since 1937. Its history is rich and detailed and has an established mythology (read The Silmarillion; it is basically Middle Earth's bible) and people know the history. So to tackle a project like this, just...wow. It's sweeping and epic but it never feels like it's straining to cover its bases. Originally, Jackson broke the three novels into two scripts, believing it would make the project marketable. At the time, Miramax held the film rights and asked Jackson if he thought he could change his plans from two films to one. That would have been straining. When New Line Cinema picked up the option, they called Jackson for a meeting to discuss the "two-film" approach, which they felt was wrong. Ready to defend against a single film, Jackson was delighted to find New Line's quibble wasn't that two films was too much, they were concerned that two films would not be enough. These three films go together on the list as an achievement of modern film-making and of script adaptation; the performances of the actors carried this up to the number six spot.
5. Snatch
Columbia Pictures Corporation/SKA Films
Nobody thought director Guy Ritchie could outdo Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels at all. When I first saw the trailer for Snatch, I was worried. It looked like Ritchie had just remade Lock Stock with a bigger budget and some bigger names (Benicio Del Toro as Frankie Four Fingers, Brad Pitt as Mickey). I'll admit, I did not see this one in theaters. In fact, I waited two years before I finally rented it, waiting for it to come off the new release wall at Blockbuster (wow, remember when we used to rent our movies at Blockbuster?) before shelling out money to see it. What a mistake that was. This movie doesn't rehash Ritchie's previous offering, it obliterates it. It's multifaceted, multi-layered and hilarious. Ritchie proved again that he is a master of the complicated screenplay. Jason Statham gives us his best role to date as Turkish, the film's main character and narrator. A friend once explained Snatch like this; "If you've seen Crash, you know how all the characters affect all the others, even though they may not actually meet? It's like that, only, you know, hilarious." Unfortunately for Ritchie, his follow-ups have been let downs (though I have not yet seen RocknRolla or Sherlock Holmes) with duds like Swept Away and Revolver. Oh, Guy Ritchie; if only Madonna would have helped your career.
4. Finding Nemo
Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar again, and this time they gain a spot because of the emotion they can bring. If we were really going for one-time emotional punch, I would have included Up! on the list merely for the first twelve minutes (I ball my eyes out every damn time). But Nemo gives us a shock followed by a slow release of emotion. Clownfish get eaten by barracudas. It happens. We shouldn't care, it's part of nature. But we do care. And then we fall for Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) because he finds the one remaining egg and gives it the name his wife wanted. It's a great story about a single parent raising a small child in the dangerous, every day world. Except their fish. But Pixar makes us care about the fish. They pay close attention to the movement of the water, the movement of the fish, to make everything as real as possible. Obviously, a talking fish is not real. The emotion is. The emotion is very, very real.
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Touchstone Pictures
Dear Critics, you're all idiots. What was it about this film that you didn't like? Seriously? You all loved the music and hated the film when it was released, but now it's cropping up on your best-of-the-decade lists. Was it that even though it was based on Homer's Odyssey, it was too loose for you? Come on! The film itself was a great story, hilariously told and rich with what could, I guess, be called 1930's pop culture references. The music helped everything in this film (without the music, the film would be on my top ten, but not in the top three). You're all morons, all of you, and I question every review you all write from here on out in perpetuity.
2. Wall-E
Pixar Animation Studios
This is, in my opinion, Pixar's masterpiece. This will be the Pixar film (and computer-animated film) against which I judge all of Pixar's future films (or other computer-animated films). While other animation studios are concerned with the cleanliness of the world they animate (and dirtiness in the script...Shrek I'm looking in your direction this time), Pixar is more concerned with a beautiful script, a beautiful story, and a beautiful rendering of an imperfect world. Like the uneven grout in the linoleum in Ratatouille, like the dirty floor in Monster's, Inc and like the garbage-encrusted Earth in Wall-E, Pixar knows how to do it. Many filmmakers try to avoid accidental soft-focus and lens flares. Pixar works hard to get them in. Bottom line; many films shot with cameras look like they were rendered on a computer but Pixar makes their computer rendered films look like they were shot with cameras. And aside from that, Wall-E gets the top of the Pixar heap because it is beautiful to look at, has a great message and carries a great warning. The ultimate irony, though, is that Disney financed and distributed this film about the Earth being corrupted and destroyed by a giant corporation bent on selling the world a bunch of crap that ends up in landfills.
1. The Royal Tenenbaums
American Empirical Pictures
Wes Anderson showed he was a genius with Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. Then he released The Royal Tenenbaums and cemented his status. I can't say anything about this movie, though, because once I start, I don't stop. If you haven't seen it, well...get on it. Hilarious cross-reference: Best TV Show star Jason Bateman once described Arrested Development as "Royal Tenenbaums shot like Cops." Now stop reading and update your Netflix queue.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Top Ten Books of the Decade
For the greater part of the past decade, I was not so much able to read at my leisure as I was assigned books to read for class in a given time frame. I managed to squeeze in a few books here and there, over the summer, during break, instead of sleeping, that were not assigned reading. Most of the assigned reading, in fact, was at the newest fifteen years old. Basically, most of the reading I've done in the last ten years was of books published in the prior four thousand years or so (Beowulf, I'm looking at you). So this was probably the hardest list for me to put together. No Twilight, although we do get some Potter for all you nerds out there with me.
10. And Another Thing... - Eoin Colfer
Despite the fact that Colfer did not start the series and had no real right to continue or even try to end it, he did an okay job. It was a difficult task, there can be no doubt about that, and the average fan boy was probably more than willing to give it the old "Star Wars Prequel" treatment, but, you know, things worked out okay. Check here for my full review.
9. Furious Improvisation - Susan Quinn
The only non-fiction book to make my list is a fascinating read, and became much more topical than the author could have imagined when she began researching the project. This book tells the story of the Federal Theatre Project, a New Deal Public Works effort to put actors, writers, directors and other theatre professionals back to work. Sadly, this current economic downturn lacks a modern counterpart to this program which produced some of the most influential, controversial and best Theatre the country has ever seen. If you are at all interested in the well-being of artists in your community, send a copy of this to your Congressman and/or to the president, with a note indicating your concern and that you think we should try this again and, this time, not let it fall prey to any witch hunt. Damn you, Senator McCarthy.
8. Up In the Air - Walter Kirn
It's topical right now, especially, because of the Jason Reitman directed, partially shot in St. Louis, George Clooney starring film based on the novel, but if you haven't seen the movie yet I urge you to read the book first. Actually, I urge you to do that for any film based on a novel. Read the novel first. But no, really, because what Kirn did was paint a portrait of a man who lives in what he calls "Airworld" in our pre-9/11 days (the book having been published the very first day of 2001). It's wry, it's funny and sad at the same time. I did not imagine protagonist Ryan Bingham looking anything like George Clooney...I imagined him somewhat faceless, banal, like the hotel rooms and rental cars. In Fight Club (written by Chuck Palahniuk), the lead character drones about how everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. Ryan Bingham loves this about Airworld. You will love this book.
7. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
There is a hand full of post-9/11 literature which uses that day as a backdrop, none more emotionally in-the-moment charged as Don DeLillo's Falling Man and none more indicative of the man's exploitive nature than Neal LaBute's play The Mercy Seat. Both of these begin that morning, as the sirens ring and the dust flies. But Extremely Loud begins two years later, and does not tackle to politics or the emotional warpings of the direct victims, it follows a young boy as he comes to terms with losing his father. The narrator, nine year old Oskar Schell, carries through the novel a secret about his father. Foer's style combines prose with post-modern visual writing, which some have criticized but which I find helps capture the spirit of the characters.
6. The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams (Posthumous)
The Salmon of Doubt was the working title for no fewer than three of Douglas Adams' novels, and that includes the novel in progress discovered in bits and pieces on his hard drive after his death. More than just the bare beginnings of a novel, this book gives us a collection of essays, letters and speeches Adams wrote throughout his life. It reads like a documentary culled together from home movies; it's almost an autobiography but he doesn't attempt to hide or call attention to his shortcomings which, sadly, included more procrastination than writing.
5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
You knew I had to throw one of these in, and the only reason I didn't just include the whole series is that since some of the books were published prior to the year 2000, that would have been breaking the rules (and if I were going to break the rules, I would have put Freaks and Geeks on my Top Ten TV list). I did not feel that I should post individually, and really, adding all of the Harry Potter books published this decade into one entry would have bumped it down the list, so I chose what I feel is the strongest book of the series with Half Blood Prince. Rowling gives us the heaviest blow in the series with the death of a major character (trying...to...stay...spoiler...free...for the love of...it's Dumbledore, okay? Dumbledore. If you haven't read it by now you're not likely to). Sure, others in the series gave us loss, but not in the magnitude of this one. Also, it set up the greatest twist in the whole series, culminating in the last book with the chapter titled "The Prince's Tale." This book is pivotal in Harry's story, and is layered enough that I had to read it twice before the full effect hit me.
4. All Things, All At Once: New and Collected Stories - Lee K. Abbott
I met Lee K. Abbott, last fall at Webster University. He came and read from this book and then read from a work in progress. It's always interesting to meet a writer you admire, and I admired him primarily because of the stories in this book. He writes about growing up, fathers and sons, brothers, the desert, Roswell, love, sex, rock and roll, and he writes about them so well. I will admit that my short story "Before Rock Attained Perfection" was very heavily influenced by Abbott. My copy may be a paperback edition, but when I get a nice bookcase with glass doors to put my treasured books behind, this goes in there, right next to my battered copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
3. The Ministry of Special Cases - Nathan Englander
This book haunts me. The imagery, the symbolism, the humor and the sadness. All of it. Haunts me. Ever heard of the Argentinian Dirty War? Perhaps you have heard of Los Desaparecidos? Political dissidents-and often times innocent people wrongfully accused-were rounded up and systematically removed from society; locked in prison, shuffled into an impenetrable bureaucracy ostensibly for release, and then quietly pushed out of an airplane flying over the ocean in the dead of night. The Ministry of Special Cases tells the story of Kaddish Poznan, a Jewish man living with his family in Argentina, the ultimate outsider who is paid by rich Jewish families to remove evidence that their family was ever associated with a now defunct temple, a temple associated with prostitution and organized crime. He makes their past vanish. And then, his son vanishes as well. It is...powerful stuff.
2. You Don't Love Me Yet - Jonathan Lethem
Oh, Jonathan Lethem; you had me at Motherless Brooklyn back in 1999 (a novel which is soon to be released as a Edward Norton directed film next year). You're quirky, you're witty, and you write so beautifully about awkward sex. And in You Don't Love Me Yet, you write so well about art, music, and awkward sexual tension. The novel centers around a nameless indie-rock quartet which has a total of 35 minutes worth of music. Lucinda, the bass player, sets up a gig at a dance party. But there is a twist. My favorite moment in the book (and yours, too, probably) comes at the "Dance Party" where the band is supposed to play so quietly, no one can hear them. The party's guests are then supposed to dance to the music they brought in with their own walkmen. The food is not to be eaten. The party itself is to be a work of art, but the confusion of what the guests expects vs what the organizer intended breaks down, and it becomes the one moment for the unnamed band to shine. Light but smart, I read this one in all of two sittings.
1. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
Foer has a way of picking the defining crises in our collective history, and making beauty out of them. While the Liev Schreiber directed film starring Elijah Wood is a pretty faithful adaptation of two thirds of the book, it is that last third that brings the most beauty and sadness to the novel. Everything is Illuminated is funny and sombre, often times in the same sentence. As a writer, I would have been terrified to have turned out such a novel for my first offering. I'd be afraid I could never have followed it up. Fortunately for readers, Foer seems not to notice the quality of his words after he's polished them. Time to move on to the next project.
Honorable Mention:
A Moveable Feast: Restored Edition - Ernest Hemingway (posthumous), Sean Hemingway (introduction) and Patrick Hemingway (foreword)
What this little list of Hemingways after the title does not tell you is that Sean and Patrick, Ernest Hemingway's grandsons, heavily edited this book to make their grandmother, Ernest's first wife, look better. Some critics argued that Mary Hemingway, Ernest's fourth wife who edited the original manuscript before its first publication in 1964, removed large chunks at her discretion which have been reinstated for this edition. I include this as an honorable mention only to concede to the fact that long after the artist is gone, their name can be invoked and new insights attributed to them.
Keep checking back. To be honest, this list was hard in that I had to really think about ten new books I've read in the last ten years. I expected my Top Ten films and Albums lists to be easier, but in fact they were harder to narrow down to only ten of each. In fact, it got so hard that my top ten films and albums lists will now be top fifteen lists, each with honorable mentions as well. Look for those as the week progresses to Christmas. And as usual, let me know what you think. Ready any new, good books lately and want to share? Read something on my list and you completely disagree that it should be anywhere near the top ten? Let me know!
10. And Another Thing... - Eoin Colfer
Despite the fact that Colfer did not start the series and had no real right to continue or even try to end it, he did an okay job. It was a difficult task, there can be no doubt about that, and the average fan boy was probably more than willing to give it the old "Star Wars Prequel" treatment, but, you know, things worked out okay. Check here for my full review.
9. Furious Improvisation - Susan Quinn
The only non-fiction book to make my list is a fascinating read, and became much more topical than the author could have imagined when she began researching the project. This book tells the story of the Federal Theatre Project, a New Deal Public Works effort to put actors, writers, directors and other theatre professionals back to work. Sadly, this current economic downturn lacks a modern counterpart to this program which produced some of the most influential, controversial and best Theatre the country has ever seen. If you are at all interested in the well-being of artists in your community, send a copy of this to your Congressman and/or to the president, with a note indicating your concern and that you think we should try this again and, this time, not let it fall prey to any witch hunt. Damn you, Senator McCarthy.
8. Up In the Air - Walter Kirn
It's topical right now, especially, because of the Jason Reitman directed, partially shot in St. Louis, George Clooney starring film based on the novel, but if you haven't seen the movie yet I urge you to read the book first. Actually, I urge you to do that for any film based on a novel. Read the novel first. But no, really, because what Kirn did was paint a portrait of a man who lives in what he calls "Airworld" in our pre-9/11 days (the book having been published the very first day of 2001). It's wry, it's funny and sad at the same time. I did not imagine protagonist Ryan Bingham looking anything like George Clooney...I imagined him somewhat faceless, banal, like the hotel rooms and rental cars. In Fight Club (written by Chuck Palahniuk), the lead character drones about how everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. Ryan Bingham loves this about Airworld. You will love this book.
7. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
There is a hand full of post-9/11 literature which uses that day as a backdrop, none more emotionally in-the-moment charged as Don DeLillo's Falling Man and none more indicative of the man's exploitive nature than Neal LaBute's play The Mercy Seat. Both of these begin that morning, as the sirens ring and the dust flies. But Extremely Loud begins two years later, and does not tackle to politics or the emotional warpings of the direct victims, it follows a young boy as he comes to terms with losing his father. The narrator, nine year old Oskar Schell, carries through the novel a secret about his father. Foer's style combines prose with post-modern visual writing, which some have criticized but which I find helps capture the spirit of the characters.
6. The Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams (Posthumous)
The Salmon of Doubt was the working title for no fewer than three of Douglas Adams' novels, and that includes the novel in progress discovered in bits and pieces on his hard drive after his death. More than just the bare beginnings of a novel, this book gives us a collection of essays, letters and speeches Adams wrote throughout his life. It reads like a documentary culled together from home movies; it's almost an autobiography but he doesn't attempt to hide or call attention to his shortcomings which, sadly, included more procrastination than writing.
5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
You knew I had to throw one of these in, and the only reason I didn't just include the whole series is that since some of the books were published prior to the year 2000, that would have been breaking the rules (and if I were going to break the rules, I would have put Freaks and Geeks on my Top Ten TV list). I did not feel that I should post individually, and really, adding all of the Harry Potter books published this decade into one entry would have bumped it down the list, so I chose what I feel is the strongest book of the series with Half Blood Prince. Rowling gives us the heaviest blow in the series with the death of a major character (trying...to...stay...spoiler...free...for the love of...it's Dumbledore, okay? Dumbledore. If you haven't read it by now you're not likely to). Sure, others in the series gave us loss, but not in the magnitude of this one. Also, it set up the greatest twist in the whole series, culminating in the last book with the chapter titled "The Prince's Tale." This book is pivotal in Harry's story, and is layered enough that I had to read it twice before the full effect hit me.
4. All Things, All At Once: New and Collected Stories - Lee K. Abbott
I met Lee K. Abbott, last fall at Webster University. He came and read from this book and then read from a work in progress. It's always interesting to meet a writer you admire, and I admired him primarily because of the stories in this book. He writes about growing up, fathers and sons, brothers, the desert, Roswell, love, sex, rock and roll, and he writes about them so well. I will admit that my short story "Before Rock Attained Perfection" was very heavily influenced by Abbott. My copy may be a paperback edition, but when I get a nice bookcase with glass doors to put my treasured books behind, this goes in there, right next to my battered copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
3. The Ministry of Special Cases - Nathan Englander
This book haunts me. The imagery, the symbolism, the humor and the sadness. All of it. Haunts me. Ever heard of the Argentinian Dirty War? Perhaps you have heard of Los Desaparecidos? Political dissidents-and often times innocent people wrongfully accused-were rounded up and systematically removed from society; locked in prison, shuffled into an impenetrable bureaucracy ostensibly for release, and then quietly pushed out of an airplane flying over the ocean in the dead of night. The Ministry of Special Cases tells the story of Kaddish Poznan, a Jewish man living with his family in Argentina, the ultimate outsider who is paid by rich Jewish families to remove evidence that their family was ever associated with a now defunct temple, a temple associated with prostitution and organized crime. He makes their past vanish. And then, his son vanishes as well. It is...powerful stuff.
2. You Don't Love Me Yet - Jonathan Lethem
Oh, Jonathan Lethem; you had me at Motherless Brooklyn back in 1999 (a novel which is soon to be released as a Edward Norton directed film next year). You're quirky, you're witty, and you write so beautifully about awkward sex. And in You Don't Love Me Yet, you write so well about art, music, and awkward sexual tension. The novel centers around a nameless indie-rock quartet which has a total of 35 minutes worth of music. Lucinda, the bass player, sets up a gig at a dance party. But there is a twist. My favorite moment in the book (and yours, too, probably) comes at the "Dance Party" where the band is supposed to play so quietly, no one can hear them. The party's guests are then supposed to dance to the music they brought in with their own walkmen. The food is not to be eaten. The party itself is to be a work of art, but the confusion of what the guests expects vs what the organizer intended breaks down, and it becomes the one moment for the unnamed band to shine. Light but smart, I read this one in all of two sittings.
1. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
Foer has a way of picking the defining crises in our collective history, and making beauty out of them. While the Liev Schreiber directed film starring Elijah Wood is a pretty faithful adaptation of two thirds of the book, it is that last third that brings the most beauty and sadness to the novel. Everything is Illuminated is funny and sombre, often times in the same sentence. As a writer, I would have been terrified to have turned out such a novel for my first offering. I'd be afraid I could never have followed it up. Fortunately for readers, Foer seems not to notice the quality of his words after he's polished them. Time to move on to the next project.
Honorable Mention:
A Moveable Feast: Restored Edition - Ernest Hemingway (posthumous), Sean Hemingway (introduction) and Patrick Hemingway (foreword)
What this little list of Hemingways after the title does not tell you is that Sean and Patrick, Ernest Hemingway's grandsons, heavily edited this book to make their grandmother, Ernest's first wife, look better. Some critics argued that Mary Hemingway, Ernest's fourth wife who edited the original manuscript before its first publication in 1964, removed large chunks at her discretion which have been reinstated for this edition. I include this as an honorable mention only to concede to the fact that long after the artist is gone, their name can be invoked and new insights attributed to them.
Keep checking back. To be honest, this list was hard in that I had to really think about ten new books I've read in the last ten years. I expected my Top Ten films and Albums lists to be easier, but in fact they were harder to narrow down to only ten of each. In fact, it got so hard that my top ten films and albums lists will now be top fifteen lists, each with honorable mentions as well. Look for those as the week progresses to Christmas. And as usual, let me know what you think. Ready any new, good books lately and want to share? Read something on my list and you completely disagree that it should be anywhere near the top ten? Let me know!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Top Ten Television shows of the Decade
This is an easy way to kick off my top ten lists; television. It's easier to remember what shows started this decade. To clarify, I will not be listing shows that were merely on during this decade, they have to be shows that began their run. No Friends (no danger of that anyway) or Freaks and Geeks (damn!). Also, please remember this is my personal top ten. It's got nothing to do with ratings, DVD sales, or how much money NBC slipped me to promote their shows (they win big with five of the ten). So, without further ado, here goes:
10. Star Trek: Enterprise
UPN
I actually prefer this incarnation of Trek to Voyager and some of the pre-Dominion War episodes of Deep Space Nine, as it addressed a part of the Star Trek universe we had never seen before: Pre-Kirk Starfleet. Pay close attention to Season 3; the show's producers knew it was in trouble so they devised a season-long arc involving the Xindi, a race bent on the annihilation of Earth. Ignore the season-ending time warp to WWII...it was almost as if the producers sensed the Friday-Night death knell approaching. Not helped by the fact that it was being broadcast on UPN, this has become the least ubiquitous of Trek's casts. But local boy Scott Bakula made a great Captain Archer.
9. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
NBC
One of the many television shows to be cut before its time, Studio 60 should have survived, and would have if it hadn't 1) had to follow up The West Wing's success and also 2) been placed in NBC's rotation the same season as 30 Rock. While Studio 60 was earnest, felt, and smart, 30 Rock was silly, hilarious, and smart. A hat tip to Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry, both coming off hugely successful shows on NBC and jumping on what was the best new show on their line-up that year.
8. Heroes
NBC
This television show would be much higher rated on my list if not for seasons 2-4 (four being the current season). The first season was so promising; it told the stories of ordinary people coming to terms with these extraordinary gifts they were given. They did heroic things and faced villains who ranged from misguided megalomaniacs to insanely dangerous serial killers. Characters were intriguing and layered and even though it played at times like a bad soap opera (Ali Larter, I'm looking at your storyline) it was still a great show. The only let down came with the season finale, which promised so much and delivered only a fraction. Then came the confusing and short-lived second season, followed by the character-overloaded first half of third. The second half, again, promised great things but the villains were just re-hashes of the first season, and so were the plots. The fourth season promised to fix these things, but so far, it's been more of the same. But remember that first season, brimming with excitement and possibility. It was really that good once.
7. My Name is Earl
NBC
Earl was based on a very simple and very cool premise; a man who has lived a life of degradation and sin receives an unexpected windfall followed by an equally unexpected setback, which he interprets as Karma. The series then follows him crossing all the bad things he's done off his list as he rights his past wrongs. What a cool concept for a show, right? And it worked; Jason Lee was perfect as the titular character, and the supporting cast fit into the white-trash universe Earl inhabited. Smart, witty and charming, this show had great potential. Sadly, NBC did not renew this show for the 2009-2010 season, leaving Earl Stuckey's list unresolved. NBC, this is another one to add to your list, right alongside Freaks and Geeks and Studio 60, not to mention the original Star Trek.
6. The Office
NBC
No one can dispute the effect this American translation of the Ricky Gervais BBC hit has had on pop culture in America. Everyone knew a Michael Scott, a Dwight Schrute, a Jim Halpert, etc before this show hit the airwaves, but now we have names for these kinds of people. And the timing was perfect for star Steve Carrell, having come off 40 Year Old Virgin and right into a starring sitcom role. The show is smart, witty, and partially unscripted, which is the way things seem to be going. Strangely, many people love this show but have never paid any attention to its Fox Network fore-runner (see below--Number 1 best show) which clearly paved the way. NBC just knew how to market it better, which is why this one lasts so much longer. "That's what she said."
5. Boston Legal
ABC
ABC's first (and, technically, only) addition to the list picked up where its predecessor The Practice left off, transplanting characters to keep the audience familiar. The show did not truly take off until Rene Auberjonois and Candace Bergen joined the cast, each providing a foil against James Spader's brash character Alan Shore and William Shatner's egomaniac attorney Denny Crane. The show tackled the Patriot Act, abortion, adoption, same-sex marriage, and provided viewers the most mature Bromance network television is ever likely to see in Shatner and Spader. Ending its run in December 2008, Boston Legal gets the honor of being the only non-active television series listed which I believe ended at the correct moment. Denny Crane.
4. Scrubs
NBC/ABC
Nothing could have prepared me, in 2001, for the comedic onslaught I was about to receive from Bill Lawrence, Zach Braff and the rest of the cast of Scrubs. Arguably one of the best pilots ever put together, the first episode left in no doubt what each main character's motives were. Even the Janitor (Neil Flynn), who was not included in any of the subsequent scripts that had been written before filming the pilot, had fans after that first broadcast. In a market glutted with medical dramas, Scrubs continued to get funnier and funnier as the seasons went on. Sadly, this is the show that gets the award for being put on unnecessary life-support. With the writer's strike shortened seventh season being its last on NBC, ABC picked it up and began inserting Disney references that had not been there before. With the departure of many of the shows characters after the eight season, and the introduction of several new characters, the show now feels more like Saved By The Bell: The New Class. But do yourself a favor and check out the season six episode "My Musical." Braff and co-star Donald Faison deliver the best (not most mature, mind, but best) Bromance to grace the small screen.
3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
FX
The only cable show to make it on here. I don't have cable, so my ability to catch shows on cable has been few and far between until Hulu started carrying many shows. Sunny is the only one I follow regularly, and I have never laughed so hard. The idea behind the show, I think, is to have these incredibly smart and talented actors portray the stupidest people on the planet and just sort of improvise around a loose script for a while. And it works. The show is crass, rude, and offensive to human decency, but the fact that the characters don't seem to notice makes it work.
2. Glee
Fox
I am well aware that Glee is in its first season, but it is that good. It does seem, at times, to just be playing silly buggers with the cross-relationship love triangles (or quadrangles as the case may be) but there is always a pay-off. And the music is amazing. Sure, no high school choir in the country could pick up sheet music and improvise a dance and ever hope to sound half as good as that, but you have to look past that. As little work as the students seem to be putting into Glee Club, the actors are putting so much into Glee. And I know there has been some controversy about the autotune on voices (a device used in a recording studio to mechanically adjust the pitch of a voice so they are signing the exact perfect note) but imagine having to record that many songs a week. Of course they're going to take some short cuts. The thing to remember is that these people really are singing, they are giving it their all. And there is always going to be a payoff.
1. Arrested Development
Fox
You still haven't seen this show? What is wrong with you? Creator Mitch Hurwitz and Executive Producer (and narrator) Ron Howard gave us an incredible three years' worth of the smartest, funniest television ever produced and Fox gave it the ax. Part of what made it so smart was that the show itself knew it was doomed, and mocked this fact. Season two's length was cut midway through, so they wrote a similar cut for the fictional Bluth Company into an episode. Season three was a scramble to simultaneously wrap up the series and shop around for a new network, leading to the most hilarious episode of television ever produced entitled "Save Our Bluths." The episode dealt with saving the Bluth Company by means of a celebrity-studded gala, and searching for another company to help ("Perhaps the Home Builders Organization?" "No, HBO would never pick us up." "Well then I guess it's Showtime!") Somebody dies. The conclusion was broadcast live. All the regular gimmicks to keep a show going. Loyal viewers laughed so hard they cried and cried so hard they laughed. We all knew it was coming to an end. There has been talk of a movie ever since, so we're keeping our ears to the ground on that one. When Fox sees the revenue the film brings in, let's hope they think back on the show's cancellation and say, "I've made a huge mistake."
Honorable Mentions:
Pushing Daisies
ABC
Damn you, writer's strike of 2007. This show had such potential. Damn you, ABC, for not noticing.
FlashForward
ABC
Like Glee, FlashForward has just completed the first half of its first season. It has shown promise, but has not left the same kind of impression that Glee has. So, judgment has been reserved for the time being.
30 Rock
NBC
I still contend that this show and Studio 60 should both have been allowed to grow. They offered differing perspectives on the same theme. And while I love 30 Rock, only one of the two could make my top ten, and based on what could have been, this one got the boot.
I know many people will cry out that ABC's Lost is not on here. I just could never get into it. Perhaps if I tried again, I could, but when the first season aired I worked nights, and back then we didn't have Hulu yet. I felt unqualified to offer my opinion. Also, you'll note that there are no reality shows on my list. That was calculated. Reality shows aren't even good enough to make it onto my "Bottom Ten" list. They just shouldn't even exist.
Check back for more of the best of the decade in the next few days. And let me know what you think: agree/disagree? Leave me your top ten. Tear mine apart. But be gentle, elsewise I might not want to share any more of my best-ofs with you.
10. Star Trek: Enterprise
UPN
I actually prefer this incarnation of Trek to Voyager and some of the pre-Dominion War episodes of Deep Space Nine, as it addressed a part of the Star Trek universe we had never seen before: Pre-Kirk Starfleet. Pay close attention to Season 3; the show's producers knew it was in trouble so they devised a season-long arc involving the Xindi, a race bent on the annihilation of Earth. Ignore the season-ending time warp to WWII...it was almost as if the producers sensed the Friday-Night death knell approaching. Not helped by the fact that it was being broadcast on UPN, this has become the least ubiquitous of Trek's casts. But local boy Scott Bakula made a great Captain Archer.
9. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
NBC
One of the many television shows to be cut before its time, Studio 60 should have survived, and would have if it hadn't 1) had to follow up The West Wing's success and also 2) been placed in NBC's rotation the same season as 30 Rock. While Studio 60 was earnest, felt, and smart, 30 Rock was silly, hilarious, and smart. A hat tip to Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry, both coming off hugely successful shows on NBC and jumping on what was the best new show on their line-up that year.
8. Heroes
NBC
This television show would be much higher rated on my list if not for seasons 2-4 (four being the current season). The first season was so promising; it told the stories of ordinary people coming to terms with these extraordinary gifts they were given. They did heroic things and faced villains who ranged from misguided megalomaniacs to insanely dangerous serial killers. Characters were intriguing and layered and even though it played at times like a bad soap opera (Ali Larter, I'm looking at your storyline) it was still a great show. The only let down came with the season finale, which promised so much and delivered only a fraction. Then came the confusing and short-lived second season, followed by the character-overloaded first half of third. The second half, again, promised great things but the villains were just re-hashes of the first season, and so were the plots. The fourth season promised to fix these things, but so far, it's been more of the same. But remember that first season, brimming with excitement and possibility. It was really that good once.
7. My Name is Earl
NBC
Earl was based on a very simple and very cool premise; a man who has lived a life of degradation and sin receives an unexpected windfall followed by an equally unexpected setback, which he interprets as Karma. The series then follows him crossing all the bad things he's done off his list as he rights his past wrongs. What a cool concept for a show, right? And it worked; Jason Lee was perfect as the titular character, and the supporting cast fit into the white-trash universe Earl inhabited. Smart, witty and charming, this show had great potential. Sadly, NBC did not renew this show for the 2009-2010 season, leaving Earl Stuckey's list unresolved. NBC, this is another one to add to your list, right alongside Freaks and Geeks and Studio 60, not to mention the original Star Trek.
6. The Office
NBC
No one can dispute the effect this American translation of the Ricky Gervais BBC hit has had on pop culture in America. Everyone knew a Michael Scott, a Dwight Schrute, a Jim Halpert, etc before this show hit the airwaves, but now we have names for these kinds of people. And the timing was perfect for star Steve Carrell, having come off 40 Year Old Virgin and right into a starring sitcom role. The show is smart, witty, and partially unscripted, which is the way things seem to be going. Strangely, many people love this show but have never paid any attention to its Fox Network fore-runner (see below--Number 1 best show) which clearly paved the way. NBC just knew how to market it better, which is why this one lasts so much longer. "That's what she said."
5. Boston Legal
ABC
ABC's first (and, technically, only) addition to the list picked up where its predecessor The Practice left off, transplanting characters to keep the audience familiar. The show did not truly take off until Rene Auberjonois and Candace Bergen joined the cast, each providing a foil against James Spader's brash character Alan Shore and William Shatner's egomaniac attorney Denny Crane. The show tackled the Patriot Act, abortion, adoption, same-sex marriage, and provided viewers the most mature Bromance network television is ever likely to see in Shatner and Spader. Ending its run in December 2008, Boston Legal gets the honor of being the only non-active television series listed which I believe ended at the correct moment. Denny Crane.
4. Scrubs
NBC/ABC
Nothing could have prepared me, in 2001, for the comedic onslaught I was about to receive from Bill Lawrence, Zach Braff and the rest of the cast of Scrubs. Arguably one of the best pilots ever put together, the first episode left in no doubt what each main character's motives were. Even the Janitor (Neil Flynn), who was not included in any of the subsequent scripts that had been written before filming the pilot, had fans after that first broadcast. In a market glutted with medical dramas, Scrubs continued to get funnier and funnier as the seasons went on. Sadly, this is the show that gets the award for being put on unnecessary life-support. With the writer's strike shortened seventh season being its last on NBC, ABC picked it up and began inserting Disney references that had not been there before. With the departure of many of the shows characters after the eight season, and the introduction of several new characters, the show now feels more like Saved By The Bell: The New Class. But do yourself a favor and check out the season six episode "My Musical." Braff and co-star Donald Faison deliver the best (not most mature, mind, but best) Bromance to grace the small screen.
3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
FX
The only cable show to make it on here. I don't have cable, so my ability to catch shows on cable has been few and far between until Hulu started carrying many shows. Sunny is the only one I follow regularly, and I have never laughed so hard. The idea behind the show, I think, is to have these incredibly smart and talented actors portray the stupidest people on the planet and just sort of improvise around a loose script for a while. And it works. The show is crass, rude, and offensive to human decency, but the fact that the characters don't seem to notice makes it work.
2. Glee
Fox
I am well aware that Glee is in its first season, but it is that good. It does seem, at times, to just be playing silly buggers with the cross-relationship love triangles (or quadrangles as the case may be) but there is always a pay-off. And the music is amazing. Sure, no high school choir in the country could pick up sheet music and improvise a dance and ever hope to sound half as good as that, but you have to look past that. As little work as the students seem to be putting into Glee Club, the actors are putting so much into Glee. And I know there has been some controversy about the autotune on voices (a device used in a recording studio to mechanically adjust the pitch of a voice so they are signing the exact perfect note) but imagine having to record that many songs a week. Of course they're going to take some short cuts. The thing to remember is that these people really are singing, they are giving it their all. And there is always going to be a payoff.
1. Arrested Development
Fox
You still haven't seen this show? What is wrong with you? Creator Mitch Hurwitz and Executive Producer (and narrator) Ron Howard gave us an incredible three years' worth of the smartest, funniest television ever produced and Fox gave it the ax. Part of what made it so smart was that the show itself knew it was doomed, and mocked this fact. Season two's length was cut midway through, so they wrote a similar cut for the fictional Bluth Company into an episode. Season three was a scramble to simultaneously wrap up the series and shop around for a new network, leading to the most hilarious episode of television ever produced entitled "Save Our Bluths." The episode dealt with saving the Bluth Company by means of a celebrity-studded gala, and searching for another company to help ("Perhaps the Home Builders Organization?" "No, HBO would never pick us up." "Well then I guess it's Showtime!") Somebody dies. The conclusion was broadcast live. All the regular gimmicks to keep a show going. Loyal viewers laughed so hard they cried and cried so hard they laughed. We all knew it was coming to an end. There has been talk of a movie ever since, so we're keeping our ears to the ground on that one. When Fox sees the revenue the film brings in, let's hope they think back on the show's cancellation and say, "I've made a huge mistake."
Honorable Mentions:
Pushing Daisies
ABC
Damn you, writer's strike of 2007. This show had such potential. Damn you, ABC, for not noticing.
FlashForward
ABC
Like Glee, FlashForward has just completed the first half of its first season. It has shown promise, but has not left the same kind of impression that Glee has. So, judgment has been reserved for the time being.
30 Rock
NBC
I still contend that this show and Studio 60 should both have been allowed to grow. They offered differing perspectives on the same theme. And while I love 30 Rock, only one of the two could make my top ten, and based on what could have been, this one got the boot.
I know many people will cry out that ABC's Lost is not on here. I just could never get into it. Perhaps if I tried again, I could, but when the first season aired I worked nights, and back then we didn't have Hulu yet. I felt unqualified to offer my opinion. Also, you'll note that there are no reality shows on my list. That was calculated. Reality shows aren't even good enough to make it onto my "Bottom Ten" list. They just shouldn't even exist.
Check back for more of the best of the decade in the next few days. And let me know what you think: agree/disagree? Leave me your top ten. Tear mine apart. But be gentle, elsewise I might not want to share any more of my best-ofs with you.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Coming Soon
Everybody is doing their top ten lists nowadays. Makes sense, as it's the end of the year and also the end of the decade. NPR Music has been doing a great recap of the best music of the decade, including All Songs Considered's 50 Most Important Recordings.
Well, I thought, why not do some of that myself? So, starting later today, you will begin seeing my top ten lists of the best of the decade. Topics will include best albums, best books, best movies and best television.
A caveat: This will be limited to those albums, books, films and shows I have actually heard/seen/read. It will include some very obvious entries (nobody expects Fox's Arrested Development to not be my top television show) and some really obscure entries as well (I doubt many of you have actually read All Things, All at Once by Lee K. Abbott). So be looking for those.
Just so everybody knows, I am aware it has been nearly two months since I last posted. Again, I thrive on comments, and when nobody comments on my posts, it makes me less likely to post again in the immediate future. I understand that my last few posts were, um...lengthy? And also very in-depth about an obscure subject. I promise to be more brief with my top-ten list justifications than I was with my Sunny Day Real Estate reviews. That did get a little out of hand, but it had to be done.
Something very cool; I got a Sunny Day Real Estate t-shirt sent to me by my good buddy Zach (who also happens to have been the bass player in my old band The Hitchhikers, the best man at my wedding, and a former cycling team mate) who attended their show in Boston. I was then wearing this shirt on my 27th birthday when my friends Melinda and Jake gave me LP2 (The Pink Album) on Vinyl. The remastered one with bonus tracks. It's pink. I don't mean the cover is pink, because if it wasn't pink it would be a travesty. No, the vinyl itself, is pink. Pink vinyl. I also received a receiver so that I could hook up my record player so I could then listen to pink vinyl. It even sounds pink it's so awesome.
Other than that, I failed at NaNoWriMo this year. I just, for some reason, have hit a wall. This is a bad thing. I need to power through it. It's among my new years' resolutions, and anyway, 2009 has two weeks left to redeem itself and all signs point to it being a major let down. There were good things that happened in 2009, but...well, that's a post for another day. New Year's day, probably. That, I have been working on. I have my farewell to 2009 all written out already. Expect that.
Let's see; I turned another year older last month on the 21st. Got the album, the stereo receiver, an electric razor (Kathy was tired of having to buy me Mach 3 turbo blades), Up In the Air by Walter Kirn, three albums via iTunes giftcards (The Crane Wife and The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists and Raditude by Weezer), some cash and a six pack of Magic Hat Not Quite Pale Ale (top ten beers of the decade sounds like a dangerous list). Good haul. Most importantly, I got to spend my birthday with good friends and family.
After that, well, nothing much. Took a trip to Chicago and fell in love with our friends' condo. Get this: two grocery stores, a CostCo and a Menards, all within walking distance. Drew carried their Christmas tree home. How awesome is that? Don't answer, I'll tell you; Super awesome. We did some shopping at Ikea and came home with a new CD shelf and a new bookshelf (with glass doors on the bottom half). Got my Christmas shopping done, really excited because I bought Kathy a really nice *** ******** **** of **** ******** ***** *** *********** even though I **** **** ******, but it will **** **** ** *** ********* (the preceding was redacted to preserve surprise for Kathy on Christmas morning). Trust me, she'll love it.
Okay, well, look for a blitz of posts in the next few days. Starting with this one.
Well, I thought, why not do some of that myself? So, starting later today, you will begin seeing my top ten lists of the best of the decade. Topics will include best albums, best books, best movies and best television.
A caveat: This will be limited to those albums, books, films and shows I have actually heard/seen/read. It will include some very obvious entries (nobody expects Fox's Arrested Development to not be my top television show) and some really obscure entries as well (I doubt many of you have actually read All Things, All at Once by Lee K. Abbott). So be looking for those.
Just so everybody knows, I am aware it has been nearly two months since I last posted. Again, I thrive on comments, and when nobody comments on my posts, it makes me less likely to post again in the immediate future. I understand that my last few posts were, um...lengthy? And also very in-depth about an obscure subject. I promise to be more brief with my top-ten list justifications than I was with my Sunny Day Real Estate reviews. That did get a little out of hand, but it had to be done.
Something very cool; I got a Sunny Day Real Estate t-shirt sent to me by my good buddy Zach (who also happens to have been the bass player in my old band The Hitchhikers, the best man at my wedding, and a former cycling team mate) who attended their show in Boston. I was then wearing this shirt on my 27th birthday when my friends Melinda and Jake gave me LP2 (The Pink Album) on Vinyl. The remastered one with bonus tracks. It's pink. I don't mean the cover is pink, because if it wasn't pink it would be a travesty. No, the vinyl itself, is pink. Pink vinyl. I also received a receiver so that I could hook up my record player so I could then listen to pink vinyl. It even sounds pink it's so awesome.
Other than that, I failed at NaNoWriMo this year. I just, for some reason, have hit a wall. This is a bad thing. I need to power through it. It's among my new years' resolutions, and anyway, 2009 has two weeks left to redeem itself and all signs point to it being a major let down. There were good things that happened in 2009, but...well, that's a post for another day. New Year's day, probably. That, I have been working on. I have my farewell to 2009 all written out already. Expect that.
Let's see; I turned another year older last month on the 21st. Got the album, the stereo receiver, an electric razor (Kathy was tired of having to buy me Mach 3 turbo blades), Up In the Air by Walter Kirn, three albums via iTunes giftcards (The Crane Wife and The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists and Raditude by Weezer), some cash and a six pack of Magic Hat Not Quite Pale Ale (top ten beers of the decade sounds like a dangerous list). Good haul. Most importantly, I got to spend my birthday with good friends and family.
After that, well, nothing much. Took a trip to Chicago and fell in love with our friends' condo. Get this: two grocery stores, a CostCo and a Menards, all within walking distance. Drew carried their Christmas tree home. How awesome is that? Don't answer, I'll tell you; Super awesome. We did some shopping at Ikea and came home with a new CD shelf and a new bookshelf (with glass doors on the bottom half). Got my Christmas shopping done, really excited because I bought Kathy a really nice *** ******** **** of **** ******** ***** *** *********** even though I **** **** ******, but it will **** **** ** *** ********* (the preceding was redacted to preserve surprise for Kathy on Christmas morning). Trust me, she'll love it.
Okay, well, look for a blitz of posts in the next few days. Starting with this one.
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