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.