Dear reader –
Don’t get me wrong. I entertain zero illusions that any of you will actually read this entire list. But, here’s why I imagine you might – your tastes are the type that has made iTunes decide that you like "freak/alt/folk" while Netflix pins you as someone who likes "visually striking, witty" media and inspiring films "never." What I’m saying is, if you have the same consumer profile as me, you may enjoy some of the picks on my list that haven’t found their way to you.
Best movies of the decade:
– “Inglorious Basterds”
Everyone’s favorite coked-out talk show guest once again proves that crazy geniuses still exist.
– “The Royal Tenenbaums”
– “Synecdoche, New York”
One of the most creative, funny and daring films I’ve ever seen. The dialogue is cerebral but the metaphors, like a perpetually burning but never dangerous house, hit deeper.
– “Moulin Rogue”
– “City of God”
– “Be Kind Rewind”
– “Borat”
– “Lars and the Real Girl”
– “I Heart Huckabees”
– “Kung Fu Hustle”
Honorable mentions: “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Knocked Up”
Worst film: “A Cinderella Story”
A bad flick that understands nothing about teens, staring the phoniest and least tolerable of all Disney grads. Yet I saw it several times lazily watching HBO. Wasted life.
Best Directors:
-Quentin Tarantino
-Wes Anderson
-Michel Gondry
-Baz Luhrmann
-Judd Apatow
Best Albums:
M.I.A. – “Kala”
Animal Collective – “Strawberry Jam”
Call me indie hipster trash if you will, but this album finds the band making song after song of ingenious looping oral poetry without losing their frustrated relatability.
MGMT – “Oracular Spectacular”
Man Man – “Rabbit Habits”
The most productive use of too much meth this century.
Lady Gaga – “The Fame”
Dan Deacon – “Bromst”
Grizzly Bear – “Yellow House”
Brother Ali – “Us”
And everything else by smooth-voiced local rapper Brother Ali, the man who looks in the mirror and sees “sexy ass me.”
The Shins – “Oh, Inverted World”
The Moldy Peaches – Self-titled
Honorable mentions: TV on the Radio – “Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes,” El Guincho – “Alegranza,” Jay-Z “The Blueprint [all],” DJ Danger Mouse – “The Grey Album” Danger Mouse said “Screw you RIAA” and found a danceable vertex between The Beatles and Jay-Z
Worst album: Anything by Daniel Beddingfield, James Blunt
Books:
Zadie Smith – “White Teeth”
Haruki Murakami – “The Wind-up Bird Chronicles”
Chuck Klosterman – “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs”
Dave Eggers- “How We are Hungry”
Jonathan Safran Foer – “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
Miranda July – “No One Belongs Here More Than You”
The actress from “Me, You and Everyone You Know” pens a quirky, disturbing set of intimate, funny character studies.
Yannick Murphy – “Here We Come”
Dave Sedaris – “Me Talk Pretty One Day”
Jeffrey Eugenides – “Middlesex”
M.T. Anderson – “Feed”
Worst book: “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult
This middle-aged woman poorly attempts to take on several voices, including a teenaged boy in a cringe-worthy, morally judgmental novel.
Best TV shows:
“30 Rock”
“Arrested Development”
“Da Ali G. Show”
“The Colbert Report”
“Six Feet Under”
Worst TV Show: “The Hills”
Sexiest women of the decade:
Penelope Cruz
Natalie Portman
Megan Fox
Kristin Stewart
Rihanna
Sexiest men of the decade:
David Beckham
Heath Ledger
Paul Rudd
Gael Garcia Bernal
Brad Pitt