So with Music, TV and Movies out of the way, we can talk a bit about what's leftover from 2010, concluding Norwegian Morning Wood's exhaustive study of all things pop-y about the year we left behind us last week. It's not really that important, but like you reading this out there, it sure kills some time. Let's go:
VIDEO GAMES OF 2010:
It was a pretty good year for gaming, though we've gotten to the point where most of the best released games are sequels. In fact, in my scrutiny I only found one really original title, which I call the best of the year, among the rabble. It's like all these games are good only because they mostly follow in line with their predecessors, which were all landmark, innovative titles. Only the #1 spot really earned it this year.
So, firstly in no particular order, the best games of the year include GoldenEye 007 riding on the coattails of its superior N64 source material (possibly greatest game ever. Oh wait), Metroid: Other M, which is admittedly less cool than its commercials but decent enough, Halo: Reach, a series that has been on the decline since the Arbiter showed his fucking four-split face and Dante's Inferno, which kind of sucked but had some really cool levels. Speaking of Dante, God of War III was up there, as was Dead Rising 2, which put just enough of a spin on its concept to remain interesting in this time of endless zombie media. I also enjoyed playing lots of Super Mario Galaxy 2 and BioShock 2 was about equal with its predecessor, which ultimately renders it not as interesting (waiting for BioShock Infinite in 2012 to finally push that envelope again). Finally, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty exists basically to suck our time and money and make us feel inferior to South Koreans. Seriously, StarCraft is Korea's NFL.
But the best game of the year of course goes to Red Dead Redemption. It's a heavy character game, infinitely cool, re-playable, interesting and innovative. Though honestly I feel like I'm the only one who played GUN on GameCube like five years ago, Red Dead's about the same thing. Except better, bigger and crisper in every way possible. Still, it's the best game of the year. Now go hate the sun and play it.
SPORTS OF 2010:
2010 was a pretty good one for all kinds of sporting events. The New Orleans Saints surprised just about everyone by derailing Peyton in the most widely-watched Superbowl (and American Program) of all time in February. New Orleans has been this cool city lately, despite you know, the tremendous Katrina damage, but it seems like it's poppin. You've got like, Benjamin Button hanging out there, Drew Brees, Nic Cage in Bad Lieutenant (2009)...uh...Treme. So that's football.
Winter Olympics were actually kind of forgettable this year. I say that because I almost forgot to talk about it. The most exciting may have been a bitter curling grudge match that finally saw long-time runner up Kevin Martin snag Canadien Gold away from the Strange-Pants Wearing Norwegians. Oh and some Hockey Game. Continuing on the world stage, the 2010 World Cup was mostly known for Vuvuzelas, the United States shut out by Ghana again and an Octopus picking the winners. Seriously, I thought there was some Giant Herd of Bees attacking all the stadiums. I heard that magical psychic Octopus tasted spectacular. At any rate, I'd probably take all that over anything done in Qatar. Actually to be fair, if any country can successfully misappropriate its resources, it's a nation like Qatar. They're going to blow a huge load on these games, it'll actually be awesome. You know, as long as the temperature is under 120.
It was also a year of scandal. Tiger sucks and Favre ruined his legacy for...wow. Have you seen her? I'm sending Jenn Sterger a picture of my dick right now. Also Ben Roethlisberger spent his summer raping everyone in sight.
Go Giants.
CITIES OF 2010:
I'm out of ideas here. I could talk about books but...well, I bought Earth, which rules (I never knew you could make so many jokes about permafrost and oxygen), but hell, what else is there really? But I do think the City of Miami was pretty big in 2010. South Beach is the hot place, baby. Once known quixotically as a home for Gays, Jews, Cubans and the Elderly, Miami is becoming a hip spot for everyone else. Hell, even I went to Miam in 2010.
LeBron James calls it his new home (can't believe he betrayed Akron for Sun and Busty Latin Girls) and the Heat are poppin' off. This was also one of the most controversial sports stories of the year. South Beach was also the natural destination for the degenerates that call the Jersey Shore home for their second season. And if LBJ and Sitch are wrong, dammit...I don't want to be right.
Now if the Dolphins can win another division title we'll get somewhere. How the hell is a team 1 - 7 at home? That's ridiculous. You're playing in the City of 2010, baby! I mean, give Brandon Marshall the ball, that's why you picked him up. Anyway, that's about it for our 2010 coverage. Bring on the future.
Here we go, people. A few days into 2011 now, it's time we talk 2010. Always relevant Norwegian Morning Wood is. Anywho, 2010 was a pretty special year, folks. Let's start with some general trends:
There has been a continued shift this year concerning almost every basic of the industry. Studios produced different films, the ones that did well and the ones that flopped were not traditionally predictable (almost) and there have been shifting ideas towards DVD distribution. Here's a nice summary.
TRENDS OF 2010:
Who knew the Third Dimension could be so popular? The biggest event of 2010 was the widespread propagation of flicks shown on 3-D Formats. While attendance decreased, the Box Office was still able to break even on these little buggers. Hooray! There were only a handful of films though where this worked very well (Jackass 3D, Piranha 3D, Resident Evil: Afterlife...surely you may gauge the quality of the films that utilized cool 3D this year). Then there we a good amount of 3D that added nothing really to the experience (Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3) and some that was tacked on terribly (Clash of the Titans, The Last Airbender). Feel free to start putting together the future of 3D. Successful Critical and Commercial films such as Inception and Harry Potter and the Deathly Swallows, Fart 1 avoided 3D to acclaim. Have we managed both the rise and fall of 3D this year? Although the best films of the year did not employ the technology and the only ones who did so creatively were absolute crap, messages in Hollywood take a while to sink in. Clash is almost unexplainable as one of the greatest success stories of the year, but the bombs of shit like The Last Airbender bring us to our next topic:
This was the Great Summer of Flops. It's a turning point for American tastes. Big celebrity-driven romps such as Knight and Day, Robin Hood, Killers, Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia: Sands of Dick were absolute bombs. As was trash like The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the aforementioned Airbender. What did well? Stark, Toys and Mildly Confusing Passion Projects. Oh, and that Teen Werewolf flick with that chick who looks like a rat.
There is also this budding trend of smaller independent Monster and Alien movies made on tiny budgets with cameras and computers you can purchase at Best Buy. In recent years we've seen this trend start with flicks like Cloverfield (2008) and District 9 (2009). Ultimately this year has boiled down to pure crap (Skyline), middling crap (Monsters) and what-the-shit? (The Troll Hunter...hey go Norway!). There's also some cool-looking crap coming out next year, but I was pumped after the Skyline trailer, too so what the hell. I suppose I'll try to trust a major studio over a Special Effects Company. At any rate, there sure are a lot of interesting Alien Invasion flicks around (see also).
The style of "Fake Documentary" that some of these alien films took was also everywhere in 2010. There were so many Mockumentaries, some without any clear delineation of art and reality (I'm Still Here and Exit Through the Gift Shop). There was also the social networking faux-doc Catfish (which works best without any other prior information before viewing). There's also common fare like Paranormal Activity 2: Electric Boogaloo and The Last Exorcism.
Did anyone else notice the trend of "confined space" flicks that came out in 2010? There were all these films that featured a very limited number of actors with a majority of on-screen action in a very limited location. This ranged from the ridiculousness of Buried, which features only Ryan Reynolds in a coffin to 127 Hours which is mostly James Franco trapped under a rock. But there's also Devil with a bunch of people ("The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!") stuck in an elevator, and Exam (sneaking in with a wider US release date in 2010, while technically premiering in 2009) which has a bunch of people going nuts while taking a weird exam.
Finally, 2010 was filled with enormous amounts of Nostalgia for the 1980s. This came in some direct forms such as remakes of The A-Team and The Karate Kid, homages to an different era of film styles and tropes (The Expendables and MacGruber) and then just straight-up Time Travel (Hot Tub Time Machine). Whether or not this continues in mainstream movies is yet to be seen, but 2010 had such a chubby for the Me Decade. When are we going to reach 90s Nostalgia? That's a scary thought.
ACTORS OF 2010:
So who were the biggest names in 2010? Unlike 2009 when Sandra Bullock reigned over everybody, 2010 was a decidedly male year. Downey had some hits but wasn't really a break-out like 2008. Jeff Bridges had a sweet year, after winning a Best Actor Oscar he starred in both Tron: Legacy and True Grit this past December. While Tron's ultimate legacy may leave something to be desired, Bridges' face on all the advertising months and months ahead of time in Disney's attempt to make an "event" film made it seem like the cat was everywhere. But 2010 wasn't really the Year of The Dude.
Liam Neeson continued his rise as an Action Star in The A-Team (to be continued in Unknown this year and Taken II at some point) and may have the Pop Quote in the year with "Release the Kraken!" from Clash of the Titties. How the hell does this guy think he's too old to play Lincoln but young enough for all these action films? Another action star, Sly Stallone had a big hit with The Expendables and he's a force enough to have the year revolve around him, but not really broad enough. Maybe on the other end of the Spectrum we can call 2010 the Year of the Nerdy Hero with Michael Ceratops, Aaron Johnson and Jesse Eisenberg tearing it up in Youth in Revolt / Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Kick-Ass and The Social Network, respectively. Or how about Wahlberg coming out as the funniest cat one of the year's funniest (The Other Guys) and the toughest in one of the year's best (The Fighter)?
Naaah. This was the Year of the Lion. Leo, baby. Shutter Island, which as an incredibly interesting and cool film up until the last ten minutes, made some great bank and starred a tremblingly great Leo. But Inception was his real cash cow, and that's definitely the film of 2010 everyone's going to remember. It was never really in doubt. Leonardo DiCaprio - Actor of 2010.
TRAILERS OF 2010:
Before we dip into a classic Top 10, let's talk Trailers. 2010 had some great ones that pumped us all up for some Shitty, Shitty Movies. There were also a slim few for really good movies. Now, not all these flicks came out in 2010, but I was pumped after all five of these. Let's stat with some shit - Iron Man 2. Look at this thing. We've got Larry Sanders, Sam Rockwell, blossoming love with a tolerable Gwyneth Paltrow, fucking War Machine and a Briefcase Iron Man Suit for the Billionaire Superhero on the Go. This one from 2009 was probably better, though they share the same themes, teaser clips and a still baffling partnership with AC / DC.
"I thought you was going to say the sun was in your eyes...that is to say, your EYE."
Johnny Cash and an admirable Bridges make True Grit work, the timing and focus on Hailee Steinfeld really works. It's already full of some of Cogburn's great quotes and set-ups and establishes plot quickly and coolly. Two films coming out next year had some excellent trailers. I'm intrigued by the aforementioned Neeson vehicle Unknown. There is a lot of intrigue here that keeps the attention rather than squanders it. Also I find myself really enjoying Neeson's Pissed Off voice, probably second all-time to Optimus Prime. Finally, Sucker Punch looks rad and fun as hell. It's surely going to be a classic Zack Snyder film, I'm expecting all cutting edge visuals and action with a muffed punt storyline, but hell, who cares, jailbait for everyone. And fuck dude, Levee. Did I mention Cowboys & Aliens?
Of course though, the best trailer of the year comes from The Social Network.
It's been a while since we had a trailer as perfect as this. The song fits perfectly (Radiohead's "Creep" covered by Scala and Kolacny, conductors of a Belgian Girls' Choir). The trailer starts mildly enough with a montage of typical Facebook clips to hook us into our everyday lives then escalates brilliantly into tons of classic quotes ("The site got 2200 hits within two hours?" "22,000," You know what's cool? A BILLION dollars," "Your actions could have permanently destroyed everything I've been working on" "WE have been working on" and of course "MARK!") It's a short story in itself built upon expertly edited clips of a fantastic film. Smooch.
TOP TEN OF 2010:
Okay, finally what you came for. I'm going to run through this quick for all you out there.
#10: Exit Through the Gift Shop - I'm sold on the idea of this film and the artist/director behind it that pushes the boundaries of art and commercialism over the actual film. Which is also great. #9: Toy Story 3 - Some bloggers on the interwebs have shut this down for being too emotionally manipulative. Hell, it's just good filmmaking, baby. #8: Cyrus- Understated John C. Reilly who needs to tune his natural comedy chops along with dramatic credentials into more films like this. Ditto without the dramatic credentials to Jonah Hill. #7: True Grit - Bridges owns and the rest don't come up short at all. Coens direct outside their own box. #6: Hot Tub Time Machine - Uggh! Did you have pineapple today?! #5: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - the most refreshing movie of the year, also the most fun I've had at the Theater in a long-ass time. #4: Black Swan - For the lesbian stuff alone this should get props, but built around it somehow is an excellent film. #3: MacGruber- Yeah. Well, I thought it was fucking awesome. Best Supporting Actress for Kristen Wiig? #2: Inception- So much of this film is incredible, it's the closet thing we have to a modern age excellent blockbuster, everything about this is pretty awesome, the ambiguity, the trippy hallway, brooding Leo, it's got everything. #1: The Social Network - C'mon. It was.
LAST RAMBLINGS OF 2010:
I enjoyed Kick-Ass mostly for the Cage, Villain of the Year Mark Strong and hearing someone much worse use the word "cunt" so liberally, but it's certainly not an enlightening film, much less one that was supposed to break Superhero conventions. In fact by its end it's extremely conventional. My favourite comedy moments are really a toss up between Sean Diddy Combs in Get Him to the Greek or Mark in The Other Guys. I saw neither coming at all. Actually, along with Kristen, Diddy should get Best Supporting Actor. He's fucking awesome. Well, probably not, but everything out of his mouth in that film could have ran for funniest quote of the year. Seriously though, will Bale win for The Fighter? Who the hell knows, but Mark trained for half a decade for that film. That counts for something, right? And The King's Speech...isn't that really the kind of bullshit movie the Oscars always kind of glance at this year but doesn't do shit because it's kind of bullshit? Yeah.
By the way, anybody see Dogtooth? That's some fucked up shit!
Oh and scores. Um...everyone went techno but Trent beats Daft Punk. Owned.
Cheers to 2011, it's like living the future...today!
Alright folks, it's time to talk about some Television. 2010, like other recent years, was an incredible time for TV. Amidst some of the more legendary shows coming and going we saw the continued dominance of Cable Diversification and how much critics love it, startling audience breakdowns and NBC again really relying only on Fantastic Sunday Night Football coverage to support the entire network. Well, of course that AND the Winter Olympics.
RETURNING SHOWS OF 2010:
We'll break this down into a few categories because the TV season doesn't really measure up with our Calendar Year. I'll chat first about shows both in the 2009 - 2010 seasons as well as 2010 - 2011, then shows that ended in 2010 and finally shows that began in 2010. Now, naturally there's always the Mad Men and Breaking Bad and that people love, and these are some of the strongest narratives on TV, even if the former is incredibly boring and difficult to get into and the latter is so critically acclaimed that Norwegian Morning Wood really has no place supporting it here.
2010 was notable for a few big returns. Futurama arrived on Comedy Central this summer, with a good amount of sub-par episodes but some incredible, instant classics such as "The Late Philip J. Fry" (S6;E7) and "The Prisoner of Benda" (S6;E10). The Simpsons also featured one of their greatest non-Treehouse of Horror episodes in years in "The Squirt and the Whale" (S21;E19) and have had some return to form after a couple terrible years. As you can tell, I primarily watch cartoons. South Park, while surely blowing a few opportunities with their Coon arc this fall, knocked out "Medicinal Fried Chicken" (S14;E3) and "You Have 0 Friends" (S14;E4).
The best two shows on TV, though I still believe to be the one-two of Community and Parks and Recreation on NBC. Neither are audience favourites but those who watch them get hooked immediately and they've topped many end-of-year-lists like this one. I've ranted and raved about both of these plentyoftimes before, needless to say they're the most incredible comedies on television and their continual Emmy snub makes me want to punch babies until my arm gets sore.
So what other general news from the year? American Idolswitched up its judges but no one really cared. Jersey Shore was everywhere, getting MTV ratings typically reserved for Networks. Everyone was DVR-ing and Satellite-ing and Hulu-ing, but that's not news. Olympics, World Cup, Thursday Night Football that non one was able to watch, fun sports year. Also we should note Super Bowl XLIV, which managed to attract the largest American audience of all time watching a TV at the same time. Of course, that's still a fraction of the people who logged on to Facebook at some point during the game.
NEW SHOWS OF 2010:
Let's talk about Conan. One of the hottest topics of 2010 was the huge NBC late night host controversy, in fact it has its own Wikipedia page (look how detailed that shit is!). In the end, Conan was able to settle into a new position on TBS with a dude who was more than happy to let him go wherever he wanted, and Conan has done pretty well ever since. By the way, currently 90.6% of households with a TV also had cable in 2010, is it that big of a deal that cable shows are beating Networks? It's also nice to see that amidst all the strange Late Night feuds there's at least two pretty cool rivals who like each other. I am growing into a pretty good Craig Ferguson fan by the way, who won a Peabody this year for interviewing Desmond Tutu, is settling into a fantastic "Awkward Pause" routine and also thoroughly skews Late Night standards with his Robotic Sidekick and other frank intimate moments. He's my dude.
Anyway, besides Late Night tangents, HBO debuted three fantastic series that should all be contenders for Best of the Year, including The Pacific, Treme and Boardwalk Empire. After being very impressed with the first episode of The Walking Dead, I'm not sold on how the season turned out, settling for more typical Zombie Tropes than the unrelenting comic series. My favourite new series of the year though is still Adventure Time with Finn & Jakeon Cartoon Network. Haha, that rules.I'll also mention delighting in the Sunday double-dose of Childrens Hospital and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole. Lots of new gems to find in the sand this year. Also I guarantee this the only list you'll find mentioning Frankenhole equal to Treme. Dammit, that's some funny shit.
ENDING SHOWS OF 2010:
The Boondocks tended to go out with a whimper rather than a bang, despite an awesome kickball episode. Other than that, 2010 saw the end of long-going series like Law & Order and Larry King Live (did a soul care?) The big knock-outs were Scrubs, 24 and LOST, though, the latter of which really swept up the Spring Zeitgeist. All of these shows ended for the exact reason there's not a whole lot to write about them, though. They're irrelevant, no longer interesting and really puttered out without much satisfaction.
BETTY WHITE:
What the hell, Betty White. From appearing on Community, SNL (winning an Emmy for a...pretty shitty episode) and truly igniting the Facebook community (what the hell does that mean), Betty White was THE TV artist of 2010 and didn't even really star in any shows. What a glorious old cunt. I don't really understand my generation's love of Betty White. Sure there's the old vagina jokes, and those can be pretty fun but what other joy do we get from watching this old woman get bounced around in Snickers Commercials (on that topic can we mention the creep-out Commercial of the year? Snickerrrrsss!!). This chick and like, Jon Hamm seemed to pop up in every weird little spot. Like the Season Finale of Childrens Hospital. What the hell, Jon Hamm. Go sell some John Ham.
BEST EPISODES OF 2010:
Community - "Modern Warfare" (S1;E23) was absolutely legendary, from the Apocalypse spoof to the lack of character shields, eruption of sexual tension and Ken Jeong's masterful final appearance, this was breathtaking.
Ugly Americans - "The Manbirds" (S1;E14) was pretty awesome. Does anyone else ever watch this show? Most of it is unremarkable, but this episode's pension for cockfighting, which I already adored here proved to be a great emotional tether for a classic sports redemption. Maybe not, but the Manbird language alone makes the episode worth watching.
The Venture Bros - "Operation P.R.O.M." (S4;E16) was a severely underlooked achievement. This scene alone may be one of the most fantastically constructed of the year and the amount of reward for the depth and growth of character this season doesn't fail to disappoint.
LOST - "Ab Aeterno" (S6;E9) took the show's most interesting and mysterious side character and developed an entire short movie about his backstory that was interesting, moving, gave some insight to the Island's Mythology (some insight). This is what LOST was like at its best - not necessarily following a strict narrative but using its episodic medium and huge cast of characters to tell little vignettes that tied into a more complete story. Despite a somewhat middling final season (although I think the Finale was spectacular), "Ab Aeterno" emerges as one of the best episodes of the year. You can take that to the bank.
JUST when you thought Norwegian Morning Wood was going to escape 2010 without a single best-of list I'm laying this down for you readers out there in Electronic Land. Now, I never like really ranking stuff (bullshit) so this isn't really a list, but more of a "bunch of stuff that happened." Firstly we're looking at 2010 in Music. Now, we had a great Summer Jam as well as plenty of kick-ass albums and great new artists. I'll start by chronicling some of the biggest songs of the year, regardless of artistic content:
SONGS OF 2010:
Now we're cutting edge, that came out minutes ago. DJ Earworm has done a sweet job the past few years summing up Years in Pop Music and I could probably stop here. But there are some big things he left out, like showing a fraction of "Love the Way You Lie" and completely ignoring much worse recent tracks such as "Like a G6."
Anyway, we may always remember 2010 fondly with tracks such as: "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha, "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" by GaGa, "BedRock" by Young Money, "Hey Soul Sister" by Train, "OMG" and "DJ Got Us Falling in Love" by Usher, "Break your Heart" and "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz, "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy, "Love the Way You Lie" by Enimem and Rihanna, "Rude Boy" and "What's My Name" also by Rihanna, "Forever" by Drake, Em, Weezy and Kanye, "I Like It" by Enrique, "Just the Way you Are" and "Grenade" by Bruno Mars, "Just a Dream" by Nelly, "Bottoms Up" by Trey and Nicki, "Like a G6" by Far East Movement, "Raise Your Glass" by P!nk and of course we can't forget "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream," and "Firework" by Katy.
Phew.
ARTISTS OF 2010:
In the realm of Pop Songs a lot of artists had some huge years including Nicki Minaj, Ke$ha, Rihanna, Eminem and Drake. No one really rose to the occasion like Katy Perry or Usher, though. Back in September I might have given Ursh artist of the year Honours, but no one is slinging them like Katy, thus:
Pop Artist of 2010:Katy Perry.
There were also some great comeback Pop Careers, including Eminem resurging in critical and commercial success with his follow-up to Relapse (2009), Recovery (2010). Nelly bounced back with a nice single after wallowing in irrelevance since playing a ridiculous running back in The Longest Yard (2005), and Rihanna bounced back with a handful of nice singles after her Chris Brown pummeling. This year, though, I'm giving the Comeback Special to:
Pop Comeback Special of 2010: Enrique Iglesias
The boy hasn't lost a step. Also apparently it's easier than ever to latch on to Jersey Shore success. I love how Angelina is no where to be found. Now, I'll diverge a bit here and honour the best in Rock. While Matisyahu had a surprising hit with "One Day," there was another band that made some worthwhile turns to its image and standard noise. Thus in 2010 there was hardly a better track put out by some old dudes than "Just Breathe" by:
Rock Comeback Special of 2010: Pearl Jam
Now there were tons and tons of incredible new acts to hit our ears in 2010. Taio Cruz and Bruno Mars are thoroughly soaking up the Pop Side of things, and my love for Nicki Minaj aside (can you believe she didn't have a career until 2010?), I'm siding with another rapper and his great Freshman album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray:
New Pop Artist of 2010: B.o.B
On the rock side of things there are so many songs that dominated radio mostly by new artists. This brings me hope for the 2010s after a dismal past decade in rock music. Cage the Elephant had some success this year with "Back Against the Wall" (released in 2009, hit #1 in 2010) and "In One Ear." I'll also dish some love to Crash Kings and "Mountain Man" as popular rock hits this year. What I really liked though was "How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy, "The High Road" by Broken Bells, "Tighten Up" by The Black Keys and "Lay Me Down" by The Dirty Heads. If that doesn't become a perennial summer song I will cry, it's got more staying power than "California Gurls." Forgotten single "Stand Tall" and "Check the Level" are also fantasmic tracks. There is one more fantastic new band though, which won almost every demographic I can think of with their simultaneously chill, intense and passionate beats:
New Rock Artist of 2010: Mumford & Sons
"Little Lion Man" is their most popular one, but I'll support "The Cave" as well. These guys are fantastic, a huge hit somehow for the English Folk Band. There are so many more deserving mentions really, but due to space and a limited desire to search YouTube, that's all I can mention for now.
MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2010:
Tons of good videos this year. In addition to these, there has been some return to the longform Music Vid with Kanye and GaGa going nuts. While it may go without saying that Kanye's efforts with "Runaway" were the most extravagant and surely one of the best videos of the last decade, there were a lot other great ones. "Fuck You" by Cee Lo is an awesome vid that combines a possible cute love story with some righteous anger at rejection, Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" still leaves a chilled taste in my brain, and the cuteness of "Tighten Up" by The Black Keys gets me somehow. I also find myself strangely drawn into Dev's "Booty Bounce" whenever it finds itself in my playlist.
However, there are certainly a few efforts that went above and beyond this year. OK Go somehow has had a series of amazing practical one-take videos (if you don't remember them, they're those treadmill dudes. You now immediately now who I'm talking about). "This Too Shall Pass" features an enormous working Rube Goldberg Machine that only completed successfully three times out of sixty attempts over two days (sometimes requiring an hour in-between takes to set up again). I also hardily enjoyed Brandon Flowers inexplicably being captured and tortured by Ninjas then needing Charlize Theron to free him in "Crossfire." Some of the looks of love and embarrassment they give each other towards the end are hilarious. Finally I am a fan of Jack Johnson's epic battle against Andy Samberg in "At or With Me." There wasn't a better video this year that followed the tempo and beats of the song. It's also a very fun direct send-up of Johnson's mellow image. Yet the video of the year by far is:
Music Video of 2010: Vampire Weekend, "Giving Up The Gun"
Now I don't really even like this song. I don't even like Vampire Weekend. This video is incredible though. Tennis in...the Future or something, RZA as Magic Line Judge, a Jonas Brother gets his ass kicked, then Jake Gyllenhaal comes in and is somehow hilarious. Then when you don't think this vid can get any weirder, Lil Jon steps in as the Ginger's (played apparently by the goth girl in this video. I had never seen it either) coach, who encourages her in French Subtitles to beat herself at Tennis. Wow. It's incredible, well edited and full of these subtle broad-spanning cameos. Better than "Runaway?" Probably not, but this is Norwegian Morning Wood, who cares.
ALBUM OF 2010:
Who really cares about Albums anymore? I didn't bother to go through many many artists this year, although I did enjoy a few very much. Two in particular stood out as exceptional. Kanye'sMy Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy is a truly epic piece, a deep, hard look at his own personal life, character flaws, media perception to the tune of some incredible beats. He also broadens towards the displaced cultural plight of Black Americans, including personal and external struggles. Though always heavily sampled, any of these tracks would stand on their own without the lyrical complexity Kanye gives them. Favourite Tracks include: "Monster," "All of the Lights," "Hell of a Life."
However, I'm a Gorillaz man, and Plastic Beach is the Best Album of 2010. Every song has an interconnected theme, the guests are spectacular and the beats are absolutely sick. Not only that but they often match both the tone and subject matter of the lyrics. It's about the corruption of the ocean, our planet and our souls, the material and garbage that sinks into every pore and the destruction it can take on ourselves as well as our personal relationships as well as the world around us. It's also danceable. Favourite Tracks include: "Sweepstakes," "On Melancholy Hill," "Rhinestone Eyes."
Alright. Now I'm sure I left out a good deal of great Musical Happenings in 2010. But you get the just of it. So what was the best song of 2010? That's clearly Jimmy Fallon's Impression of Neil Young singing Willow Smith's "Whip Your Hair." Featuring 70s Springsteen.
, which rules (I never knew you could make so many jokes about permafrost and oxygen), but hell, what else is there really? But I do think the City of Miami was pretty big in 2010. South Beach is the hot place, baby. Once known quixotically as a home for Gays, Jews, Cubans and the Elderly, Miami is becoming a hip spot for everyone else. Hell, even I went to Miam in 2010.
