Twenty Ten

2010 was my first full calendar year back in America and I very much appreciated being able to absorb all this entertainment.  Here were my favorites.

My Favorite Albums

1) Valencia - Dancing With A Ghost

I discovered this band this year, and immediately was smitten by their record from two years ago, which was written after the lead singer's girlfriend died in a car crash.  While that record was about the loss and mourning that comes from the fallout of death, Dancing With A Ghost is about what is left standing after the dust of tragedy clears - the hope for a brighter day shadowed by the discovery of an even greater darkness you weren't aware existed.  I have yet to experience the sense of loss that comes from losing someone close, but I know I'll have Valencia to turn to when the time comes.

2) The Graduate - Only Every Time

I waited three years not knowing if this band was going to ever make music again, but the wait was worth it - "Pull Me In" is the standout track, a song about the lead singer leaving his wife to head out on the road in order to support their life is one of the most beautiful I've heard - it's play-at-your-wedding worthy in my opinion.  My favorite album art of this list as well, it captures the sound of the album so well.

3) My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

How can you not like an album with that awesome of a name?  I usually hate 15-song albums because that means the fat hasn't been trimmed, but it was all meat on this album. 

4) The Narrative - Self-Titled

Fronted by two singers who met on Craigslist, The Narrative make me wonder why more bands don't have male and female vocals.  Probably because they wouldn't sound as good as these guys (and girl).  "Don't Want To Fall" is the most beautiful piano song by a female vocalist I've ever heard (so I've included it below).

5) He Is We - My Forever

Speaking of beautiful female vocals...this lead singer is like Taylor Swift in that she's blonde and sings about love songs.  She's unlike Taylor Swift in that she can sing live and writes awesome love songs.

6) The Maine - Black & White

I love their play on words ("I did the right thing to the wrong girl", "growing up won't bring us down") which are so simple but work.

7) Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

The definition of catchy.  These guys can shred.

8) Neon Trees - Habits

They make me proud to live in Utah.  There is not a single who person who hasn't liked "Animal" after I introduced it to them.  And I've introduced that song to a lot of people. 

9) Mercy Mercedes - Believe It

Sugar-sweet pop-rock done right.  I love how this band has guitar solos.  Points down for the lame album art.

10) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Is there a sicker start to a song than "Stylo"s beat? Found this album's instrumentals stimulating to my ears.

My Favorite Movies

1) The Town - Good year for Boston movies - it feels like a different country because the culture/accents are so different. Ben Affleck has come a long way from Gigli.

2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I - I usually don't enjoy the movies, but this one had great humor, was so stunning visually (seriously, where did they shoot?), and wasn't constrained by trying to jam 700 pages into 2 1/2 hours - I loved the pacing and the character development between the trio.

3) Inception - Coolest movie ending ever?

4) The King's Speech - The only movie on this list to make me cry. Amazing, amazing performances from Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush - wow.  Like The Social Network, the premise is quite ordinary, but unlike The Social Network, this movie made it come alive.

5) The Ghost Writer - Second coolest ending this year. And a good twist thrown in. More people need to see this movie.

6) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - The most fun I had in a movie theater this year. Michael Cera is the idol of awkward adolescents everywhere. Ramona Flowers is my type of woman (that's her on the right).

7) Catfish - The best twist of the year (and it came from a documentary). Made me laugh and gave me the creeps. It's also why I will never try online dating.

8) True Grit - Nice storytelling - took many unexpected twists and turns for me.  Hailee Steinfield for Katniss in the new Hunger Games movie!  Girl can act.

9) It's Kind Of A Funny Story - Actually was a funny story and now I have a crush on Emma Roberts.

10) The Fighter - Another great immerse-yourself-in-the-world-of-Massachusetts movie.  Some of the fight scenes were actually really poorly staged for me, but Christian Bale made me forget about them very quickly.

Favorite animated movie: Toy Story 3 - Really refreshing to see Pixar put real effort into this knowing even with a terrible product they would've made millions (see: Shrek 3).  I was a little disappointed I didn't cry after I heard everyone else did. 

Favorite indie film: Monsters - a very different, slower-paced take on alien invasions. Great chemistry between the leads as well.

My Favorite Book

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance (A Memoir) by Elna Baker

Made being a Mormon funny and interesting instead of boring as it can tend to be (and tends to be perceived).  Did make me wonder if all girls are as obsessed with love as she is though.

My Favorite New TV Show

Terriers

A P.I. show with great chemistry between the leads, crazy plot twists (I can think of several instances where I gasped or shouted "no!" at the TV), and a satisfying finale.  And it was cancelled.  I don't understand why people didn't flock to this, there were no good new shows on the networks this fall.  

My Favorite Company

Amazon

Their MP3 division offered an alternative to iTunes that was better in every way - no tax, daily deals ($6.99 is not a deal, Apple), awesome $5 digital albums that change every month, handed out MP3 credits throughout the year.  A music-lover's wet dream.  Oh, and they gave all college students free two-day shipping for a year.    

Side note: My least favorite company changes this year were Netflix removing its friend feature and Facebook's new profile that doesn't have the text box where I can jot down the emo lyrics that are affecting me at this time in my life (hence their new appearance on the right of my blog).

My Favorite YouTube Video

This represents everything wrong with the Millennial Generation, but boy is it funny (and there's 3 parts!).  This girl had some sort of video channel and was addressing her "haters" who were leaving her nasty comments.

She has some great phrases: I've wanted to make I'll pop a glock in your mouth and make a brain slushee" a shirt for a long time now.  Haters: I'm not 9, I'm 11.  Suck my non-existing penis. Get AIDS and die.

But if haters don't phase her then why is she having a breakdown (cue the unintentionally funny protective father who doesn't know a thing how this Internet thing works)....

You done goof'd.  No more needs to be said.  Now for the grande finale...

The dad makes it - I love the consequences line - you can tell he really wants to tell these kids off and he's halfway there, but then he's like, oh crap this sentence isn't going to make sense, but I just have to go with it.  I don't know just the idea of a dad yelling at a computer screen is quite amusing to me.  I just hope he doesn't use the cypberpolice to backtrack this blog post.  I'm praying for a web redemption on Tosh.O.  And yes, I know I'm a terrible person for deriving pleasure from this girl's pain.