2010 in media

Music, movies, books, and more.
 




MY 10 FAVORITE SONGS OF 2010


1) "The Night Last Night (feat. Rose Elinor Dougall and Alex Greenwald)" - Mark Ronson and the Business International

Beautiful use of melody and counterpoint.

2) "Seamstress" - Dessa

Sharp lyrics and haunting sound.

3) Gasoline - The Dead Weather

Raw and ripped.

4) “Tightrope”- Janelle Monae

Can't help but dance to this. Takes a retro R&B sound and makes it fresh.

5) "Tighten Up" -The Black Keys

One Youtube commenter said that he or she sang this song to a scoop of ice cream because it made him or her happy.

6) "Ikiru (To Live)" - Tokyo Jihen

First, it makes crazy use of autotune to create a robotic barbershop chorus feel. Then it breaks into bouncy '20's-ish pop jazz. The melody stays strong throughout, even though its range is probably too ambitious for Ringo-chan's voice (or my voice when I try to sing to it). The lyrics are quite depressing for its bright sound.

7) "Stylo" - Gorillaz

cool on the down low

8) The Tron:Legacy Soundtrack

9) "Runaway" (feat. Pusha T) - Kanye West

I still need to see the short film. However, I realized I really liked this song when it was playing in a store and I became lost in my mind.

10) "The Island - Part 2 - Dusk" - Pendulum

I like fast-paced electronic songs that have lots of variety.

Cover songs that I also enjoyed:

"Stand By Me" - Prince Royce (cover)

be quiet it's cute and fun to sway to

Mike Patton - "Il Cielo In Una Stanza" and "Ore D'Amore"

Songs to burst out in the car or on a table or on a stage.

Best mainstream pop chorus - "Billionaire." There's just something sad and hopeful about it.

Best sound: BRRRRRRMMMMM
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25 television episodes I enjoyed the most in 2010


Only episodes I watched from beginning to end. So, for example, since I missed the first 20 minutes of the Lost finale, it could not be even considered for this list.

This also counts all the episodes I watched this year, not just ones aired in 2010. These episodes are not ranked.

Conan Tonight Show farewell

Doctor Who - Vincent and the Doctor

Being Human episode 2.6

Misfits - Episode 1.4

Lost - 6.9 - “Ab Aeterno” -

Community -1.10 - Environmental Science

Lost 6.1 - 6.2 - “LAX”

Community - 1.15 - “Romantic Expressionism”

Boardwalk Empire - 1.5 - “Nights in Ballygran”

Sherlock - 1.3 - “The Greatest Game”

Chuck - 3.10 - “Chuck vs. the Tic Tac”

Sherlock - 1.1 - “A Study in Pink”

Lost - 6.7 - “Dr. Linus” - not best written but events

Community - 1.19 - “Beginning Pottery”

The Pacific- Part 9 - “Okinawa” (Buildup - Sledge is best character)

The Pacific - Part 3 - “Melbourne”

I, Claudius - episode 10 “Who, me?” - Caligula’s reign of terror

Community - 2.6 - “Epidemiology”

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - “Mac’s Mom Burned the House Down”

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia - “The Gang Gets a Boat”

Boardwalk Empire 1.9 - “Belle Femme”

Community - “Mixology Certification”

Misfits - 2.4

Doctor Who Christmas special

The LXD - “Elliott’s Shoes”


My favorite show this year: Sherlock.
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Two more lists. There is a * by stuff I really enjoyed, for one reason or another. Not an exact indication of quality.

Books read in 2010
1) Yoshitsune: A 15th-century Japanese Chronicle translated by Helen Craig McCulllogh

2) The Ethnological Imagination: A Cross-Cultural Critique of Modernity by Fuyuki Kurasawa

* 3) Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro

4) Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

* 5) The Aeneid by Virgil (translation)

6) The True History of Tea by Erling Hoh and Victor H. Mair

7) Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy

8) The Game by A.S. Byatt

9) Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

10) Travels in the History of Architecture by Robert Harbison

I think a Volume 2 might be published soon

11) Neuromancer by William Gibson

* 12) Ficciones de Jorge Luis Borges (FIRST BOOK READ IN SPANISH WOOHOO. BUT NOT A NOVEL. Short stories. I'm working up my way in Spanish comprehension.)

13) Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler

14) Women Poets of China edited by Ling Chung and Kenneth Roxroth

15) The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss

16) JPod by Douglas Coupland

17) Blackout by Gianluca Morozzi, translated by Howard Curtis

18) The Manyoshu: The Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai translation of One Thousand Poems

19) Stained Glass Elegies by Shusaku Endo

20) The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World by Justin Pollard and Howard Reid

21) A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, book 3) by George R.R. Martin

I listened to the first two books in the series on audiobook.

22) Selección De Leyendas Puertorriqueñas Del Dr. Cayetano Coll & Toste compiladas Y anotadas por Cayetano Coll Cuchi

* 23) Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco

I'd also like to recommend these three graphic novels I read in 2010:

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuchelli, The Arrival by Shaun Tan, and I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason.

- - - -
finally,

Movies watched in 2010

1) East - West (Est-Oueste)

2) My Family and Other Animals

3) The Crimson Rivers (Les rivières pourpres)

4) Cold Prey (Fritt vilt)

* 5) Cleo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7)

6) The Book of Eli

7) Tulpan

I was just okay with this movie until the powerful ending, which has really stuck with me.

* 8) Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary

* 9) The Thing

10) Nosferatu

11) Timecrimes (Los cronocrímenes)

12) Double Indemnity

13) Breaking News (Dai si gin)

14) Kind Hearts and Coronets

15) Dance of the Dead

16) Archangel

17) Antonio Gaudí

* 18) Reservoir Dogs

* 19) J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA)

20) Prisoner in the Mountains (Kavkazskiy plennik)

21) The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

22) Noroi (The Curse)

* 23) The Hurt Locker

24) Nightmare Alley

25) Kick-Ass

26) Chop Shop

27) Running Out of Time (Am zin, Hidden War)

* 28) Women of the Night (Yoru no onnatachi)

29) Secret Agent

* 30) Street of Shame (Akasen chitai)

31) Wonderful Town

32) I'm Not Scared (Io non ho paura)

33) Diabolique (Les diaboliques)

34) Into the Wild

35) À l'intérieur (Inside)

I liked how simple and basic and insane it was. Also, toaster as a weapon.

36) Center Stage (Ruan Lingyu)

37) Hangover Square

38) Calvaire (The Ordeal)

appropriately titled

39) Alice (Neco z Alenky)

refreshing version of Alice and Wonderland

* 40) Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud)

41) Cure (1997)

42) Séance (Kôrei)

43) Nói (Noi the Albino, Nói albínói)

44) Sauna

45) Dog Soldiers

46) Shiri (Swiri)

47) They Came Back (Les revenants)

48) Il Posto (The job)

* 49) Moon

50) Cría cuervos

51) I am Waiting (Ore wa matteru ze)

* 52) Hausu

crazy crazy experience with screaming cats

53) Black Angel

54) Dead Snow (Død snø)

55) [REC]

* 56) Inception

57) Watching the Detectives

58) Border Incident

59) White Zombie

60) Silk Stockings

* 61) Mad Love (1935)

62) The Big Sleep

63) Imprint

64) Cheyenne Autumn

65) Ninja Assassin

66) The Unsuspected

* 67) Sweet Smell of Success

68) Running on Karma (Daai zek lou)

69) The Baby's Room (La habitación del niño)

70) Le silence de la mer

recommended for fellow Jean-Pierre Melville fans and if you have patience for lots of talking

* 71) Eight Men Out

72) Aftershock (Tangshan dadizhen)

first tearjerker drama I saw from China this year

73) The Mark of Zorro (1920)

has one of the best fight scenes ever filmed

74) Rashomon

75) Undead

76) Topkapi

77) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

78) Carnage (Carnages)

79) Throw Away Your Books! Rally in the Streets! (Sho o suteyo machi e deyou)

great to finally hear the soundtrack in its context. Depressing movie. The ending hit really close for me.

80) Teenagers from Outer Space

81) Murders in the Rue Morgue

82) No One Knows About Persian Cats (Kasi az gorbehaye irani khabar nadareh)

* 83) Sunset Boulevard

* 84) Four Lions

85) Electric Shadows (Meng ying tong nian)

second tearjerker movie from China I watched sheesh

86) TRON: Legacy

87) The Shooting Party

* 88) Black Christmas

89) Fury

* 90) Shanghai Triad

not a tearjerker but an emotional drama from China that shows the ugly side of 1930's gangsters

* 91) The Proposition

92) Five Miles to Midnight


Favorite film of 2010?

I haven't seen many films released in 2010, but I'd say Inception and Four Lions.