I suppose it's time for another bleary-eyed year in review

Back by popular demand!

So yeah, 2010 topped it. Whatever "it" was.

The Year in Review: Very good. Lots of shit happened. Unlike the transition year of 2009, 2010 was more or less an exercise in solidification, bowdlerization, pontification, and transubstantiation. Damn it was good.

Me from this year: No earth-shattering personal tragedies so that's a definite step up. I lost a pretty close friend but that was mostly his/her fault and not mine. Plus, (s)he was really more of a chore than a friend. Other than that everything is great. Good girlfriend. Lots of sex and all that good stuff, I think. So things going great here.

Movies were also great this year, but not as good as 2009. Black Swan was crazy as shit though it got nearly ruined by the 12 year olds sitting behind us who got grossed out by the masturbation scenes. Inception was also cool; the Social Network was cool too. Cool. Cool year for movies. I haven't seen any of the cold movies though: Winter's Bone, ..., I guess that's it. I just want to see Winter's Bone pretty bad. Right now no movie measures up to the Hurt Locker though. On the whole, I actually saw very few of the movies I wanted to see. Still have to see Cyrus and the Fighter. Oh, 2010 killed in Documentaries though. Exit through the Gift Shop is probably the best of the decade, and the decade's barely even started yet. The year's been pretty lacking in comedy, though. The Kids Are Alright was... alright.

The year in Kanye West holds its own very well against 2009. A powerful feat indeed, to be discussed in further detail very briefly in the next paragraph.

Music from this year: The-Dream, How to Dress Well, LCD Soundsystem, Janelle Monae, Caribou, Sleigh Bells, Titus Andronicus, James Blake, and Ted Leo make albums of the year (I'll count all his EPs as one thing for James Blake). Kanye's album is also great but far from perfect. I've yet to hear the new Ghostface, Walkmen, or Roots albums to a significant extent though, but those are probably great too. Good year for music. Lil B is more interesting than Drake, whose LP was disappointing, but the jury's out on whether he's actually technically better. Regardless, no new artist from last year is as good as How To Dress Well so that case is closed in favor of 2010.

Music trends from 2008 are still the best. 2009 is even better than 2010, I'd say. Hipster blog-rap going mainstream should probably never happen, but what should never EVER happen is horrible awful absolutely worthless shit like Die Antwood ever breaking out of the landfill. Hopefully that shit's a novelty that'll completely disappear by the end of January and no one will try to copy/emulate them in any way.

My personal year in music kicked rocks. Actually hit my New Year's resolution of 50,000 songs on Thanksgiving Day. Wooooooo. The amount of fantastic bands I discovered this year cannot be quantified, though. The biggest personal musical breakthrough is definitely the "discovery" of jazz. Though I've listened to Miles Davis and Jaco Pastorius here and there in the past, in August the floodgates just goddamn burst. Jazz kicks rocks. Hard bop, bebop, cool, modal, New Orleans and all that old shit, shiiiiiit just about every jazz is good jazz. Even Kenny G. Especially Kenny G.

The biggest star of entertainment this year, however, is probably television.

New shows? One word: Louie.

Discovery of old shows? Two words: The Wire.

So great shit there. Is it time for the month-by-month thing? Eh, okay.

January: This month was pretty shabby. Winter break from college, but instead of seeing my friends I got to see the inside of a hospital, from a hospital bed, since I was in the hospital. Hardcore sinus infection. Shit incapacitated me for two weeks. Heavy stuff. Once I feel better, though, Tufts friends come up and we do a small Northeastern Area road trip. Woooo that was pretty fun.
February: Back to school, did lots of schoolwork. Don't remember much. Took that class "Black Comedy." Shit that class was awesome. Japanese? Ehhh not so much.
March: More generally good times, schoolwork. Was this spring break?
April: If it wasn't, this was spring break. Even more good times. Los Angeles, genuine Mexican food tasted like fake Mexican food except for the stuff that was raw fish or some shit. That stuff tasted GOOD. In'n'Out Burger isn't all it's cracked up to be. Enough talk about Rocket Power to last a lifetime.
May: Finals? The first year draws to a quick close as I rocket my way up from a D- to a C- in Japanese. Kanpai!!!! Also don't remember much about this except general happiness. I should do half-year reviews because I don't remember jack from the first six months.
June: See above. My birthday... IN FRANCE! Yeah, that's where I was from the second week of may until now! In France! Great times had there, except from my awful host family. They sucked enormous amounts of testicles, except for their hot adopted Vietnamese daughter. *growling cat noise* Huge guys, pencil legs, alone in Geneva airport. For more information see here: http://alpaholicsanonymous.blogspot.com/
July: Rebound from France. Boy am I tired! I do nothing all month, basically.
August: I remember that I'm home so I can download music in absurd quantities, so I do that. Jazz is discovered, 3500 songs are obtained. Prepping myself to return to school by visiting Mical a lot instead of doing the thing that makes sense and seeing my home friends a lot. Whoops.
September: School is gone back to, Mical is seen every day since. Everyone lives so far apart though! Damn having to walk to other dorms! Insert link of Ben telling me that I am white and whining. Hey, Ben! Go back to Africa!
October: More work, more play. Halloween! Pretty boring Halloween actually.
November: More play, more work. Go home for Thanksgiving and hit 50,000 songs after an enormous blog splurge on funk gems, dusty grooves, and '70s soundtracks. Don't blame me, blame my professor for introducing me to Philly Soul.
December: I realize far too late I only like one of my four classes. I do a wicked pull-up in Japanese again only to get the mediocre grade I was expecting before the wicked pull-up. A faulty reading of a paper assignment in Psychology completely sabotages both my roommates and my grades, though Black Music is once again my saving grace (let's hope Gay Music keeps up the streak next semester). Word's not in yet on English, yet, though my expectations are upper-to-middle average. So yeah, a meh end to a generally great year.

And even if it did seem somewhat unremarkable for a lot of it, the important thing is that it was good. Seriously, it was good. I haven't felt that generally good for that long since before I even know when. Middle school or some shit, probably, not counting the latter half of 2009.

But do you know who the year wasn't good for? That's right, these dead celebrities! In order of ;__________________;, starting from the weepiest:

Captain Beefheart, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves (peter graves AND leslie nielsen?? come on, god!!!), Gary Coleman, Malcom McLaren, Teddy Pendergrass, George Steinbrenner, Dennis Hopper, Tony Curtis, J.D. Salinger, Rue Mclanelanchelanan, Marvin Isley, Solomon Burke, Lena Horne, Harvey Fuqua, Mark Linkous, Barbara Billingsly, Art Linkletter, Greg Giraldo, Ronnie James Dio, Corey Haim, Miep Gies (pffft, like hiding Anne Frank ever made you better than Corey Haim)

...and everyone I made a status about but forgot to include here.

Anyway I had the song "Hold it, Now Hit it" stuck in my head all day so I'm gonna listen to that and go to bed. See y'all at the end of 2011.