I wanted to take some time to appreciate the things that entertained me in 2010. But I'm not a professional TV critic, or music critic, or Twitter critic (that must be a real job now, right?), so I won't attempt to list the "best" of each category, because it would really be the best of the 0.01% that I know anything about. And even then it would be wrong. (There is in fact a right and wrong in matters of taste, I googled it.)
So I just decided to write about some of my favorite... uh-oh, I know where this is going... it's unavoidable... can't... resist... urge............. things. Things that are delivered to me via some entertainment medium, anyway, hence the not-actually-a-word title.
These are in no particular order, because how do you even put S&M-based Friendster feeds and holographic Pokemon music videos to Nine Inch Nails songs on the same scale? Ha ha, just kidding, those things aren't on my list. At least not both of them.
Paul F. Tompkins
I already wrote about seeing PFT live in Toronto, so go check out that post for more detail if you're interested. Basically, I'd never heard of him before August or so, but I went to see him in October, and it was an incredible show. Since then, I've heard him do characters on a comedy podcast called Comedy Death-Ray, in which he's absolutely hilarious, and he's started his own podcast, which I think is pretty good and improving (I still have to catch up on a couple episodes).
Snarky Puppy
These dudes are a funk/jazz band from Texas who I saw on Hallowe'en. I found out about them from two completely different people (my uncle and a U of T friend) on the same day. It was so weird that it stuck in my memory, prompting me to look them up and discover how ridiculously good they are. Even though I haven't gotten around to buying any of their albums yet, their concert, at which they played a set of originals followed by a set of songs from Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life (a tradition, apparently - last year they also played the Hallowe'en show at the Rex and covered Thriller), was the best I saw in 2010, earning them placement on this list.
Videogum
A cursory glance at my Google Reader would probably lead one to suspect that my favourite blog comes from the massive "Baseball" category which takes up about half of my 40 or so subscriptions. On the contrary, the #1 internet destination in my books is this pop culture blog which covers TV, movies, and the internet.
There are a ton of pop culture blogs out there, but the ones that keep you coming back are the ones with consistently excellent writing (courtesy of Gabe Delahaye), and an engaging reader community. Videogum boasts both of these things.
For some of Gabe's funniest writing, check out his Mad Men recaps (yes, even if you don't watch Mad Men).
Scott Pilgrim
I'm not really sure what my favourite movie of the year was, but Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is definitely in the running. Now, that isn't enough to make Xave's Favourite Medias of 2010, but I also thoroughly enjoyed the source comic book prior to watching the movie.
Harper's Cryptic Crossword
Those who know me well know that I'm a big fan of cryptic crosswords - to the point that one of my personal projects these days is creating them, and, eventually, maybe even trying to sell them. (Maybe I should stop saying that and actually do it.)
I learned how to do cryptic crosswords when I was a kid and have been brought up on Fraser Simpson of the Globe and Mail, but this year I discovered Harper's cryptic and it is simply astounding. The clues are so complex and well-written, and on top of that each puzzle has a crazy twist, like each answer in the grid is missing a letter or something. I can usually finish them, but it takes a couple of weeks and several googles of word definitions I didn't know.
This American Life
The way in which I consume media has shifted recently, and podcasts are rapidly gaining ground on Google Reader. This is mostly because I can do productive stuff while listening to podcasts like cooking, cleaning, biking somewhere, and I'm trying to use the time that I would previously spend clearing my RSS feeds working on projects.
This American Life is, simply, the best podcast. I'd be willing to bet anyone who listens to it would tell you the same.
One of the recent episodes.
Dinosaur Comics/Ryan North
Dinosaur Comics isn't my favourite webcomic (that title goes to xkcd), but it's up there, likely occupying the #2 spot. (If you're not familiar, the conceit is that the panels are the same every day, only the dialogue changes. Clearly it takes a brilliant writer to keep this fresh for something like seven years now.)
What separates DC is its creator, Ryan North. He's consistently one of the most entertaining and affable personalities I've encountered, and through his tweeting and side projects I've come to regard him as more of a "complete entertainer" than anyone else on the internet.
For example: in the fall he and collaborators released a book of short stories. A regular person would advertise in the normal ways. Ryan North decided that everyone who wanted to buy the book should do it on the same day so that it would shoot to #1 on the Amazon rankings. It worked, and in the process ruined the debut of Glenn Beck's book. Glenn Beck subsequently got all huffy that some comic artist he'd never heard of beat him on Amazon. The whole thing was absolutely hilarious, especially through Ryan's commentary.
(Doesn't hurt that he's a Torontonian either.)
Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid
My favourite album of the year is a combination of funk, soul, R&B, sci-fi and cool dance moves (see video below).
Louis C.K.
The comedians category really dominated this year, seeing as two made this list. While Louis C.K. wasn't my favourite comedian of the year (that would be the aforementioned PFT), he is simply one of the funniest guys around these days, and you can't really go wrong with anything he does.
But what got him onto the list was, in addition to his phenomenal stand-up, his new show (Louie), which he writes, directs, edits, stars in, grips, assistant best boys, I dunno, everything? It's a touching look at middle-aged divorced life which is often depressing, occasionally uplifting, and always very funny.
Honourable Mentions
Movies: Kick-Ass, Toy Story 3, Fubar 2, Inception, The Social Network (haven't seen most of the award-season films)
TV Shows: Community, Party Down, Lost, 30 Rock, Bored to Death, Mad Men, Futurama
Songs: "Faster", "Tightrope" (Janelle Monae), "Cousins" (Vampire Weekend), "Fuck You" (Cee-Lo Green), "Good Intentions Paving Company" (Joanna Newsom), "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" (Arcade Fire), "Camel" (Beach House), "Bowls" (Caribou), "All I Want", "Pow Pow" (LCD Soundsystem), "Tell 'Em" (Sleigh Bells)
Albums: "Heartland" (Owen Pallett), "The Suburbs" (Arcade Fire), "Swim" (Caribou)
Podcasts: The Moth, Freakonomics, Comedy Death-Ray
Books: The Big Short (Michael Lewis), Contact (Carl Sagan), UBIK (Philip K. Dick)
Other: Joe Posnanski (Sports Illustrated writer, non-stop blogger), Dirk Hayhurst (baseball player, published author) What's Up With That (recurring Saturday Night Live sketch), xkcd (webcomic), Comixed (webcomic)
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