It's been a banner year for me, and as usual, as I come to the end of 2Cait9 I make the realization that I've been so caught up in the pure winningness that is my life these days that I've forgotten to keep track of whether the things I loved in this last year of the decade were actually released in the last year. I'm pretty sure most of them weren't. I'm gonna go by some 2009-specific stuff on iTunes now but here's a list of the Best of Everything, 2009, to keep you occupied.
Best move: Ottawa to Kingston.
Best non-moving-related decision: forsaking vegetarianism and eating a lot of bacon (and also, a bird).
Best private radio discovery: 98.9 The Drive. For real! hardly any commercials and they reintroduced Banditos by The Refreshments into my life. If only we could somehow convince their lobotomized idiot DJs to never, ever speak ("We call it essential alternative because we play music that is essentially alternative! EXTREME!").
Best public radio standby: Wire Tap with Jonathan Goldstein.
Best book set in the grainy, sepia toned streets of 1970s New York involving latchkey children and the 20000$ Pyramid: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.
Best love-hate relationship: Q, with Jian Ghomeshi. (Seriously though, Moxy Fruvous was fucking awesome. This song was the best.)
Best terrifying dystopia: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Best re-read: The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank.
Best Batman comic: All Star Batman and Robin, Volume 1, by Frank Miller and Jim Lee.
Best emo comic memoir: Funny Misshapen Body by Jeffrey Brown.
Best superficially stupid movie that is actually awesome and involves Muppets: Forgetting Sarah Marshall. (Oh Jason Segel, you have my heart.)
Best song that totally reaffirmed my faith in pop rock when it came out and then slowly, so slowly, made me want to gauge holes in my eardrums whenever I hear it: Help, I'm Alive by Metric.
Best musical rediscovery: Pavement.
Subsequent best song of all time discovery: Stereo by Pavement.
Best show: Plaskett at the Charles Bronson Centre. Or maybe, just maybe, the sheer anticipation of possessing orchestra level seats for Wilco at the NAC this winter. That might be better than all the shows in the world lined up in a row.
Best non-Plaskett album that actually came out in 2009: Hold Time by M. Ward.
Best friends: every last one of you.
Gonna check out The Hunger Games, thanks for the tip. Also, which part of Q do you hate?
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ReplyDeleteI completely agree about both Q and the Hunger Games. I wish Jian Ghomeshi didn't make me want to punch him in the face and then hug him better.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think Jian is the greatest interviewer ever, and sometimes I feel like he's just masturbating all over the airwaves. Thankfully his good interviews seem to outweigh the bad most of the time, and the regulars like Elvira and Mio save the day.
ReplyDeleteIf you like bacon, you'll LOVE pancetta ... it makes a caesar salad that much more amazing. Also, we seem to write the same type of lists ... granted yours is about 5 pages shorter and probably a little more concise than mine.
ReplyDeleteI actually actively did not enjoy Joel at the Charles Bronson Centre, but only because the venue and them kids made me upset.
ReplyDeleteHe was awesome 4 days later at Massy Hall though, so all was forgiven.
I was trapped on my couch last night as my cat was sleeping on me and I happened to come across the movie version of "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" on TV. Caitlin, it was beyond awful. Sarah Michelle Gellar is the worst. Total waste of 30 minutes (although my cat did look adorable the whole time).
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