SFist Jon's 2006 Best Of
Since I can't remember half the stuff I spewed out this year (I barely know what I'm writing half the time anyways), here, instead, is a few of my favorite things.
Best TV Show (drama)- "Battlestar Galactica"
Why I like this show is because it thinks big-- big themes, big action, big drama, big story, big music, big everything. At times (like the episode where they finally get off New Caprica) the show feels almost movie big. But the best part of it is that it's also small in it's way. Shows like "24" or "Lost" might have interesting characters, but for the most part, the characters react to the action. That's not necessarily true on "BSG" because often the action comes because of the characters. For instance, the driving force in the Cylon's occupying New Caprica was partly because a few characters discovered what love means. Which yes, sounds kind of lame until you consider that the whole occupying thing was kind of nasty and that one character plotted the destruction of mankind, another shot Capt. Adama, and the third blew herself and her ship up with a nuclear warhead. Awesome.
Best TV Show (comedy)- "The Office"
It's only until you watch this show that you realize how lame the traditional sitcom can be. Set up, punch line, laugh track. No subtelty. This show is all about the subtle-- the glance, the aside comment, the interaction. In fact, for the most part, the best bits are usually played as throw-aways so it takes a few seconds to even realize they just threw a joke at you. No, it's not as edgy and cringe-inducing as the British version (although episodes like "Gay Witch Hunt" come close), but it's still pretty darn funny. The only concern about this show is that the whole Jim/Pam thing, like a lot of will-they-or-won't they bits on TV, is threatening to overwhelm the show (just check out the show's message boards). I still have scars left-over from throwing myself into the great Buffy/Spike Wars on Television Without Pity.
Best TV Show, Misc Category- Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts."
If you havent seen this yet, do so. It's just heartbreaking stuff, totally and completely powerful. The Iraq War might be getting all the attention but years from now, people will realize that truly the greatest tragedy to befall the nation during the Bush Years (of which there are many) was (is) Katrina.
Favorite Movie- The Departed
Okay, I've become one of those people Hollywood hates-- between TiVo and the internet, I don't see nearly as much movies as I used to. I used to see at least one a week but now I don't make it out as much. So what I'm saying is that there's a whole list of movies I didn't see. Still, this was some mighty fine filmmaking, the kind of movie they used to make in the day, except without all the people getting their heads blown off. No, maybe not the artiest of movies or the most profound, but the one that made you go "yeeehaw, I love going to the movies."
Favorite CD of the Year- Wolfmother
For whatever reason, I didn't see this disc listed in any "Best of..." lists despite the fact it was in like every commercial made this year. Hell, the band could probably retire just on residuals for Apple commercials. Methinks it's because it's being deemed a little to derivative and not arty enough. We are in the age of art rock bands these days. Still, I have a feeling that the album is forward thinking in it's backwardness. In other words, when we're awash in Wolfmother clones in a couple of years and the TV on Radio disc has been consigned to the back of the cd rack where it sits mainly to impress chicks, the album will be seen more as prescient than derivative. In other words, for those about to rock, we totally salute you.
Favorite Song of the Year- Thom Yorke's "the Eraser"
To figure this one out, I just went to my handy dandy iTunes playlist and checked to see which song I selected the most. Et viola. Why do I love this song? Because nobody writes songs about disappearing better than Thom.
Favorite Download- Tie "Age of Aqurias/Let the Sunshine In" by Alice Donut and "Oooh-Ooh Child" by Beth Orton
Let's face it, half the fun of downloading songs (legally of course) is finding the true gem out there that you might not want to listen to but are totally psyched to have found. We found these two. The first one, by the mighty Alice Donut is a sort of, sort of not ironic version of the finale from Hair. It rocks. The other one is a great song in it's own right, but this version is all acoustic like and sung by Beth Orton in all of her ethereal glory.