Top Ten Albums and Songs of 2009

10. Passion Pit, Manners
This collection of bouyant, shimmering gems is the best example of indie electronic this year.

9. Antlers, Hospice
Combining ambient textures with dark, propulsive anthems, this is certainly one of the best albums of the year. Complex and deeply cinematic.

8. Sunset Rubdown, Dragon Slayer
With this latest album, Sunset Rubdown reaffirms why they are one of the most ambitious, moving, and powerfully idiosyncratic bands of the 21st century.

7. Handsome Furs, Face Control
With this newest release from his Wolf Parade side project Handsome Furs, Dan Boeckner again produces a fantastic album full of gritty, rousing electronic indie rock.

6. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Phoenix's brand of sleek, electro-pop was a major winner this year with this outstanding album, in which seemingly every song is a single.

5. Foreign Born, Person to Person
This album of pristine, scintillating indie rock is the second stunner from the California based Foreign Born; the first being their extraordinary debut, On the Wing Now.

4. WHY?, Eskimo Snow
Not only is the only one of the most sorely underrated albums of the year, but in my opinion it is also one of the best. It shows the band in their intimate and emotionally affecting light.

3. The Middle East, Recordings of the Middle East
Although this is technically only an EP, it's seven songs are as hauntingly beautiful as anything I've heard in a long time.

2. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
This album represents the pinnacle of Neko Case's career in my opinion. At least for now. The songs here are more lush and penetratingly beautiful than anything she's ever done.

1. Dappled Cities, Zounds
This oft-underlooked Australian band releases the best album of their career with this soaring collection of big, bold, emotive indie rock songs.

Top Ten Songs of 2009

10. We Were Promised Jetpacks, Quiet Little Voices

9. The Horrors, Primary Colours


8. Phoenix, Big Sun


7. WHY?, Eskimo Snow


6. John Vanderslice, Too Much Time


5. Handsome Furs, Radio Kaliningrad


4. Neko Case, I'm an Animal


3. Passion Pit, Moth Wings


2. The Middle East, Blood


1. Julian Plenti, Only if You Run

Up in the Air... and Top Ten Films of the Year

There are still plenty of films I want to see before I my top ten is truly complete, but this is what I have so far:

10. Bruno
I'm perfectly comfortable knowing that I'm one of the few who believes this film is better than Borat. Just to be clear, both are spectacularly funny, abrasive comedies, but in my opinion Bruno reaches nearly unprecedented heights of subversive comedy. This Sascha Baron Cohen vehicle satirizes America's homophobic, celebrity-obsessed culture more saliently and bracingly than any other film in recent memory.

9. Up in the Air
This may be Jason Reitman's most self-conscious effort to date. The film, following a corporate job termination specialist's assiduously disconnected lifestyle, doles out heavy-handed lessons on the importance of family. Despite its maudlin predictability and occasional triteness, Jason Reitman's third film is at times deeply moving and always exceptionally well-crafted. In particular, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick are wonderful.

8. Zombieland
While this film doesn't utterly reinvent the zombie movie, it does add a refreshingly spirited and full-fisted spin. Anchored by muscular direction , a surprisingly perceptive script, and great performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, it's one of the most fun films of the year.

7. Adventureland
Greg Mottolla's follow-up to Superbad is a funny, moving, cringingly honest portrayl of confused youth.

6. Moon
Sam Rockwell delivers a bravura performance in this tale of a Moon miner awaiting relocation back to Earth.

5. District 9
Much has been made of this film as an allegory for South African apartheid, but with it's narrative of a multi-national's domination over an "alien community" this film is truly an indictment of the post-modern marginalization of the third world by international corporatism.

4. (500) Days of Summer
Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordan Levitt both shine in this rich, innovative romantic comedy.

3. Observe and Report
Many found this film to be uncomfortably perverse... I agree with them, but that's what this film is: a portrait of a somewhat disturbed, alienated individual, Ronnie. I consider it a great tribute to Jody Hill and Seth Rogen that I found the treatment of Ronnie to be so vulnerable, disturbing, and hilarious.

2. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson's most recent film is also one of his best. Not only is it staggeringly beautiful, but is also one of the funniest films in recent memory.

1. Der Baader Meinhof Complex
Uli Edel's rivetting examination of Germany's radical 1970s group the Red Army Faction is one of the most powerful and incisive studies of terrorism.

The Wonderful World of Coca-Cola

So far, my trip to Atlanta has been marked by a grueling, completely unnecessary hike up a landmark known as "Stone Mountain", which as it turns is partially a time-capsule of Southern Confederate nostalgia--the landmark proudly brandished the Confederate flag, the Confederate state flag, and monuments to Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis--and an equally unnecessary trip to the "World of Coca-Cola".

First, a word about the Confederacy and the Civil War. If Southerners want to emblazon the iconography of the Confederate South on their pickup trucks or trailers, then that's their right. However, they can't simultaneously argue that this iconography doesn't represent a profoundly racist past. And anyone who argues that the Civil War was not about slavery, but rather was a noble struggle over state's rights, is an apologist for one of the most reprehensible parts of human history. Technically, the Civil War was about state's rights... a state's rights to treat human beings as property, and the Confederacy's attempts to obscure the influence of slavery is what would be referred to today as spin.

Now, onto the "World of Coca-Cola". This facility was perfectly emblematic of the rampant corporatization of modern America. According to their presentation, Coca-Cola, which is merely a soft-drink product, has achieved the status of a cultural icon. In addition, I found out that when one opens a can of Coca-Cola, they are in fact opening "happiness". This is what our tour guide actually said--"opening happiness". Not only that, but they referred to the Coke factor as... you guessed it, a "happiness factory". Seriously? If it weren't all so mind-numbingly real, it would be satire.

The Road...

Saw The Road tonight and my initial impression was... Good. But as the night has worn on, I find that the film has conspicuously left my thoughts entirely. And that is not good. For anyone who doesn't know, the film, based on the highly acclaimed Cormac McCarthy novel, follows a father and his young son as they struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic landscape. The audience is never told how exactly the world became like this. All we know is that almost no animals have survived, there are minor earthquakes that seem to occur in places that geologically don't support such activity, and many people have resorted to cannabilism in order to survive.

This film simply doesn't bring enough to the table. Film audiences have been exposed to far more complex and emotionally gripping post-apocalyptic cinema than this. And for a movie to be so weighted in contextual ambiguities, much has to be done right to compensate. Well, this film does not do everything right. And as a result, the ambiguities that seemingly enriched the novel, detract from the film. If the film had had more creative ambition--and more of a dramtic spine--than ambiguity would not be an issue. Unfortunately, in this film director John Hillcoat, more often than not, plays it safe and lets this world speak for itself TOO MUCH. The problem is there is only so much that a perpetually grey landscape, falling trees, and dirt-caked survivors can evoke before one expects the director to do more. On a positive note, Viggo Mortensen, struggling to do much with little, turns in a very good performance.

Why?... Paranormal Activity... V

As you can tell by the title, this particular post will cover three subjects.

First, I saw the wonderful band Why? this weekend at the Spanish Moon. They mainly played material from their two most recent albums, Alopecia (one of the best albums of the decade) and Eskimo Snow (one of the best albums of the year, pitchfork be damned). It was a great show, not to mention an interesting night... from the couple who literally seemed to making out for two straight hours, to an awkward exchange I had with this nice girl. She was telling me and some friends about how her father designed the medical PET scanning device. We were all very impressed and told her how cool her father was and then she said, "Yeah... he died of radiation exposure." And then for some reason I said, with far too much enthusiasm, "Well, at least he got the PET scan down!" Wow, right?

Secondly, I saw Paranormal Activity this weekend. Initially, I was very skeptical of this film. I felt the beginning was marred by a feux naturalism the couple was trying to convey, but the film slowly built into a potently frightening experience. A very good movie.

Lastly, a note about the premier of the new show V. I saw it over the week and was supremely unimpressed. In case you're not familiar with the show, V follows events on earth after an advanced alien race, who call themselves "the Visitors", reveal themselves in massive interstellar ships over the major cities on the globe. One of the show's main developers is Scott Peters, who was executive producer on The 4400, one of my favorite sci-fi series. As I was watching the pilot to V I thought to myself, "so much of what they got right in the The 4400 they've gotten terribly wrong in V. Firstly, all of the mystery surrounding the alien race is dispensed with in the first half-hour, in which the audience learn that the aliens are not only bad, but they've planning to take over Earth for years. Also, we find out there are alien defectors. Those who have abandoned the Visitors and are working to help the humans. Hmm, a distinct race disguised as humans who ultimately decide to embrace their inner humanity? If that sounds like a vapid facsimile of Battlestar Galactica, it's because that's what it is.

Finally, my last problem with V is it's suspect political inclinations. In the show, the Visitors ingratiate themselves to Earth by offering universal health care and attempting to engage the youth of the world. Not to mention the fact that the aliens rhetoric constantly emphasizes peace and hope. Peace, hope, engaging the young, univeral health care? What could this be an allegory for? Either this show is presenting an insipid allegorical critique of the Obama administration or the show's creators are so dense that they don't realize what they're doing.

Top 100: 5-1

Finally... here is the final installment.

5. Schindler's List (1993, dir. Steven Spielberg)
If there was any doubt that Steve Spielberg was one of the pre-eminent storytellers and visual artists of our time, I would certainly hope that this magnificent film could lay those to rest. It is one of the most complete films I have ever seen. In terms of performance, production, content, direction, nearly every aspect of this film is perfectly executed. But the film also has certain intangible qualities that make it transcendent, one of these being the seamless presentation of the title character, Oskar Schindler. But more than anything, Spielberg's artisty shines in this movie. It is the most bracingly vibrant and powerful film of his career.

4. The Insider (1999, dir. Michael Mann)
Although I was underwhelmed by his most recent effort, Public Enemies, I know one thing about Michael Mann with absolute certainty: he is capable of being an ingenius filmmaker, and nothing illustrates this better than his best film, The Insider. Let me say one thing from the outset, I think Al Pacino's performance in The Insider is the best of his career. Godfather... No. Godfather 2... No. Dog Day Afternoon... No. Scent of a Woman... No. The Insider... Oh, Yeah! Secondly, The Insider is one of the most dazzlingly well-made films of all time, and it is perhaps the best example of Mann's extraordinary abilities as a director. And finally, this film just sticks it to the tobacco companies, and in reality I find this film to be a piercing critique of the corporatization of America in general.

3. Children of Men (2006, dir. Alfonso Cuaron)
Cuaron's visually astonishing Children of Men is the best film of the 21st century, and it stands as a stark but brilliant plea for humanity to take a stake in their own world, and each other.

2. Rear Window (1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcoc)
What I love about this film is that for the first 30 minutes it is a genuine, deeply involved character study, and yet, it transitions seamlessly into an absorbing voyeuristic mystery. One of the most compelling and richly entertaining films of all time.

1. JFK (1991, dir. Oliver Stone)
Occassionally, or perhaps even frequently, a film may require a totally open and unbiased second viewing in order for a person to fully appreciate that film’s distinct quality and transcendent power. Oliver Stone’s highly controversial JFK is in my opinion a film uniquely deserving of a such a second look, although I must personally confess that one viewing is all it took for me to be completely astonished by Stone’s dazzlingly rich masterpiece. Even JFK’s most stern detractors would most likely be perfectly willing to admit that the film is technically brilliant. Its seamless and hypnotic juxtaposition of not only multiple film formats but also a dizzyingly impressive amount of alternate narrative strains alone makes it a modern cinematic landmark. More than advocating for any specific conspiracy theory, Stone's film is a passionate plea for Americans to take back their country from corrupt interests.

Damned Democrats

Just to clarify, I AM A DEMOCRAT and I want nothing more than a forceful, progressive, unapologetically liberal agenda to be successful in this country. I say 'damned democrats' because it so difficult to be enthusiastic about the democratic party when they continually show how comfortable they are with failure.

As some of you may or may not know, there were a few elections today of varying importance, and most of the outcomes were disastrous for Democrats, particularly governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey in which Republican candidates won both races.

The Republicans ran a candidate from the stone age in the Virginia race and he beat the democratic candidate by nearly 20 points. I mean this Bob McDonell criticized laws allowing married couples to use contraception, attacked homosexuals as "fornicators" and he also attacked working women and feminists as "detrimental to the family". This guy is crazy!

New Jersey now has a Republican governor-elect. New Jersey. This is one of the bluest states in the union. Granted, the state's Democratic governor Corzine was extremely unpopular, but still, this does not look good for democrats.

All of this on top of the fact that meaningful healthcare reform has still not been passed by Congress. It's fair to say that I've been less than impressed with the national Democrats legislative skills when it comes to crafting this healthcare bill. The Democrats' healthcare stipulations have been so diluted by Republicans, moderate Democrats, and corporate influences that we may not have public healthcare for years, at least until this public option trigger activates. Or maybe the states have an opt-out clause now. I honestly don't know, it seems like the Democrats legislative goals on healthcare change daily.

Truthfully, one of the people I blame is Harry Reid. I don't think he's a strong Democratic leader in the Senate (there's a big surprise). I have much more respect for Nancy Pelosi who seems like she is genuinely ready to go to the mat for the public option.

Now... I won't lay all the blame on Harry Reid because he is dealing with some truly despicable people in the Senate. Namely... JOE LIEBERMAN. What happened to this guy? 9 years ago he was a Supreme Court ruling away from being the Vice President of the country as a DEMOCRAT. Now he's an independent, former supporter of John McCain for president, and he says he'll use his powers as a senator to prevent a vote on the public option in the senate. When I heard that I was speechless. I wanted to strangle puppies. To not let Senate VOTE on perhaps the most important domestic issue of the 21st century!

How did George W. Bush and the Republicans do it. When 'W' was "elected" president in 2000 he had NO voter mandate and razor thin majorities in the house and senate and yet he still managed to push through gis sweeping tax cuts for the rich! What were the Republicans collectively smoking at this point and where can Democrats get their hands on it!