Happy New Year we’re still here!! Here’s hoping things got better for you in 2010. They sure did for me and for that I am VERY thankful. The Love Family is doing well, collectively and individually. I’m still having fun with ALL KINDSA GIRLS, my radio show (http://allkindsagirls.blogspot.com/), and I returned to the stage last summer in Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Nile. All in all it was a pretty good year, but good or bad, every year is made richer by films, books, records and shows- the best of which, in my opinion, are below. Not everything on these lists came out in the last 12 months, but that’s when I discovered them. So, unsolicited and humbly submitted, and for the first time with click-on hyperlinks, here are my 2010 Top 5’s:
TOP 5 MOVIES
A Prophet (globalism conquers a French prison)
Winter’s Bone (this is the Ozarks on meth)
The Town (terrifying townies)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (rock & roll comic book)
Fish Tank (Good Times these ain’t)
TOP 5 DVD'S
Bandslam (why wasn’t The Runaways this fun)
Big Fan (as in fanatic)
Terribly Happy (Danish noir)
Repo! The Genetic Opera (horr-opera? operagore?)
Passing Strange (bohemian rhapsody)
TOP 5 ALBUMS
The Genuine Fakes- “The Striped Album” (Power Pop Lives!-- in Sweden)
Hoodoo Gurus- Purity Of Essence (Rock Gods from Oz)
Paul Collins- King of Power Pop (Long live the King!)
Merrymakers- Bubblegun (100% guaranteed to live up to their name)
The Cute Lepers- Smart Accessories (Steve E. Nix rockin’ for the USA)
TOP 5 BOOKS
This Is Where I Leave You- Jonathan Tropper (shiva-larity!)
The Millennium Trilogy- Stieg Larsson (Lisbeth today’s Holden Caufield?)
Freedom- Jonathan Franzen (where we are- right here, right now)
American Rust- Philipp Meyer (industrial revulsion)
Bangkok 8- John Burdett (Det. Sonchai Jitpleecheep rules!)
TOP 5 TELEVISION/CABLE SHOWS
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Seasons 5-7 (a Love family fave!)
The Wire Seasons 4-5 (it’s all in the game)
Generation Kill (“we fought retarded”)
Skins Vol. 1 (suffer the children)
Lost Season 6 (it all ends in a blink)
I’ve compiled all past Top 5 Lists at this blog: http://ricktop5lists.blogspot.com/. Please feel free to share your best of 2010- I’m always on the lookout for quality viewing, listening and reading material. Here’s wishing you all the best in 2011!!
