2014 Top 5 Lists

Wow, another year has passed- let me wish you a belated but heartfelt HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I can't say I'm sorry to see 2014 go, it was a challenging year.  That said, I was lucky to be cast in two musicals, The Full Monty and The Who's Tommy- both amazing experiences.  My radio show ALL KINDSA GIRLS is going strong into its seventh year.  Most importantly, Jaime and the kids are doing great and we are happily greeting 2015.  Challenging or not, every year of my life has been enriched by the movies, TV shows, music and books I saw, heard and read.  In an effort to share this wealth with all of you, a tradition started in 1999 (16 years ago!), I humbly submit my 2014 Top 5's:

TOP 5 MOVIES
Whiplash (what price perfection?)
Boyhood (this boy's life)
Snowpiercer (all aboard!)
The Babadook (you can't get rid of him)
Birdman (metatastic!)

TOP 5 DVD'S/WEB STREAMS
We Are The Best! (punk rock lives!)
Short Term 12 (fostering care)
Oculus (mirror mirror)
Alan Partridge (radio gravy) 
Fill The Void (sisters lover)

TOP 5 ALBUMS
Sloan- Commonwealth (the pride of Halifax, NS)
The Cry!- Dangerous Game (Rose City rock and roll)
The Rubinoos- 45 (proud power pop purveyors)
The New Pornographers- Brill Bruisers (more catchy Canadians)
Silver Sun- A Lick And A Promise (harmony heaven)

TOP 5 BOOKS
Skippy Dies- Paul Murray (spoiler alert!)
The Shipping News- Annie Proulx (long live the Quoyles)
The Dinner- Herman Koch (NOT a foodie book)
Swamplandia!- Karen Russell (what happens in the swamp...)
Painted Ladies- Robert B. Parker (the penultimate Spenser)

TOP 5 TV/CABLE/WEB SHOWS
True Detective Season 1 (antinatal noir) 
Broadchurch Season 1 (subtitled for the non-Scottish)
Game Of Thrones Seasons 3 and 4 (winter came)
The Walking Dead Season 4 (most hardcore TV show ever)
Orphan Black Season 2 (a performance(s) for the ages)

Please feel free to respond with your own favorites from 2014 and maybe you'll see them on next year's list.  I can never get enough quality viewing, listening and reading material.  Here's hoping we all enjoy a happy and prosperous 2015!!!

2013 Top 5 Lists

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!  Here’s hoping 2014 finds you well.  Things are great in Sonoma- the family had a good year and my radio show ALL KINDSA GIRLS remains a fixture on Saturday nights at KSVY 91.3.  If you want to know what the show is all about head over to the blog and facebook pages.  Like every year, my life in 2013 was enriched by fantastic movies, DVD’s, TV shows, records and books that I watched, streamed, listened to and read.  Now, in a proud tradition that dates back to 1999, I humbly submit my 2013 Top 5’s:

TOP 5 MOVIES

The Spectacular Now (BMOC)

Fruitvale Station (American tragedy)

Enough Said (man, it doesn’t get ANY easier)

Spring Breakers (ultimate bangerz)

(tie) Don Jon, Frances Ha (the pains of being pure at heart)

TOP 5 DVD’S/WEB STREAMS

War Witch (hear Komona)

Smashed (working the program)

Warm Bodies (zombie love)

Umberto D (thank God for our dogs)

Pitch Perfect (long live Fat Amy)

TOP 5 ALBUMS

Love Sign- Free Energy (more cowbell!)

Can’t Wait- Sugar Stems (Milwaukee’s finest)

We Need The Rain- The Bye Bye Blackbirds (pure pop from Oaktown)

Buttons:  From Champaign to Chicago- Various  Artists (joyful Illi-noise)

Above, Beyond and In Between- Lisa Mychols (SoCal pop chanteuse)

TOP 5 BOOKS

The Art Of Fielding- Chad Harbach (we all need a Mike Schwartz)

Telegraph Avenue- Michael Chabon (welcome to Brokeland)

The Professional- Robert B. Parker (Mr. Parker, you will be missed)

The Imperfectionists- Tom Rachman (end of an era)

In One Person- John Irving (a spinning top)

TOP 5 TV/CABLE SHOWS

House Of Cards (smoke filled rooms)

Orange Is The New Black (pied Piper)

Game of Thrones Season 2 (winter is coming...)

Orphan Black (Cosima is my favorite)

Walking Dead Season 3 (Michonne rules!)

Don’t get to enough live performances to give it a category of its own but Jaime and I saw A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder in New York last week and it was awesome! 

If you’d like to see any past Top 5 lists, I’ve put them up on the Rick’s Top 5 Lists Blog.  I’d love to hear your favorites from 2013 so please send them along- I’m always on the lookout for quality viewing, listening and reading material.  Here’s wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous 2014!!

2012 Top 5 Lists

New Year’s greetings to you all!  I hope you had an enjoyable 2012.  I’m happy to report that even though I was fake stabbed to death numerous times while playing Julius Caesar on stage, in the real world I had an injury-free 12 months!  And my radio show ALL KINDSA GIRLS is still going strong (check out the blog and  facebook page).  As always, 2012 was chock full of great movies, DVD’s, TV shows, records and books I thoroughly enjoyed watching, streaming, listening to and reading.  So, in a proud tradition that dates back to 1999, I humbly share my 2012 Top 5’s:

TOP 5 MOVIES

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (feel infinite)

Silver Linings Playbook (90% mental)

The Sessions (breathing lessons)

Headhunters (literally!)

Young Adult (you can’t go back)

TOP 5 DVD’S/WEB STREAMS

Pariah (AG indeed)

Coriolanus (Shakespeare/Fiennes)

Point Blank (nurse nightmare)

Chronicle (growing pains)

Tomboy (boy’s life)

TOP 5 ALBUMS

Ignition- Shoes (Zion’s finest are back)

Falling Off The Sky- The dB’s (triumphant Tar Heels return)

What Kind Of World- Brendan Benson (rocking raconteur)

Soundshine- David Myhr (merrymaking)

Tre- Green Day (third time’s the charm)

TOP 5 BOOKS

Ready Player One- Ernest Cline (virtual unreality)

The Fault In Our Stars- John Green (amazing Hazel Grace)

American Subversive- David Goodwillie (blogger/terror-ist)

The Leftovers- Tom Perotta (after-rapture)

The Name Of The Game Is Death- Dan J. Marlowe (pulp fiction)

TOP 5 TV/CABLE SHOWS

Game of Thrones Season 1 (Stark outlook)

Sons of Anarchy Seasons 1-4 (something is rotten in Charming)

Boardwalk Empire Seasons 1-2 (Nucky rules)

Walking Dead Season 2 (poor Dale)

Hell On Wheels Season 1 (home on the range)

Please feel free to share your favorites from 2012.  I’m always on the lookout for quality viewing, listening and reading material so it would be great to hear from you.  Here’s wishing you all the best in 2013!!

2011 Top 5 Lists

Happy New Year from Sonoma, California!! I hope 2012 finds you well. As for me, I am back on track after a year that had its highs (appearing as “Brad” in Rocky Horror Show) and lows (racking my body in a cycling accident) but was on balance positive.

The family is doing well and my radio show ALL KINDSA GIRLS (http://allkindsagirls.blogspot.com/ and now finally on facebook) is still a blast. As always, whatever my mental or physical state happened to be this year it was enriched by records, books, films and TV shows. Sharing my favorites with all of you is a proud tradition dating back to 1999. So, I now humbly submit my 2011 Top 5’s:

TOP 5 MOVIES

Win Win (wrestling with your demons, literally)

Crazy Stupid Love (title says it all)

The Guard (Irish Independent)

Hugo (cinephilia)

Higher Ground (the miracle of faith)

TOP 5 DVD'S

Attack The Block (aliens vs. outsiders)

Beginners (we all get a do-over)

Together “Tilsammans” (Swedish fishbowl)

The Battle of Algiers (modern warfare in 1966)

Dogtooth “Kynodontas” (alternative child rearing techniques)

TOP 5 ALBUMS

Sloan- The Double Cross (XX marks the spot)

Fountains Of Wayne- Sky Full Of Holes (a return to form)

The Wellingtons- In Transit (Power Pop Lives…in Australia!)

Cute Lepers- Adventure Time (Mr. Nix’s opus)

The Smithereens- 2011 (New Jersey’s finest)

TOP 5 BOOKS

A Visit From The Goon Squad- Jennifer Egan (Nobody beats the goon)

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky (Charlie says…)

The Hunger Games Trilogy- Suzanne Collins (May the odds be ever in your favor)

The Lonely Polygamist- Brady Udall (Mo marriages, mo problems)

Pygmy- Chuck Palahniuk (nobody writes like Chuck)

TOP 5 TELEVISION/CABLE SHOWS

American Horror Story (the house always wins)

Treme: Season 1 (a dead city rises)

Happy Endings (Chicago’s finest)

Justified: Season 1 (Harlan County Confidential)

Louie (brutal/hilarious honesty)

I would love to hear your best of 2011, so please feel free to send it along. I’m always on the lookout for quality viewing, listening and reading material. Here’s wishing you all the best in 2012!

2010 Top 5 Lists

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!!

2009 Top 5 Lists

Happy New Year! Wow, 2009… I’m tempted to do my Comic Guy Impression (“Worst….Year….Ever”) but why tempt fate? What I can say is that the last year has helped keep things in perspective: the family is great, we are healthy, we live in a very cool town and, thanks in large part to the Internet and the Sonoma County Library, last year I got to see/listen to/read some fantastic movies & TV shows/music/books. My radio show on KSVY in Sonoma, ALL KINDSA GIRLS (http://allkindsagirls.blogspot.com/), has also been a blessing. So, in an incredibly challenging year, we still have a lot to be thankful for.

While not all of the selections below came out in the last 12 months, that’s when I discovered them. Also, my 2009 Top 5’s do not include a Live Performance category- it was that kind of year. So, unsolicited and humbly submitted, here are my 2009 Top 5’s:

TOP 5 MOVIES
Adventureland (excellent taste in music only gets you so far- trust me)
District 9 (we are not very nice)
In The Loop (so plausible it’s horrifying)
Paranormal Activity (terror in the cul de sac)
The Hurt Locker (Survivor: Baghdad)

TOP 5 DVD'S
Tell No One (lovely Gallic mystery)
I Love You, Man (bromantic comedy)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romanian nightmare)
Sugar (real baseball saga)
Old Joy (Portland zen)

TOP 5 ALBUMS
Tinted Windows- s/t (Power Pop supergroup)
Kevin K & The Hollywood Stars- Cool Ways (rock & roll warrior)
Big Kid- You Must Be Kidding (California big stars)
Raspberries- Starting Over (Power Pop prototype)
Someloves- Something Or Other (more Mariani genius)

TOP 5 BOOKS
Drop City- TC Boyle (hippie indictment)
The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night Time- Mark Haddon (autistic Hercule Poirot)
The Devil In The White City- Erik Larson (before civic duty morphed into community service)
Dear American Airlines- Jonathan Miles (extreme customer dissatisfaction)
The Ax- Donald Westlake (revenge of the downsized)

TOP 5 TELEVISION/CABLE SHOWS
The Wire Seasons 1-3 (Jimmy, Kima & Omar helped me through some tough times)
Modern Family (re-vitalizing the family sitcom)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 4 (shame I was too snobby to tune in during its run)
Slings & Arrows Season 1 (Canadian Shakespeare festival follies)
John Adams (living U.S. history)

You can check out past Top 5 Lists at: http://ricktop5lists.blogspot.com/. I’d love to hear your best of 2009, so please feel free to respond with your favorites in any category. I always appreciate hearing about quality viewing, listening and reading material. Thanks- and here’s hoping for a better year in 2010!

2008 Top 5 Lists

Happy New Year! What can we say about 2008? For starters, I’m happy it’s over and I’m striving to remain optimistic about 2009. (On the plus side, hard times generally produce great art for future lists.) Thanks to DVD and hulu.com, the small screen finally gets a category in my tenth annual list. Not all of these selections came out last year, but that’s when I got around to them. So, unsolicited as always, I humbly submit my 2008 Top 5’s:

TOP 5 MOVIES
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (young love in/with NYC)
The Orphanage (Capra-esque horror)
Happy Go Lucky (anatomy of a truly happy person)
Rachel Getting Married (a trainwreck, yet I couldn’t look away)
Appaloosa (Ed & Viggo rock the Wild West)

TOP 5 DVD'S
Colma The Musical (authentic high school musical)
Be Kind Rewind (thoroughly sweded)
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (proto celebrity-stalker-homicide)
Talk To Me (back when radio ruled)
Gone Baby Gone (Southie hospitality)

TOP 5 LP'S/CD'S
The Hold Steady- Stay Positive (these sing a long songs will be our scriptures)
Titan: It’s All Pop! (Kansas City ‘78-82…powerpop’s halcyon days)
The Speedies- Speedy Delivery (hella hair and hooks with skinny ties too)
The Clash Live At Shea Stadium (rocks, despite the faux-hawk and imminent break-up)
Silver Sun- Dad’s Weird Dream (keeping the powerpop fires burning)

TOP 5 BOOKS
Lush Life- Richard Price (lower east side nightmare)
The Plot Against America- Philip Roth (guardian of liberty)
The Abstinence Teacher- Tom Perrotta (suburban jihad)
Then We Came To The End-Joshua Ferris (dot com bubbleheads)
Gentlemen of the Road- Michael Chabon (or as the author puts it “Jews with Swords”)

TOP 5 LIVE PERFORMANCES
AC/DC 12/4/08 Oracle Arena, Oakland (father-son bonding)
The Hold Steady/Drive By Truckers 11/24/08 The Fillmore, San Francisco (almost killed me)
“August Osage County” 7/26/08 Music Box Theater, NYC (full bore family dysfunction)
The Rubinoos 6/21/08 Great American Music Hall, San Francisco (powerpop gods rock the earth)
You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown 5/2/08 Trinity Church Sonoma, CA (a starlet is born)

TOP 5 TELEVISION/WEB SHOWS
Deadwood Seasons 2&3 (extreme manifest destiny)
Firefly Season 1 (cowboys in space, thanks hulu.com!)
Arrested Development Complete Series (be glad you’re not a Bluth, another hulu gem)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog (1st entry from the new small screen)
Lost Season 4 (mind bending flash forwards)

Let me know what you think and feel free to respond with Top 5’s of your own. I’m always on the lookout for material for future lists. Here’s to a brighter 2009!