It was busy year for me personally and so there are a great many things I'm sure would have made this list if I had only had time to experience them: Frances Ha, Short Term 12, American Hustle, Haim, Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine, Time of Death, Six by Sondheim, Mark Rylance’s "Twelfth Night", the list goes on and on. But that being said, there were 20 terrific things I did experience that helped make 2013 a pretty great year culturally.
1. Liz’s speech to Tracy in the 30 Rock finale
I wish I could post a clip of this because the performances are really what put it over the top, but rights issues prevent me from doing that so here's the transcript of it:
I wish I could post a clip of this because the performances are really what put it over the top, but rights issues prevent me from doing that so here's the transcript of it:
“We were forced to be friends because of work. And we’re probably not gonna hang out after this. You’ll say you’re gonna invite me to your house, but it's never gonna happen. And I’ll see on TV that it’s your birthday and I’ll forget to call. And working with you is hard. Tracy, you frustrated me and you wore me out. But because the human heart is not properly connected to the human brain I love you, and I’m gonna miss you.(pause)But tonight might be it.”
Did the most heartbreakingly honest and emotionally true observation about human relationships seen on TV this year happen on a four-punchline-a-minute comedy? Of course it did. What could be more indicative of our 2013 post-genre America than that?
Comedy is dead; long live comedy.
(While we’re on the terrific 30 Rock finale, shout out to the Rural Juror song. It should have won all of the Emmys.)
2. Girls – “Boys”
I wrote about Girls last year. And I'm sure I’ll write about Girls next year. I'm sure on my death bed I’ll grip my wife’s hand and with my last dying breath whisper softly in her ear “I should have written more about Girls”. But all we have is the here and now, and what I want to say this year about Girls concerns “Boys”. Because while so much of the talk around season two focused on the Patrick Wilson episode, "Other People's Trash", for me "Boys" is the episode the best showcased what Girls does better than any other show and that is showing how people at their worst are only human.
In the age of the anti-hero, Girls represents the next step in the evolutionary process by giving us no heroes at all. Everyone on the show is just a person, flawed and imperfect, sometimes trying to do their best and other times not trying much of anything at all. They're petty and considerate, selfish and giving, honest and guarded, and most of all just trying to get through to the next moment just like everyone else. No character comes out of "Boys" looking good, but your heart goes out to each and everyone of them. And if the final phone call between Hannah and Marnie doesn't hit you deep in your soul then you probably don't have one.
In the age of the anti-hero, Girls represents the next step in the evolutionary process by giving us no heroes at all. Everyone on the show is just a person, flawed and imperfect, sometimes trying to do their best and other times not trying much of anything at all. They're petty and considerate, selfish and giving, honest and guarded, and most of all just trying to get through to the next moment just like everyone else. No character comes out of "Boys" looking good, but your heart goes out to each and everyone of them. And if the final phone call between Hannah and Marnie doesn't hit you deep in your soul then you probably don't have one.
3. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City
Speaking of Girls, if Hannah Horvath wants to be the voice of her generation she might have to get in line behind these guys. Now I might be defining "generation" very narrowly as "white American coastal-dwelling creative types in their late 20s to early 30s", but still. Vampire Weekend is the sound of my people. A sound that has evolved from a Paul Simon knockoff to something much deeper, yet somehow still totally the same. Seriously, has any band ever changed its sound more while still sounding exactly like itself? It's music that speaks to the times, is urbane yet lived in, drenched in anxiety and intellect, gets in your bloodstream, and is very very white. Modern vampires of the city indeed.
4. Daft Punk - “Get Lucky”
A wise person once said opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got one. Which is interesting because an asshole is also what you're being if you have the “opinion” that anything other than “Get Lucky” is the song of 2013. And nobody likes an asshole.
5. 12 Years a Slave
To take the preceding concept one step further, there are opinions and then there are facts. And "12 Years a Slave is the most powerful, well-made, and important film of 2013” is definitely the later.
Crazy that it took 150 years and a bunch of British guys to make the first mainstream film to deal honestly with the horror and brutality of American slavery, but then again, not crazy at all.
Speaking of which….
6. Fruitvale Station
6. Fruitvale Station
I know asking white people to watch and care about one whole movie per year about the problems of black people that doesn't also feature a white protagonist is tough. And it appears asking them to watch three (THREE!) of them is impossible (see also: The Butler). Which is a shame because...well...where do I even begin? But in this case specifically because the least mainstream of the three is in many ways the most vital.
Due to the amount of time it takes for a movie to go from idea to a finished product it’s rare to see films address current events in anything approaching real time. But in a sadly not that unbelievable twist of fate, Fruitvale Station was released a day before the George Zimmerman verdict. And that verdict made watching the film an almost unbearably heartbreaking experience. It’s the only film I’ve ever attended that when the movie ended and the lights came up not a single person had yet gotten out of their seats and all you could hear was complete and total silence punctuated only by the sounds of sniffles. There were sadly not that many of us in the theater, because while everyone rushes out to see a big spectacle like Gravity on the big screen, the masses aren’t that into the best reason to cram yourself into a dark room with a bunch of random strangers for a few hours: to experience a group catharsis.
At my screening the first person to finally get up from their seat, wipe the tears from their face and leave the theater was a black man who looked old enough to have a son the same age as Oscar Grant was when he was killed. The next person to follow his lead was an old white woman who had trouble even standing up. The first man was almost out of theater, saw her at the last second, and turned back in her direction to try and help. She kindly waved him off and he went on his way. It was a moment that meant nothing really, but in the context of what we had all just been through it felt like it meant everything. And if that’s not a reason to go the movies then I don't know what is.
7. Kanye - “Blood on the Leaves”
I already wrote extensively about my thoughts on Yeezus as a whole, so allow me to take a moment to discuss “Blood on the Leaves”. Because has anything ever been more Kanye than “Blood on the Leaves”? I mean, he used an iconic Nina Simone song about lynchings for the backdrop of a song about knocking up a groupie? Why would he do that?? Is he trying to make some sort of statement? Did he just like the way it sounded? Is he simply trolling us all? It’s provocative and ridiculous and offensive and touching and honest and manipulative and you can think about it all til your head bleeds and still be no closer to solving it. But then the beat hits for the first time at the 1:07 mark and none of that matters. Because, goddamn, that beat, that moment, that contradiction of sounds, they render all human thought completely irrelevant.
Maybe Kanye really IS the black Jesus.
8. Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now
I didn't love The Spectacular Now as much as I hoped to. Also, Kyle Chandler gives the movie’s most awards worthy performance. And Miles Teller is getting the most breakout star hype (although for my money a little bit of Miles Teller goes a long way). But years from now what the movie will be remembered for, if anything, is for being Shailene Woodley’s Mystic Pizza. Whether she finds her Pretty Woman or not who knows, but if there’s any justice in the world she will be America’s new(est) sweetheart. I would say our next great actress too, but it’s unclear if she’s even acting in this movie. I’m not totally convinced she was aware that cameras were rolling or that a movie was being made around her. I know a screenplay allegedly was written, but I'm pretty sure she was just saying whatever words came into her head. So natural and unaffected was Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now that she transcended “acting” and existed on some other plane of being. I would say she’s primed to be the biggest female movie star in the world, except for the fact that there is one minor, tiny little thing standing in her way….
9. Jennifer Lawrence
...And that is Jennifer Lawrence, the queen of 2013 and the queen of our hearts. Other than maybe the Pope, no one owned 2013 quite the way Jennifer Lawrence did. Suffice it to say that when WINNING AN OSCAR seems like a forgotten footnote on the list of things people remember from your year then that year was a pretty good one for you. And you know you're in a rarefied place when the actual walk up to receive the biggest honor possible in your industry does more for your fame and your career than the actual honor itself. Jennifer Lawrence is officially on some Michael Jackson-in-1983 shit. There's no way it can last, but really, in this day and age, there's nothing Jennifer Lawrence will ever be able to achieve that will be more impressive than keeping it going this long. Culture moves so quickly now and the backlash machine is so fast to pounce that we might never see anything like it again. There are still two more Hunger Games to promote and a possible nother Oscar win for American Hustle so who knows what greatness we still have in store for us, but no matter what happens from here we'll always have 2013 and J-Law telling Letterman a story about shitting herself.
10. "Stonehenge"/"The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)" videos
Allow me to plagiarize myself:
11. Breaking BadTo take nothing away from “The Fox" which is obviously an incredible work of artistic genius, but the best thing about "The Fox" is that it has lead to the discovery of the existence of "Stonehenge". And "Stonehenge" is the best. (The best!)
Now do any more countries have their own versions of Flight of the Conchords that we should know about?
First off, can we just stop with this nonsense that Breaking Bad is the greatest show of all time? That’s just the recency bias talking. Plus haven't we established that The Wire is forever the best show of all time? I didn't realize this was still a discussion. But all that being said, Breaking Bad is probably the most suspenseful, the most masterfully plotted, the most well directed, and the most well acted TV show of all time. And it unquestionably had the greatest final season of any TV show ever. That is definitely not still a discussion. So while Breaking Bad ultimately may not have had a lot to say about the world other than dealing meth is a bad life choice and power corrupts absolutely, it all the way til its very end remained a masterpiece of storytelling and TV’s ultimate thrill ride. And it proved that in the quest for artistic immortality and respect, going out on your own terms is finally the new premature cancellation. To paraphrase Jessie Pinkman: closure, bitch!
12. Mad Men – “For Immediate Release”
Here’s a show though that had TONS to say about the world. Yes it addressed power, and strangely enough drugs, but also so much more. It's hard to pick just one episode from a brilliant season that featured Bob Benson, Peggy and Abe and Ted, the return of Betty, Sally walking in on Don and Sylvia, Roger being Roger, and the now legendary climatic Hershey’s speech. But for my money this midseason game changer was the finest of the year. If drama is the story of change than there wasn't a more dramatic hour of television in 2013. I've never seen a show firing on all cylinders so unexpectedly hit the reset button in the middle of a season before, and it's doubtful I ever will again. As the end credits rolled I was shocked, disoriented, and full of all the emotions. I loved it.
13. Kacey Musgraves - “Merry Go Round”
I enjoy Taylor Swift. I own all of Taylor Swift’s music. I listen to it often. Because I am a fan of all things Taylor Swift. But Taylor Swift...you just GOT SERVED (as the kids still presumably say).
Now if you’ll excuse me Taylor Swift, I’m off to get the lyrics to “Merry Go Round” tattooed on my face.
(Thank god this song didn't come out when I was a 16-year-old living in the Houston suburbs or there's a very real chance I might have actually done that)
14. The Manti Teo/catfishing scandal
The Dick Chaney shooting his friend in the face/Clint Eastwood berating a chair of 2013. Only better. And perhaps twitter’s finest hour.
15. Her
This movie should win all of the awards. And I mean that fairly literally. Not just Best Picture and Best Director, but, like, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Casting, Best Location Scouting, and Best Everything. Because there's no element of this movie that isn’t perfect. Particularly perfect though: the otherworldly screenplay, the decision to have Shanghai stand in for Los Angeles, Joaquin Phoenix who might be best American male actor working today, Scarlett Johansson who absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination for a role in which she never appears on screen, and Amy Adams who has quietly become a fairly reliable signifier of quality. But most perfect of all is Spike Jonze. He’s now made four films and three of them are all-time classics (and the 4th isn't far off). Her though is without a doubt his masterwork. He took a seemingly comical and ridiculous premise - man falls in love with his computer - and crafted it into not only a searingly honest and heartfelt apology to his ex-wife, but into one of the most heartbreaking explorations of the quest for human connection in years. It’s both incredibly of its time and way ahead of it. It’s a master filmmaker at his absolute apex both as an artist and as a human. And it’s one of my all-time favorite movies.
16. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey at The Golden Globes
Serious Question: Why aren’t all awards shows just like this?
Serious Question Two: Why is it so rare that things are exactly as good as you know that they will be?
17. Orange is the New Black
Was there anything more 2013 than Orange is the New Black? It checked all the boxes - multiracial, gay-friendly, empowering to women, a sprawling ensemble cast, gave voice to people not normally represented in popular culture, on Netflix rather than "TV", designed for binge watching, a comedy without hard jokes, a drama with big laughs, hip-hop, NPR, mustaches. OITNB was 2013. But more importantly, at a time when culture seems obsessed with teaching old dogs new tricks, OITNB showed us all a different way forward: get a new dog.
18. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - “Same Love”
Some generations have their “Change is Gonna Come” sung by Sam Cooke, and some have theirs sung by a guy whose most famous song is a novelty record about thrift store shopping. But then that’s not giving Macklemore enough credit. Because when I was young person the uber-popular zeitgeist-capturing white rapper du-jour was known for his misogyny, homophobia, violence, and nihilism. And today’s version on the other hand is known for his consciousness, his sobriety, his rejection of consumerism, and his LGBT activism. So while I’ll always have a place in my heart for Eminem due to what he meant to me during my formative years, without a doubt Macklemore, culturally, represents progress. And this is his "My Name Is".
19. Before Midnight
In a year when complaining about sequels and prequels and comic book adaptations reached a fever pitch, ironic that one the year’s best movies and one of my all-time favorite films (that's two in one year!) was part of a trilogy and a super hero franchise. And you better believe that Celine and Jesse are super heroes. They're super heroes of language. Super heroes of honesty. And my personal super heroes for proving once again that all you truly need for great art is two people talking.
#CelineandJesse4Ever
Finally, nothing resonated more deeply and personally with me in 2013 than this simple article in the New York Times. It articulates the complexity, contradiction, and difficulty of being a person in a relationship with other people more clearly, beautifully, and succinctly than anything else I've ever read.
“If we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known” should be recited by school kids like the Pledge of Allegiance.
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