The 25 Best Things of 2015

As sort of a personal record for myself, at the end of every year I like to write about my favorite bits of culture from the year. A time capsule if you will, of my thoughts on the best things from the year that was. I capped the list at 25 this year, so with deep apologies to Season 2 of You're the Worst, the cast of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Saiorse Ronan in Brooklyn, the escape scene in Room, the epilogue of Spotlight, and all the things from 2015 I haven't had the chance to experience yet (Making a Murderer, The Big Short, Cate Blanchett in Carol, etc.) here’s what mattered most to me in 2015, presented in no particular order:

1. Togetherness
So clearly I’m going to be biased when it comes to TV shows about people living on the Eastside of Los Angeles working in the entertainment industry and taking trips to Houston…but this show just might be perfect. It’s just so many things I love from my entertainment: complex yet recognizable characters and situations, quietly profound observations about life, subtly heartbreaking moments mixed with realistic happiness, wit and humor the way they appear in actual life, conversational dialogue that feels loaded yet lived in, a real connection to the way the world actually works, and most of all, four of the best performances on TV. Seriously, can we just give these four a collective acting Emmy and then just cancel the rest of the Emmys? Their work is uniformly awe-inspiring. It’s impossible to pick a favorite of the four.

On a broader note though this is exactly the kind of project that 10 years ago would have been made as an indie film. Even five years ago maybe. But the funding for films like this - subtle contemporary non-awards-bait character studies - just isn’t there anymore. So now these stories are moving to premium cable. And maybe we’re all better off for it. Imagine if this had only been a two hour movie, think of all the character development we would have missed. It would have been criminal.

Independent filmmaking is dead; long live independent filmmaking.

2. “Nashville” - Master of None
It makes sense that Master of None was inspired by the films of Hal Ashby and Woody Allen since high-end TV is the new auteur cinema. And if TV in the 2010s is where movies were in the 1970s, then the Nashville episode of Master of None is not only the best romantic comedy of the year, it might just be our Annie Hall.

3. Left Shark
Just as we all predicted, in 2015 the most profound and culturally resonant metaphor for the human condition would come from a guy at the Super Bowl dancing in a shark costume. #WeAreAllLeftShark

4. Aretha Franklin at The Kennedy Center Honors



Dropping the coat is the new dropping the mic. And no one will ever do it better.

5. Mad Men finale
Sure the final season lost the narrative thread of the series a bit. And sure, the finale was super fan-service-y. But also it was wonderful and they shouldn’t change a thing about it. Because really who doesn’t want to see all their friends get happy endings? And if you didn’t get emotional at Stan and Peggy I don’t know when you ever will.

But ultimately, in the end, as in the in beginning, this was Don Draper’s story. America’s story. Our story. The story of how we journey a very long way out of our way just to go a very short distance. Or maybe to go nowhere at all. The story of how we’re always pitching, always selling ourselves to the world around us, but never outrunning who we are and how we began. Like life, Mad Men was never about what it seemed to be about. But also it was. So of course it ended with a bang that felt like a whimper. Because that’s life. And I wish it could have gone on forever.

(Before we go here, we’re all going to collectively fund the Sally Draper spinoff series, right? Like, that’s definitely happening, isn’t it? It better be. And speaking of spinoffs…)

6. Better Call Saul
It’s shocking how much better season one of this show was than it needed to be. It was so good in fact, it makes me reconsider every opinion I thought I had about Breaking Bad.

I thought Breaking Bad was a terrific show, an all-timer, but as a ride-or-die member of #teamMadMen I also thought it was maybe more entertaining than great. More style than substance. And maybe it was. But maybe it doesn’t matter. Because with Better Call Saul Vince Gilligan definitively proves that there’s no one in the world better at the CRAFT of television. He’s not precious, or exacting, or tortured – he just makes great TV. I feel like you could just call out a suggestion, improv-show style, and he could make a great show out of it. Better Call Saul just FEELS like a great show. And it is. And it’s great in ways that seem both effortless and impossible in equal measure.

Vince Gilligan and his team are magicians.

7. Mad Max: Fury Road
It’s like George Miller took on the “why don’t they make the whole plane out of the black box material” question as a filmmaking challenge. He made a whole movie out of just the action sequences, and whaddya know - it worked! No real exposition or backstory or cumbersome plot – just "these people seem bad", "these other ones seem good", "water is scarce, women seem oppressed, the good guys are headed somewhere, and the bad guys are chasing them". That’s all we’re really told, and that all we need to know. Turns out audiences don’t need their hands held. A genre film that trusts its audience and itself shouldn’t feel like a miracle, but it does. And for as much has been rightly made about the feminism of Mad Max, for me what seems most revolutionary about the film is how old fashioned it feels. It hopefully is going to mark a turning point in the road back to practical effects, lived-in non-CGI production design, and minimalistic storytelling. Hollywood blockbusters can’t get any bigger or bolder at this point. As Mad Max shows, the only place left to go is to make them better.

8. Missy Elliott - “WTF” video 



Missy Elliot is so far ahead of her time we will never catch up.

9. The Late Show with David Letterman finale
I’ve written previously about how much The Late Show with David Letterman meant to me (still feels weird to refer to it in past tense) and as someone who often felt like Dave was a member of the family I can attest that final show of his reign was perfectly and totally him. Self-depreciating, understated, genuine, almost apologetic for its very existence, yet with a midwestern sense of respect and recognition for those who helped make it possible. After years of phoned in shows and general indifference it was Dave at his very best. And the closing montage made me weep more than some people who have lost actual family members. It closed not only chapter of my life, but a chapter of our collective history. And there will never be another quite like it.

10. The Jinx
The best ever murder mystery that wasn’t even remotely a mystery. And speaking of finales, it’s amazing that an ending that seems so obviously preordained could still be so shocking when it actually happens. It’s an ending that could someday be equaled, but will never be topped. It’s a landmark of televised non-fiction. And it’s incredible that it all came together like it did. It feels like a unicorn. More unicorns please.

11. The Community Series Finale Tag
Wow, what a year of series finales, and perhaps none was more “on brand” than Community ending its run with a season that no one knew existed, on a website that no one goes to, and capped off with an absurdist, high concept, deeply insider-y and self-referential “bit” examining the nature of reality. It’s as great and as weird as it sounds. And since I’m sure you probably didn't see it, go to Yahoo Screen now and watch the final three minutes of episode 13 of Community. Or just watch it here if it didn't get taken down yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Pf_X_mgwM

12.  3 & 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets
While we’re on the subject of things no one saw, in the proud tradition of Resolved and Hot Coffee, 3 & 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets is this year's superb, social relevant HBO documentary that should be required viewing for all Americans. In the year of #blacklivesmatter, Michael Dunn's phone calls, particularly his final one, sum up the racial problems in this country better than 100 think pieces ever could. It's this year's Fruitvale Station, and unless more people watch and address the issues it illuminates, versions of this film will be made every year.

13. Inside Out
Like all the best Pixar movies, I wonder if kids enjoyed this at all, because it certainly doesn't seem like it was made for them. A dive into the heartbreak and deep melancholy of growing up hardly seems like what kids want in their movie-going experience. But it is very much what I want. A movie that is funny and sad in equal measure, that feels deeply personal yet inherently universal, that is unlike anything you've seen before, that shocks and challenges its intended audience, that is incredibly smart and well constructed, that gets at something complex and real about the human condition, that has Oscar-caliber performances (in this case Amy Poehler and especially Richard Kind, as Bing Bong, the heart and soul of the film) - these are all the things I'm hoping to get when I go to the movies. And they are what Pixar delivers time and again. Good god I love them so.

14. John Hancock III – “Left Me”
This is without a doubt the greatest and most important thing anyone named John Hancock has ever had his name on.

15. Rachel Bloom on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend shouldn’t work for sooo many reasons and yet it does for one crucial one - Rachel Bloom. She is so watchable and likable and talented that she makes what should be a problematic mess into the most purely enjoyable show of 2015. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is Exhibit A in the value of giving brilliant people carte blanche to follow their muse wherever it takes them. Who knew The CW had it in them?

16. Black Cindy’s Judaism speech – Orange is the New Black
One of the best things about OITNB has always been its insanely deep bench of actors. If before this season you had been asked to name the ten best actors on the show Adrienne C. Moore probably doesn't make too many of those lists. And yet, now it would seem insane to leave her off. And a big part of that is not only increased screen time and great overall work, but her speech in the finale about converting to Judaism. It was not only incredibly well acted but it also summed up the OITNB ethos - a seemingly ridiculous and often comic premise taken to its humanist and moving conclusion. And for Adrienne C. Moore that conclusion could and should be the stage on Emmy night 2016.

17. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
This feels like cheating a bit because Kurt Cobain is one of the most fascinating subjects of the 20th century, but Montage of Heck really might be the greatest ever realization of documentary-as-art-form. Interviews, home movies, original animation, private audio recordings, found footage, stock clips - all blended together into something completely new – it really is a montage of heck. It all took Brett Morgan eight years to make, and it shows, in the best way possible. It’s a true work of art, not just a delivery system for information. It’s a story that lets you create your own narrative. By the end everything about Kurt Cobain and his journey seemed to make perfect sense to me, and yet also none of it made any sense at all, including the fact that he even ever existed in the first place. It’s all just so tragic and so beautiful. So profound and so meaningless. It’s an emotionally wrenching ride straight into the heart of genius, angst, alienation, and the last dying gasps of monoculture. 500 years from now when people want to understand my generation, this is all they need to watch. Note to the future: Keep the tissues handy.

18. Alessia Cara – “Here”
I love this song now, but it legitimately terrifies how many times I would have listened to this song if it came out when I was in high school. Like I might really never have left the house. Which is kind of the whole point I guess.

And if the song wasn't already great enough, Alessia Cara’s Tonight Show appearance is the greatest a-star-is-born late night talk show musical performance since Janelle Monae broke out with “Tightrope" on Letterman.

This one is gonna be with us for a very long time.

19. Show Me a Hero
David Simon doesn't make reality shows; he makes reality shows. Ones that sadly, still, no one watches. Their loss. Because in probably the greatest year ever for television this was hands down the best thing on it. Its a series I still think about daily. About Oscar Issac’s Oscar-caliber work. About Paul Haggis’ great direction (a sentence I literally never thought I’d say). And about David Simon’s peerless humanistic exploration of the real societal forces that make our world the way it is.

My other favorite TV writer Aaron Sorkin once penned the line “you can’t handle the truth”. But that’s all David Simon ever aspires to do. It’s just a shame more people don’t want to watch him try.

20. Wilco – “Name Generator”
In case you were wondering how white I am, this song was easily the most played song in my iTunes for 2015.  And in case you’re wondering why I love Wilco so much, I’m a person who still listens to music using iTunes, so I’m basically their target demographic.

21. Ryan Adams - 1989
This idea could have worked only half as well as it did and it still would have been my favorite album of the year. It was also the exact thing that Ryan Adams was put on this earth to do.

22. March 19th Daily Show segment – “Mighty Morphin Position Changers”
The Daily Show with John Stewart is the greatest television program of all time. It not only did a tremendous job of being entertaining, but it also had a vital daily impact on shaping the national political conversation. No TV show has ever, or in our increasingly fractured age, likely will ever be simultaneous as great at both things. It’s as though 60s-era Walter Cronkite was also the permanent host of 70s-era SNL. And now, post-Jon Stewart the show goes on, but it doesn't really. Now it’s just another show on the dial. Because as good as Trevor Noah may or may not be, it’s besides the point. No one else will ever have the respect, the moral authority, the voice-of-God-from-on-high nature that Jon engendered. And with that, it’s segments like this one that we as people have lost with his retirement. Sure, this exact piece could technically be duplicated by someone else. But the mic drop at the end of it has a power and impact that no other entertainer will ever be able to duplicate. A perfect message will now always have an imperfect messenger. The king is dead; the king is dead forever.

23. Kanye - “All Day” at the Brit Awards



“Kanye Awards Show Performances” is my favorite YouPorn category.

24. Bojack Horseman
As people have always said, the best way to reveal difficult truths about the nature of humanity is with an animated comedy about an anthropomorphic horse. This is not only my favorite TV show, it’s also my TV soulmate. It’s almost more than that - If I tried to imagine the perfect TV show for me personally, this is even better than the show I would have come up with. It’s a miracle it exists, and I’m gonna keep putting it on these year end lists for as long as they keep making it. #Bojack4lyfe

25. Hamilton
I’ll try and keep this brief…

This list isn't ranked in any way except for this: Hamilton will go down as the most lasting and impactful artistic creation of 2015, and I don’t think the competition is even remotely close. Like The Beatles of theater, Hamilton has transcended its art form and become bigger than everything else in its medium combined. It’s so big that the President of the United Sates can go see it, and the show itself can still seem like the bigger deal. It’s like a supernova, engulfing the matter of everything that should come in its wake. Its cast album topped the Billboard RAP CHARTS for gods sake. The viral videos it has spawned populate the Internet. It’s the ultimate status symbol in the ultimate status symbol town. But most importantly, it’s not just a mere phenomenon. It’s a new way forward. By using the contemporary music of the day to tell an epic story with a diverse cast, it connects musical theater’s past to its future. It has the power to single-handedly give new life to an entire art form that was virtually dead as a mainstream force. Hamilton is the defibrillator for the American Theater. And if that's not powerful art, then I don't know what is.

My Top 20 Favorite Things of 2013

 

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: 

“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.
 

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

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:

To 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?

11. Breaking Bad
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

20. The New York Times article “I Know What You Think Of Me”

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.

The Top Things 30 Of 2012

After one of the worst years for pop culture ever in 2011, 2012 was one of the best. So much so that I couldn't cut my annual "Best of the Year" list down to less than thirty, and thats even with leaving off things like Zero Dark Thirty, Perks of Being a Wallflower, "Tig Notaro Live at Largo", the final monologues of The Dictator and Killing Them Softly, Channel Orange, Louie, 30 Rock, and the cast of Happy Endings that I feel like would make this list only I either haven't had a chance to experience them yet or they are ineligible due to appearing on a previous year's list (gotta spread the love). So without further ado here are my top 30 favorite things from 2012, in relatively random order.

30. “We Found Love” at the Brit Awards

Questions:

Why werent there more people talking about this?
Have I not been giving Rihanna enough credit?
Have we all not?
Is this what raves are like?
Is this what dubstep is like?
Is this the solution to all the world’s problems? More dubstep raves?
It would appear so.
In that case...DUBSTEP RAVES 2013!

Also, why are all award show performances not like this?

29. Adele at the Grammys

Answer: Because some awards show performances are like this.

27. Liam Neeson on Lifes Too Short

I never actually watched this show which is something I never thought I would say about a Ricky Grevais project. But this one just seemed like a half-hearted attempt to redo Extras and I don’t need a poor man's Extras. Watched Extras, loved Extras, but I’m all good thanks. For five glorious minutes though Lifes Too Short was better than anything Extras ever produced. Yes, including the Ian McKellan bit.

Also, how did Liam Neeson not win an Emmy for this? Or did he? I really don’t know. But this is probably his finest work. Suck it Schindler’s List.

28. Kristen Bell’s sloth story on Ellen

Before watching this I had absolutely no opinion on Kristen Bell. In fact I wasn’t entirely certain that she wasn’t Kristen Chenowith. But now I know exactly who she is – she’s the greatest person on Earth.

(And who said talk shows were a dying relic, a vestigial limb from woebegone entertainment industry age? Oh, everyone? Okay then…)

26. fun. – “Stars”

I have a new answer for the question “what kind of music do you like”. And that answer is “Stars” by fun. Or more generally speaking, seven minute long Elton John-inspired ELO songs made by Kanye worshipping musical theater nerds. All of those songs.

A friend of mine once said that their favorite song was “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” because “you get three songs for the price of one.” And there’s an element of that in my love of this song certainly. But still, all I know is that if I had heard this song at age 16 it would have blown my mind off. I would have gotten it tattooed on my face. Even at 30 I can’t fully believe it exists and I didn’t make it.

As with the shins and Phoenix before them I’ll gladly take down my “First!” flag with regards to fun. (I had a conversation about fun. with a friend the day BEFORE their FIRST EVER live appearance together as a band) and cede ownership of them to the masses for the greater good of the band and all mankind. So while this song is mine, it’s also everyone else’s.

But mostly it’s mine.

25. Searching for Sugar Man
This is why fact is better than fiction. Because there's no way you could make up this story if you tried. And if you somehow did there's no way it's climax could provoke as emotional a reaction from the viewer as the real thing does. I'd love to say more, but the less you know about this music documentary going in the better. Just know you wont have seen a more unbelievable story in a long long time.

(Semi-pseudo-spoiler: If you have seen the movie, or know the story, then I'd just like to add that one of my main thoughts is that with how interconnected the world is today a story like this one wouldn't be possible anymore. And if this story had instead unfolded the way it would today, would that have been a better or a worse thing for all involved? It's really hard to say.)

24. Girls

This show. This fuckin’ show.

What is there left to say about Girls? No seriously, because whatever there is left to say I’d like to say it. If you take all the articles about Girls off the Internet there’d be nothing left but cat videos and pictures of Ryan Gosling, and yet I still feel like we should be talking about this show more. I could talk til the end of days and still not be satisfied. Because this show isn’t just perfectly in my wheelhouse it’s in my Hearst Castle surrounded floor to ceiling with nothing but my wheels.

Let me just say though that with all the talk about this show the one thing I don’t hear near enough is how good Allison Williams is. “Revelation” feels too minor. Tour de force doesn’t really capture it. All I know is that she should win all the Emmys ever. And then Lena Dunham should win all the rest.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to look into the legality of human/TV show marriage. Because I’m in love with Girls.

23. Anne Hathaway in Les Miz
My best friend adamantly believes that Anne Hathaway is the best actress of her generation. It's one of those statements that sounds crazy until you realize that it's totally not. Who else could, in the same year, be by far the best thing in both a Batman movie and Les Miz. And be as heartbreaking and unglamorous in one as they are sexy and funny in the other. Anne's "I Dreamed a Dream" will not only win her an Oscar, but it also got her officially named Prom Queen of Theater Camp. So step off haterz, cuz I'm ride or die Team Hathaway.

22. "Caine's Arcade"

This is the anti-"Kony 2012". A simple issue, a simple task, enormous sized joy and good. The world is indisputably better by mere virtue of this video’s existence. No further action required. And it’s exactly the kind of thing we should be using the Internet for.

More things like this please, Internet People.

21. "Gungan Style"

More things like this as well.

(Stick with it, it's not what it seems like at first)

20. Twitter's response to Clint Eastwood at the Republican convention

Continuing the theme of great things from the Internet, we now have the answer to one of the great questions of our lives: what would it have been like if twitter had existed when Dick Cheney shot that man in the face? Only this was even better because it lasted longer and unfolded in real time. It was the original "premiere of Liz and Dick" only more meaningful and universal (all words in this paragraph are being used loosely). It was twitter's finest hour. And it was the crowning achievement of my generation. 

Our grandparents may have defeated the Nazis, but we made perfectly crafted jokes in 140 characters or less about those very same grandparents. Suck it Ghost of Hitler! #greatestgeneration

19. Episodes 4-13 Of Mad Men season 5

After starting out slow, season 5 of the second-greatest TV show of all time went on one of the greatest run of episodes television has ever seen. Nearly every week the episode would end and I would think “that was the best episode Mad Men has ever done” only to feel the exact same way the very next week.

With all due respect to Breaking Bad, a show I dearly love (because I am a human being with a brain), what separates Mad Men from the other Sub-Wire Greats is that it’s actually about something. And not just "selling meth will corrupt you", or “the mafia is a metaphor for America” but about us. All of us here in America. Our shared past. Our social structures. Our morality, our aging, and our lives. In the past few weeks alone I’ve referred to someone as “his Meghan”, wondered out loud if my experience of listening to dubstep is what Don felt when he heard “Tomorrow Never Knows”, and compared Mitt Romney’s failed presidential campaign to Joan Holloway.

Because of Mad Men I can never look at the past the same way. Which means I can never look at the present the same way. Or the future. Which means I’ll always expect Mad Men to hit the same heights in did the last half of season 5. So good luck Matthew Weiner.

18. FUDS menu

I’m often prone to hyperbole but I feel confident that this is not one of those times: I have never laughed harder at anything in my life than I laughed (and continue to laugh) at the FUDS menu. I laughed so hard I couldn’t see straight. I laughed so hard I was actually falling out of my chair. I laughed so hard I had to stop reading several times because it was hurting too much. I literally couldn’t take it. If I could travel back in time to do one thing, I wouldn’t stop the Holocaust, I would read the FUDS menu again for the first time. This is the Citizen Kane of 21^st century menu parodies. This. Is. Comedy.

17. “Hot Cheetos and Takis”

It’s everyone’s favorite after-school-program-produced snack-referencing hip-hop uber-hit!

I know it’s been said ad-nauseum at this point, but the rapping on this thing is so good it almost feels like HAS to be ghost-written. Yet it’s so clearly authentically from a tween’s perspective that there’s no doubt it wasn’t.

But seriously, lines like “I’m on point like an elbow/hands red like Elmo” and “boatloads of them skittles starburst fritos and Doritos/but nothing can compare to the H-O-T Cheetos” and “I look and I said ‘no ma’am’/I go HAM in the grocery store”? Rick Ross hasn’t ever written anything even half as good as any of those and he "scoop Emmy winners like kitty litter".

Mr. Holland only wishes his kids could produce an opus like this.

16. Usian Bolt
One of my earliest clear memories is of watching the 1988 Summer Olympics. And yet I recently had to Wikipedia who exactly Jackie Joyner Kersee was. In the summer of 1996 my life revolved around the Atlanta Olympics, yet I recently couldn’t recall what events Michael Johnson ran. And although I watched every night of coverage of the Sydney Olympics I was legitimately stunned to read that Nastia Lukin won overall gold that year and not Shawn Johnson. The point is that even being the best of the best at something that the whole world watched, being an icon, being a national sporting hero doesn’t mean you’ll be remembered very long. But I know with absolute certainty I’ll remember everything about Usain Bolt until my dying day.

Usain Bolt is why we sit through the millions (billions?) of hours of often boring and meaningless and forgettable sporting events. So that every once in awhile we will see perfection. See a human being do something that literally leaves us speechless. See something that we know we will never see again and will remember always. Usain Bolt makes it all worth it.

Perhaps the greatest thing I can say about Usain Bolt is not that when faced with the greatest 100m final field of all time there was absolutely no doubt he would win, or that no one in history has ever made greatness look so effortless, or that he made winning one race seem like a much bigger deal than winning the most medals in Olympic history. It’s that I and every other non-Jamaican on the planet were/are such big Usain Bolt that we were actively rooting for him against our own countries. If one of the US sprinters had beaten him I would have actually been angry with them, not proud. I doubt we’ll ever have that experience again in our lifetimes. Which is the very sentence that keeps us watching sports. So thanks Usain Bolt. We’re now all off in search of our next fix.

Speaking of which…

15. Linsanity

Sometimes sports are perfectly imperfect.  They’re euphoric, and uniting, and heartbreaking, and messy, and unsatisfying in all the ways the life truly is. And like the first weeks of true love, or landing a dream job, or selling that first screenplay, or holding a newborn child in your arms Linsanity was magical and blissful and made being alive the only thing you’d ever want to do forever. But it couldn’t last because nothing does. Love becomes routine, and the job is stressful, and words get changed without your consent, and your kid needs things and talks back and it’s all still good, but now it’s real, and real is less fun. But also it’s the most fun there is. Because what other than reality could give birth to an event like Linsanity? 

Now that it's over, maybe we’ll run into each other at a party, Linsanity and us, and it will seem strange that we were ever together. Like some half remembered dream that happened to someone else. But we’ll reminisce about old times and smile, because those were the days weren't they? And no matter what else might pass between us we’ll always have the Laker game.

14. Mark Harris' "Oscarmetrics" columns for Grantland
One of my favorite writers writing for my favorite website on my absolute favorite topic? It’s shockingly not too good to be true.

In an alternate reality writing this exact column is the exact job I have, only I don’t do it half as well. I would be mad at Mr. Harris for stealing so many thoughts straight out of my head, if only they weren’t so enjoyable to read. Plus, I beat him in Oscar predictions so it all evens out. 

13. Japandroids – “House That Heaven Built”

This is the sound of speeding down a nearly empty freeway, either heading to or coming from an epic night out.

It’s the sound of The Hold Steady covering an Andrew WK song.

It’s the sound of my ears bleeding with joy.

12. "Eye of the Sparrow: A Bad Lip Reading of the First 2012 Presidential Debate"


This shouldn't be on the Internet; this should be in an art museum.

11. Bobby Cannavale on Boardwalk Empire
Sometimes I feel like I'm living in an alternate reality from everyone else. Watching Boardwalk Empire is one of those times. I watch Boardwalk Empire and I see a perfectly crafted, well written, expectly acted show that's only the slightest step down from the Greatest TV Drama Mount Rushmore level. And yet the world at large treats Boardwalk Empire like an empty, unremarkable slog that no one cares about. And I, for the life of me, cant figure out how I and the world at large are watching the same show. 

Never has that been more clear than in the case of Bobby Cannavale. In a cast full of great actors Bobby Canavale burst onto the scene this year and from his first appearance on screen towered over all of them with a Pacino-in-his-prime intensity. I thought no actor alive could top the dearly departed Michael Pitt, but Bobby Cannavale made me forget he even existed. Watching Bobby Cannavale this year I saw a superstar giving one of the all-time great TV performances. And yet his mainstream buzz was minimal at best. Just like the show itself.

Wake up people. The new Sopranos is happening in front of you and you're looking right through it.

10. SNL - "Dylan McDermott or Dermot Mulroney"
Another case of "Are We Watching The Same Thing?". I've seen multiple "Best Of 2012 SNL" lists and this sketch hasnt been on any of them. But to me it's clearly and indispuatbly one of the best post-More Cowbell sketches the show has done. There's nothing about it that's not perfect.

9. “Fight for Your Right to Party” – Coldplay, Hollywood Bowl

I’m always a sucker for earnest white person covers of hip hop songs, but this is a whole ‘nother level. I’ve watched this far more than any other YouTube clip this year, and yet no matter how many times I watch it, when the crowd all yells “Beastie Boys” together it gets me every time. Every single time. It’s magic and it’s Coldplay’s finest moment and it’s the best MCA tribute that will ever exist.

Thank you Chris Martin.

8. Felix Baumgartner

The most 2012 thing to happen in 2012 is that a man jumped from outer space. A MAN JUMPED FROM OUTER SPACE. We may not have flying cars or hoverboards, but a man jumped from outer space and we watched it live on the internet. Welcome to the future.

7. PSY - “Gangnam Style”

Looking back, it was quite the year for YouTube-fueled pseudo-novelty pop song phenomenons. Or maybe that’s just how the music industry works now. Perhaps, at long last, video finally HAS killed the radio star.

I’ve often made the case the lyrics don’t really matter. I mean good ones can enhance a song, obviously. But so can a good sax solo. And bad lyrics can ruin a song, as every Black Eyed Peas song ever can attest. But really, they don’t matter all that much. And Exhibit A in defense of that theory is “Gangnam Style”, a song with exactly four English words, which was nevertheless a huge hit.

Pretty crazy that one of the biggest new pop stars of 2012 was a 31 year old slightly pudgy very average looking South Korean guy. It’s almost like ANYONE can be famous these days…

(If at this late date you're still interested in further reading on "Gangnam Style" this article from the Atlantic is pretty great: "Gangnam Style, Dissected: The Subversive Message Within South Korea's Music Video Sensation")

6. The processing scene in The Master
The movie itself was kind of a mess. A lot of sound and fury signifying what I'm not quite sure. But it was worth the price of admission and then some for the acting in this scene alone. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best non-Daniel Day-Lewis actor alive, and he's at the apex of his powers here. And Joaquin Phoenix transcends classifications like "good" or "not good" and operates in this scene on a level where I actually fear that he himself is mentally not well. Like the eternal question - "would you want to be able to paint like Van Gogh if it meant that you would be so unhappy and unstable that you would cut off your own ear" - I almost don't know if I would want to be able to give Joaquin Phoenix's performance in this scene. Because being able to act that well would likely mean that I was insane. And I dont think any art is worth my sanity. But then I think about the scene again and it's so incredible that I think "maybe it would be worth it...". So while I cant say for sure whether his performance is "good" or not I can say that it makes me seriously question the value of sanity. And if that's not high praise then I don't know what is.

5. This is 40
Any money over zero dollars that this movie made was a minor miracle. It’s a comedy without “jokes”, it’s depressing and “slow”, and it’s target audience is like maybe 1,000 rich middle-aged couples who live on the west side of Los Angeles. Yet my main complaint was that it was too commercial. The whole time I kept wishing that Judd Apatow had had the balls to go all the way and completely do away with the concept of plot altogether. Plot is only holding him back at this point. He should release himself from it and fly free, before he has to veer back in a more conventional direction in order to make enough money to pay for his daughters’ sure-to-be-massive therapy bills. Which will be a shame because the more he alienates his audience, the more interesting his movies get. I’d rather watch forty This is 40s than one 40-Year-Old Virgin. I only wish it had been 40 times longer. I’m probably alone in that but whatever. If Judd Apatow is our Woody Allen this is his Manhattan. And I can’t wait for his Interiors.

4. Lincoln

Movies never live up to the hype. But sometimes they do. Sometimes they exceed all expectations.

Strangely Lincoln feels nothing like a Spielberg movie, yet it also totally does, in the absolute best way possible. Tony Kushner somehow beat Aaron Sorkin at his own game by writing the best episode of The West Wing ever made. Tommy Lee Jones somehow made me totally okay with him likely beating out a career-best Philip Seymour Hoffman performance for an Oscar. And Daniel Day-Lewis was somehow, improbably, able to make "Daniel Day-Lewis playing Abraham Lincoln" even better than "Daniel Day-Lewis playing Abraham Lincoln" sounds on paper. Is Daniel Day-Lewis the greatest film actor of all time? Is that a legitimate question? Or is it not even a question any more?

Most importantly though, before I saw this movie I always thought Abraham Lincoln was overrated as a president. Now I think he might be one of the greatest and most interesting human beings who ever lived. 

The power of drama at its finest.

3. Kanye ft. Big Sean and Jay-Z - "Clique"
By Kanye standards, it wasnt a huge year for Kanye, but nevertheless "Clique" is a worthy winner of this year's "Best Thing By Kanye West Of The Year" slot on my year end countdown 

2. The Daily Show, 11/15/2012
And the winner of this year's annual "Best Thing By The Daily Show of The Year" award is this!

1. “Call Me Maybe”
Lastly....

It’s a "Call Me Maybe" world, we just live in it. It’s a world in which we are now subservient to our Canadian musical overlords (lordesses?). A world where Carly Rae Jepsen’s #occupyyoureardrums movement united the 99% in a show of solidarity not seen since “Hey Ya” (btw, in this case the 1% was deaf people). Resistance was futile. And also un-American-Canadian. It’s a world where a mainstream pop song was the biggest thing to happen to the Internet since cats. It’s a world I never want to not live in. And I know that from here on out whenever I hear “Call Me Maybe” it will always be 2012.

Hey Carly Rae, you got the ability to single-handedly revive mono-culture? Well, then call me definitely.