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'09 The Year In Review

by MOLLY LAMBERT

What the fuck happened this year? Seriously. I sat down to write this list and already I can't remember a single thing that came out in 2009. The internet has obliterated my short-term. Except for Single Ladies. Was that 2009? Man forget 2009. That shit is over. Fuck the 2000s. FUCK 'EM!

I gotta be honest with you, I barely consumed any culture this year that cost money, because like so many people I haven't had any to spend. If it was free, I was there. If it was new, I was waiting for it to come out on DVD or in paperback.

CULTURE

favorite film: Adventureland. Greg Mottola's love letter to eighties college radio is the closest thing yet to the film version of an autobiographical graphic novel. Great performances and the best soundtrack ever. A eulogy for the pre-internet days when prized information and secret lore came via your local gatekeepers of cool.

best thing I read: the internet

the magazine I still buy occasionally: Esquire 

best non-blog essay I read on a blog: Zadie Smith on essays

closest thing to an ongoing scan of my brain: my delicious account

best TV drama: Mad Men 

best TV sitcom: 30 Rock

best mini-series: Eastbound & Down

most useful websites (tie): hulu/surf the channel/wikipedia

biggest timekiller: yahoo answers

best indie subcultures: indie video games, free parties, scuba cats

worst indie subcultures: bike dorks, vegans, fashion fascists

things you'd think I'd wouldn't like that I do: It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Taylor Swift, James Cameron

things you might think I'd like that I don't: Dexter, Dirty Projectors, Phoenix

most disturbing trend: the increasing acceptance in America of gingerism. This is how World War II ended up happening.

best ONTD post headline of the year: Jolie Likes To Lick Pitt's Asshole!!!!

runner-up ONTD post: Alec Baldwin: "I Can't Resist My Mom's Baking!"

best color: blue-green

DEATH

good for the form bad for my bank account: the death of print media

quickest change of stance on an issue: Jay-Z following up "Death Of Autotune" with "Run This Town" ft. (queen of autotune) Rihanna

death becomes him: naturally Philip Roth assumes the novel will die out when he does.

three strong counter-arguments to Brian Eno's "Death Of Uncool" position: Owl City, Millionaires, Brian Eno producing that Coldplay album

counter-counter-argument: I kind of like that Millionaires song. It's the Jersey Shore of songs.

I don't even know anymore: My Morning Jacket on American Dad

SCIENCE

scariest science event (tie): giant jellyfish topple fishing boat, predatory coral eats jellyfish

best science event: census of marine life

best science corner: live from the Chilean Andes

BEST OF THIS RECORDING CONTRIBUTORS

Will Hubbard's Astral Weeks

Yvonne Georgina Puig's Texas drought

Danish Aziz's San Francisco  

Meredith Hight's Second Sex

Andrew Zornoza's reading list

Durga Chew Bose's Vivre Sa Vie

Almie Rose's dating rules

Eleanor Morrow's Funny People

Georgia Hardstark's first kisses

Molly Young's tanning adventure

Meredith Chamberlain's love story

Owen Roberts' cookie history

TR All Stars' Woody Allen Week

ALEX CARNEVALE'S '09 MASTERBLOGS

The 100 Greatest Writers Of All Time (w. Will Hubbard)

stranded in the wilderness

Lady Detectives of the 2009 period

his review of Whit Stillman's "Metropolitan"

YouTubes and kill lists

Times Square and capitalism

the end of the old death

the magical lands of Hawai'i

his favorite 2009 albums

he aims to clone Kristen Stewart

evoution and Predator X

Brett Ratner's The Family Man

MUSIC

some albums I liked this year, in no order

Cass McCombs  - Catacombs

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest 

Freddie Gibbs - MIDWESTGANGSTABOXFRAMECADILLACMUZIK

Lil Wayne - No Ceilings

Bob Dylan - Together Through Life

Micachu and The Shapes - Jewellry

Röyksopp - Junior

Gucci Mane - The State vs. Radric Davis

The Dodos - Time To Die

Robert Pollard - The Crawling Distance

Andrew W.K. - '55 Cadillac

Little Dragon - Machine Dreams

Polvo - In Prism

Molly Lambert is the managing editor of This Recording. She tumbls here and twitters here.

Comments

[k k]

ms lambert,

i rearry rrrrrrrrove you, you cultural omnivore ...

i don't know how you get to all the things you review (books, tv, music).
the interweb makes me overwhelmed by how much good stuff there is out there.

this is whiney BUT do you think you could make your links open in a new window?

i'm lazy.

smooches,

kk

ps t. swift is a guilty pleasure of mine as well.

ps 2. i sent that photo of a "kitten dandy" in "things that make [you] laugh" as an attachment to every email i sent for a week.

i may be a crazy cat lady.

[k k]

i bet you couldn't guess from that .....

i'm female.

[Roger]

In Prism totally rocks.