The 2010 Davie Awards

Every year I compile a list of my favorite releases in music, movies, television, and more as the Davie Awards.  This list is always posted at the beginning of the following year for two reasons:  One, it doesn't make sense to me to post a "best of" list before that year is over (unlike most publications that publish their lists in December), and two, waiting as long as possible gives me more time to absorb all the possible candidates.


Favorite Albums:

1. The National - High Violet
2. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
3. Grinderman - Grinderman 2
4. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
5. The Black Keys - Brothers
6. The Greenhornes - **** (Four Stars)
7. The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream
8. Spoon - Transference
9. Four Tet - There is Love in You
10. Beach House - Teen Dream
11. The Walkmen - Lisbon
12. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks
13. Weekend - Sports
14. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
15. The Books - The Way Out
16. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Hawk
17. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
18. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
19. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)
20. Deftones - Diamond Eyes
21. The Magnetic Fields - Realism
22. Jónsi - Go
23. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & the Cairo Gang - The Wonder Show of the World
24. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
25. Massive Attack - Heligoland

Honorable Mention: Band of Horses - Infinite Arms, Ceremony - Rocket Fire, UNKLE - Where Did the Night Fall, Alain Johannes - Spark, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network soundtrack, The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme


Favorite Concert:

• Yo La Tengo with Wussy - @ the Southgate House, Newport, KY

Honorable Mention: Ted Leo & the Pharmacists with The Lions Rampant; A Place to Bury Strangers; Boris with Russian Circles, all at the Southgate House


Favorite Movies:

1. The Social Network
2. The King's Speech
3. A Prophet
4. Mother
5. The Tillman Story
6. The Good, the Bad, the Weird
7. Toy Story 3
8. Exit Through the Gift Shop
9. Restrepo
10. Inception
11. Carlos
12. Winter's Bone
13. Gasland
14. The Town
15. Black Swan

Honorable Mention: Blue Valentine, Red Riding Trilogy, Despicable Me, The American, The Kids Are Alright, How to Train Your Dragon

Films missed that might have made the list:  True Grit, Mesrine pt.1 & pt. 2, The Illusionist (L'Illusionniste), The Fighter, Inside Job, 127 Hours


Favorite TV Shows:

1. Breaking Bad
2. Mad Men
3. The Pacific
4. Modern Family
5. Boardwalk Empire

Honorable Mention: Top Gear (UK), 30 Rock, Conan, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Walking Dead, Parks and Recreation

Favorite Book:

• War by Sebastian Junger

I read a lot of books last year, but War was the only book actually published last year that I've read thus far (I have several on hold at the library, including Keith Richards' Life).  Here's a sample of some the best books I read for the first time in 2010:

• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (read in 2009-10)
• With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge
• Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
• Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
• Post Office by Charles Bukowski
• Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman
• You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Helmet for My Pillow - Robert Leckie
• A History of the World in Six Glasses - Tom Standage
  

Here's looking forward to 2011!

Shift in Focus & 2011 Resolutions

The idea of using this purely as a photo blog fizzled out last year, so I'm going to shift the focus and turn this into a more open blog.  I've wanted a fresh start from my old all-purpose personal blog, and I've decided to use this blog for that.


With that in mind, I'm going to re-post the resolutions I'm making for myself in 2011:

1. Create and follow a budget.
2. Continue exercising regularly - Increase the frequency of bodyweight exercises and yoga, and add aerobic exercises.
3. Learn to cook more healthy recipes.
4. Write regularly.
5. Meditate at least once a week regularly.
6. Get surgery on my gums and schedule a routine annual physical with a doctor - I've been dragging my feet on both of these for a few years now.  Time to start taking this seriously.
7. Read at least 40 books - Last year I read over thirty books, and I think I can do better this year.
8. Visit Hawaii or the Pacific Northwest - The wife and I are planning on going to Hawaii with her family this summer.  If that falls through we'd like to visit Oregon and Washington instead.  Either way I'll be visiting some of the few remaining states I've never been to before.
9. Pay off my student loan.
10. Use my camera regularly - A nice, vague goal to take more photos.

Sandals Whitehouse, Jamaica

August 2010.  More here.