January 1, 2010

With a day to reflect, Top 20 things of the 2000s.

Now you may think I'm late with the creation of this list, but I'm not: everyone else was early. Could we say for certain that the best thing in the decade wasn't going to happen last night? We couldn't. So I did the responsible thing and held off creating this list until I knew I could look at the decade with some retrospect, even if its only a days worth.

Also, I didn't feel like categorizing or ranking this list, because its all so trite. These are just the top things, in no particular order.
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iPods
I’m not ranking this list, but if I was this would probably be number 1. When people look back on our generation and look for a symbol, it will be an iPod, in the same way that the 60s had the lava lamp, the 80s had the Rubik’s cube etc etc., the iPod is our gadget.

Sudoku
Someone decided that the Jumble and Crossword were lonely, and only serial killers can figure out the Cryptograms, so even though they had been out since the 80s, everyone jumped on board for Sudoku in this generation, and it should be applauded.

“Hey Ya”
This is probably the best song to come out this decade, and will forever be culturally significant. Come on, this song is like 5 years old and I can still yell “lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor!” and its both relevant and not overdone.

No Country For Old Men/There Will Be Blood
Two epic movies that came out around the same time, it was interesting to see the debating over which was better, because NCFOM had no ending, and TWBB was ALL about the ending. I still say NCFOM, but both make top ten movies of the decade.

User Generated Blogs
FML, TFLN, etc. etc. Someone comes up with a blog concept and then they just go with what other people have, its collaborative comedy at its best. This is the kindHarry

Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Sure, there were better books that came out this decade, but the Harry Potter series was as popular, if not more, than any movie or television show. The fact is, kids are reading because of Harry Potter. Hooray for reading!

Wii
The Wii made video games about playing them again, it wasn’t all about the graphics or smoke n’ mirrors, it was just about something that anyone could do and have fun with. And the way that technology seems to work, the fact that this innovation worked in terms of becoming popular, it means there will be more cool innovations to come. Personally, I’m gonna hold off on buying a new video game system until it’s complete virtual reality.
of thing that only makes sense to have happened this decade because we have the technology for it, but I happen to think it was done really well.

True Blood
Combines two of my favorite things: Vampires and anti-religious sentiment. It unfairly gets thrown in with the rest of the vampire mess, but I think when we look back at that the good vampire things of this era, True Blood will probably be the only good vampire thing.

A Golden Age of Infomercials
Halfway through the decade, hen every infomercial became Girls Gone Wild, someone decided to step it up and fix that. Billy Mays became everyone’s favorite screaming beard, and the Sham-wow guy was his eternal rival. Also, of all the dead celebrities of 2009, Billy Mays is the only one I still see on television. And since you refuse to perform in a dead state like Mays, James Brown, you are no longer the hardest working man in show business.

Facebook
Just quickly name the top 5 things you do on Facebook, then realize you used to do those things in real life, just not as well. Yeah, it’s pretty deep.

Anchorman
Sure the second half of this movie abandons all of the character work at the beginning, but the popularity of this movie made the term “Frat Pack” popular for that brand of comedy, and branched out to the whole Apatow comedy dynasty. Basically, because this movie was so popular and quotable, comedy movies are trying harder than ever before.

Shut Up You Fucking Baby by David Cross
I feel this is an important addition because for as many top 100 albums of the decade lists that I’ve seen it has not been on any of them. Sure its not a musical album, its comedy but everything about this album is totally perfect. It’s one of the first examples of anyone poking fun at the post-9/11 world, from the perspective of someone living in New York on 15th street when it happened. This album isn’t just important, it’s great.


Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Sure he was an actor in the 90s, but it was in the 2000s that he became the BEST actor in movies. Especially after he wins Best Actor for Capote, which was phenomenal, when he goes on to be in The Savages, Charlie Wilson’s War (in which he steals the spotlight from Tom Hanks), Doubt, and Synecdoche, New York. He’s just consistently the best.

“I believe in a thing called love” by The Darkness
I thought about this song for a while, because I think it really is an important part of this decade. It has major 80s influence, which is another one of my favorite 00s moments: when the 80s became cool. It’s also tongue in cheek, which most of this decade was. Also, its important because its one of the few popular songs with a memorably catchy guitar riff. (What else was there? Seven Nation Army? Take Me Out?)

Mainstream Documentaries
There’s a reason why when people talk about Michael Moore films rarely mention Roger and Me, and that’s because when it came out, documentaries weren’t nearly as cool as they are now. This decade has had huge hit documentaries like Bowling for Columbine, Super Size Me, An Inconvenient Truth, Jesus Camp, Sicko, and Food Inc. among many other really good films. It’s a decade that showed that learning really can be fun. (Except An Inconvenient Truth, which was just learning. Yawn.)

Same Sex Marriage
Because of how watered down the Healthcare bill turned out to be, we can safely say that Same Sex Marriage was really the only major positive political accomplishment of the decade. (Except maybe Obama reversing Bush’s stem cell decision. If a scientist someday grows me a new heart, that makes the list instead. Sorry gays.)

Arrested Development
I don’t know when every show switched to the “Watch every episode or else you don’t have any clue whats happening” format, I suppose when they realized that DVD sales are pretty important. But Arrested Development is the only show that’s been able to do that perfectly, in my opinion.

Pan’s Labyrinth
I shouldn’t even have to explain what this film is doing this list.

Pretty Much Every Hit Song by Beyonce
We can start with Destiny’s Child in 2000 with “Say My Name”, then “Survivor”, then solo “Crazy in Love” all the way up to Single Ladies(anything after that is so-so). Let’s be honest, I feel my manhood in no way jeopardized saying Beyonce was the most consistent hit releaser in the 2000s

Every Other New Comedy Central Show
There’s no channel quite as hit-or-miss as Comedy Central and they showed this in the 2000s. Sure they had the genius that was Chappelle’s Show and Colbert Report come out this decade, as well as some good one-seasoners like the highly underrated Stella, and the even more underrated Dog Bites Man. Then at the same time, this channel gave us Drawn Together, Mind of Mencia, and The Jeff Dunham Show. Hit or miss, but it was totally worth it for the good ones.
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So there you have it, no particular order. Maybe I'll post the worst things about the decade, but that would be much harder to narrow down.

3 comments:

  1. really enjoyed your perspective...Totally agree with the serial killer/cryptogram thing!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is nice! I would like to add that, this issue was more appealing to the female readers. It would have been nicer if you had added some other things other than fashion and...

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete