The Year That Was

I know it's the fourth day of 2008 and that really I should looking ahead to what might happen this year, but I've got these articles from last year about last year, so I really think I should post them. Only a couple have to do with music and the other two are about movies, though really it's more about certain entries, but I digress. There's one about beards too.
In order to combine both the articles I saved and my own opinions, I'm going to do this by category. Simple enough since there are only two categories to be looked at, but let's start with movies, the non-obvious choice.

Movies
I've never been a big fan of movies and most of the time I see them well after their initial release and sometimes many, many, many years after they debuted on the big screen. This year was no exception in my movie going patterns, except for the fact that I saw more movies while they were in theaters. Most of them weren't that good though, so I don't really remember them that well. Saw a couple through UMW's film club (Cheap Seats) though I think they were all within the same year of release. My basic criteria though is that the movie must make me feel something beyond slightly entertained for most of the film's duration. Which means that despite the number of movies I've seen throughout my life only a few could ever be considered "favourites." Somehow though I saw two movies that were released in 2007 that hit the mark. So without further ado, here are my top two movies for the 2007:

1. Once (I know, such a shock.)
2. Juno (Sophs really wanted to see this and I was willing to give it a chance. I almost cried.)

Now, for the other lists. The AV Club did an extensive look at the films released in 2007 and the Master List of best movies made me quite happy. Even though I only saw one of the movies on the list, I had heard about almost all of the movies and wasn't that surprised by the outcome. Except for the one I saw. :rolls eyes: What can I say, I have low expectations for the things I really like.
The other list I would like to highlight was written by Nathan Rabin who is my favourite critic over at AV Club and who also knows how to make a girl happy. You see, he placed Once at number one on his list. Meanwhile Noel Murray placed Once at number five and gave best performance to Glen Hansard. At this point I would just like to point out that all of the critics placed Once in their top 10. This is why I like the AV Club.

Music
When I listen to music I tend to forget what year it was released. I know vaguely when things were released, but sometimes, because of the difference between British and American release dates, I forget which year an album was released. 2006 or 2007? I was listening to it in 2006, does that mean that's when it was released? Not always, but again, it's hard to tell. The thing to keep in mind though, is that I know when Kaiser Chiefs released Yours Truly, Angry Mob, how much more can you expect from me? So onto my top 10 for 2007. (I'm doing it unnumbered so that I don't have to pick a number 1. Basically, I'm just going to be listing the albums I bought this year.)

• Version --- Mark Ronson (featuring various artists including Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Maximo Park)
• Yours Truly, Angry Mob --- Kaiser Chiefs
• Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever --- The Cribs
• Back to Black --- Amy Winehouse
• Fort Nightly --- The White Rabbits
• Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga --- Spoon
• Costello Music --- The Fratellis
• Alright, Still --- Lily Allen
• Favourite Worst Nightmare --- Arctic Monkeys
• Under the Blacklight --- Rilo Kiley

Understandably, most of my picks weren't on anyone else's lists. Drowned in Sound only featured two of my picks (the Cribs and Arctic Monkeys) on their top 50 and neither even made it into the top 25. Meanwhile over at Fake DIY only two made it into their top 20 (same two) while a vast majority of their other picks were either not released in the States in 2007 or are generally not to my taste. I guess you could say I'm just too mainstream. Or lazy, I can't decide.
Else where in the music world, the AV Club decided to ignore the "Best of" format and instead published a list of The Least Essential Albums of 2007. Included on the list are various sub-categories including "Least Essential Souvenir From A Benefit-Concert Sequel That No One Seemed All That Jazzed About To Begin With," "Least Essential Album By An Actor," "Least Essential Musical Necrophilia," and of course "Least Essential Album Of 2007." A much more fun list for me because I could say "I don't own any of these, thank God."

Beards
With the departure of Michael Tapper from We Are Scientists, Fake DIY's Beard of the Year contest seemed almost pointless. I mean, who cares if other people have beards? It doesn't matter if it's not Tapper. (Yes, that rhymed, but it wasn't intentional.) Unfortunately the contest wasn't called off and someone else won. Who is that someone else? Someone from Les Savy Fav. I've heard of them but I've never really listened to their music to be perfectly honest. So, there you have it: Someone other than Tapper won this year and I no longer give a shit.
Well that's it. Let's hope 2008 is almost, if not better, than 2007.