I think this is a good mix of true critical favorites and the albums that I just really connected with from the past year.

10. This is the New Year, Ian Axel - A very sweet record, flirting very closely with twee (and sometimes full-on making out with it), but deceptively complex. The "Waltz (Intro)"/"Waltz" tracks, in particular, feature some lovely, dreamy piano work and clever lyrics. I would highly recommend this album to any Ben Folds fan.

9. Barbara, We Are Scientists - I felt like this album came and went without much notice, but I've listened to it pretty consistently since the release. It'll be hard for me to ever not like a WAS album.

8. All Days Are Night: Songs for Lulu, Rufus Wainwright - A lot of people didn't (and still might not) know what to make of this album. A bunch of songs about the death of your mother can be a hard sell. But the album features some of the best piano work Rufus has ever done.

7. All We Grow, S. Carey - Mr. Carey kind of poked his head out from being the drummer for Bon Iver and said "Hey, here's this thing I did." Except that thing he did was a lovely album that could easy rival anything Justin Vernon has put out.

6. Invented, Jimmy Eat World - A nice full-circle effort from J.E.W., in that it reminds me very much of the Bleed American record that made me fall in love with them nearly ten years ago, as a wee college freshman. Very good for car listening.

5. Take a Bow, Greg Laswell - Underrated singer-songwriter, who should be a lot bigger. Kind of the new Matt Nathanson, but maybe better?

4. Catching a Tiger, Lissie - Joss Whedon used the "Everywhere I Go" track in the Dollhouse finale and I was blown away. Perfect meeting of song and scene. The album as a whole is a blend of pop and alt-country with some really smart lyrics. Jessica Lee Mayfield is a good comparable.

3. God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise, Ray LaMontagne - Fantastic 70s rock/blues feel to this one. Plus the songwriting and dusty voice we've come to expect from Ray.

Tie. The Suburbs, The Arcade Fire/High Violet, The National - I know it's a lame cop-out to give these two the tie for the top, but there's no way for me to give a definitive "This one was the better of the two." Both bands gave me exactly what I wanted, and more, for each album. There are songs from both that sort of grab you by the throat (a sign of a really good one for me), that make you sit up and say "Hell yes."

Honorable Mentions: Bad Books, Bad Books (collaborative effort from Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra, two consistently brilliant songwriting forces); Brothers, The Black Keys (just a solid rock album); All Day, Girl Talk (Greg Gillis is a hometown hero, so a little bias there. But the album is an awesome insta-party).

Favorite live show: The Avett Brothers, with Jessica Lee Mayfield, at the Ches-Arena in Pittsburgh. I can't recommend them enough as a must-see-live band. Amazing energy, great crowd interaction, and very impressive musicality.

I think I managed to fix my computer all on my own for the first time. I imagine what I did was relatively simple once I figured it out, but dang-it, I did it with very little outside hand holding. High fives all around. Er.

Less than two proper weeks until Harry Potter! From what I've read, significant amounts of tissues will be necessary.

- My computer is having issues, so I haven't really been on lj since maybe this time last week. I'm probably years behind in terms of ONtD, but I don't that I don't completely miss it. 

- I am very torn on how to feel about the US version of Skins now that I've seen the trailer. I know that watching the pilot, at the very least, is a given, so I've stopped fighting that. I can kind of appreciate that MTV is going for roughly the same type of raw, unknown cast, but it's going to be very difficult not to compare this crew to the originals. Especially the Sid replacement. The kid assigned to the Chris role may hold promise, (judging from the brief screen time he had in the trailer) though. If they take the same plot route with him, hopefully he can pull it off with the a similar blend of crazed wit and grace as Joe Dempsie. 

- If you have any interest at all in gay independent films, get your hands on Shelter. Really well made - there's a reason it's in the afterelton.com Top 10. 

- Tomorrow my sister finds out if she and her husband are having a boy or a girl. I'm pretty excited to find out, just so I can get busy knitting the lil' bean lots of hats and booties. 

That "1001 Movies" thing was a bust. I think I knew it would be, but it was good to get the ball rolling on a writing project. So, we dust off and try again. I'm not abandoning ship here, but I don't think I ever quite figured out what I wanted to do with this space, other than to have a home-base for commenting/ONTD stalking. I'll figure it out. 

 Holy balls, Boardwalk Empire was good. Everything about it just worked. I will probably spend all of my spare time at work tomorrow looking up old school gangsters on Wikipedia. Thanks, HBO. 

( Uncle Daddy Calvin!  )

And props to TBS for a solid season of My Boys. That show has come a long way in a short amount of time, and I'm glad it has really found what works. And Reid Scott is way adorable. 

Dhani Harrison and Ben Harper? Yes, please. 

(And it still freaks me out how much Dhani looks like his dad.)

- Anyone else see Machete yet? It is some kind of special. I think if you go in with the mindset that it will indeed be a fully self-aware B movie, you'll have a good time (it helps if you like movies wherein there is a lot of blood.) And blessedly, Lindsay Lohan's screen time is limited. 

- If you have an additional two hours to kill, you could do worse than the NPH episode of Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. The Chris Hardwick episode is really good, too. It's kind of a far more relaxed version of Inside the Actor's Studio. Kevin is wonderfully honest about life in Hollywood and is great at getting his guests to open up. Plus, Samm Levine serves as a sort of sidekick. 

I saw "The Kids are All Right" this afternoon. I can see where the critics are crapping themselves over it, but I don't know that it's the best movie of the year. I will say that they nailed the smaller "family dynamic" type things (nagging mothers, the kids making faces at each other over dinner) and the casting was fantastic. 

Twenty-one year old me is really sad that Something Corporate is wrapping up their last chance ever reunion tour and I didn't get to see them. Andrew and the boys are a very strong emotional tie to my college experience and it would have been nice to work that out of my system, six years later. And I could have finally professed my love to Brian Ireland... Just another missed opportunity. 

( Praise His Light!: Musings on True Blood... )

Just finished s2 of Skins, and I am a dang mess. Seriously cried through the last three episodes... Fine way to spend a Friday night.