Since the shotgun has been gathering dust for a while, I thought I'd try to get things going again by publishing a simple list of the best media of 2006. Books, movies, film, and television are all fair game. I wanted to make a simple top ten list, but I just couldn't. Here's my top fourteen. Enjoy...
14. Matisyahu, Live At Stubbs
Alright, perhaps the bloom is off this rose a bit, but it's still pretty good. And if I have one rule, it's this: whenever an orthodox Jew starts rapping, I listen. (This, by the way, is a bit closer to toasting than rapping, but that only makes it sweeter.)
13. The Chosen
You're right, this is the book that you read when you were twelve, but I never got around to until a couple months ago during silent reading. It's written for an adolescent audience, but the father-son issues are relevant regardless of age. Read it yourself now, recommend it to your children when they get to middle school.
12. Gnarls Barkley, "St. Elsewhere
First, big thumbs up for the name Gnarls Barkley. And the song, as overplayed as it was, is still pretty good, almost a year later.
11. Sugar Cult, "Lights Out
This single was that rare song that I loved after hearing only two or three bars -- and the rest didn't disappoint. Good driving guitars, solid beat, aggressive lyrics. The opening riff: "I wanna girl, a girl, that won't talk back/ and a job, a job that gives me slack/ and a car, a car that won't break down in the heat of Los Angeles..." I'm pretty sure I wrote those lines when I was nineteen...
10. "I Shouldn't Be Alive"
This show airs on the Discovery Channel, and it's definitely worth your time. Each episode tells the story of someone who -- you guessed it -- shouldn't be alive. They tell the story through interviews with the survivor which are augmented with excellent re-enactments. A story lines typically go something like Murphy's Law on steroids. An example: "We were floating in the middle of the ocean, miles from land, when we were attacked by a barracuda. Later we realized that the barracuda had nicked my toe, causing a small cut. The blood then attracted a 25-foot hammerhead shark. We fought off the shark with a camera lens, then decided to swim for land, at which point we ran into a massive school of jelly fish." All of this is illustrated with scientific explanations of what's going on, ranging from CSI-type animations of broken bones and torn tissue to depictions of the effects of starvation and water deprivation. Once you start watching, you cannot stop.
9. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
I realize that some people don't get Will Farrell, but since I don't get John McCain, we'll just call it even. Anyway, this is Will Farrell at his best. If you missed it in the theater, add it to your Netflix cue right now and you won't be disappointed. If fact, I bet you'll get down on your knees and thank Baby Jesus.
8. Madeleine Peyroux, "Careless Love
If you're in the mood for some smooth vocals, look no further than Madeleine Peyroux. Both of these discs are excellent, and on some of the tracks she seems to be channeling Billie Holiday, which is never a bad thing.
7. "Babel"
I've always been a sucker for themes like this, the idea that small things can connect seemingly disconnected individuals who are worlds apart. I was worried (or at least uneasy) throughout the movie, but the overall effect of the film was excellent.
6. "The Office - Season One
Okay, I'm a little late on this one. Leslie and I had heard lots of good things about this show, though neither of us had ever watched even a single minute. So for Christmas, in a Gift of the Magi moment, we bought each other the Season One DVD collection. (No worries, we returned one of them and bought Season Two.) We've already watched the entire first season and a good chunk of the next -- it's absolutely brilliant.
5. Arctic Monkeys, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
This album has some serious staying power, probably because it's incredibly diverse. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor" got lots of radio play, but there's a lot of depth here. I like every track, and that's pretty rare. The one problem, though, is that I can't imagine these poor guys putting together a second album that could live up to this debut.
4. "Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete
The premise of this book might make some people uncomfortable, but Rhoden argues that even though many black athletes have become incredibly wealthy by dominating the playing fields and courts of American sports, they are still trapped within a hierarchy that is disturbingly similar to that seen on 19th century slave plantations. The surprizing thing is that his argument makes an awful lot of sense.
3. John Coltrane, "A Love Supreme (Deluxe Edition)
For my money, this is one of the best records ever made, and certainly the best jazz album of all-time. I first bought it sixteen years ago, and it's never really been far from my CD player. A few years ago, though, this deluxe edition was released. I resisted. Sure, it was digitally re-mastered, but I wasn't falling for that. How much better could it be? As it turns out, a lot better -- like listening to a completely different album. It's richer in detail, offering a much fuller sound. The bad news is that there are a lot of other re-mastered albums out there... Do yourself a favor, though, and buy this one.
2. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Stadium Arcadium
While Justin Timberlake was busy bringing sexy back, the Peppers just may have brought the double album back. Sure, it's risky to ask people to listen to a twenty-eight song collection, but when the songs are this good, there's a big reward -- the best album the Red Hots have ever released. The highlight is "Snow," a surprizingly musical piece that also happens to be Henry's favorite song. Trust me on this -- you haven't lived until you've heard a four-year-old singing along with Anthony Keidis, bobbing his head to Flea's bass line, clapping in rhythm with Chad Smith's drums, and laughing with pleasure at John Frusciante's soaring guitar solos.
1. Nike+ iPod
This is number one, and it isn't even close. Aside from TiVo, baseball, and pepperoni pizza, this is the coolest invention of all-time. Here's how it works. For $29.95 you get two chips, one that tucks neatly into the sole of your Nike+ running shoe and another that connects to your iPod Nano. (It only works with the Nano. If you don't have one, get one.) You choose your workout -- say, three miles -- decide what music you want to listen to, and start your run. As you run a voice updates you on your progress, giving you distance and pace information. When you finish you get an overview of your run (3.14 miles completed, total time: 27 minutes 16 seconds, average pace: 9'25"), and if it was one of your better runs (fastest or longest), you might even get a special message -- "Hello, this is Lance Armstrong. Congratulations, that was your longest run yet!" Granted, that sounds kind of cheesy, but when you're standing in the driveway after a run and you're thinking to yourself that you might've gone harder than you ever had before, it feels pretty cool to have Captain Lance confirm your suspicion. (By the way, I'm not sure, but I think that if your times start to slip, Lance might start whispering about EPO and HGH...) But the best thing about the Nike+ iPod system is that when you get back in the house and plug your iPod in to the computer, all of your run data is automatically sent to Nike so that you can track your progress. Quite simply, this is the best gadget purchase I've ever made.
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