Culture Of None isn’t known for having eyes fixed on the “new release” shelves – that should be rather apparent by now. I am far more intrigued by the growing wealth of amusements out there; the seemingly endless stuffs of entertainment that expand and diversify even as I explore them.
No, I don’t really have a clue what came out in ‘09. But I can tell you what I remember enjoying this year, and that makes more retrospective sense, I think.
So, with that said, here’s what brought me joy in 2009…
- Square Pegs Following my complete immersion in ‘Degrassi High
‘ and ‘Freaks and Geeks
‘, the ‘Square Pegs’ DVD set
was a terrific find. I tend to squirm at the mere mention of ‘Sex and the City
‘, so it was very refreshing to see a teenage Sarah Jessica Parker in a television world devoid of bed partners and innuendo. Amy Linker is delightful as her best friend, and the whole season is rich with low key laughs and unusual ideas (an episode where the school musical has a teacher-student romance theme comes to mind). Plus – how many sitcoms (complete with a strangely hesitant laugh track) offer disturbing imagery like this?
- Martyrs I thought French indie-horror flick ‘Inside
‘ was fierce, but ‘Martyrs’
delivered beyond anything I’d anticipated. It’s so intensely bleak, that upon initial viewing I missed much of the subtleties and elements of story that make it so fulfilling the second or third time through. And for you “gross-out” fans, there’s a scene in a bathtub that is so stunningly horrifying it had my jaw gaping in awe.
- Hopesfall ‘A Types
‘ & ‘Magnetic North
‘… Kindly disregard that they had a few mediocre screamo metalcore releases before these two records (line-up changes basically re-invented the band). I’ve had both CDs for a while and initially dismissed them as “Deftones lite” – but the fog lifted for me this year and I realized Hopesfall was the greatest heavy rock band of recent recollection. Among countless whiny young emo vocalists who affect shrill tones to ape adolescent naivity, Jay Forrest honed his singing to sound older, wiser, and more expressively dynamic than his years could hint or conjure.
- Netflix Instant Play The ultimate value add, especially if your queue hovers in the 490 to 500 title range (like mine). Hulu and Crackle are fun, YouTube is a special beast, but the wealth of exclusives here (many titles out of print or unavailable as rentals are Instant Play-able) make watching cool stuff all day long a reality.
- Chris Bryers ‘Ghost Stories‘ Unknown to nearly everyone, one of the greatest singer/songwriters of recent years is this quietly productive Michigan enigma. Maybe not an enigma to Culture Of None readers or the leonstemple.com crowd, but his ‘Ghost Stories‘ should’ve bumped a number of ‘09 “bests” right off a lot of album lists.
- Facebook’s new privacy settings I suspect that a great majority of FB users just “hot-shotted” their way through the new privacy options, or maybe got overwhelmed/confused by the variations of settings. Perhaps people didn’t really read the details, or didn’t care. Whatever the reason might be, as of late ‘09 you can easily and freely go on a clicking spree and pretty much see anyone’s wall, photos, and info. At one time, Facebook profiles were rather cagey things — you were allowed “glimpses” of other users until things like messages (or ultimately friend adds) unlocked the door. Why is this “entertaining” – you may ask? Because much like peopleofwalmart.com and awkwardfamilyphotos.com, pictures of you and your family & friends are downright hilarious and fascinating in all their exposed humanity.
- Get Thrashed I nearly did a backflip when I saw this one on DVD. You may recall that the 2004 “Death Metal Documentary
” was a very low budget affair that was ambitious beyond its means toward covering a genre that’s difficult to rangle. What we get with ‘Get Thrashed
‘ is a magnificent effort that not only surpasses the basics, but as a DVD release provides copious overage footage to satisfy the headbanger in you.
- Chaos Kid on myspace Why it took so long for this stuff to get heard is beyond me. If you had spent many years of your youth in a hip hop group, rapping alongside Eminem — wouldn’t you want to jump on that wellspring of listeners? . Well, 2009 was the year it finally happened. Chaos Kid ended his silence with numerous myspace pages featuring his work as a duo with Eminem and in Bassmint Productions, Some of Wizdum, and as a solo artist. He’s also apparently been very active on twitter as @SantiagoSnafu, although his current involvement in music is uncertain.
- Eric D. Snider’s Bad Movies I know, it’s true. I’m late in discovering the sheer brilliance of Eric’s movie reviews. Not just the “bad” ones, either. The guy’s a great talent all around when writing about film. I’ve always placed reading about movies (Ebert and Kael are my faves) alongside watching movies as a completely complementary cultural experience. But it’s Eric’s unrelenting sense of humor and densely crafted prose (which contains two or three jokes in the same sentence)… that’s his secret weapon.
- Chorizo gravy I love country gravy on omelets and eggs and potatoes and biscuits…and since there’s sausage in gravy, you’d think I would’ve had some awareness before my encounter with the chorizo variety. Not so. It took a relocation to Seattle from Detroit for this delicacy to seduce me. You could tell me the stuff was made from ground humans and I would still eat it, it’s so delish.