Just my preposterous hypothesis. Yes, Steve did tell you that.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Top 12 Movies of 12’
2012 was a great year for movies. Christopher Nolan finished off The Dark Knight trilogy, Sam Mendes took on James Bond, Steven Spielberg got back to his heavy history-drama roots (a la Schindler’s List), Peter Jackson took us back to Middle Earth, and Joss Whedon proved that you can still make good superhero movies if your name isn’t Christopher Nolan. Here’s my list for my 12 favorite movies of 2012. There are a few I stil l haven’t seen (Zero Dark Thirty, Life Of Pi, Beasts of the Southern Wild) but these are my picks for my favorites of the past year.
12. Safety Not Guaranteed
11. Cabin In The Woods
10. The Avengers
9. Silver Linings Playbook
8. Lincoln
7. Argo
6. The Hobbit
5. Looper
4. Django Unchained
3. The Dark Knight Rises
2. Skyfall
1. The Perks Of Being a Wallflower
Honorable Mentions: Cloud Atlas, 21 Jump Street, Ruby Sparks, Wreck It Ralph, The Hunger Games, Pitch Perfect, Celeste & Jesse Forever, Blue Like Jazz
Top 25 Albums of 2012
2012 was a weird year for music. By no means is that a bad thing. Usually when I do my year end lists, especially for music, there’s a clear number one. Not this year. My top 10 shuffled around so many times I almost considered losing the rankings entirely and just posting my top 10 “in no particular order”. But if you’re going to make a top albums list, you’ve got to have it ranked. Yes, it’s hard to rank albums that you were really into back in February against those that you’re listening to now, but this is a year end list people! It’s gotta be done.
I’m going to tell you something right of the bat. There’s no Frank Ocean on this list. It seems like he’s been dubbed the artist of the year by just about everyone. That’s fine. I have no problem with him. His album isn’t bad. I do like some of his songs. I can even understand a bit of the hype. When I first heard him on Watch The Throne I knew he was going to break out at some point. I just never found myself wanting to put Channel Orange on that often. I can appreciate R&B, but for the most part, I just don’t listen to it that much. Maybe I’ll catch the Ocean bug sometime in the future. But as for now, he doesn’t make my Top 25 cut.
Having said that, have at it:
25. The Tallest Man On Earth- There’s No Leaving Now
24. Grizzly Bear- Shields
23. Japandroids- Celebration Rock
22. Purity Ring- Shrines
21. Civil Twilight- Holy Weather
20. fun.- Some Nights
19. Jack White- Blunderbuss
18. Django Django- Django Django
17. Fang Island- Major
16. Imagine Dragons- Night Visions
15. Passion Pit - Gossamer
14. Band Of Skulls - Sweet Sour
13. Best Coast - The Only Place
12. Of Monsters And Men - My Head Is An Animal
11. Hot Chip- In Our Heads
10. Walk The Moon- Walk The Moon
9. Lord Huron- Lonesome Dreams
8. Milo Greene- Milo Greene
7. The Lumineers - The Lumineers
6. Ellie Goulding- Halcyon
5. Mumford & Sons- Babel
4. Silversun Pickups- Neck Of The Woods
3. Lovedrug- Wild Blood
2. Paper Route- The Peace Of Wild Things
1. Metric- Synthetica
Honorable Mentions:
Bat For Lashes- The Haunted Man
The Ting Tings- Sounds From Nowheresville
Helio Sequence- Negotiations
Half Moon Run- Dark Eyes
The Shins- Point Of Morrow
Beach House- Bloom
Let me know what I missed. I know there are some albums I haven’t heard yet that I know have gotten a lot of praise. I’m getting to them. In the meantime, what do you have on your list that I don’t? Where do you agree/disagree?
Current design I’m working on for @thenxmeto’s wall. This is the first attempt. We’ll see how the others turn out. For now, this is all you get.
Walk Off The Earth- From Me To You (Beatles Cover). They’re back. And are those batteries on the keyboard? And when do we get to hear original stuff from them?
One of the craziest, weirdest, trippiest and coolest experimental videos I’ve seen in a while. Check it.
Here’s how you should start your week.
Check out the new trailer for Blue Like Jazz. Thoughts?
Song of the Day: "1957" by Milo Greene.
If you haven’t heard of them, now’s the time for you to check out Milo Greene. I saw them last night at their residency show at The Satellite and they were absolutely fantastic. They have a perfect blend of folk, indie and pop and have an incredible ability to harmonize 3 or 4 singers at once. Keep them on your radar, cause they’ll be big when their album comes out this summer, which will be the perfect season for their music.
Song of the Day: Carry On by fun.
The second single released off of their sophomore album Some Nights delivers in all the right ways. As someone who loved The Format back in the day, fun. was a band that I had high hopes for from the very get-go. And their debut album Aim and Ignite was just what I was expecting. It was, for lack of a better descriptive word in this case… fun. It was exciting, had the right level of poppy we’ve come to expect from Nate Ruess, and all the right kinds of catchy.
Since it will be nearly three years between albums, it goes without saying that I’m excited to hear what is next. And after getting a glimpse of what the trio had put together back in September with “We Are Young”, expectations were raised even higher. Now, just one month prior to the release of the album, we are given Carry On, single number two (which was teased to us via a YouTube video of a live performance last year).
Nate Ruess is just one smart guy. His vocals are something the word unique can’t even accurately describe, and his smarts with lyrics and melodies is just getting better with time. After hearing this song this morning, and matching it with We Are Young, I’m definitely looking forward to grabbing this album when it comes out next month.
iTunes (Pre-Order) | Amazon (Pre-Order) | Spotify (We Are Young)
