It's 2010, as you've all probably realized by now. And an article that begins with such a sweeping, obvious statement can only mean one thing: the author is coaxing you into the most horrible of new year traditions, the year-end Best Of/Worst Of list.
Still, the end of the year does demand some kind of reflection, however shallow. So, in order to make my year-end list more palatable, I’ve decided once again to avoid the Best Of/Worst Of categorizations (and the past year entirely), and instead look toward the future. What could be more appropriate as the decade mercifully ends? So here are my choices for the top things of 2010. (It’s never too early to start!)
Top Three Movies Of 2010
Hungry Hungry Hippos
Strange, haunting, dreamlike—those aren’t words you would normally associate with a game whose objective is to make your plastic hippo eat more marbles than your opponent’s plastic hippo. But leave it to Spike Jonze to turn a kids game into a movie about the (sometimes dangerous) games kids play. John Goodman, as the voice of Loki, the lumbering head hippo, was a revelation.
Forward
In 2010, we were all inspired to move forward, thanks to this stirring, based-on-a-true-story tale of a wealthy Fargo mom (Amy Adams) with a thick North Dakota accent who found an abandoned Chippewa teen on the side of the highway during a snowstorm, and coached him into becoming one of the best forwards the sport of ice hockey has ever seen. Was it cheesy when Adams shouted “Break his teeth like ya break bread with your family, Hok’ee!” ? Sure. But sometimes cheesy is good.
Susan Boyle: Les Miserables In 3-D
In 2010, we all learned to never underestimate the power of Susan Boyle, showtunes, and
3-D.
Top Three TV Shows Of 2010
Modern Family
The show that pretty much everyone agreed “wasn’t that bad” in 2009, continued to be “pretty okay, I guess” in 2010. After all, when Sofia Vergara yells her catchphrase, “Ay, I’m yelling!” it’s hard not to flash a confused smile.
Faces Of Mom
Showtime’s gritty black comedy about a teenage girl (Emma Stone) being raised by a single mom (Rachel Griffiths—in a tour de force performance), who also happens to be a meth-head sex addict was way more fun to watch than it should have been. Like Gilmore Girls crossed with every other show on Showtime.
Lost
In it’s final season, the show’s central question went from “Where are they?” to “When are they?” to “Okaaaaay?”
Top Three Memorable Moments 2010
Rihanna Steps Out In A Bustle.
The second Rihanna walked out of her NYC hotel in late April wearing what looked like an oversized wasp exoskeleton attached to her waist, the year of the bustle began.
George Clooney Joins, Then Destroys Twitter.
Bowing to public pressure, the Cloonster jumped feet first into the twittersphere with the tweet, “Ahem. This thing on?” The resulting rush to read and follow Clooney’s “charm bombs,” as he so charmingly called his tweets, overloaded Twitter and knocked out the site’s servers for days.
Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson Look At Each Other Possibly Meaningfully, August 20, 2010
There have been many possibly meaningful looks captured in photos of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, but this one was perhaps the most possibly meaningful.
Top Three Quotes Of 2010
“Shout out to President Obama. How you doooooin? Oh, and shout out to all the people with athlete’s foot out there! I feel you!” –Wendy Williams, The Wendy Williams Show
“I began to wonder: Could he be my scrunchie?” —Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), asking the question all single women ask themselves at some point, Sex & The City 2
“This one is for all the little red riding hoods out there!”—Taylor Swift, accepting her Oscar for the song, “You’re The Big Bad Wolf (This Valentine’s Day).”