Lots of stuff to take in all at once. It seems nice at first glance. Will need more time to dig in and see how it feels moving forward. Still needs more actual humans I know using it.

The whole “if you build it, they will come” mantra doesn’t seem to have held weight for the G+ team yet. You can’t say they aren’t giving it the old college try, though.

I’m checking this out over at http://plus.google.com/+NathanChase.

Sites like The Verge and Polygon have done similar full-screen, responsive, custom designs for some of their long form articles. It’s seemingly a trend for these sites to showcase both skill sets of design and writing. I’m all for it. Anything that makes my read an enjoyable one is only going to bring me back more often. Kudos are in order.

Flickcharter Travis McClain was recently inspired by a friend of his to create a list of 100 things he loves about films. The “rules” for the list-making are as follows:

Rather than posting your 100 favorite films (which has been done and overdone), you simply post your favorite things about movies.  I dig the concept, because instead of obsessing over whether the films you put on a list are “objectively good enough” to put on said list, you simply jot down 100 moments/lines/visuals that have made a lasting impression on you or sneak their way into running gags between you and your friends. Just read below and you’ll get the idea.

So here’s a selection of 100 scenes, thoughts, opinions, quotes, moments, and observations on my favorite films – in no real specific order. It doesn’t necessarily align directly with my top 100 on Flickchart, but most of those films are represented. I did make a concerted effort to make this an audiovisual list as well, so enjoy the sights and sounds of some marvelous movie moments…

100

It’s an odd film. Dark tone. Strange plot. Unusual scenes. Mysterious events. But it’s just so remarkable. Altered States.

99

The sexiest film I’ve ever seen. Secretary.

98

One of my favorite war movies, Three Kings, has an incredible moment showing exactly what happens when you get shot. It’s permanently imprinted into my memory.

97

Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go is one of the best science fiction movies without spaceships, aliens, lasers, time travel, robots, and all the usual settings for the genre. It’s also an incredibly powerful character study.

96

The supporting actors in No Country for Old Men are really what make the movie great. The leads all do a fantastic job, but the Coens really know how to cast the small roles with people that bring a sense of realism and history to their paltry roles. Just look at how good the store owner (Gene Jones) is in the famous coin toss scene with Javier Bardem.

95

The Hangover shouldn’t be as good or funny as it is – but it is. It’s great. Chemistry between actors can make or break a comedy, and this movie nails it.

94

There are few films that make you feel the testosterone flowing through you more than 300.

93

The interstitial trailers were arguably the best part of Grindhouse.

92

A movie about the relationships of people and wine CAN be quite interesting – and at times side-splitting hilarious. Sideways proves it.

91

Frances McDormand in Fargo. Just awesome.

90

Effects that serve the story and impress with their technical prowess at the same time? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button works both of these angles in so many ways. It strongly reminds me of an exemplary, feature-length version of an episode of Amazing Stories.

89

Robin Williams as a creepy dude in One Hour Photo and Insomnia, or in more serious roles like The Final Cut.

88

The intensity of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was unexpected, and one of the best mystery movies I’ve ever seen. With Fincher & Reznor teaming up for the remake, I have high hopes – but it has a hard act to follow.

87

Despite what you may have heard, The Illusionist IS better than The Prestige. Get over it, Nolan fanboys.

86

I’m really glad that movies like Up in the Air are made. It’s funny without being cliché. Acted with understated performances. Scripted with heartfelt moments and scenarios that both seem hyper-real and relatable simultaneously. It’s much better of a movie than I ever thought it could be.

85

Unstoppable absolutely deserved its Academy Award nomination for Best Sound Editing. Making trains sound as awesome as they did in that movie is not easy. Very impressive.

84

Even though it’s turned into a mostly mediocre horror legacy franchise, the original Saw is a fantastic film. If you called the twist ending at any point during the movie, bravo, because the rest of us didn’t see it coming. As a result – a brutal, satisfying ending to a grueling movie.

83

It was only playing in my town one night. There were no promotions for it. No television spots. When we arrived at the one theater in a 100 mile radius that was playing it, it was not on the marquee, and not on any of the placards at the box office window. My friend Eric and I asked if it was playing. The teller nodded. We bought our tickets to this admittedly secret show. We’re still scratching our heads as to why this movie was essentially thrown away by the studio. It’s a pretty fun, cool movie. Equilibrium.

82

Let The Right One In / Let Me In / Daybreakers. Modern vampire movies can be good.

81

Time travel movies. Primer. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The Time Traveler’s Wife. Back to the Future. I can’t get enough. One of my favorite film genres, for sure.

80

The uncomfortable hilarity of Borat. If you’re not laughing at least once out loud watching this film, you’re missing a funny bone. (Side note: Bruno. Not funny. At all.)

79

Crawling through the dark subway tunnels with night vision revealing the evil lurking. Walking between fallen skyscrapers. A wonderful monster design. Subtle, but smart use of “found footage” genre tropes. A fantastic marketing campaign behind it – using the shroud of secrecy and ARG techniques to tease us all. Great, great stuff. Cloverfield.

78

Best fight scene. Ever. They Live.

77

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how perfect the “Tiny Dancer” scene in Almost Famous is.

76

I’m not really into stoner comdies, but “Afghanistanimation”? Funny. Super Troopers

75

The 15-year old me still loves the mood, music, and menace of The Crow.

74

Charlie Chaplin doing some of the most entertaining stunt work on roller skates in Modern Times.

73

Everybody in Batman Returns. So dark. So Tim Burton. It’s such a weird movie…

72

The ability for a feature film to work better as drug use prevention than anything you might ever see in a school health class. I’m looking at you Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream.

71

Best. Car Chase. Ever. Ronin.

70

Elisha Cuthbert in The Girl Next Door. Yes, please.

69

The mean, green mother from outer space in Little Shop of Horrors.

68

Billy Mitchell. What a smug bastard he’s made out to be in The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

67

The last time Eddie Murphy was funny, in Bowfinger.

66

The only movie to make me openly sob in a movie theater. Mr. Holland’s Opus.

65

Shaky-cam notwithstanding, the film that changed the game on microbudget filmmaking success. Still a triumph. The Blair Witch Project.

64

They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. The Music Man.

63

Absolutely any scene featuring Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds.

62

The film that rekindled my love of The Beatles in the most powerful way. Across the Universe.

61

Crazy Gene Wilder. Genuinely scary, unnerving scenes throughout. Early 70s fashions seeping into the costume designs. Freaky midgets. An entire scene devoted to burping to avoid certain death. It doesn’t get much stranger, or endearing, than the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

60

The iconic score of Batman by Danny Elfman. Still one of the most memorable movie scores on par with John Williams’s best work.

59

“Dad, how can you hate ‘The Colonel’?”  ”Because he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes ya crave it fortnightly, smartass!” So I Married an Axe Murderer.

58

Some of the best acting-against-yourself scenes, smack-dab in the middle of a wonderful, small sci-fi tale. Moon is simply a great movie.

57

The best bleak, tragic ending to a film ever conceived. The Mist.

56

Pretty much any scene in Weird Science.

55

What a great use of a single set! Cube.

54

The Firebird Suite by Stravinsky in Fantasia 2000.

53

The palpable tension – both between James Stewart and Grace Kelly, and the mystery and paranoia contributing to the unfolding events of Rear Window. Hitchcock at the top of his game.

52

The justifiably famous moment in Jaws where Roy Scheider is throwing chum into the water, who then turns, now startled and taken aback seeing “Bruce” for the first time (as we in the audience are), and then slowly backs into the cabin to announce what’s on his and our minds… “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

51

The genuine happiness I felt for longtime musical hero Trent Reznor on winning the Best Original Score Academy Award for his work on The Social Network.

50

The right way to do product placement with the Speak & Spell and Reese’s Pieces in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

49

The funniest the Farrelly brothers have ever been, by far, and hilarious performances from the three leads – Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, and the inimitable Bill Murray. Kingpin.

48

“It says one hundred percent guaranteed, you moron!”  ”Mister, if you don’t shut up I’m gonna kick one hundred percent of your ass!” Fast Times at Ridgemont High. (Also, Phoebe Cates pool scene, of course.)

47

The inspired use of a typewriter as an instrument in Dario Marianelli’s score to Atonement.

46

My first introduction to the brilliance of Darren Aronofsky, in Pi.

45

Despite whatever pitfalls Fincher faced from all angles of the industry and having to follow two superior movies, I still think Alien ³ is a good, visually gorgeous film. It just wasn’t what anyone was expecting to see out of a third Alien film.

44

Still some of the most effectively terrifying  practical visual effects ever created. Here’s hoping the reboot/prequel/remake doesn’t rely to heavily on CG. The Thing.

43

The extreme slow motion intro credits sequence set to Bob Dylan in Watchmen.

42

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. It’s better than everyone says it is. Underrated.

41

The mystery, allure, and beauty of Kim Novak  in Vertigo.

40

The fact that vampires don’t show up until 45 minutes into the movie in From Dusk Till Dawn. Until then, it’s just an odd crime thriller…

39

Everything I wanted and more. So well executed. So creative. The best animated character/live action blending since Roger Rabbit. Awesome. District 9.

38

The uncanny valley is about to be jumped. It’s coming. Cameron’s going to be the one leaping over it. Avatar.

37

BUM BUM BUM Boummm Bummmmmmmmmmmm. Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

36

A great remake. A stellar performance. A dark, disturbing science fiction horror masterpiece from Cronenberg. The Fly.

35

The most incredible one-shot ever as we follow Tom Cruise and family in the minivan escaping the devastation in War of the Worlds.

34

The superb editing makes the film both thrilling and completely comprehensible simultaneously. No small feat. Jam packed with amazing sequences. Inception.

33

The heart wrenching performance of a very young Christian Bale in Spielberg’s lesser-known war film, Empire of the Sun. It’s rare when a child actor is also the lead in a serious, dramatic film. Even rarer when the acting is nuanced, understated, and telling of a great career to come.

32

Say what you will, but Titanic is awesome. It made a lot of money for a lot of reasons, but the best reason is that it’s a great story. Perhaps a touch melodramatic, but it’s a tragedy enveloped with intense emotional output. Pretty much everything after the boat hits the iceberg is pure bliss.

31

How incredibly excited I am to see Super 8, and hoping it’s everything I wish it can be.

30

Top 5 things I love about High Fidelity:

1. If you’re into music, you’ll love the movie.
2. Cusack rules.
3. Early Jack Black.
4. Cosby sweater.
5. “Do we look like the kind of store that sells I Just Called to Say I Love You? Go to the mall.”

29

Explorers is the cinematic embodiment of how I felt, thought, acted, and imagined as a kid. Use a computer and fair ride parts to build a crude spaceship with a few buddies to find space aliens that have visited you in your dreams? Joe Dante – thank you for making this movie. I still love it.

28

Incredible filmmaking. If you were ever to point to a piece of cinema as art, this is it. Everyone should see it. Do yourself a favor. Watch Koyaanisqatsi.

27

Don’t get him wet, keep him out of bright light, and never feed him after midnight. Gremlins.

26

The best Star Wars parody. Hilariousness from start to finish. So many quotes. Pullman. Moranis. Candy. Brooks. Still a riot. Spaceballs.

25

Gary Oldman creeps me out in the best way possible in The Professional.

24

Hoverboards. Back to the Future Part II.

23

The chestburster. Alien.

22

“I don’t shut up, I grow up, and when I look at you, I throw up!” Stand by Me.

21

“‘Empire’ had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader’s his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that’s what life is, a series of down endings. All ‘Jedi’ had was a bunch of Muppets.”  Clerks.

20

Who knew that a love story between a “pumpkin king” and a tattered, stitched-up doll could be so compelling. Doubly so as a stop-motion animated musical. The Nightmare Before Christmas.

19

Indy takes the easier option in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

18

This seqeuence. From AKIRA.

17

“I have been stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted, and burned.” Groundhog Day.

16

What’s in the box? Se7en.

15

All the chaos of the war room climax in WarGames.

14

“Yeah, but you know what? This one here? This was my dream, my wish – and it didn’t come true. So I’m taking it back. I’m taking them all back.” The Goonies.

13

Seeing Who Framed Roger Rabbit more times in theaters than probably any other movie.

12

The score. The effects. The action. The look. I was obsessed with this film from the moment I saw it, and it’s never ceased to remain a favorite. Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

11

But action doesn’t get any better than Die Hard.

10

The T-Rex. Raptors. Every dinosaur, really. Jeff Goldblum. Everyone in the cast is really “on”. What’s not to love? Jurassic Park.

9

Simply the finest underwater film ever made. The Abyss.

8

Jabba. Sarlacc Pit. Speederbikes. The final lightsaber battle – slow and psychologically fueled. Vader’s true face revealed. The atonement of Anakin with the defeat of the Emperor. There’s a lot to adore in Return of the Jedi.

7

Just about every damn thing about Fight Club just rules. What an incredible movie. Score. Characters. Cinematography. Script. Twist. So, so good.

6

“Cats and dogs. Living together. Mass hysteria!” I was a member of the official fan club. Will always be close to my heart. I love Ghostbusters.

5

A tale of time travel – and moviemaking – at its absolute best. A perfect script. A classic. It’s hard to imagine that it could ever be done better than Back to the Future.

4

Star Wars. I’m a lifelong fan. Always will be.

3

The best sequel anyone could have ever dreamed to receive. Cameron at his absolute best. The most adrenaline-fueled blend of horror, science fiction, and action by far. It’s incredible. Aliens.

2

There has been, and probably never will be, a more succinct combination of so many genres so well executed. Out of nowhere, the bar was raised before anyone knew what hit them. My jaw’s been dropped since the first time I saw it. The Matrix.

1

The Empire Strikes Back is my absolute favorite film.

5. The Social Network – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

4. The Glitch Mob – Drink The Sea

3. Menomena – MINES

2. RATATAT – LP4

1. Squarepusher – Shobaleader One: d’Demonstrator

Top 5 Movies

5. Shutter Island

4. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

3. Black Swan

2. The Social Network

1. Inception

Top 5 Movies I wish I’d seen in 2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Tron: Legacy, Never Let Me Go, True Grit, Monsters.

Top 5 Games

5. VVVVVV

4. Cut The Rope

3. Dead Rising 2

2. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

1. Limbo

Top 5 games I wish I’d been able to play in 2010: Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption, Heavy Rain, God of War III, Rock Band 3.

click to enlarge

I wrote a quick post to Google Buzz recently that dealt with a concept and issue that’s been rattling in the back of my mind lately. We consume so much information from so many sources that we’re bound to run into the same stories. The news that becomes popular does so because of it being shared, telling friends, sending it to others, and spreading the word.

Virality is the term that’s been associated with this for some time. Getting things to “go viral” is a key to success, but the value of any story is its exclusivity, or who publishes it first. The above concept image is a visualization of my thoughts on how this issue might be dealt with.

I call it – Flume.

1. flume – noun. - A narrow gorge, usually with a stream flowing through it.

The goal is to group all similar information from throughout the web, from social networks and from all of your friends, and distill it to just the original sources.

You’d have a list of news stories that are by default presented by popularity. Each story would get a score that represents how often it’s cited across the web – based on tweets and retweets from Twitter, inbound links from reactionary blog posts, and personal status update reactions from friends and colleagues on social networks like Facebook and Google Buzz. The presentation would be consistent regardless of the source, with simple links to click and visit any story in detail. You’d have at-a-glance, with no interaction needed from the user, an importance-ranked delivery of information stemming from the people and content sources they value most.

Behind the scenes, the application would detect when a story all points to the same common news event, and instead of you having to look elsewhere through your various feeds, walls, streams, etc., the story would show up only as a single source origin story – all within the confines of one application.

For example, if CNN gets the story first, that’s the one that would show up in Flume. All other stories that were posted anywhere on the web afterwards would be consolidated underneath it. Anyone posting about it on Twitter – hidden. Anything on Facebook about it – not seen. All of the reactions would fall in a toggleable area below each story, where if you desired to drill down into to see what people are saying, you’d know from where it came from and where it was being talked about. But only if you want to.

So how would it work?

You’d use a combination of keyword density, trackback links, un-shortened URL detection, and possibly the Salmon protocol to algorithmically distinguish the content streaming in as either original or reactionary. As more content arrives, whichever source has the content origin first gets the credit. So if your friend on Twitter was the first to post about a story before it arrived to you via someone else on Facebook, you’d only see the tweet. If the blog post came before the Buzz, you’d get the blog post alone.

The mockup design is obviously heavily influenced by TweetDeck. Where the multicolumn view works in TweetDeck’s favor, I’d like to take all the separated information and throw out anything other than the first place something appeared. Rather than having separate columns for each service, I’d want a single column for all news, regardless of source. If you wanted to of course, you could always re-sort it by source if you desired.

It’s a bit like Google Buzz or FriendFeed, where you have a single aggregated stream of information, but instead of being source-centric, the default is popularity centric. It’s throwing TweetDeck, Google Buzz, FriendFeed, Facebook, Brizzly, Redux, Amplify, Google Reader, and countless other web tools into a blender to create an ultimate single point-of-entry news reading mechanism.

HTML5 and web application standards would be ideal for the client to allow for both desktop and cross-platform mobile usage, while a robust database application layer in the cloud would be constantly evaluating and delivering the ranked information requested by the client.

What do you think? Would a single view of content without the same stories popping up over and over interest you? What other features would you expect to see in this application? What are some of the limitations that would prevent an application like this from existing, and how might they be overcome?

#10 – While this might not be the ultimate Ghostbusters game, it comes pretty darn close. Involvement of the original actors, a script written by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, and a real feel of bustin’ ghosts made for a pretty great experience. The way they incorporated so many of the original locales and characters into the story in a way that works well saved the game from some problematic control issues dragging it down. Sound effects, dynamic music from the films, and some trademark Bill Murray quips kept things true to the source – and possibly got a new film’s production kickstarted in the process.

#9 – While the strange choice of 2D stylized cut-scenes left most players puzzled, the actual puzzles of running across rooftops at breakneck speeds while pulling off parkour moves relatively effortlessly made a for a really awesome experience. It’ll be very interesting to see where the sequels will advance both the mechanics and plot.

#8 – Even though there were a few expansions for the original game, none of them lived up to the epic of the original. This game came through as a great thrill-ride filled with amazing set pieces, a few genuinely great scares, and a good mix of action and dread throughout. Alma may be a ripoff of Samara from The Ring movies, but she holds her own in the F.E.A.R. universe and certainly freaks you out just as well.

#7 – This follow-up to the zombie multiplayer frag-fest improved upon the original in many ways – from the expanded locations, melee weapons, and an overall thematic tie between campaigns that made it feel even more cinematic. More variation in zombies, improved visuals, and a new cast all made for great reasons to subject yourself to new hordes of mayhem.

#6 – Fantasy games don’t usually hook me, and even Bioware’s previous sci-fi effort in Mass Effect didn’t keep my interest for long, but Dragon Age simply rocks. It doesn’t try to rock the boat and reinvent fantasy gaming. It takes what works and what we already know and makes a world that we can jump right into and start hacking, slashing, and interacting with immediately. An immense game with so many combinations and permutations of outcomes, there’s almost no end to the ways it can be played. Excellent voice acting, tons of humor peppered throughout the campaign, and some really extensive story lines make for plenty of value in a single game.

#5 – While Super Mario Galaxy might be cool, it’s just not the same as the traditional 8-bit NES original, SMB3, or the Super NES’s amazing Super Mario World. We’re all grown up now, and we play grown up games, but being able to be challenged and reminded of the nostalgic fun of our youth is what we want. This game is the best example of that Nintendo could possibly have come up with. Playing a side-scrolling Mario game is what we’ve all been clamoring for, and this one delivers with multiplayer, cool uses of the Wiimote, and plenty of great new gameplay with new suits to grab, secrets to find, and levels to conquer. It’s so much fun, and the best thing the Wii has had to offer all year.

#4 – No one imagined that this game could be anything but great. Epic missions, unrelentingly bad-ass moments from start to finish, and more of the multiplayer that made the original a runaway hit. If ever a game made you feel like you were playing a blockbuster action movie – this is the best example the industry has. It’s not too long, not too short. Performances, design, and virtual camera work all make for one of the best gaming experiences of the year.

#3 – Who thought that something like this could ever be made? How would they get the original tracks to pull apart and make into a game? Well this game stands as a testament to getting it done and making it happen. It’s truly remarkable how much attention to detail there is throughout, and if you’re even remotely interested in The Beatles, you should own this game. It’s fun, chock full of exclusive content, and offers some of the best trippy visualizations seen in video gaming since Geometry Wars. Kudos to everyone involved putting this together.

#2 – What’s this? A good Batman game? Yes! Finally, someone figured out that there’s a mix of play styles inherent to being the Dark Knight. We want to creep around and snatch bad guys from above. We want to dive into the shattered psyche that convinces a grown man to dress up as a bat. We want to be able to punch, kick, and zipline around effortlessly. This game brought all of that in spades, and brilliantly set it within a fan-favorite locale with Arkham which doubled as the perfect showcase of many of the comic’s greatest villains. Voice acting, exploration, the wonderful Max Payne-esque dream sequences – there’s never been a better rendition of Batman in a game. A must-play.

#1 – DJ Shadow. Daft Punk. DJ Jazzy Jeff. DJ Z-Trip. What else do you need to know? If you care about hip-hop, turntablism, mashups, and DJ culture even in the slightest bit, stop reading this and go pick this up now. The controller is great, the selection of tracks runs an extremely wide spectrum of music, and it makes you feel like you can scratch a record like nobody’s business. Make no mistake – this is not just a cheap Guitar Hero knock-off. This is something that everyone should play. Everyone.

5. Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship

Having been a fan of Tortoise since TNT, I’ve continued to follow their newest releases to see how far their experimentation will take them. This album is a lot noisier, a lot louder, and seems like was a whole lot of fun to make. There’s less soundscapes and more rocking out – perhaps taking cues from the cacophonous tracks Squarepusher’s been putting out lately.

4. Muse – The Resistance

It seems that the U.K. progressive arena rock group can’t get any more grandiose, and then this album drops. Sweeping symphonic passages merge with raucous rock in a way that no one but Muse seems able to pull off. Simultaneously channeling Queen, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, and so many other influences, Muse still finds ways to bring all of them together to create something new and amazing with each new release. This one didn’t disappoint.

3. P.O.S. – Never Better

Underground hip-hop doesn’t get any better than this. Creative lyrics, incredibly bombastic percussive beats, and melodies that pound into your brain – this album has personality to spare. Punk rock influence abounds, which helped to immediately hook me in with its combination of brash guitars and fast rhyming. A simply amazing collection of tracks that has been unfairly overlooked by many.

2. Mute Math – Armistice

The album that almost broke up the band. Armistice represents the decision to throw out everything that wasn’t working and start over from scratch. The result is a great mix of their sensibilities from previous releases and a strong influence on recording in their native New Orleans. They pull off plenty of energetic anthems, subdued jams, and extended offshoots that still point towards their early DJ Shadow influences as strongly as they always have.

1. Kutiman - ThruYou

It all comes to this. The top pick for the year’s best album, and it’s not even really a proper album. It’s not released by any label. It’s not performed by any paid artist. It’s the next evolution in new expression through music, and it comes from the most unlikely of creators using the most ubiquitous of sources.

A man from Israel, Ophir Kutiel, (a.k.a. Kutiman) has advanced what DJ Shadow started. While instead of pilfering sources from vinyl scavenged from record stores, he’s taken the same approach slaving away in his home studio utilizing the next big content source – YouTube. What Kutiman has achieved is an unbelievably entertaining and impressive mega-mashup of tiny bits of samples from a massive range of YouTube videos. He’s used them as the instruments, the vocals, and as visually stunning, quick-edit, VJ-style music videos to comprise one of the most unique collections of songs ever made. This “album” ranges from reggae to drum&bass to funk to dreamy ballads without a skip in quality. Every track is a testament to the dedication this man has put into crafting such incredibly detailed works from the hundreds of cited sources. For this combination of talent, creativity, and innovation – Kutiman’s masterpiece easily gets my vote for the best “album” of 2009.

Biggest disappointments? Imogen Heap’s “Ellipse” and Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown“.

What was stuck on constant repeat for you this year? Given my top 5, what would you recommend I check out that I may have missed this year that you consider an amazing album?

A very nicely written account of seeing The ‘Burbs at Joe Dante’s Inferno Film Festival, and recounting why the film deserves some respect. Read: Mr. Peel’s Sardine Liqueur: About A Nine On The Tension Scale.