Hey! So I really wanted to do a “best of” list, just cause everyone else was doing them and everyone else seems to be getting lots of hits on their site and I want lots of hits on my site so people will be psyched on my shit and ultimately love me because that’s why anyone does any creative work. Should be noted that making lists of things should never ever be considered “creative work” and the blog culture of “this is some shit I think is cool” really pisses me off because people get popular by expressing themselves through other peoples work and the people who actually create stuff are never get nearly as much recognition as the people who pump their shit up. Which is unfair and makes me grit my teeth. Lists!

Best YouTube vid: Shorewood Lip Dub.

One of the commenters on the YouYube page said it best: “I wish my highschool was this cool.” Imagining a high school banding together for a project like this is nothing short of inspiring. I think about my high school experience with the cliques and the rivalry and the anxiety and the balls-out primal hatred that oozed off the walls and the fact that every type of kid from the rockers to the step group kids to the cheerleaders to the class president to the administrative staff simply blows my mind.

Best Band Name: Truman Peyote

Sometimes joke band names are groaners. They’re charming in how truly terrible they are. But sometimes two words can tell you everything you need to know about band and the music that they make.

Best Nonfiction: Lost City of Z

I don’t know about you but the tidal wave of optimism we were riding at the end of ’08 and into the beginning of ’09 crested for me around February or march and I got really down on the world. I didn’t really feel like reading anymore nonfiction wake-up calls. I already look at everything from grocery store produce to unfiltered tap water with a general suspicion, I just didn’t feel like turning another rock over to see the nastiness that thrived underneath. Why not read about one of the last of the Victorian explorers trying to find El Dorado and the New York Times writer that became obsessed with him?

Best Fiction: Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

I’m a story type of guy. Tell your story well and I’m yours. Have a good ending and I’ll love you for life. Wells Tower’s endings are like receiving a glittering award statuette just for being your awesome self. Not always happy. Not always sad, but always leaving you with the perfect balance of closure and the desire to hear more.

Best Movie: Where The Wild Things Are

I fucking love this movie and I don’t care who knows it.

Best Album: Cass McCombs – Catacombs

Listen to You Saved My Life and tell me you don’t get chills in the chorus and you start to feel a bittersweet pang in your stomach.

Best Blog: HTMLGIANT

This is the pulse. Have your finger on it or be an ancient relic. Looking forward to see where Blake Butler and company take things in 2010.

Best Tumblr: Yimmy’s Yayo

Maybe I like this Tumblr just cause I’m a guy and I like sexy photos, but I can’t scroll down any given page of Yimmy’s without saying “Jesus God!” out loud in raw admiration fo the images I see there. This man has impeccable taste. And maybe I’m a little biased cause he posted my brother’s music video.

Best Music Video: Feel it All Around

Yeah, I’m biased. But this video is still the fucking raddest thing I’ve ever seen.