Top 10 Top 10 Lists of 2010

To commemorate the year of our Lord 2010, I've compiled the very best top 10 lists of 2010. These lists are typically popular culture and such, but the internet is a big place, and people love lists, so I've gone a little rogue. Don't be fooled by top 10 top 10 lists like this one, which has stuff like "Top 10 controversial movies of all time". Bush League.

Enjoy, and happy 2011.

1. Top 10 Weirdest New Animals of 2010
I thought that this would be mostly amoebas and AIDS vaccines or whatever, but it turns out there's an actual monkey that they didn't know existed! And then the locals killed and ate the last one, but that's still pretty cool. Also note the self-cloning lizard that is only female.

2. Top 10 Albums of 2010
No top 10 of top 10 lists would be complete without the top albums. Of all the top 10 album lists this year, this is the one I come the closest to agreeing with. Minus the Kanye of course, but I defy you to find a top album listing that does not have that album as number 1. I defy you.

3. Top 10 Al Jazeera News Stories of 2010
What can I say? The Arabs really bring it journalistically. Wikileaks at the top, and Europe's failing economy at the bottom, with Chilean miners and the oil spill somewhere in the middle.

4. The World's Top 10 Airlines of 2010
The cream really rises to the top with this one; both practical and informative. More than anything though, it really makes me want to go this annual "World Airline Awards" show, which previously I did not know existed.

5. Top 10 YouTube Videos of 2010
This one may be a little more quantitative than the others, since this is based purely on popularity, but still pretty important. Although you've probably seen them all before anyways. Yeah, you might as well skip this one entirely.

6. The 10 Most Disappointing Games of 2010
I'm not a huge gamer, but I did play Alan Wake, and that's the first one on their list. I was really excited for that game. It wasn't that good. Let's commemorate that.

7. The Top 10 Movies of 2010
This is probably the worst movie ranking list ever, because a legitimate one is just too boring. Gaze upon how Hereafter is number 8, and True Grit is number 5.

8. Top 10 Photos of 2010
I know what you're thinking: "Woah, photography! this will be cool!" but you would be wrong. This isn't the top 10 photographs of 2010, this is the top 10 photos, which means that they're of celebrities. As well as an alarming number of celebrities' children (three).

9. Top 10 Party Schools of 2010
Because you will never, ever, have this, SFU students.

10. The Top 10 Strategic Technologies of 2010
This is by far the most boring top 10 list. Some examples of strategic technologies are "Virtualization for Availability" and "Cloud Computing". Yeah.

Literally True Grit

I should begin by saying that I haven't seen True Grit. I haven't read any reviews, although it's hard to avoid any chatter about it, as it has already been out for a few days now. I haven't seen it, but I already know I'll love it because this is Bridges in the role he has always meant to play, the role that he has always danced around, and he's finally fulfilling.

It's almost the reverse of typecasting, in the way that actors like Tom Cruise plays Some Dude from the Eighties, or how Daniel Radcliffe literally is Harry Potter.

Bridges has always played the part of the rogue cowboy. Take his seminal role in Lebowski. He is a sarcastic, laid back, devil-may-care fellow, with few material possessions and always ready for a drink. He loves his simple life of bowling and smoking pot, but he's got this thing about justice and restoration of balance. Still not convinced? Add to this his admiring narrator (literally is a cowboy) and you can see the point.

That's why I'm excited to see True Grit; Rooster Cogburn literally is Jeff Bridges.

Bright Eyes, then and now

In February of 2011, Bright Eyes will be releasing a brand new album, "The People's Key". The last time this band put out an album was in 2007, so I'm peeing myself a little.

Bright Eyes is one of those bands who I loved when I was a teenager and they've stood the test of time and age. I remember downloading (stealing) individual songs off of Napster in no discernible order, or having friends send me select mp3s. I bunched them all together under a single folder: Bright Eyes. I didn't know where they fit within albums until much later, but it didn't really matter at the time. I would say that the song "No Lies Just Love" changed me for ever, but probably so did my neighbor's dog and striped comforter. Malleable little teenager.

Front man Conor Oberst is a pretty interesting dude himself, and his solo stuff is worth listening to, although it lacks some of the more anthemic qualities that carries Bright Eyes.

So I'll be spending Christmas here in Vancouver, with some Johnny Walker Green Label, and the Bright Eyes Christmas Album to keep me company. It's comforting to know that there's at least one good thing coming at us in 2011.

On December seventh, the man who inspired Herge's Tintin died. Until I found that out, I had no idea he even existed.

Huld was catapulted into fame when he was still a teenager in the 1920's, winning a Jules Verne related contest in a Danish newspaper. The contest was open only to teenage boys, and the winner had to travel "Around the World in 80 Days" unaccompanied and without the use of airplanes, Verne-style. The media picked it up, and by the time he returned to his native Denmark he was a sensation. He later wrote a book about his adventures.

Herge was also a Denmarkian, and the way Huld told the story, Herge was swept along in the hype and decided to capitalize by writing his own stories of a globetrotting young adventurer with wispy hair.

As great as this story is, Herge never actually admitted that Huld was Tintin's inspiration. I don't blame him. The speculation only adds to the boyhood magic of the Tintin stories, and indulges us with the possibility that any of us could be waiting for a knock on the door, a scrap of paper, a noise around the corner, anything that will whisk us away on an incredible adventure.