Just Typing in the Dark

Personally, I think new years is pretty stupid. It's completely arbitrary. Every other moment of each year could just as easily be classified as the starting point of the next year. The only reason it happens to fall on the January 1st is because that's when Aloysius Lilius decided it would be. Just in case are not familiar with the good (Calabrian) doctor, Lilius proposed the calendar we currently use as a reform to the Julian (Casear) calendar. A decree of Pope Gregory XIII made it so, which is why it carries the name Gregorian calendar instead of Lilian calendar. I suppose new years is, more-or-less, an anniversary of this 1582 event. Nevertheless, they might as well just call it - "That night a week after Christmas when everyone gets plastered and makes false promises...."

I must apologize for the pessimistic attitude, but yesterday just pissed me off. I'll digress in another post.

To honor the spirit of a fake drinking holiday that I'm not particularly fond of, I am going to do best/worst of 2k7.

Best/Worst of 2k7

Best Pop Song:
(I would do song of 2007 but bands that I listen to don't actually single songs...)
"Kiss Kiss" - Chris Brown ft. T-Pain
I really don't like T-Pain. Anyone who gets his signature singing style from a single vocoding effect gets no respect from me. Despite the fact he has sung the hook for just about every hip-pop (that's my new term for hip-hop/pop/top40. it's pretty clever if i do say so myself and i thought of it inline while typing. not too shabby.), you won't be hearing about him much longer. His voice is a fad in pop music right now, and nothing more. Chris Brown, on the other hand, is fairly talented, and this song is catchy.

Honorable Mention: "Easy" - Paula Deanda
This might be my favorite hip-pop song of all time (it's between that and "my love"). The only reason that it didn't get the best of 2k7 is because it was re-released this year featuring Lil' (no matter what he calls himself, he'll always be Lil' to me. I mean the guy is like 2ft tall.) Bow Wow. Originally, it was released in 2k6 featuring Lil' Wheezy, which was a million times better than the Lil' Bow Wow version and my favorite version.

Best Album:
Somewhere in the Between - Streetlight Manifesto
Tom is lucky that he is amazing at music. He made us wait for 5 years. 5. years. For those of you that don't listen to Streetlight, you don't know the pain. Albeit, I assure you it was one of the more traumatizing experiences of my entire life. Of course, Tom did pull it off. The entire album is ridiculous from the lyrics to the melodies to the horn lines. Unbelievable from top to bottom. I listened to it exclusively for a solid month after it was released, and it's only 40-some odd minutes long. I don't feel like to the math on it, but given how much I listen to music, that is a bunch of play throughs.

Honorable Mention: Blackout - Britney Spears
I feel bad, and she is trying.......

Best Concert:
RX Bandits at the TLA
This was a pretty competitive category since I saw a lot of amazing shows this year, but the clear victor was RXB. I have never experienced music like that in my entire life. The instrumentation, the presenatation, the selection, and the passion are unrivaled. It was if the music enveloped me........and I wasn't even under the influence of anything. It was just amazing and I would highly recommend catching one of their shows if at all possible. Even if you have never heard them, I would still recommend it, cause they are that good live. It will blow you away. This show ranks now ranks as my second favorite show of all time right after the first time I saw the aquabats, but that is for another post.

Honorable Mention: Streetlight Manifesto, Reel Big Fish, and Less Than Jake at Ram's Head Live
Like I already said, i went to some amazing shows this year (paramore, saves the day acoustic, suburban legends/streetlight, etc.). i feel like i am almost obligated to choosing this as the honorable mention just for the line-up alone. Look at it. Then, look at it again. I can hardly believe that line-up occurred myself, and I was there. Simply amazing. Three of the most influential bands in my entire life (there are only two others that would rival their influence in my life - RXB and five iron frenzy). And, it was a great show to boot. Streetlight opened to be expected. RBF played their usual set which is still pretty good. And, LTJ played a ridiculous set with songs exclusively from Hello Rockview and Losing Streak which are my favorite albums by them and arguably their best in general (though i'm sure many would include anthem and/or pezcore in this list). Not to mention, there was a huge crew there with me. We were rolling about 12 deep that night. Concerts are grow exponentially more fun with the more people you know that are there.

Best Movie:
H-to-the-P-O-double-T and the O-O-T-P, yea you know me
It's probably the worst film adaption of an H-to-the-P-O-double-T book yet. Even so, i don't go to the movies often and i highly enjoy 'arry potter. hence, it wins.

Worst Person:
Bill Belichick
There are so many four-letter words and explicit phrases available to let someone you know you don't like them, yet not a one of them does this guy justice. Besides his apparent hatred of sleeves, he is disrespectful to opposing coaches (doesn't shake hands), he is disrespectful to other teams (runs up scores), and, above all, he is disrespectful to the game (cheats). I could never support someone of such low caliber.

Dishonorable Mention: Jamie Lynn Spears
I know she wants to be, but she will never be more (in)famous than her sister. To adequately explain this phenomenon, I derived the inequality below.

fame{alpha*disneyChannelShows + beta*teenPregancies} < fame{Britney}
where alpha, beta are in the set of all real numbers

So that's that. I was going to do a few more, but I ended up writing more than I expected for these ones and i'm about to head out a new years party no less. Ironic considering the first paragraph. Had I been on top of my game, I would've asked everyone to submit ideas for the best/worst a couple weeks ago, but I just thought to do this yesterday. To make it up to everyone, I'll make sure to ask for ideas next year pending I still care about this blog.