My best and worst of 2010!

Hi!

Well goodbye 2010 - I've enjoyed your company. I feel I need some closure though, before I can start with 2011 I need to decide what the highs and lows were from the comfort of my sofa/bed. Because as we all know the sign of a good year is the quality of film, music and TV produced within those twelve months...

Best track - Frisky, Tinie Tempah
A lot of great music came out in 2010 to be fair, and it was a year that got me back into more dance music. Granted I would class Frisky as R'n'B but it's a song that checks in to your head, unpacks the suitcase and dials up for room service. Good music to me has always been about the elision of rhythm and lyrics and Tinie Tempah's singles have been great for that reason. Had Duck Sauce put a little more variation into Barbara Streisand or Club Can't Handle Me had a little more coverage on the radio and in clubs I could have plumped for either of those.
Worthy Challengers:
Barbara Streisand, Duck Sauce
Club Can't Handle Me, Flo-Rida & David Guetta
F**k You, Cee-Lo Green
Dynamite, Taio Cruz
Runaway, Kanye West Ft. Pusha-T

Best Album - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West
And not just because my girlfriend got it for me for Christmas. It is in fact because this is what an album should be, thought-provoking, funny, catchy, and makes you want to replay the whole thing once you've listened right through to Who Will Survive In America? With cameos galore, no more evident than in the superb All Of The Lights, and more of West's trademark sampling, including Black Sabbath's Iron Man in Hell Of A Life, MBDTW is a superbly produced album that I suspect I'll still be listening to throughout 2011.
Worthy Challengers:
Contra, Vampire Weekend
The Lady Killer, Cee-Lo Green
Postcards From A Young Man, Manic Street Preachers
Foundling, David Gray
Man On The Moon 2: The Legend Of Mr. Rager, Kid CuDi

Worst Artist/Album/Song Of The Year - Ke$ha/Animal/We R Who We R
I could not have foreseen a worse start to the year than on the first of January Ke$ha, being original by being the only artist with a sign of currency in her name, released her album 'Animal'. If only it had been put down. The album. Not Ke$ha. I'm not that harsh. Still - she is terrible. Ironic that she should bring out a song titled 'Blah Blah Blah' when that's all I hear whenever her songs are played.
Worthy Challengers:
Plastic Beach, Gorillaz
This Ain't A Love Song, Scouting For Girls
The Club Is Alive, JLS
Shout, Dizzee Rascal & James Corden

Best Film - Hot Tub Time Machine
One regret this pointless awards ceremony has exposed about my 2010 is that I did not get to the cinema enough. The list of films I fear may have made this list had I seen them is impressive, The Other Guys, Death At A Funeral, Iron Man 2, not to mention Inception and Avatar. But of those I saw, Hot Tub Time Machine made me laugh the most, was very aware of the type of film that it was, and had superb casting and performances. And Worst of the year? Goes to Remember Me, hard to follow and surprising ending made un-surprising by the hype on the Internet by Robert Pattinson hangers-on.
Worthy Challengers:
Kick-Ass
Green Zone
The A-Team

Best TV - Misfits
Again one of the only shows, other than the Football League Show, that I sat down and tuned in for every week, and watched again on 4OD. Regularly funny and with plot twists that I thought I saw coming but were twisted kept me coming back week after week. A clever ending to the Christmas Special means the confirmed Series 3 should be a good one. The biggest disappointment for me in TV this year was the news that both Heroes and Flashforward were to be cancelled by their respective American Networks. Guess I'll have to make do with the box sets then!
Worthy Challengers:
Peep Show
The Apprentice
Derren Brown: Hero at 30,000 feet

Hero of 2010 - Matt Cardle
The man, the hat, the legend. Had a few wobbles but still got me into X-Factor and made sure there was at least one person who I didn't feel was permanently reading off a script. The less you cry on a reality talent show, the more I'll like you.

Villain(s) of 2010 - The England Football Team
'Nuff said? Or maybe Jorge Larrionda, the Uruguayan referee who overruled Frank Lampard's 'goal' against Germany. Yeah definitely him.

Happy New Year to all - Have a great 2011!

Mark A.