The Lamron

Issue date: 12/10/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: AP Images/Jason DeCrow Best Artists - Beyoncé Knowles during the I am... Sasha Fierce 2009 tour.

Media Credit: AP Images/Robert Spencer Best Movies - Peter Jackson at the premier of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Media Credit: AP Images/Charles Krupa Best TV Characters - Stephen Colbert pulls his bowtie together before a live production of The Colbert Report.

Media Credit: AP Images/Bill Haber Most Influential Authors - J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, at a book signing for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Best Artists

By Julie McMahon
Arts & Entertainment Editor

1. Beyoncé - This Destiny's Child diva has grown with those of us who began listening to her in the '90s. The metamorphosis she has experienced through her decision to go solo in the beginning of the decade has resulted in an unrivaled level of sophistication and hit-making that can only be the product of pure talent.

2. Coldplay - A band that epitomizes an age of technology instrumentally, Coldplay manages to create music that is resounding both to the ear and in its message. The band has existed solely within this decade has very much exploded in the past 10 years, escalating them to be hailed as one of the best live bands of our time. Lead singer Chris Martin further represents music of the 2000s in his political and moral pursuits.

3. Eminem - Selling more records than any other artist of the past 10 years and receiving several awards and honors in the meantime, Eminem made his mark with tight, provocative and fresh albums like The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. The genre of hip-hop very much ruled music this decade, so though Em's most recent releases have been highly disappointing, his impact in the early 2000s is enough to place him at No. 3.

4. Kanye West - Though Kanye rides the same wave that Eminem did to the top music of the decade, The College Dropout is considered by more than just rap fans to be the greatest album of the past 10 years. Kanye's influence has extended far beyond his ability to write rhymes (Let's be honest: If that was all he had going for him, he probably wouldn't have even been on here) to his talent as a producer and as a vanguard in the music industry.

5. The Killers - Las Vegas natives The Killers have put on quite a show with their creative music videos and elaborate live shows. With universally well-liked and catchy music, the Killers are so very contemporary and who doesn't love/get the chills every time they listen to "Mr. Brightside"?

6. Lil' Wayne

7. Death Cab for Cutie

8. Jay-Z

9. Norah Jones

10. Justin Timberlake

11. Modest Mouse

12. The Arcade Fire

13. Green Day

14. The Shins

15. OutKast

16. Kelly Clarkson

17. The White Stripes

18. Bright Eyes

19. Britney Spears

20. Taylor Swift

21. Black Eyed Peas

22. Alicia Keys

23. 50 Cent

24. Fall Out Boy

25. Pink

While some artists on the list can be undoubtedly justified as "this decade's bests" (take Norah Jones - who has the talent, influence and acclaim statistically), others aren't so easily categorized. While Britney Spears may be one of the biggest single-producers of the decade - and ever - the quality of her music and influence is largely debatable. Similarly, what Death Cab and The Arcade Fire lack in widespread popularity, they make up for in genuine artistry, characterized by lyrical genius and superior musicality, respectively. Also note that some artists who have recently struck platinum (or just plain genius) aren't included because their "staying power" is still unsure, just as artists who may continue to sell quality records but had their heyday in earlier decades are excluded. And of course, this list is unabashedly, unapologetically biased.

Some of the Best of Indie

By Nora McGlynn
Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor

Best Baroque Pop (aka little bands with a big sound)
1. Sea Wolf - Leaves in the River

2. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

3. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

4. Coldplay - Parachutes

5. Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line

6. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

7. Dear and the Headlights - Small Steps, Heavy Hooves

8. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans

9. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing

10. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular


Best Folk Fusion Artists

1. Conor Oberst

2. Colin Meloy

3. Eisley

4. Iron & Wine

5. Johnny Flynn

6. Bon Iver

7. The Weakerthans

8. The Great Lake Swimmers

Most Memorable Singles

By Julie McMahon
Arts & Entertainment Editor

"Who Let the Dogs Out?" - Baha Men

"Complicated" - Avril Lavigne

"Collide" - Howie Day

"You're Beautiful" - James Blunt

"What Would You Do?" - City High

"Blue" - Eiffel 65

"Bad Day" - Daniel Powter

"Butterfly" - Crazytown

"Stacy's Mom" - Fountains of Wayne

"Shake It" - Metro Station

Best Movies

By Colleen Grodotzke
Staff Writer

The millennium may have started with a scare about a non-existent computer crisis and led us to a very existent economic crisis, but the one good thing we can take out of the last 10 years is great filmmaking.

Toward the start of the decade, Peter Jackson delivered movie-goers absolute brilliance three years in a row. The best of the decade goes to three movies in one; an epic journey of almost 12 hours of inspired filmmaking and storytelling, the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Pixar also hasn't failed to make a fantastic animated movie yet in the 2000s - some of their best include Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), Ratatouille (2007), Wall-E (2008), and Up (2009). Along with these great films, here's a list of some other favorites throughout the last 10 years:

2000

Almost Famous

Gladiator


2001

A Beautiful Mind

Moulin Rouge


2002

Catch Me If You Can

Chicago

Gangs of New York

The Pianist


2003

The Last Samurai

Love, Actually

Lost in Translation

Mystic River

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl


2004

Aviator

Before Sunset

Crash

Finding Neverland

Million Dollar Baby

Phantom of the Opera


2005

Batman Begins

Pride and Prejudice

Walk the Line


2006

Babel

Blood Diamond

The Departed

Dreamgirls


2007

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Atonement

Knocked Up

Superbad

There Will Be Blood


2008

Changeling

The Dark Knight

Frost/Nixon

Slumdog Millionaire

Tropic Thunder


2009

(500) Days of Summer

The Hangover

Biggest Oscar Mistakes

By Mike Maguire
Staff Writer

Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich (2000). Roberts was America's darling throughout the '90s and is the queen of the romantic comedy, but giving her this kind of career achievement award in spite of Ellen Burstyn's heart-wrenching performance as a mother growing slowly addicted to "diet pills" in Requiem for a Dream is just plain wrong.

Crash, Best Picture (2005). The kind of facile, emotionally manipulative junk that pretends to deal with contemporary social issues but instead skews them to fit into its coincidence-driven narrative. The lesson at the film's center - "everyone's at least a little racist" - is both reductive and useless. While a bad year for movies overall, Brokeback Mountain and the rest of the nominees were plenty more deserving.

Tim Robbins, Mystic River (2003). Another award essentially honoring a career's work rather than the specific performance. While Robbins blubbered his way to an Oscar, Peter Sarsgaard's masterful performance in Shattered Glass went almost unnoticed that year.

Memoirs of a Geisha, Best Cinematography (2005). One can't help but wonder if the voters even saw Terence Malick's and Emmanuel Lubezki's work in The New World. Arguably tedious narrative aside, it's without a doubt one of the most gorgeous looking movies of the last decade - if not ever.

The ineligibility of When the Levees Broke and other televised documentaries. Not to slight Al Gore's global warming picture, but Spike Lee's poetic, exhaustively thorough investigation of Hurricane Katrina was the best documentary of 2006. Unfortunately, it didn't even qualify for the award because, at four hours long, it didn't receive a theatrical release. The Academy sorely needs to readjust their rules to the modern era, where popular movies are nary longer than two hours. Its exhibition on HBO was well advertised, but its venue should not dictate its award eligibility.

Best TV Characters

By Shea Frazier
Staff Writer

We can all agree that plot, setting, premise, et cetera are fundamental parts of a television program, but let's face it: without a strong set of characters, what's the point?

Fortunately for us, the 2000s have shaped up to be a good decade for TV, and whether they are winning audiences over with their wit, humor or thoughtful uniqueness, these characters have carved out a niche in the collective conscious of TV viewers everywhere, earning their places amongst the best of the 2000s (so far).

1. Stephen Colbert ("The Colbert Report") - An unshakeable statue of liberty and morality (according to himself), TV's Colbert is nothing like his much less boisterous and more liberal real-life counterpart; that's why we like him. Colbert's exaggerated antics and sharp satire have won over a generation and given us a reason to care about the news again, earning him the top position this decade.

2. Gregory House ("House M.D.") - No misanthrope has managed to truly weave his way into the cultural cognizance since Charles Dickens' Scrooge; that is, until 2004 introduced the cynic to end all cynics. Unshaven and unapologetic, House has limped his way into becoming a pop culture phenomenon proving that you really can attract more flies with vinegar.

3. Benjamin Linus ("Lost") - Everybody loves a villain, especially when you don't know how villainous he actually is. Sly and manipulative, Linus' truly frightening character remains a (mildly disturbed) star in the midst of the complex plot-web, haunting Lostaways everywhere.

4. The Janitor ("Scrubs")

5. Colonel Jack O'Neil ("Stargate-SG1")

6. Veronica Mars ("Veronica Mars")

7. Gir ("Invader Zim")

8. Michael Scott ("The Office")

9. Emerson Cod ("Pushing Daisies")

10. Tony Soprano ("The Sopranos")

Honorable Mentions: Miranda Bailey ("Grey's Anatomy"); Malcolm Reynolds ("Firefly")

The Strike of the Decade

By Shea Frazier
Staff Writer

The 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was a dark time. Sure it was an impressive showing of people's right to fight against an injustice, ensuring that Hollywood's most underappreciated folks - writers - got fair monetary compensation from DVD and online sales, but what about TV viewers?

Think of how they suffered: 14 long weeks of striking meant short seasons and reruns. It ended well for all, though, with a new writers' contract approved Feb. 26, 2008, and audiences getting treated to the internet sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in the meantime.

Best Video Games of 2009

By Gabrielle Gosset
Staff Writer

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360/PS3/PC) - The highly anticipated edition to the Call of Duty series did not disappoint. With an online community strong as ever and an elaborate storyline played through multiple characters, it was a great addition to the 2009 lineup.

Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) - This game was an interesting delve into a different kind of gameplay in the Halo universe, and with the new form of multiplayer mode and included Halo 3 map packs, it more than made up for the lack of Master Chief (well, almost).

New Super Mario Bros. (Wii) - As if bringing this beloved game and these adored characters to Nintendo's next-generation system wasn't brilliant enough, the edition of four-player co-op into the classic world of our favorite Italian plumbers made this game a shining star.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) - This Playstation 3 exclusive turned heads with its stunning graphics and left players glued to their television screens with a complex and fast-paced storyline, almost rationalizing the purchase of a PS3 system on its own.

Little Big Planet (PSP) - The fascinating and fully-customizable world of Little Big Planet was brought to the portable screen, allowing for level-building and world-jumping to be an activity on the go.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS) - Not only did this game open up the market for the older DS gamers out there, but it also delivered on being one of the most frustrating yet satisfying games out there, with its difficult puzzles and overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

Most Influential Authors

By Amelia Stymacks
Staff Writer

Dan Brown's hit The Da Vinci Code may not be the masterpiece of the decade, but it was certainly the controversy, and for that he makes the list. Stunning the world with his very believable theory that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus and the father of his children, Brown stirred readers up with his fast-paced bestseller.

Khaled Hosseini's bestseller The Kite Runner, however, could be the masterpiece of the century with the beautiful story of a young boy, Amir, growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hosseini portrays both Amir's personal struggles with his distant father and the dynamics of life in the Middle East with an eloquence that strikes readers. Stunningly written, Hosseini makes readers stop and consider how people still can be good despite hardship.

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series may be for kids, but it can't be ignored that we're not kids anymore. Harry Potter was a major factor in the development of a good portion of our generation. Rowling gives kids (and adults!) hope for, well, anything. She taught readers to have faith in themselves and their friends.

President Barack Obama: maybe he gets enough attention, but would he have gotten it without The Audacity of Hope? Obama's voice in the book gave people the chance to get to know him. A sense of authenticity in his tone makes him incredibly personable. Many noted that he didn't seem to change as he moved through life, but rather learned. Even those who don't support him can't deny his appeal after reading this book.

Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth may not be the lightest read. Instead, it gave everyone, including those who didn't read it, a jolt. For some people it was fear, for others it was skepticism, but everyone was affected by the Truth. Highly publicized and now viewed by many in documentary form, Gore's book kicked America into a new level of environmental awareness. Whether or not everyone began taking part in progress is a moot point. What's important is that the book insured that there was no longer any excuse for not knowing about climate change.

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