Caws Radio

2005 list!

Hey kids! Here are my picks for the best/worst of 2005! Boy, been quite a year, hasn't it? Tell you the truth, I have trouble remembering when 2004 ended and 2005 began. Oh well. Here we go.

Best shoes of 2005 - My shoes. Yep, I picked up these cool Converse in Eugene. They're cool.










Best movie of 2005 - The best film I saw this year was The Harder They Come with Jimmy Cliff. Yeah, it didn't come out in 2005, but I didn't see it until this past year, so it's new to me. It is the story of Jamaica, shanty towns, music, and one man's quest to become famous, then just saying "fook it, mon," and deciding to become infamous. It is a vibrant, fun, colorful, violent, tragic, and just plain rad movie. And the soundtrack kicks ass.

Worst movie of 2005 - Hmm. I don't remember all the movies that I saw this year, but the worst one I can remember is Two Weeks Notice with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. It was on TV one night. It's not a terrible movie, just a really dumb one. Uh...don't see it.

Best album of 2005 - The best album I heard all year was Neon Blonde's Chandeliers in the Savannah. Neon Blonde is the side project of singer Johnny Whitney and drummer Mark Gajadhar, both from the avant-noise-punk group Blood Brothers. With Neon Blonde, Whitney retains all the theatrical sarcasm and anger he expresses with the Blood Brothers, but he isn't grounded in a thrash-punk base. In fact, Neon Blonde moves so freely between musical elements that they seem to have no base at all. But this isn't simple theme-sampling postmodern pop. Everything is filtered through Whitney's bizarre aesthetic sense to create a completely distinct sound. The songs "Headlines" and "Cherries in Slow Motion" are stand-alone masterpieces. This is some kind of new mutant pop music; challenging, smart, melodic, vicious, yet beautiful. It's kind of like a pretty girl beating you up. With a giant diamond. In a condemned art gallery.

Worst commercial of 2005 - There is a dramatic shot of a rock drummer, sweaty, onstage, counting off on his drumsticks. Then, on the downbeat, we cut to a four-door BMW - a goddamn BMW - driving around some hillsides. Oh, and there is some generic, stupid, car commercial rock music playing to accompany this luxury car rolling through the scenery. When I first saw this it almost made my eyes vomit.

Best quote of 2005 - "What was fresh and new so long ago is now old and dumb." -Alexio Wiseman

Best Western of 2005 - Bayside Inn, 555 West Ash Street, San Diego, CA


Best celebrity moment of 2005 - When Brad and Jen met up with Ben and Hillary in that dark alley and then Leo showed up and ran down Lindsay with his mercedes and then the rest of them butchered each other with flaming broken bottles with poison teeth. In a big toilet.

Worst president of 2005 - I know there were a lot of presidents doing their thing this year, but president Bush just keeps on suckin'.

Best book of 2005 - I'm not sure when it was released, but this year I read and enjoyed A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. I don't read a lot of books, but that just goes to show how good this one is; it actually held my interest the whole way through. The most refreshing part is how immediate and free the writing is. I just love how Eggers disregards every narrative rule they try to teach you in school. You see, kids? Writing is about telling a story. Not about run-ons and proper form.

Best random pretty girl of 2005 - Rina Uchiyama. C'mon, you know me.


Best game of 2005 - Harvest Moon: Back to Nature on the Playstation. Once again, this didn't come out in 2005. But during this year, this game was my second life. And in this second life, I am successful, and happy, and prosperous, and all the things that I am not in my first life.

Worst hurricane of 2005 - Definitely hurricane Rita. I mean, gosh. All that water was blown around, and....No, wait. Katrina! Yeah, on second thought, Katrina was the worst hurricane. Duh.

Best 2005 list of 2005 - This one, beeyatches.
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