Faves of the Decade

2000-2009: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I consider myself to be a true child of the 2000's, commencing the brutal journey that was high school in 2000, graduating from college in 2008 and spending the last year of the decade stumbling through the (way overrated) "real world". The notable trends of the past ten years will always coincide with my memories of inching my way toward adulthood. This was my decade, bitches. So, in true Entertainment Weekly Fashion, here are a few my favorite things.

FIVE FAVE FILMS:
1-THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY: Every year on December 18th I'm all atwitter, a knee jerk reaction from the days I was made to wait an agonizing year between the Dec. premiere of installments. New Zealand's favorite hobbit, Peter Jackson, succeeded in a task that most thought would be impossible as trudging barefoot through Mordor lugging a piece of epic bling: he made fantasy flicks cool again. Fun Fact: Did you know that Orlando Bloom is completely CGI??
2- ALMOST FAMOUS- Billy Krudup may be a dick and a home-wrecker, but I can watch him scream "I am a gold god!" from a rooftop a hundred times. And I have.
3- FINDING NEMO- I giggle like a five year old and weep like the pathetic woman I am with every viewing. And Willem Dafoe as a jaded angelfish? Priceless.
4-GANGS OF NEW YORK- That's right. I. Effing. Love. This movie. I know, I know, it's a half hour too long, but my homeboy, Danny Day, is so obscenely good in this film, I forgive it all its flaws. Even Cameron Diaz.
5-MOULIN ROUGE: Okay, shut up. Sure the whore with the heart of gold dies, sure they romanticize rape, sure Nicole Kidman can't sing. But the 14 year old girl in me will always trump the student in Dr. Francesca Coppa's "post-modern" class. And Moulin Rouge will always be one of my guilty pleasures.

FIVE FAVE MUSICALS:
1- ASSASSINS: This killer (ba-da-bum!) revival changed the way I view musical theatre. I cannot think of a higher compliment than that. Also, Dennis O'hare.
2- CAROLINE OR CHANGE: A musical starring Tonya Pinkins with a book by Tony Kuschner. A fierce doo-wop trio. Need I say more?
3- URINETOWN: I saw it three times and I almost canceled my semester abroad so I could stay at school and audition for Muhlenberg College's mainstage production. I didn't. I went to London. And part of me will always wonder what might have been...
4- THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE: I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in a theatre. Ever. Wait. I have. But not at a musical.
5- THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA: "And then... the pony kicked her... in the head..."

FIVE BIGGEST THEATRICAL DISAPPOINTMENTS:
1- THE GODSPELL THAT NEVER HAPPENED: Teaser posters plastered all over the city said "Prepare Ye." Oh the irony.
2- INTO THE WOODS REVIVAL: Really, Vanessa Williams? Really? One of the meatiest roles written for a women in contemporary musical theatre and your dress upstaged you? Really.
3- WICKED: OMGSHUTUPLIZYOUSUCK! Sorry. That's how I feel and I regret nothing.
4- THE FROGS: Susan Stroman, Stephen Sondheim, Nathan Lane, Roger Bart... what could possibly go wrong?
5- GUYS AND DOLLS: I've loved this show since I was a baby and my mother sang "Bushel and a Peck" to me before bed. (I used to think it was one word... "Bushelannapeck.) I also really love the Gilmore Girls. But Faith Prince Lauren Grahmn is not.

FIVE FAVE PLAYS:
1- AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY: I'M! RUNNING! THINGS! NOOOOWWWW!
2- DOUBT: Oh, Cherry Jones. You are a talented lady.
3- PROOF: Before Mary Louise Parker's monotone became monotonous.
4- THE PILLOWMAN: The eye goes to Goldblum.
5- FROST/NIXON: Frank Langella. Frank Fucking Langella.
Runner Up: HEDDA GABLER (NYTW): Elizabeth Marvel is a goddess that deserves to be worshipped on a pedestal.

FAVORITE YO-YO OF A CAREER:
AL GORE: He lost the Presidential election of 2004, even though he won. And then he got a Nobel Prize. That's a pretty crazy ass decade.

FAVORITE THEATRICAL REPERTORY COMPANY:
THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: WHAT? Liz, that's like... way too easy. Well, shut up three people who will read this. Because any company ambitious enough to perform all of Shakespeare's Histories in Rep (Jonathan Slinger played Richard II and Richard III, sometimes in the same day) deserves mad props. I mean, mad props aside from being disputably the best classical company in the world.

FAVE FIVE FASHION-Y TRENDS
1-BIG ASS SUNGLASSES: A hangover's best friend. I read on textsfromlastnight.com that "big sunglasses do not fix fat." Well, I beg to differ, drunken whore. I beg to differ.
2- UGGS: I resisted them for so long. Through all of high school, I turned my nose up. But I have to admit, these ugly ass boots are the most comfortable things I have ever worn and go with just about anything. I'm waiting for them to come out with functional Dress Uggs so I never have to ear heels again.
3- SPANX: Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch to call this a "fashion" trend, but they are something you wear. And for the 85% of women whose thighs touch when they walk, they are a godsend.
4- THE RETURN OF DARK NAIL POLISH: This just squeezed its way into this decade, but I am so grateful it did. Not that I ever stopped wearing dark nail polish, I'm just glad whoever makes these decisions deemed it cool again.
5- HUGE PURSES: I really don't need to qualify this. It just makes me happy and my life easier.

FIVE FAVE TV SHOWS
1- THE DAILY SHOW: Defining itself during the election of 2000, or as Jon Stewart called it "Indecision 2000" this show went from an extended Weekend Update, highlighting the likes of cat fashion shows to one of the most venerated political programs on TV. Oh yeah. And it's fucking hilarious.
2- THE WEST WING: Liberal polical fan fiction at its very best. Bartlett for America.
3- THE SOPRANOS: Because I would forgive Christopher Multisanti anything. Even beating Drea di Matteo to a bloody pulp and shooting Tim Daily square in the chest.
4- LOST: OMGWTF... POLAR BEAR!
5- DEADWOOD: Motherfucking Ian cocksucking McShane... bitches.
RUNNERS UP: Arrested Development and 30 Rock.


FIVE FAVE CARTOONS:
1- SOUTH PARK: Watching the evolution of Eric Cartman is fascinating. He goes from a fat dumbass to an anti-semetic, evil mastermind. It's the opposite of the way Stewie Griffin goes from being an evil mastermind to... well... a gay dude.
2- DARIA: A show way too smart for MTV. Nothing speaks to High School angst like Daria.
3- THE VENTURE BROTHERS: Seriously. Watch this show. It's the smartest show on TV.
4- HOME MOVIES: Brendan Small is an effing genius.
5- THE FIARLY ODD PARENTS: So, this generation of children doesn't have The Rugrats or Hey Arnold or Rocko's Modern Life. This show is almost as clever and just as silly.

FAVORITE POLITICAL PROTEST:
QUEERS MARCH ON WASHINGTON: In the fall of this year, the LGBT community, organized by the Human Rights Campaign, marched for equal protection under the law. I called it the "Strut on Washington": Fox News called it "Sunday."

FIVE FAVE BOOKS:
1- HARRY POTTER SERIES: Okay, listen. I'm not saying it's Tolstoy, people. I'm not even saying it's Anne Rice. But how often do you see kids lining up at bookstores all over the world at midnight for the release of a book? (You know, those little square things with pages in them. Like a paper Kindle.) I read an article in Time Magazine about how the only one that loses in this secular series is God, because young Harry never prays. I beg to differ. There is an indisputable theology (and afterlife) in the Potter series. I mean, hello: Sirius Black and the mysterious (::cough:: unexplained ::coughcough::) curtain. Really, it's a series about faith in the intangible. Sure, It's not a Judaeo-Christian world (they do celebrate Christmas at Hogwarts, but it's really more about sparkly tinsel and eggnog.) Harry is constantly finding ways to connect with the love ones he has lost and sometimes, he does actually contact them. Mostly, it's a story about an average child thrust into impossibly harsh circumstances, surviving on his inner strength and (literally) the power of love. If you ask me, that universal message is far more important than preaching any specific religion. And Snape is awesome.
2- AMERICAN GODS BY NEIL GAIMAN: When immigrants come to America, they bring their old world gods with them. And then, they quickly abandon them ("[America] is a bad place for Gods") to gods of the internet and the telephone and television. Dude. Read this book.
3- OLIVE KITTERIDGE BY ELIZABETH STROUT: Deservedly winning the 2009 Pulitzer for Prize for fiction, it is a series of vignettes set in a town in Maine, where every character is somehow touched by the misanthropic Olive Kitteridge. It's heartbreakingly beautiful.
4- WHITE TEETH BY ZADIE SMITH: I can't even really describe why it's so good. Just read it.
5- THE AMBER SPYGLASS BY PHILLIP PULLMAN: It's the last book in the brilliant His Dark Materials Universe. Love love love it.
RUNNER UP: EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED BY JONATHAN SAFRON FOER: I've written all over my copy. In pen. Just little "LOL"s and "OMG"s and underlines. And not just because reading it made me want to write a paper.

Aaaannndd... Carpal Tunnel. Looks like this is going to have to be a two parter. FAVES PART 2: DREAMS COME TRUE will include 5 FAVORITE ALBUMS, 5 FAVORITE BADASS QUOTES, FIVE FAVORITE CELEBS, FIVE FAVORITE VILLAINS and MORE!

MARRY BOFF KILL!
If I may, I would like to start a blog tradition. A Bladition, if your will (and you will.) I would like to end every entry with a lively round of Marry Boff Kill. If you don't know how to play this, it's quite simple: in your comments (and you WILL comment) you give me three celebrities/historical figures/fictional characters/whatevskies and I will chose who I would marry, who I would boff and who I would kill. SInce this is my first entry, I will pick the first three and follow up at the end of my next, highly anticipated, entry.

Next Week on Marry Boff Kill: The Cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney.

-L