2010 Music Awards

2010 might have been the best year for new music, but it was good none the less. My iTunes playlist for 2010 is made of 353 songs, all added since last Christmas.

Once again "of 2010" means it was released in 2010, while "new" just means added to my iTunes since last Christmas. Here it goes:

Best New Artist: Dan. P (of MU330)
Runner up: Toh Kay

• These were the only two artists who were added to my iTunes this year, from the split album "You by Me Volume 1". I enjoy Dan's revisions of the Streetlight songs more than Toh Kay's of MU330, but both are good.

Best Song of 2010: "I'm Shipping Up To Boston (Live)" Dropkick Murphys featuring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Runner Ups: "All Ages Show" (Bomb the Music Industry!), "A Moment of Silence" (Dan P.), "Monumental" (The Flatliners), "Animaniacs" (Less Than Jake), "Punk Rock Girl" (Streetlight Manifesto)

• I bought the Dropkick live album because I saw that the Bosstones were on the final track, and I loved it when they did that live in 2008. The album version does not disappoint.

Best New Song: "Oolooloo" by The Pietasters

Runner Ups: "Safe European Home" (The Clash), "July! August! Reno!" (The Flatliners), "I'm Shipping Up to Boston Live" (Dropkick Murphys ft. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones), "Mother Theresa Chokeslames The World" (The Flatliners), "Look At Me I'm a Winner!" (The Aquabats!)

• While not their greatest song, it is my favorite after their latest album (named after one of their older ones) and it does crack my top 100 songs.

Best Live Performance (Single Band): Less Than Jake at Sonar

Runner ups: The Aquabats! (at Rams Head Live!), The English Beat (at Rams Head Live!), The Flatliners (At 9:30), The Gaslight Anthem (At 9:30), Mustard Plug (At Ottobar)

• Less Than Jake put on the best live show I have ever seen. They played all of 'Losing Streak' in order plus others. I hope they top it in January

Best Live Show (Whole Show): The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Flatliners, Teenage Bottlerocket at 9:30

Runner Ups: Reel Big Fish/The Aquabats!/Suburban Legends (at Rams Head Live!), Fishbone/The English Beat (Rams Head Live!), The Players/The Toasters/The Pietasters (8x10)

• That line up was just great all around.

Best Album of 2010: 99 Songs of Revolution Vol. 1 by Streetlight Manifesto

Runner Ups: Adults!!!... Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited By Nothing!!!!!!! (Bomb the Music Industry!), "American Slang" (The Gaslight Anthem), "Cavalcade" (The Flatliners), "TV/EP" by Less Than Jake

• The first of the long-awaited "99 Songs of Revolution" Streetlight delivers 11 great covers.

Best New Album: 99 Songs of Revolution Vol. 1 by Streetlight Manifesto

Runner Ups: "The Great Awake" (The Flatliners), "All Day" (The Pietasters)

So let's see what 2011 brings

2010 Music Awards

It has been a good year for music for me, especially with this. I counted down my 100 favorite songs and 75 favorite bands (too lazy to link). I've seen many of my favorite bands live this year, and seen some interesting new ones too.

As I did last year, I have kept track of all the songs new to my iTunes in 2010. And by 2010 I mean since Christmas of 2009 because that's when I get most of my music. Tomorrow....or when I get around to it, I'll recap my favorites of this past year.

Once again I'll be doing it in two different respects. Some will be for the best "new" music, some will be for the best of "2010". "New" means new to my iTunes, so all songs are eligible. "Of 2010" means the music was released in the 2010 calendar year. Some may overlap from "2010" to "new", I've yet to decide these things yet.

Yes, I Like to Watch TV

As I sit here not studying for Footdick and instead watch "30 Rock" online, I suppose I should address the show as I did not with my other TV posts. I very much enjoy "30 Rock". Three months ago, I did not. I tried to watch some "30 Rock" in like season 2, and I was just not enjoying it. It was billed as the next "Arrested Development", which to me is like saying Fall Out Boy are the next Beatles. However, I can admit that I was wrong, and "30 Rock" is indeed, a good show. Rull funny.

I've been wrong about shows before. I HATED "Parks and Recreation" at first and it is now my favorite show "on" TV (BACK JANUARY 20!!!). Based off the commercials, I thought "My Name is Earl" was going to be horrible but I did very much enjoy it throughout its airing. I didn't watch "Chuck" at first because I thought it looked stupid, I was wrong there. Also the first promo for "Community" I saw was discouraging, but I'm glad I've watched that since the beginning. As of non-NBC shows, I wasn't a fan of "Cougar Town" until I watched it a bit more this season, much better than what I saw last year.

So even though I didn't do posts on all the shows I watch, nor did I talk about the shows no longer on like I planned, here is a list of shows that I suggest watching

Current

• How I Met Your Mother
• Chuck
• Modern Family
• Cougar Town
• The Middle
• South Park
• Tosh.0
• Futurama
• Psych
• Community
• 30 Rock
• The Office
• Parks and Recreation
• The Big Bang Theory
• Mad Men
• Breaking Bad
• The Walking Dead
• Weeds
• Dexter

Former Shows

• Arrested Development
• Scrubs
• Andy Richter Controls the Universe
• Titus
• Better Off Ted
• Seinfeld
• Malcolm in the Middle
• My Name is Earl
• Freaks and Geeks
• Undeclared
• Arrested Development

Musics

Last night's show I went to was very good. First up was Koo Koo Kangaroo, who kinda stunk and didn't really play music so I won't really talk about them. Next up were Suburban Legends, a band I saw 5 times in 07-08 and hadn't seen since. SL really steered away from a ska sound in favor of more disco-dance oriented music with their last 2 albums but it seemed they were back. The songs I didn't recognize I enjoyed a lot and I'm looking forward to whatever new music they'll have soon. In no order, here was their set:

Come Back Home
Hey DJ (Opening Song)
High Fives (Closing Song)
Bright Spring Morning
Just Can't Wait to be King (Lion King song)
3 or 4 songs I didn't recognize

Next were the Aquabats! I had never seen them before but always wanted to. You could tell that the crowd was pumped and the band did not disappoint. They only got into one battle on stage, scientists from the National Aquarium attacked them for killing their sea monkeys and starting to play a new song. A lot of The Aquabats! songs I don't really like, but they seemed to only play ones I like so it was perfect. In no order, here was their set:

Fashion Zombies! (Opening Song)
Nerd Alert!
Look At Me (I'm a Winner)!
Super Rad!
Red Sweater!
Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates!
Martain Girl!
Pool Party! (Closing Song)
Pizza Day!
Lovers of Loving Love!

Finally was Reel Big Fish. I've seen them many times, so this time I just sat back and watched the set. Overall it was very good. With Reel Big Fish, I know what I'm getting so it was right at my expectations. Here is their set in no order:

Good Thing
Ban the Tube Top
Brown Eyed Girl
Monkey Man
Another F.U. Song
(They started to play Cannibal but then went into Beer)
Sell Out (Opener)
Trendy
She Has a Girlfriend Now
Snoop Dog, Baby
Beer (Closing song)
241
Everything Sucks
S.R. (Reggae, Punk, Death Metal, Country, Disco)
Kiss Me Deadly
The Bad Guy
Your Guts (I Hate 'em)
The Set Up (You Need This)
Thank You for Not Moshing
I Want Your Girlfriend to be My Girlfriend Too

Overall, very good show.

2010 MLB Awards

The awards so far haven't been too upsetting, but I still need to weigh in on some of the results.

Silver Sluggers are all fine.

AL Gold Gloves
C: Joe Mauer
1b: Mark Teixeira
2b: Robinson Cano
3b: Evan Longoria
SS: Derek Jeter-OK, as a Yankee fan even I know this was stupid. He is awful at defense, but his fielding % was so high cause he doesn't make errors on balls he doesn't get to, and late throws aren't errors. BUT, since it's voted on by the league, not the writers, you can only blame the AL coaches and managers
OF: Carl Crawford
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
OF: Franklin Gutierrez-ok, Brett Gardner should have gotten one, he led the AL in dWarp
P: Mark Buehrle-If he didn't win it last year I'd say this was bull shit, but he did so he didn't just win it from his opening day play

NL Gold Gloves
C: Yadier Molina
1b: Albert Pujols
2b: Brandon Phillips
3b: Scott Rolen-Ok, I guess if Derek Jeter's corpse can win so can Rolen's. But trust me, if he didn't hit out of no where this year he'd not win it
SS: Troy Tylowitzki
OF: Michael Bourn-Yeah, I know he's fast but is he really that good at defense?
OF: Carlos Gonzalez-Offense wins Gold Gloves
OF: Shane Victorino-Ok, offense and past years success
P: Branson Arroyo-Sure, why not

NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay-Yes, he deserved it without question. But NOT ONE anti-Phillies writer voted this year? I mean even one person didn't vote for Mauer last year

NL Rookie of the Year: Buster Posey-Sure, he's a good white catcher.

AL Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz-Who wasted votes on Austin Jackson?

NL Manager of the Year: Bud Black-Correct!

AL Manager of the Year: Rob Gardenhire-OK, it's not quite as bad as Mike Scioscia winning last year, but Washington, Francona, and Maddon all had better cases

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez-While I'd have no objection if CC or Price won, this was the right choice.

Still to come....

NL MVP: This should be Pujols but I have a feeling voters won't want to give it to him 3 years in a row because they're self richous. Votto was very good, but I'll take Pujols over him any day.

AL MVP: There are 3 correct choices for this. But one is a Yankee, one is an alcoholic who is on a non-playoff team, and one is a born-again Christian who kicked his nasty drug and alcohol habits. Guess who will win?