And finally, for the Talkies, *cough cough* Movies of 2013.

            As 2013 came to a close, I thought, wow I saw some incredible stuff this year.  I also thought, damn I spent like several months of rent on movies.  What can I say,  I am obsessed.  If movies were a drug, I would have overdosed years ago.  Thankfully, they don't have the same effects...they're better.  Okay, I'll stop.  I don't do worst lists anymore, because I realized how immature that is and well, it's actually very difficult to make a movie and release it for the public to consume, so that's quite commendable in itself.  Sure, I saw stuff that was disappointing, but right now, we will focus on what I loved.  It's really impossible to rank movies or art in general, and so I couldn't possibly do this "correct" in any way,  no matter how hard I tried.  I gave it my best shot though.  Cinema like all art is subjective and well I love discussing it with people, it's always fun and it always leads to some sort of debate or fistfight.   There was greatness this year, whether it be Scorsese's brilliant The Wolf of Wall Street or Steve McQueen's powerful 12 Years a Slave, there's no doubt that 2013 delivered the goods.  Not that I give two shits about the Oscars, but this year seems somewhat unpredictable for once, and I can't say for certainty what will win or lose.   It seems American Hustle is picking up steam and it's a damn good movie, so why not?  I love David O. Russell and Three Kings will always be one of my favorites.   We shall see what happens, alas I wish Ms. DeGeneres luck hosting.  Here are some of DK's favorites:

1) The Wolf of Wall Street

2) 12 Years a Slave

3) Before Midnight

4) The Past

5) The Act of Killing / Dirty Wars

6) Her

7) Inside Llewyn Davis

8) All Is Lost

9) American Hustle

10) Upstream Color

11) The Great Beauty 

12) Mud

13) Stoker

14) Nebraska

15) To The Wonder

16) Fruitvale Station

17) Captain Phillips

18) Stories We Tell

19) No

20) Side Effects

Honorable Mentions

Short Term 12, Gravity, Prisoners, The Spectacular Now, The Bling Ring, 20 Feet From Stardom, Frances Ha, The Hunt, The Sapphires, The World's End & Blue Jasmine 

And there’s still so much I didn’t see….sigh

And it continues, now for TV.

I must confess that only until a couple of years ago, I was never really taken away with TV.  It wasn't nearly until the end of college that I discovered this medium and boy I am all the more thankful for it.  In the last few years, I've binge watched a number of shows, whether it be Lost or Battlestar Gallactica and goddammit, I love everything about Television.   We've come to a point where people get just about as excited if not more so for TV shows than movies.  I mean, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Games of Thrones, now these are superbly crafted shows and all had high points this year.  Breaking Bad came to a predictable but very solid close, and well Dexter....uh let's just say is thankfully over.   TV welcomed some new shoes, I got to see a few of these, but there's still a lot I haven't seen.  The Americans is a great new show on FX and shows that's this network ain't messing around, they make great TV.  Also, Netflix proved it could do some good, break some ground and brought us some seriously high-caliber shows.  You've heard all about it, but yeah, House of Cards is damn good and it in no way disgraces the original English version.  Didn't see that one coming, ehh?  You hate politics, well this show makes it so damn entertaining that you'll hate it even more (and I mean that in the best way possible).   So, without further ado,   here's a list of some of my favorites:

1) The Americans

2) Boardwalk Empire

3) Breaking Bad

4) Eastbound & Down

5) Game of Thrones

6) Hannibal

7) House of Cards

8) Justified

9) The Newsroom

10) Shameless

Honorable Mentions: Arrested Development, Covert Affairs, Totally Biased with W. Kamau, Bell, 30 Rock & It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Here's Some of the Musical Magic in 2013...

    

     2013 like 2012 before it was a very solid year for music.  It seems like every year,whether it be Film, TV or Music has its high points and low points, and this year was no exception.  I detest the word "best" when discussing art as always, so here are some of my favorites ofthe year (as there was no way in hell I listened to every album released in 2013).  

Not really in any order, just know that I love everything I listed here.  I also got to see a number of these artists live, so that was a treat too.  

1) Dirty Beaches - Drifters/Love is the Devil

2) Baths - Obsidian 

3) Arcade Fire - Reflektor 

4) My Bloody Valentine - m b v  

5) Phosphorescent - Muchacho

6) Washed Out - Paracosm

7) Jagwar Ma - Howlin’

8) Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus

9) Deerhunter - Monomania

10) The Besnard Lakes - Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO

11) Atoms for Peace - Amok

12) Kanye West - Yeezus

13) Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record

14) Wire - Change Becomes Us

15) Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Higher I Fight, The Harder I fight, The More I Love You

16) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away

17) Cults - Static

18) Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience (Part 1) 

19) Ty Segall - Sleeper

20) Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady

Honorable Mentions:

The National - Trouble Will Find me

Sigur Ros - Kveikur

Smith Westerns - Soft Will
Black Joe Lewis - Electric Slave

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Paul McCartney - New

David Bowie - The Next Day

Beck - Song Reader