2009 on my mind

So to get this party started I'd thought I'd do what everyone else has been doing lately. Top 10 lists, hazaa! Sure everyone's tired of them, but my god they're fun to do. And besides I'm a freakin genius bandit over here so of course my list comes with a twist. I'm choosing my favorite things from 2009, but only things that I think you might not have heard of. Also keep in mind this is a list of "things" which includes, well everything. The only rules are that I have to freaking love it, it had to have been released (or whatever) in 2009, and I have to have the feeling that you haven't heard of it before. So no Avatar's or Lady Gaga's here. Let's begin shall we, in no particular order:

Canabalt: I love this game, it's a free single button flash game with more style and class than you see in most of the high budget games made these days. Somehow minimalistic and epic; retro and modern all at the very same time. Play it here.

(A)spera - Mirah: If you haven't heard of Mirah before, imagine Norah Jones with more daring and more freedom in the studio. Mirah's a singer songwriter who enjoys going a little crazy, and she's obviously inspired by Ennio Morricone (see here and here), which is big in my book. (Also if you haven't heard of Mirah, just go ahead and buy her previous album "C'mon Miracle")

Spelunky: This is a breakthrough game for me. It takes the oldschool sprite platformer and combines it with the even olderschool mentality of the Roguelike (which I'm sure you haven't heard of). Here you're basically tearing ass through caverns as an Indiana Jones type collecting gold, rescuing damsels, and being killed by snakes and yeti. The level's are randomly generated and you will die a lot, but you will surely love every second. Get it here it's free.

Inspiration Information 3 - Mulatu Astatke / The Heliocentrics: This album is fantastic, and is probably unheard of. It's almost like a mashup between 60s Etheopian jazz and the spacey modern psychedelic jazz of Medeski, Martin, & Wood (another favorite of mine). Check some of this album out here.

Ponyo: If you're a fan of animation, then this one is a cheat in your book. For everyone else, "Ponyo" has the best hand drawn animated fish since the underwater sequence in Fantasia. Miyazaki is a master, and "Ponyo" shows it off as well as any of his movies do.

Hazards of Love - The Decemberists: I'd like to think everyone's heard of The Decemberists and this wonderful album, but I haven't seen it on any best of 2009 lists. This album is basically "The Decemberists do a Rock Opera" and it is epic. If you thought the only way The Decemberists could get better is if their songs led into each other seamlessly then this one is for you. And it blows that other rock opera from 2009 completely out of the water. Just saying.

Breaking Bad Season 2: Breaking Bad is the best drama I've ever seen on tv. I'm not even exaggerating. Again, I don't know if this one's cheating as I don't know how popular this show actually is, but seriously, if you haven't heard of it just netflix the first season and you wont be sorry, nor will you be able to stop, I promise.

Inglourious Basterds: Yeah yeah, this might be a cheat, but for damns sake, Quentin Tarantino is back, and all grown up. For those of you who didn't like his Kill Bill opus as much as his previous movies, and was put off by the awful Grindhouse (yeah wanna fight about it), this was a return to form for the master filmmaker. Long, epic, and basically a speggetti western set in Nazi occupied France, this marks the beginning of QT's adult career in my opinion. Just go watch it.

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5: The end of BSG took the highly depressing twist at the end of Season 4.0 and did wonderful things with it. Cascading towards the last few episodes of the series I didn't think it was possible for the show to have a worthy ending. Boy did they prove me wrong, a wonderful show from beginning to end.

Pushing Daisies Season 2: That this show ended so abruptly is a travesty, but being this is one of the best shows ever made, the last 3 episodes (that actually aired in 2009) certainly belong on this list. Goodbye Ned, Chuck, and the impromptu musical numbers, I'll miss you all. Let's honor you by eating some pie and playing clue.

Now for some honorable mentions. These are things from 2009 that I certainly meant/want to check out, but just haven't had the time too yet.

Music For Men - The Gossip: Yes, I still know them as *THE* Gossip, and they finally have a wonderful producer in Rick Rubin, and they've never sounded better.

Solium Infernum: This game looks fantastic, its basically a board game that's too complicated to actually play on a board. You basically play an archdemon in hell, and you lie, scheme, and manipulate your way into power. It looks like paranoia fuel of the highest degree. Read all about it here.

A Serious Man: This movie looks wonderful, a low key movie from the Coen Brothers who've been on a roll lately. I really wanted to see this, but never got around to it. Netflix, I'll be calling you soon.

Machinarium: I played the demo of this and it was just divine. Look at the art! My god this game is beautiful, and from what I played it looks to be viscerally melancholy, which is something the game industry needs more of in my opinion.

Well that's enough for now. Expect some smarmy best of the decade lists to be forthcoming.