Tim's picks 2006

(Note: I decided to limit my picks to ten (okay, with some ties)…so there’ll be no Strokes, Beirut, Linklater, Altman, Coogan, Gervais and other things that made this past year great.)



Album of the Year: Ys - Joanna Newsome
(Whether she’ll keep making music this layered is up for grabs (I kind of hope she doesn’t), but I’ve never heard anything quite like this.)

Top 5 Albums of the Year:
1) Ys - Joanna Newsome
2) Destroyer’s Rubies - Destroyer
3) Post-War – M. Ward
4) Orphans – Tom Waits
5) Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

And more: 6.) I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass – Yo La Tengo 7.) A Hundred Miles Off – The Walkmen 8.) The Greatest – Cat Power 9.) Look at Who You’re Talking To – Human Television 10.) TIE: Everything All the Time – Band of Horses ; Let’s Get Out of This Country – Camera Obscura

Song of the Year: TIE: “World Keeps Turning” – Tom Waits; “Another One Goes By” – The Walkmen



Artist/Band of the Year: Dr. Dog
(I’ve only heard one song off their new one, so I couldn’t really put it on my top ten. But last year's Easy Beat is fantastic, and they’re probably the only modern Beatlesy-sounding band I'm into (sorry, Redwalls).)

Worst Album of the Year: s/t – Ben Kweller
(I like soft, derivative fluff as much as the next 12-year-old girl, but Jesus. He really lost whatever he had with this one.)

Guilty Pleasure of the Year (song, artist, or album): “Pink Cadillac” – Jerry Lee Louis



Movie of the Year: Shortbus
(No, there’s nothing mind-blowing about this relatively simple comedy-drama, but its honesty outshines anything else I saw this year. Oh, and there are boobs. Seriously, though, this movie is way, way gay. Let's call the Brokeback Mountain of our time with a much better soundtrack.)

Top 5 Movies of the Year:
1) Shortbus
2) L’ Enfant
3) Bubble
4) Volver
5) The Departed

And more: 6.) Brick 7.) 49 Up 8.) Cache 9.) Match Point 10.) TIE: Borat; United 93

Actor of the Year: Jeremie Renier, L’ Enfant

Actress of the Year: Penelope Cruz (Volver)

Worst Movie of the Year: Lady in the Water (I hate using the word nerd, especially since the term’s now used as a defense mechanism for lame actresses and songwriters to seem interesting during interviews (Cameron Diaz and Ben Gibbard, among others), but M. Night is a huge fucking nerd. And in a boring, he-needs-to-get-laid/beat up/stoned sort of way. Perhaps the laziest BIG MESSAGE film I’ve ever seen. Then again, if Tony Danza starred in this one it would’ve been the funniest movie of the decade, so...)



TV Show of the Year:The Office
(Pretty, pretty good. "No shirt? No shoes? No problem!")

Top 5 TV Shows of the Year:
1) The Office
2) Frontline: Country Boys
3) Deadwood
4) Lost
5) Tony Danza Show (RIP)

Top DVD Pick-up of the Year: Metropolitan

Guilty Pleasure of the Year (TV or movie): America’s Next Top Model

Best Episode of the Year (TV): “Casino Night” (The Office)



Best Scene of the Year (movie): Pubic hair beard scene in Jackass Number Two…seriously.



Best Local Bands I Heard This Year: The M’s; Office; The Ponys; The Killer Whales

Best Random Quotes I Heard:

1.) “Chicago is like the East Coast of the Midwest.”
2.) "So do you like your cleaning job?"

3.) “He’s just brilliant…and he’s so fucking hot [laughs].”
4.) “The theme of my wedding will be party.”
5.) “Twinkle-twinkle, baby.”