The Top Ten Albums of the Last Decade - #1

Arcade Fire - Funeral

They might not have changed music forever with this album or pioneer their own genre or won the Nobel peace prize, but Funeral was the best album for its unique ability to rock out when talking about death, for it's accessibility combined with its indie cred, for the fact that it never gets old despite revealing new wrinkles with every listen, and for the fact that no other band came out with rocking music with so much raw emotion combined so many interesting images that create a sort of post-apocalyptic childrens' book world. What other album can you find some much zaniness combine with so much authentic emotion, so much rocking, complex tunes about death? The bottom line is that if this record is not on your best of the decade list, you probably have bad taste in music.

Honorable Mentions

• Appleseed Cast - Mar Vitalis - The Bear in park by the sea in my heart will never die 
• Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust - Sigur Ros is always good, but it is even better when you don't fall asleep before finishing the album.
• Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People - Anthems for a seventeen year old still makes me feel cold in my bones after listening to it over and over in my apartment in Japan without centralized heat.
• Sufjan Stevens - Illinois - I almost went to college with him, way better than going to high school with Clay Aiken. 
• Los Campesinos! - Hold on Now, Youngster - Sometimes I wonder if this band is from another planet. 
• The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike - Who knew manic cheerleader music could sound so good? 
• Frightened Rabbit- The Midnight Organ Fight - These guys remind me of Yo La Tengo in the fact that they are smarter, more indie, and more classy than almost anyone else out there. 
• Latterman - No Matter Where We Go - Like Sun Kil Moon, this is another pick that no one else probably agrees with, except this time not even Joey. However, few other bands make better upbeat music with a purpose than this record. 
• The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot - When I got this record for Christmas, we listened to it during breakfast and mom and dad got freaked out by the crazy robot talk in the 2nd track. Then mom spilled orange juice in a bowl of sausage and Christmas was ruined.

The Top Ten Albums of the Last Decade - #3

Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway

I'm sure some critics would disagree with this album being on the list. In fact, of all the best of the decade lists I have read, none of them included this album on their list. This is downright criminal. It seems like a curse cast across Sun Kil Moon by an evil sorcerer that they are as unappreciated as their as music is breathtaking. Just like my father, I like to listen to music that I like over and over again often for years. But I make no apologies for this albums high placement on the list. If anything it is listed too low. Of all the many bands I've listened to repeatedly in this fashion, the album by Sun Kil Moon is the only one that can still give me chills at every listen. The songs, and especially "Glen Tipton," evoke a quiet, but beautiful nostalgia, the realization that time passes and life changes and learning to find comfort in this fact rather than sorrow. "Glen Tipton" should be considered one of the wonders of the modern world--how can a song about boxing and watching old movies on television and the death of a friend leave me feeling so calm and comforted. Listening to this album is a spiritual experience for me. It reassures me that there are powerful forces out of my control in the universe and makes me think of how I am fortunate to live in a world of Ohio and a gentle moon and fathers who stay up late watching movies. This album is a reminder of my own powerlessness in the universe, while at the same time empowering me with insight and purpose.

The Top Ten Albums of the Last Decade - #4

The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema

It was a difficult choice between this record and Mass Romantic to represent the pornographers, but I've thought this album a bit more consistent and packing more of my favorite tunes. I really couldn't fault someone for preferring any of the other New Pornographers albums to this one; they have been one of the most consistently amazing bands of this decade. Here are the facts:

1. Aliens listen to The New Pornographers.

2. No one would give a shit about online colleges if it wasn't for The Bleeding Heart Show.

3. This album has a cool sort of post-modern story telling quality to it. These songs seem like stories and even if they don't make logical sense, you feel like you are leaving something behind at the end of the song just like at the end of an excellent novel.

4. When Justin first looked up this band he almost got kicked out of college for searching for them.

5. This album has a certain sweetness. Not like sweetness from eating too much Halloween candy, but like sweetness when you are eating a lot of fruit recently and that makes apples taste better.

6. You see so many of those behind the music episodes where the band mates hate each other and can't stay together, it is kinda nice to see a band made up a members from others bands that are able to get along so well and be able to make such incredible music. Or maybe they hate each other and the good music comes out of the conflict. Hmmm

Anyway, there is really so much to like about this album and the pornographers in general. If only they would return my letters and emails . . .

The Top Ten Albums of the Last Decade - #5

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Tyranny of Distance

Throughout the decade, Ted Leo has stayed true to his sound and his vision to the point that some critics fault him for a last of originality and musical evolution. I don't understand this criticism of Mr. Leo considering the convicition and passion of his musical vision and the fact that his albums have been consistently amazing throughout the decade.However, no album was better than Tyranny of Distance, Leo's breakout album from 2001 which declared his purpose with the fervor of two hundred pygmy hippos. This album approaches music as if it is a life-sustaining force, like water or bacon, as if Leo and the Pharmacists would all shrivel up and die if music disappeared from the world. Aside from making modern pop punk bands look foolish, the urgency is this record combined with prophetic and poetic lyrics makes this album more like a declaration of existential purpose than mere entertainment. How many bands can you say that about?

The Top Ten Albums of the Last Decade - #6

Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica

This album is an epic subconscious journey through the unconscious redneck-pop culture of today's average American. I've listened to these songs over and over since early this decade and they never get old, they never lose their freshness (damn that cottage cheese in the fridge). Just listening to 3rd planet makes me feel like I am flying through the sky observing people walking into and out of a shopping mall like it is all of hazy dream. How many other songs could you say this about? There are so many amazing songs on this album, it may just be that the 8th best song on this album is probably better than the 8th best song on an album in the last 20 years. Even as Modest Mouse slowly turns more and more into the Bare Naked Ladies with their more recent albums, it's hard to ever be mad at a band that made an album this good.

The Top Ten Albums of the Last Decade - #8

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

When I first heard the Hold Steady, I thought they were kind of hokey. And they were, but the more I listened to them, the more I couldn't stop listening to them. Once I got passed the initial impression of the lead signer with the prominent voice signing about sometimes goofy topics like your little hoodrat friend, I saw the kickass musical prowess and the epic Springsteen-like communities behind their songs. Then, a few years later, I heard this record and it blew me away at first listen. There were fewer throwaway songs and the lead signer's voice had been toned down so that the instruments could shine through. Every song rocked out, every lyric sounded inspired by a lifetime on the scene and "Stuck Between Stations" brought it all together like only great rock songs can. The best compliment I can give this record is that it makes my heart beat, that it makes me want to be part of the scene under the railroad bridge dancing and drinking.

The Top Ten Albums of the Last Decade - #9

9. Spoon - Girls Can Tell

How can you beat memories of listening to this cd on the way to GPF shows with a carfull of musicians and a trunk full of instruments? Running through fields of flowers while listening to walking on sunshine? No. Ice skating to Ice Ice, Baby? Absolutely not. The truth is GPF would probably have been arguing about setlists the whole way to their shows if it wasn't for this cd. They probably would have broken up after only a few shows, so Kyle could join The Broken Toys or something, and the world would be a darker place without hits like Young Grasshopper. The truth is spoon has more consistent and rocking pop songs than almost any band this decade and this record showcases them at their finest. It is pretty impossible to still be in a bad mood after listening to this record in its entirety.

Game #19 . . .

Number 20: Solitaire

Quick: What is the most used computer application in the world? If you said Solitaire, you win a bucket of fried chicken. Bill Gates has told us that more people use solitaire than any other program included with windows. This seems to suggest something very negative about our culture/civilization, although I'm not sure what. Post your thoughts in the comments.

The pleasures of solitaire are simple. It's accessible, easy to understand, and requires little time, yet is just complex enough to be interesting. How many computer games can you say that about?

And who can't say that they have felt a vague sense of release and returning boredom after watching the cards bounce around the screen after winning a hand? Just think of how much slight joy those bouncing cards have brought to millions of people who only moments earlier were bored.


Oddly, no other top PC games list I read included this game. Millions of people have played it; I'd estimate more than 20 percent of the world's population. How does that not deserve a spot on a great games list. And any game that has surely been responsible for numerous firings and countless lost hours of work has to be considered an incredible achievement. I mean, this has to be the 2nd biggest killer of productivity for the world behind the internet. Considering how many evil corporations exist in the world that have lost millions of dollars because of this simple game, well, that deserves a noble peace prize in my book.

If only windows hadn't made that unfortunate sequel . . .

The Top 20 PC Games of All Time

Have you ever read one of those lists of the top 20 or 10 or 100 PC games of all time at some internet website? Well, in my quest to be a real American hero, I'm going to be counting down the top 20 PC games of all time on our fabulous blog one post at a time just like those big name websites. In my preparatory research, I have noticed most of the other lists have two common themes.

Firstly, they have major gaps. Some only focus on first person shooters and strategy games leaving other genres in the cold or with only a token mention. Most lists leave out older games and adventure games in addition to whatever kind of game the author of the list was ignorant about despite being a site that is supposed an expert opinion.

Secondly, every list acts like it is the definitive list of PC games because they are experts of unquestioned authority. There are so many thousands of PC games in existence going back decades. How could anyone have played a quarter of these games in depth? Yet, because these "experts" can beat their friends at Crysis, they feel like they are the authority on all computer games. It would be nice if at least one list would point out what an absurd and complicated task it is to narrow down the best PC games of all time.

Any idiot can throw every game ever made by Blizzard, a bunch of first person shooters, and The Sims and call it the greatest games, but who will actually go out on a limb and say that their list is total unresearched, impulsive bullshit? Me. I haven't even played many of the games on this list and am not even going to try to base my list on any kind of objective or logical criteria. Instead, I've made my choices because these are the games I felt like putting on my list and if you don't like it, make your own list.

Honorable Mention - Mr. Mayank's SAT Preparation Challenge (1987)

That's right, I'm starting with an SAT preparation game. And a damn good one. Where else can you see your cacti garden grow as you answer SAT questions correctly? Mr. Mayank, an ordinary high school guidance counselor, unfortunately did not sell many copies of this game, but not for the lack of trying. Every weekend he had his booth set up at the flee market and would often position his students in front of grocery stores to compete with the girl scouts. Unfortunately, Mr. Mayank died in a drug overdose in 1998, but his legacy lives on both in this game and in the beautiful cactus garden Joey has grown in an abandoned building to honor his memory.