Year in Review: Songs, Shows, and Movies

There are always those songs and shows and movies that you become addicted to or that define the year.  Here are the ones that defined mine...in no particular order.

Songs:

1. Essentially every song from GLEE. Yes, there have been a few that I did not care for (I'm looking at you "Dog Days are Over"), but mostly, I'm obsessed. Highlights include the Journey Medley from the season 1 finale, the entirety of the NPH, Madonna, and Britney episodes, the epic Darren Criss led acapella version of Teenage Dream, and any song where Kurt/Chris Colfer gets a solo.

2. "For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti" by Sufjan Stevens. I choreographed to this in April, and it was definitely a challenge to go outside my comfort zone and choreograph something, but the music (and my four lovely dancers) made it easy. And I'm still obsessed with that song.

3. Essentially everything by Explosions in the Sky, but I'm pretty sure I could listen to "Your Hand in Mine" every minute of every day for the rest of my life and I would die happy.

4. "Celebrate You" by Corbin Bleu. No, I'm not kidding. After our excursion to Disney World this summer, the Orlando RAs and I came back and played it about 875738 times, and it became our summer anthem.  Yes, I'm aware that we're complete dorks.

5. "Waka Waka (Time for Africa)" by Shakira. World Cup 2010. That is all.

6. "Africa" by Straight No Chaser. While it wasn't new to me this year, it definitely helped my dressing room mates and I calm down before Nutcracker shows. It was frequently on repeat in Room 3.

7. "Miracles" by Norwegian Recycling...what became an IUDM anthem. So. Amazing.

8. The getting ready/going out/party anthems of the year that were overplayed and overdone, but you loved them anyway.  My list won't be anywhere near exhaustive, so I'm just gonna trust that you know the songs I'm talking about (ahem California Girls and everything by Ke$ha, etc., etc., etc.)

9. "Rude Boy" by Rihanna was our IUBT Spring Semester 2010 anthem. We were obsessed. Oh my...

10. The following albums: B/Min E by ALL CAPS (the soundtrack to my summer and my workouts), Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons (my calming soundtrack when I needed serenity...still angry about the fact that "Little Lion Man" is now always on the radio), Illuminations by Josh Groban (though my voice major friends pretty much hate me for being in love with him, I'm obsessed, and his new album is brilliant), and The OBC RENT soundtrack (renewed love for it was instilled when the theatre department put it on in October, and I still can't get those songs out of my head).

**I'm sure there are many, many more songs that I could talk about, but that's a fine list for starters.

Shows:

1. GLEE. As mentioned above, I'm in love.  I know some people hate it, but I adore this show.  My Tuesday nights are made infinitely better when there's a new episode, and especially once Darren Criss was introduced as Blaine, my love only deepened.

2. Pretty Little Liars. Yes. Don't judge me. It's so good. 4 days til the season 2 premiere.

3. Doctor Who. While I was first introduced to Doctor Who over 2 years ago now, it never ceases to amaze me how much I love it.  While I, like most, miss David Tennant, I'm totally infatuated with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan is effing brilliant.

4. Gossip Girl. I barely watched season 3, but season 4 has sucked me back in. The misbehavior of the rich and privileged is apparently something I can't escape.

5. The Tudors. I only just started watching it a few days ago, but I am hooked. The 16th century according to Showtime is sexy. Henry Cavill as Charles Brandon...end of story.

EDIT: 6. Modern Family. How could I forget?! Hands down one of the funniest shows on television. Brilliant cast, sweet story, and Phil Dunphy....what more could you want?

Movies:

1. Toy Story 3. As I said in my post below, the culmination of a trilogy. It is beautiful.

2. Black Swan. You know my thoughts on this already.

3. Deathly Hallows Part 1.  You know my thoughts on this already, as well.

4. Inception. I still think it's one of the most visually stunning movies I've ever seen.  And JGL and Leo were incredible. The word that everyone kept coming back with was "mind fuck" and I'm pretty sure they were right.

5. The Social Network. Seeing the unfolding of the website that most of us spend way too much of our lives on was probably the weirdest and coolest thing ever.  How much our lives have become completely digitized in so short a time. Oh, and it didn't hurt that Armie Hammer is a total hunk, too.

6. Sex and the City 2. Ok, so it wasn't good. At all. And all that decadence in a summer of recession was plain uncalled for. But I have an attachment to those characters and so of course, I had to see it...twice.  It was certainly not a DEFINING movie for the year, but I think it still belongs on my list.

I think that's a good list for now...if I think of others, I will come back and edit.  You might ask why there are no books on my list...the truth is that I have had little time to read for anything except school (even this summer I only squeezed in a couple of books because of an independent study course), so I really don't have any books that defined my year. Oh, except of course The Hunger Games series. Which is phenomenal. That's all.

I still don't really have NYE plans, so I guess I better get my butt in gear and find some. Love youuu!!!