Going To ’11: Songs of the Year

Which Adele song makes the list?

Last year, my “Best Of” music post didn’t come out until January 27^th. Well, I wasn’t about to let that happen again. Hopefully, you’re not sick of reviews of 2011 music yet.

Here are the best songs of 2011 (with a limit of one song per artist):

25) “The Merry Barracks” – Deerhoof – Deerhoof vs. Evil

I love the way this song moves from simple to complex.

Monday Medley

What we read while acquiescing and finally going to rehab…

• For fans of Community, amazing news: Omar comin’! The show also presented at Comic-Con last week, and Dan Harmon previewed Season Three.

• On the other end of the TV quality spectrum, Chuck Klosterman and Molly Lambert debated Entourage.

• Felix Salmon offers Larry Summers some praise. Here is the interview that prompted the praise.

• An airline that may be able to dodge TSA regulations.

• Joe Posnanski on a critical moment for the Hall of Fame.

• Lady Gaga did an in-depth interview with Howard Stern, which is actually interesting even if you’re sick of her.

• An entire blog devoted to bringing down Michelle Bachmann (typical mainstream media!).

Monday Medley

What we read while getting caught watching the paint dry…

• That great scene from True Romance comes to honor Dennis Hopper, who passed away on Saturday. Hopper had a memorable career as an actor, as this video The Middle Word in Life recounts. IFC wanted to make sure that Hopper’s great acting career didn’t overshadow the work he did as a director. And, of course, when it comes to someone as important to movie history as Hopper was, Roger Ebert always has something important to say.

• Does anyone remember Lost? Last week’s finale–which John S weighed in on–garnered just over 1/10th of the audience the M*A*S*H finale attracted, but that doesn’t mean it went unnoticed. Alan Sepinwall offered his thoughts, both at HitFix and with Bill Simmons, who hosted a mammoth Lost podcast. Also at HitFix, Drew McWeeny gave the finale an A for emotion, while Dan Fienberg presumably still thinks it’s one of the best shows of the decade. Jeff Jensen at Entertainment Weekly offered the last of his massive, philosophy-and-theology-infused recaps. There were those with mixed feelings: Emily Nussbaum at Vulture was down on the finale, while Ed Martin thought it was both fantastic and frustrating. Noel Murray at The A.V. Club liked the episode, but wasn’t sure it worked as a finale. Finally, it appears that the Man in Black DID get a name in one version of the final script, so obviously that means that there are no lingering questions, right?

• Oh, and another show had its series finale last week, too. Only Will Leitch cared about that.

• Eye movement in REM sleep is associated with the image locations in your dreams; the methodology behind this finding is really cool.

• There was a thoroughly impolite dustup over at The New York Times Magazine when Lynn Hirschberg wrote a profile of M.I.A. that M.I.A. found less than flattering. The musician decided to take to Twitter to note her objections, including posting an audio recording of who order the french fries in question. Hirschberg, understandably, did not appreciate M.I.A.’s antics, but said it wasn’t surprising. Anyway, if M.I.A. keeps taking shots at Lady Gaga, then you can guess where our allegiances lie.

• Last week’s NYTM included a fascinating look into the legacy (financial and literary) of the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, who is back in the news as The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, the third and final installment in the massively popular Millennium trilogy, gets ready to hit bookstands.

• Over at Mental Floss–can you believe we haven’t linked to a magazine founded by Duke guys yet?–Miss Cellania offers an unorthodox but NPI-approved take on who the most influential person on the Internet is: Randall Munroe. You may not know Munroe’s name, but we hope you know his product. If not, you’re gonna have a fun next few days.

• One of xkcd’s best strips was quickly immortalized into a futile but fun version of Tetris within days. Somewhat relatedly, Jacob Lambert pens his ode to the game, which he says brings “interior freedom.” We’re kind of upset he left out the Russian music. Gotta talk about the Russian music.

• And since we’ve gone more than five minutes without any David Foster Wallace news, here’s an update on yet another posthumous publication of his.

Why I’m Sick Of Lady Gaga

It’s hard to believe that only two years ago very few people in America knew who Lady Gaga was, because now nobody can shut the fuck up about her. Her first single, “Just Dance,” was released in April 2008, but it took a long time—nine months—to reach #1. The real Lady Gaga phenomenon didn’t start in earnest until 2009, when she seemingly had a new single on the radio every week (and that’s only a slight exaggeration: In 2009, “Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” “LoveGame,” “Paparazzi,” and “Bad Romance” all spent time in the Billboard Top 10).

But sheer quantity of radio play doesn’t qualify anyone for “phenomenon” status these days—after all, who still listens to the radio? But Lady Gaga has become culturally significant in a way most pop stars only dream about. People care about her and have an opinion about her in a way they don’t about, say, Beyoncé. Even people who don’t really like pop music find themselves compelled by Lady Gaga. I, for one, feel like I’ve had more conversations about Lady Gaga in the past year than I’ve had about all other musical acts put together. I would even go so far to say that she’s “polarizing,” except that I don’t really feel like there is a sizable anti-Gaga pole. Nevertheless, her fans often have the passion and fervor of zealots needing to defend their messiah from some threatening albeit nonexistent opposition.