Bandwagon, Here I Come!

 Since everyone is making best-of-the-year lists, since I am generally of the opinion that my taste is awesome and also love a good competition even if I'm the one handing out the awards and thus ineligible to win any, since many people who know me well labor under the delusion that I don't like anything (you know who you are), and since my apartment is SO FREAKING COLD that I can't concentrate enough to be productive but can't stop shivering long enough to nap, I figured I would join the party. And thus, here, the moment that you never realized you were waiting for but surely somewhere, deep down, have been...

ROBIN'S BEST OF 2010
(Also known as BOOKS AND OTHER STUFF THAT YOU SHOULD MAKE SURE YOU GET/SEE/READ BECAUSE I SAID SO AND BECAUSE IT'S TRUE I HATE ALMOST EVERYTHING SO IF I LIKED IT YOU KNOW IT'S GOOD)

YA Books
The Boneshaker - Kate Milford (sort of middle-grade, but I'm counting it)
The Magicians - Lev Grossman (okay, so this is not a YA book, but the best parts of it are the YA parts, so I'm counting it)
White Cat - Holly Black


Adult Books
Great House - Nicole Krauss
Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart
The Passage - Justin Cronin


Books Published Before 2010 That I Foolishly Failed to Read Until This Year
The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
Consider the Lobster - David Foster Wallace
History of Love - Nicole Krauss


Books I Know I Should Read Because Everyone Keeps Telling Me To But I Haven't Managed to Yet
Anything - Megan Whalen Turner (yes, yes, I know, stop yelling at me, people, I'm on it)
Freedom - Jonathan Franzen


Book That Was So Dark and Depressing I Wish I Could Erase It From My Memory Which Has Never Happened Before
So Much For That - Lionel Shriver 


Movies
Okay, honestly, I never go to the movies and when I do I tend to forget them about five minutes after I walk out of the theater, so the only thing I can remember loving this year was INCEPTION, which I loved A LOT.

Oh, also the SOCIAL NETWORK. So that's two. (And for what it's worth, I disagree strongly with this article and think this was the most accurate version of Harvard I've ever seen on screen. Sorry, Good Will Hunting/With Honors/Love Story. No contest.)


TV
Can we discuss the fact that almost all the good TV shows have either ended or been canceled? (And while any other year I would have included Lost on this list, I refuse to reward it for its CRAPPIER THAN CRAP ending.) Alas. There's still...uh...hmm...okay:

Breaking Bad (I've only seen the first two episodes of this but am willing to go out on a limb b/c they were amazing)
Caprica (canceled)
Friday Night Lights
the Twin Peaks tribute episode of Psych
Weeds (in the midst of a creative resurgence, and also: Justin Kirk)
Mad Men (although that feels like forever ago and, seriously, Don, WTF?)

And maybe we'll give Grey's Anatomy the Show That Sucks Less Than It Sucked Last Year award.

ALSO: Any TV show when watched alongside Television Without Pity recaps written by Jacob - specifically Gossip Girl, Caprica, and Weeds, but also, in memorium, Battlestar Galactica, on which he truly outdid himself and anyone else who's ever written about television.


Guilty Pleasures
Degrassi: The Next Generation 
Millionaire Matchmaker (I have no defense for this, please stop laughing)


Online Crap to Watch
Coming in just under the wire:
So You Want to Write a Novel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fc-crEFDw

(Runner up: Josh Malina and Michael Ian Black's Backwash)



This was more enjoyable than either doing my work or shiver, so perhaps I'll add to it as I think of more stuff I liked this year (although like I say, it's a very small list) - let me know if there are any categories you think I missed. Better yet, let me know your favorites, so I'll have something to do in 2011.