The Big Ten: Introduction

You guys, it's almost 2011! When did that happen? I swear, just yesterday I was returning to the office after Labor Day weekend, steadying myself for the fall busy season, and wondering if I would make it to Thanksgiving. It's been a whirlwind three months since I last posted, during which I turned 24 (hello, mid-twenties), survived the aforementioned fall busy season, saw Wicked for the second time, attended Homecoming Weekend in Massachusetts and celebrated Thanksgiving in Maine, and of course, consumed my fair share of television, music, movies and books.

As the year draws to a close (and Christmas break affords me more than a few days of free time), I prepare once again to rank my favorite cultural experiences of the last 365 days. 2010 was a big year; the landscape I had grown so accustomed to traversing suddenly began to shift underneath my feet. The Hills ended (though Lauren Conrad will soon make her return to MTV), Lady Gaga achieved ubiquity (just in time for Ke$ha, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj to begin vying for the title of Gaga, Part 2: Badder Romance), Glee began to grate (to the point where I stopped watching altogether) and Grey's Anatomy got kind of good again (I was one more TV season away from forgetting about that show completely).

Though Audrina Patridge stared blankly into the sunset for the last time (how sad, yet perfect, was it that she alone lasted the entirety of The Hills?) and the New Directions forgot their plots and personality traits faster than Will Schuester could change his vest (like Audrina's empty gaze, Will's condescension will forever serve as his show's True North), new figures emerged to earn my ever-shifting loyalty. Cougar Town's Cul-de-sac Crew served red wine with warmth, wit and infectious silliness. Robyn returned from her native Sweden, bringing clever pop songs the likes of which danced circles around the host of Gaga copycats. And like the latest line of toxic, deformed Barbie dolls due for imminent recall, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills sharpened their bedazzled swords for battle.

2010 wasn't all sugar and spice and the not-so-nice. I read a ton of like, totally literary books, including Middlesex and The Great Gatsby (for the second time!). I also read Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, a dystopian, science fiction epic narrated by the Most Bad-ass Teenage Girl Ever, Katniss Everdeen (she's basically the lovechild of Peggy Olsen, Sookie Stackhouse, and Kristin Cavallari). Girlfriend got shot (a lot), tortured (a lot), and drugged (a lot), and she still took down a totalitarian society akin to ancient Rome. Also, Don Draper made it this close to becoming a Real Boy, but then decided to marry his secretary (plus, Joan and Peggy finally had a scene where they talked about how everyone around them is totally fucked up; Betty continued abusing her children).

I could continue, but all I'm trying to say is that a lot of interesting and important things happened in 2010 (which is really just another way of saying I'm going to title my Best of 2010 posts "The Big Ten"). I do hope you'll join me as I make very specific lists of the things I liked in the past year, according to my completely arbitrary thoughts about them at the moment of publication. I can't promise it will be comprehensive (I barely remember what happened in November), but I can promise it will be fun, at least, if you like all the same things I do. Which you should.