Movies for Periodic Table Enthusiasts: A List

Freshly rejected by McSweeney's Lists...

The Bad News Barium
Dude, Where's My Carbon?
Helium Got Game
Beverly Hills Copper
The Color of Antimony
Argon Baby Argon
As Good As Yttrium Gets
Saturday Nitrogen Fever
The Wizard of Osmium
Risky Bismuth
Iron Man

Best Albums of 2011

I'm not a music writer so I have a hard time explaining exactly why I like the albums below but I did want to share them to whoever might be interested and/or is looking for new music to check out. Let me know if you think I'm right or wrong. My picks for best albums of 2011:

20. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
19. Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean

18. The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar

17. Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys

16. Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne

15. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

14. Destroyer – Kaputt

13. The Lonely Island – Turtleneck and Chain

12. Real Estate - Days

11. Low – C’mon

Best Songs of 2011

Here are my picks for Best Songs of 2011:

Guilty Pleasure: The Warblers - Misery

25. Wild Flag – Romance

24. Foster the People – Helena Beat

23. Real Estate – Out of Tune

22. Jay-Z and Kanye West – N****s in Paris

21. Wye Oak - Plains

20. The Black Keys – Lonely Boy

19. Death Cab for Cutie – You Are a Tourist

18. St. Vincent - Cruel

17. Beirut – East Harlem

16. Bon Iver - Holocene

15. The War on Drugs – Baby Missiles

14. The Joy Formidable – Whirring

13. Iron & Wine – Tree By the River

12. The Lonely Island – Jack Sparrow

11. TV on the Radio – Will Do

10. The National – Think You Can Wait

9. Madison Violet – Christy Ellen Francis

8. Low – Especially Me

7. Feist – The Circle Married the Line

6. Destroyer – Savage Night at the Opera

5. M83 – Midnight City

4. Beirut – Santa Fe

3. Wye Oak – Civilian

2. The Antlers – I Don’t Want Love

1. Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks

Best Music of 2010

Before I post my picks for Best Music of 2011, I thought I'd put up the lists I meant to post last year for Best of 2010.

Best Albums of 2010

1. The National - High Violet

2. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

3. Beach House – Teen Dream

4. The Black Keys – Brothers

5. Vampire Weekend - Contra

6. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

7. Broken Bells - Broken Bells

8. Josh Ritter - So Runs the World Away

9. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

10. Seabear – We Built a Fire

Best Songs of 2010

1. Josh Ritter – "The Curse"

2. The Black Keys – "Tighten Up"

3. LCD Soundsystem – "Home"

4. Kanye West – "Monster" (ft. Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver, Jay-Z, Rick Ross)

5. Broken Bells – "The Ghost Inside"

6. Vampire Weekend – "White Sky"

7. Tokyo Police Club – "Bambi"

8. Sarah Harmer – "Late Bloomer"

9. The Arcade Fire – "We Used to Wait"

10. The National – "Bloodbuzz Ohio"

Man Crush

Jack Bauer

Man crush – A heterosexual man admiring another man to an extreme in a non-romantic or sexual way.

You might have a man crush if you are a man and catch yourself thinking these things about another man:

“That guy is awesome.”

“I want to hang out with that guy.”

“I want to be that guy.”

“I want to build a statue of that guy on my front lawn.”

“I want to murder him so I can wear his skin like a suit.” (if your man crushery has gotten this bad, you may need to seek some professional help. Ah, who am I kidding? You're probably fine.)

Jack Bauer is fictional. I am aware of that.

I am also aware that Jack Bauer is arguably the most badass character to grace the small screen. How could I not have a man crush on him?

You can’t be badass without some controversy, though, and Jack’s frequent use of torture to obtain information in the series has come under much scrutiny. In season seven, he provides some insight into his view of torture:
“I see fifteen people held hostage on a bus, and everything else goes out the window. I will do whatever it takes to save them, and I mean whatever it takes. ... Laws were written by much smarter men than me. And in the end, these laws have to be more important than the 15 people on the bus. I know that's right. In my mind, I know that's right. I just don't think my heart could ever have lived with it.”

As the seasons of 24 progressed, Jack only picked up more and more emotional baggage. With the people he loved and were close to continually targeted and often killed, he became more and more isolated and distant. It also made him more dangerous, in the nothing-to-lose kind of way.

In the seventh episode of season eight, Jack gets accidentally stabbed by his partner, Renee Walker. As the bad guys run in, Jack instinctively yanks the knife out of his chest and throws it across the room, nailing the bad guy right in the throat. It was at that point that I smiled to myself and thought Okay, now the season has started. Because a season of 24 hasn’t officially started until Jack Bauer busts out some badassery.

The evidence after the jump (click Read More below)

Bloggity Blog

Photo-Op with Helo and Chief


Photo-op with Tahmoh Penikett and Aaron Douglas of Battlestar Galactica. Taken at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo on April 24th, 2010.

Music Video Hall of Fame

OK Go - Here It Goes Again


I think everyone's seen this a million times but the choreography is pretty impressive. I wonder how many takes it took to get this in one shot?