Hey, it's almost 2016. That means this shitshow of a year is almost over. When you think about it, this really was one of the worst years in recent memory (aka the media covered a lot of scary things ;_;). As of December 21st, there have been more mass shootings in America than there are days in a year. The Paris Attacks. IS(IS)(IL) declaring war on literally everybody ever. Donald Trump is seriously running for President and people are seriously rooting for Donald Trump. The Democratic Party is showing its true colors (really red) by acting like a group of Republicans who decided to say some sensible things but deciding that, hey, fuck it, we're still politicians, so we need to do absolutely nothing right. Thankfully, it seems like this is the turning point for American politics; everyone realized it wasn't actually politics.
But that's in the past. We should never dwell on the past; we might actually learn from it, and that's bad.
MUSIC
(All ratings will be taken from my rateyourmusic.com account.)
There's literally too much music to listen to with SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and YouTube being popular things.
The albums I will be listing are some of my favorites from the year, and the scores are relatively high.
As a pretext, this year in music rustled me quite a bit. A great handful of my favorite artists/artists I'm interested in dropped an album (or two!), and I can safely say most of them were the group's weakest work. It wasn't that they were overtly bad, it was just that they were nothing special. And that's the worst thing that can happen. At least when someone makes something absolutely fucking terrible, you know that it can't get worse from here (cough KID CUDI). With a mediocre release, you have no clue what's going to happen next. I'm spooked for the future.
Anyhow, these are the albums I thought stood out from the rest this year.
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2 8 1 4 - 新しい日の誕生 (Birth of a New Day) - Ambient/Vaporwave
Calming stuff, right here. It's nothing amazing but it seemed to ignite a good revival in the dying Vaporwave genre. 7.
A$AP Rocky - At.Long.Last.A$AP - Hip-Hop/Cloud Rap
Not my personal favorite of the rap albums that came out this year, but seeing this in concert really puffed it up to a great level. 7.
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars - Dream Pop
The second of two releases by cute singing girl and guitar guy, this one hearkens back to a Devotion-era style while also taking the mood down to sadder levels. If you like waves of lush music and airy, comforting vocals coming over you, you'll love the other release, Depression Cherry. This one ain't that. 8.
Clarence Clarity - No Now - Something/Glitch Pop/Art Pop/Alternative R&B/Noise Pop
An onion. A bipolar, electronic Sam Smith onion in music form. It's fucking rad and very alienating, but it's a great time. 20 tracks great time. 9.
Death Grips - Jenny Death - Experimental Hip Hop/Industrial Rock
Do you like listening to an angry black man screaming his troubles and suicidal thoughts directly into your ears while one guy runs synth and another smashes a drum-set like it banged his wife? No? O-oh. 8.
Deerhunter - Fading Frontier - Indie Rock/Psychedelic Pop
I mean, it's not even close to Microcastle or Halcyon, but it's good. 7.
Mac Demarco - Another One - Jangle Pop/Singer-Songwriter
Just adorable. I mean just so depressing I want to cry. 8.
Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late - Pop Rap/Alternative R&B
yep 7.
Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside - Experimental Hip-Hop/Sad
I never before would go into a rap album and think, "Man, it's time to get sad." Then I started listening to Earl. 8.
Earl Sweatshirt - Solace - Sound Collage/Experimental Hip-Hop/Really Fucking Sad
This is some next level shit. 10 minute EP/10
Everything Everything - Get to Heaven - Art Pop
I hope this starts something. Pop needs this. 9.
Toby Fox - UNDERTALE Soundtrack - Chip-tune/Ambient/video games
ohhhh~ YEEEEESSSS~~~~~~~~~~~ 8.
Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION - Synthpop
My girl's still got it :') 8.
Lil Ugly Mane - Third Side of Tape - Everything/Literally everything
Yeah nothing much else to say here. 7.5
Lil Ugly Mane - Oblivion Access - Abstract Hip-Hop/Noise/Ambient
Crusty, yet respectable. 8.
Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth - Jazz Rap/"conscious"
And now, ladies and gentlemen... Lupe Fiasco. Manages to be so cool and collected while laying down an air of superiority. Lyrically, there's no better than him right now. The challenge is bringing the mainstream back to his side of the court. With this one, he's got me already. 9.
Mount Eerie - Sauna - Avant-Folk/Drone/Psychedelic
Phil Elverum is a gem. 7.
Neon Indian - VEGA INTL. Night School - Chillwave/Synth Funk/FUN
H-H-HOOOOOOOOOOOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 9.
Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete - Progressive Electronic/Glitch/Plunderphonics/iiiiiii
it. 9.
Panda Bear - Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper - Psychedelic Pop
Getting just what I need. 8.5.
Vince Staples - Summertime '06 - Hardcore Hip Hop/Gangsta/North Side Long Beach
I'll always love you, Vince! Come have a concert for me and none of those fucks who don't know who you are! 8.
Sun Kil Moon - Universal Themes - Folk Rock/Talking/Older Johnny Cash Levels of Talk-Singing
I made a grilled cheese and the milk man is here and he's Chinese so I broke down crying. 7.5
Tame Impala - Currents - Synthpop/Dream Pop
Lost its charm a little, but still a great album! 8.
Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy - Punk Rock/Rock Opera/AMERICA
D I M E D O U T 8.
WAND - Golem - Heavy Psychedelic Rock/Noise Rock
Starts at 100 and never stops 7.5.
Rock Album of the Year
Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy: if something this year had to be dubbed 'the most rock', this is it.
Electronic Album of the Year
Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete: the most electronic.
Hip-Hop Album of the Year
Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo and Youth: Proceed to the next level!
Alt Pop Album of the Year
Neon Indian - VEGA INTL. Night School: THAT'S SUM TASTY GOOD
Art Pop Album of the Year
Everything Everything - Get To Heaven: pretty much the future of pop
Pop Album of the Year
Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION: Fuck you Taylor Swift
Experimental Album of the Year
Clarence Clarity - No Now: insanity
Most Panda Bear Album of the Year
Panda Bear - Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
Most Overrated Thing Since The Creation Of The Word 'Overrated' And Most Biggest Indicator That If You Think This Album Is Anything Higher Than Great Then You Are Whiter Than Bread And Probably Think You Understand The Black Struggle Because You Listened To This Album of the Year
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
FILM
Everything else kind of sucked.
Mad Max was great, though!
Oscar Predictions because why not:
Best Picture
What Will Win: Spotlight - It's a sharp piece on something relatively fresh in history. The cast is great (Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton stand out), The screenplay does well at presenting fallible characters. It's pretty much locked in at this point.
What Should Win: The Revenant - But no one in the Academy would like it. Much too quiet and experimental compared to the rest of the big movies. Also, there's no way in hell a filmmaker would win best picture twice in a row these days.
Best Director
Who Will Win: I HAVE NO FEASIBLE IDEA - There's Ridley Scott, who has made a comeback with a great adaptation of The Martian; he could clinch it if the Academy is looking at just plain, solid films to gild this year. There's Tom McCarthy, who made his worst film (The Cobbler) and his best film (Spotlight) in the span of one year; some people actually think this is impressive, but it just shows his shakiness as a capable filmmaker. There's George Miller, who at this point I would be content in giving to him any award he asks for; he deserves it after Fury Road. And then there's Iñárritu. Same thing as Best Picture; he won last year, so even if he made one of the greatest films of the past 5 years (he did two with Birdman and The Revenant), the Academy will turn a blind eye to him. No one wants a Mexican winning everything again, either.
Who Should Win: Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, for The Revenant - The best Terrence Malick knockoff in the business, baby.
Best Actor
Who Will Win: LEOOOOOOOOOOONARDOOOOOOOOOO
Who Should Win: DIIIIICAPRIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOO
Best Actress
Who Will Win: Brie Larson, for Room. Watch the movie and you'll see why she's winning everywhere.
Who Should Win: Brie Larson. As much as I loved Charlize Theron in Fury Road, it was still an action movie with action writing, and her character reflects that.
Best Supporting Actor
Who Will Win: ANOTHER MIXED BAG. UHHH, Mark Rylance, for Bridge of Spies. Most of the other nominations aren't going to be that spectacular, but Mark is old and it's a war flick and if he wins it's going to be for his body of work, so...yeah.
Who Should Win: I'd say Michael Keaton for Spotlight just because the Academy owes him after last year and knowing now that Redmayne is the one of the worst examples of the Oscar-baiting young actors working today, but Mark Ruffalo was better. I haven't seen Beasts of No Nations and Idris Elba is supposed to be a powerhouse in that, but the strict instructor is interesting when it's not in war (Whiplash). Tom Hardy was fantastic in The Revenant, but he won't win and even then no one really stands up to J.K. Simmons in Whiplash last year, so fuck this category.
Best Supporting Actress
Who Will Win: Swooney Rooney Mara, for Carol - MY GIRL'S FINALLY GOT IT
Who Should Win: Rooney Mara - GOOOOOOO
Best Original Screenplay
What Will Win: Spotlight - The writing is definitely the best part of this film.
What Should Win: Ex Machina - But how fucking cool would this be?
Best Adapted Screenplay:
What Will Win: Steve Jobs - Story about recently deceased international superstar adapted by Aaron Sorkin? There's really no chance for anything else. If Fincher had directed, though, I might have actually felt good about this winning.
What Should Win: Steve Jobs - Stayed true to the source material while creating something unique, and that's really what matters in this category. I'd say The Revenant if it didn't stray so far left.
Best Animated Feature:
What Will Win: Inside Out - Pixar, star-studded cast, cute. We got a lock, baby!
What Should Win: Anomalisa - And it shouldn't be a lock, because this deserves it ten times over. Fuck you, Pixar.
Best Foreign Language Film:
What Will Win: Son of Saul - just watch it
What Should Win: Son of Saul - just watch it
Best Documentary Feature:
What Will Win: Amy - Please, no.
What Should Win: The Look of Silence - If the Academy had any integrity, they would have given The Act of Killing the award in 2013, and they would give this the award as well. But nah, let's make documentary about scary shit you get with fame and do nothing to fix it.
Best Cinematography:
What Will Win: The Revenant - Three in a row.
What Should Win: The Revanant - Three in a row.
Who Will Always Win: Emmanuel Lubezki - Three in a row.
Best Film Editing:
What Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - Possibly the best part of this movie? The fast closeup shots of switching gears and hitting the gas made this film amazing.
What Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - Witness.
Best Production Design:
What Will Win: Mad Max; Fury Road - I want a documentary on how they made this. The sets looked lovely.
What Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - Witness.
Best Costume Design:
What Will Win: Cinderella - I mean, yeah.
What Should Win: Cinderella - Come on.
Best Original Score:
What Will Win: Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Not even close to the magic of the originals, but that's John Williams. Even if he's weaker, he's still great.
What Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - But then there's this.
Best Original Song:
What Will Win: See You Again, Furious 7 - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
What Should Win: See You Again, Furious 7 - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
Best Visual Effects:
What Will Win: Star Wars: The Force Awakens - I mean, yeah.
What Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - BUT NOOOOOOO
Best Makeup & Hairstyling:
What Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - All you need is white paint!
What Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - Witness.
Best Sound Mixing:
What Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - I think this should win some more awards.
What Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - I really do.
Best Sound Editing:
What Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - Engines never sounded so nice!
What Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road - WITNESS
Scene of the Year:
GAMES
This it it! The year that the mainstream is starting to realize big budget releases are piles of garbage!
Battlefront was mediocre and is only good for about 5 hours combined and that's it!
Just Cause 3 was a complete downgrade in every sense from Just Cause 2!
Fallout 4! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Metal Gear Solid V!
Here are my games of the year.
UNDERTALE
And that's it.
Everything else kind of sucked.
Rocket League was cool, though.
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I remember being really excited for things coming out this year, and they all managed to disappoint in some way. So that's something.
That was my view on entertainment in 2015.
I'm Jake Reed, this is Dylan's blog, I should probably make my own; I hope you all have a wonderful end of the year, and please, stay safe.
Have a great day!
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