Getting Closer?!
I guess only three episodes of Dollhouse aired this year, and this was by far the best of them, but it ends with a plot twist that would have been a shark-jumping moment if the series would have lasted long enough to clear it. Dollhouse does deserve some kind of mention, but its abrupt ending was…

Never Again may be *SPOILERS, I GUESS* the last episode of the series to directly address the dysfunction at the heart of the Mulder/Scully relationship. Season 1 indicated both Scully's closeness with her father and her tendency to date authority figures. As Mulder and Scully drew closer over the subsequent two…

I maintain that the series should have ended naturally when Mulder died on the toilet at the end of season 7.

Santa Baby 2010
I expect to hear this while standing in line at the grocery store next winter.

Anne Hathaway Blew My Fucking Mind
…with her fantastic performance in Rachel Getting Married.

Princess Mononoke is a cartoon, and it has a higher OPM than most Leone films. I don't see how media should play into one's assessment of a movie's quality.

"Osama Bin Laden…" has much more to offer, though, than direct comment on our national tragedy. It is a classic episode of South Park because of how it contextualizes that tragedy in the world of South Park (and does so hilariously). It's a perfect pick for Noel's column because of the way it exemplifies the…

I Recently Purchased a Bale of Bob Dylan Marijuana.
Two days later I was found staggering through suburban lawns in cowboy boots and sweat pants, mumbling about Cinderella in the rain.

Definitely "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants." There's no more perfect summation of what Parker and Stone do than Cartman pulling down Osama Bin Laden's pants, revealing a microscopic penis. Or of the entire world mistaking a goat for Stevie Nicks.

I'm just assuming they get paid for these now. Stalin would not watch The Tourist in Hell to distract him from being anally violated with Cape Horn; nobody on the goddamn nomination committee watched it, either. And Johnny Depp was evidently nominated TWICE solely on the premise that "People like Johnny Depp, right?…

*Announces Burlesque's Nod for Best Musical/Comedy*
*Is showered in piss and rotten fruit*

Mulder referred to Smokey as Cancer Man at one point in season 2 or season 3.

Leonard Betts was the highest-rated episode of The X-Files, and deservingly so. It's a terrific, though formulaic, MOTW.

To be fair, The Ten Commandments does end at a bake-off.

Deerhunter is amazing. Neo-shoegaze meets Phil Spector-style pop and ambient noise, all rendered majestically beautiful and more than a little dreamy. Highly personal, often self-lacerating lyrics. Their last two albums are among the best I've heard in a long time. They're a band that doesn't know how to, or want to…

Troll, I've had a fantastic year. Sorry to not be of service to you.

Just like you internet liberals to come on here and soil this good scary movie talking about bilinguality. There's things a man's tongue just ain't meant to do- it's in the Bible.

Glad to see some folks repping for Titus Andronicus and Grinderman. Some great fucking sordid guitar rock, and with substance! The Dead Weather, too. And that Gil Scott Heron record definitely belongs on my list somewhere. Such a great year for music.

Marnie Stern
The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Lisbon
Plastic Beach
A Badly Broken Code
Heartland
Everything in Between
Together
American VI
Ya-Ka-May
Weather Sketch Modified
Maximum Balloon
Brothers
Hidden
Subiza
Pilot Talk
Majesty Shredding
Medicine Show #3: Beat Konducta in Africa
False Priest
The Big To-Do

Oh Boy, Listing Season!
2010 is the year that makes lists seem silly, because so many albums deserve mention, and because they're all so very good. Here's one: