My Decade in Lists: The Songs, Pt 1

My Favorite Songs of the Decade: 2000 - 2003

Listed in chronological order, except for my top five favorite songs of the decade. Those will be included in the third and final installment.

110. Aimee Mann, "The Fall of the World's Own Optimist" (Bachelor No. 2, 2000)
109. The New Pornographers, "Mass Romantic" (Mass Romantic, 2000)
108. Björk, "I've Seen it All" (Selmasongs, 2000)
107. Bob Dylan, "Things Have Changed" (Wonder Boys soundtrack, 2000)
106. The Handsome Family, "The Sad Milkman" (In The Air, 2000)


105. Shelby Lynne, "Your Lies" (I Am Shelby Lynne, 2000)
104. Dave Alvin & The Guilty Men, "Short Life of Trouble" (Public Domain: Songs from the Wild Land, 2000)
103. U2, "Walk On" (All That You Can't Leave Behind, 2000)
102. Damien Jurado, "Tonight I Will Retire" (Ghost of David, 2000)
101. Steve Earle, "Transcendental Blues" (Transcendental Blues, 2000)


100. Radiohead, "Everything in its Right Place" (Kid A, 2000)
99. Chuck Prophet, "Dyin' All Young" (The Hurting Business, 2000)
98. Common, "A Film Called (Pimp)" (Like Water for Chocolate, 2000)
97. PJ Harvey, "This Mess We're In" (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, 2000)
96. Outkast, "Ms. Jackson" (Stankonia, 2000)


95. Johnny Cash, "One" (American III: Solitary Man, 2000)
94. Johnny Cash, "I See a Darkness" ("")
93. Johnny Cash, "The Mercy Seat" ("")
92. John Hiatt, "Crossing Muddy Waters" (Crossing Muddy Waters, 2000)
91. Eminem, "Stan" (The Marshall Mathers LP, 2000) (NSFW)


90. Emmylou Harris, "Red Dirt Girl" (Red Dirt Girl, 2000)
89. Josh Rouse, "Directions" (Home, 2000)
88. Ralph Stanley, "Oh Death" (O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, 2000)
87. Emmylou Harris, Alison Kruass & Gillian Welch, "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby" ("")
86. Ryan Adams, "To Be Young (Is to be Sad, Is to be High)" (Heartbreaker, 2000)


85. Merle Haggard, "Wishin' All These Old Things Were New" (If I Could Only Fly, 2000)
84. Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, "Set Out Running" (Furnace Room Lullaby, 2000)
83. Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, "Twist the Knife" ("")
82. D'Angelo, "Untitled (How Does it Feel?)" (Voodoo, 2000)
81. Jim White, "Handcuffed to a Fence Post in Mississippi" (No Such Place, 2001)


80. Alejandro Escovedo, "Velvet Guitar" (A Man Under the Influence, 2001)
79. Alejandro Escovedo, "About this Love" ("")
78. Nick Lowe, "Cupid Must Be Angry" (The Convincer, 2001)
77. Bob Dylan,"Mississippi" (Love & Theft, 2001)
76. Bob Dylan, "High Water (For Charlie Patton) ("")


75. Rufus Wainwright, "One Man Guy" (Poses, 2001)
74. Lucinda Williams, "I Envy the Wind" (Essence, 2001)
73. Lucinda Williams, "Essence" ("")
72. Leonard Cohen, "In My Secret Life" (Ten New Songs, 2001)
71. John Hiatt, "The Tiki Bar is Open" (The Tiki Bar is Open, 2001)


70. Elton John, "I Want Love" (Songs from the West Coast, 2001)
69. Ryan Adams, "New York, New York" (Gold, 2001)
68. The Avalanches, "Frontier Psychiatrist" (Since I Left You, 2001)
67. Buddy & Julie Miller, "Wallflower" (Buddy & Julie Miller, 2001)
66. Sparklehorse, "It's A Wonderful Life" (It's A Wonderful Life, 2001)


65. Clem Snide, "Ancient Chinese Secret Blues" (The Ghost of Fashion, 2001)
64. Gillian Welch, "Dear Someone" (Time (The Revelator), 2001)
63. Gillian Welch, "April the 14th, Part 1) ("")
62. Gillian Welch, "I Dream a Highway" ("")
61. Whiskeytown, "Jacksonville Skyline" (Pneumonia, 2001)


60. Robbie Fulks, "Anything for Love, (Couples in Trouble, 2001)
59. Garbage, "Cup of Coffee" (Beautiful Garbage, 2001)
58. The Doves, "There Goes the Fear" (The Last Broadcast, 2002)
57. Lambchop, "Art Lover" (This is Where I Belong: The Songs of Ray Davies & The Kinks, 2002)
56. Drive-By Truckers, "Angels & Fuselage" (Southern Rock Opera, 2002)


55. Wilco, "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002)
54. Tom Waits, "Alice" (Alice, 2002)
53. Tom Waits, "Watch Her Disappear" ("")
52. Beck, "The Golden Age" (Sea Change, 2002)
51. Chuck Prophet, "No Other Love" (No Other Love, 2002)


50. Solomon Burke, "Don't Give Up on Me" (Don't Give Up on Me, 2002)
49. Solomon Burke, "Fast Train" ("")
48. The Flatlanders, "Going Away" (Now Again, 2002)
47. Ani DiFranco, "The Poet Game" (Going Driftless: Tribute to Greg Brown, 2002)
46. Neko Case, "Pretty Girls" (Blacklisted, 2002)


45. Eminem, "Lose Yourself" (8 Mile soundtrack, 2002)
44. Elvis Costello & The Imposters, "When I Was Cruel, no 2" (When I Was Cruel, 2002)
43. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, "Further on up the Road" (The Rising, 2002)
42. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, "You're Missing" ("")
41. Blackalicious, "Make You Feel That Way" (Blazing Arrow, 2002)


40. Ralph Stanley, "Henry Lee," (Ralph Stanley, 2002)
39. Ralph Stanley, "Little Mathie Grove" ("")
38. The Roots, "The Seed 2.0" (Phrenology, 2002)
37. Gillian Welch, "Summer Evening" (Going Driftless: Tribute to Greg Brown, 2002)
36. The White Stripes, "We're Going to Be Friends" (White Blood Cells, 2002)


35. The Flaming Lips, "Fight Test" (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, 2002)
34. The Flaming Lips, "Do You Realize??" ("")
33. Jon Dee Graham, "Something Moves" (Hooray for the Moon, 2002)
32. Jon Dee Graham, "Laredo (Small Dark Something)" ("")
31. Tom Waits, "God's Away on Business" (Blood Money, 2002)


30. Gillian Welch, "Look at Miss Ohio" (Soul Journey, 2003)
29. Gillian Welch, "Wayside/Back in Time" ("")
28. Josh Rouse, "Flight Attendant" (1972, 2003)
27. Josh Rouse, "Sparrows Over Birmingham" ("")
26. Warren Zevon, "Keep Me in Your Heart" (The Wind, 2003)


25. Outkast, "Roses" (Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 2003)
24. Emmylou Harris, "Lost unto this World" (Stumble into Grace, 2003)
23. The New Pornographers, "The Laws Have Changed" (Electric Version, 2003)
22. Damien Jurado, "Omaha" (Where Shall You Take Me?, 2003)
21. Sophie Zelmani, "Most of the Time" (Masked & Anonymous soundtrack, 2003)


20. Greg Trooper, "Floating" (Floating, 2003)
19. Lucinda Williams, "World Without Tears" (World Without Tears, 2003)
18. Lucinda Williams, "Real Live Bleeding Fingers" ("")
17. Lucinda Williams, "Ventura" ("")
16. The White Stripes, "Ball and Biscuit" (Elephant, 2003)


15. Drive-By Truckers, "Sounds Better in the Song" (Decoration Day, 2003)
14. Drive-By Truckers, "When the Pin Hits the Shell" ("")
13. Richard Thompson, "A Love You Can't Survive" (The Old Kit Bag, 2003)
12. Josh Ritter, "Kathleen" (Hello Starling, 2003)
11. Cat Power, "Good Woman" (You Are Free, 2003)


10. June Carter Cash, "Big Yellow Peaches" (Wildwood Flower, 2003)
9. Damien Rice, "The Blower's Daughter" (0, 2003)
8. My Morning Jacket, "Run Thru" (It Still Moves, 2003)
7. Jay-Z, "99 Problems" (The Black Album, 2003)
6. Jay-Z, "Threat" ("")


5. Johnny Cash & Carl Perkins, "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" (Unearthed, 2003)
4. Johnny Cash, "Just the Other Side of Nowhere" ("")
3. Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow" ("")
2. Johnny Cash, "The Devil's Right Hand" ("")
1. Johnny Cash, "Pocahontas" ("")

My Decade in Lists: The Music Videos

My Top 5 Favorite Music Videos of the Decade

5. Elvis Costello & The Imposters, "Monkey to Man"


4. Fleet Foxes, "White Winter Hymnal"


3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, "Dig, Lazarus, Dig"


2. Fat Boy Slim, "Weapon of Choice"


1. Kanye West, "Can't Tell Me Nothing"

Continue Filing Under Things That Are Made of Awesome: Fake Criterion Covers

I just can't get enough of these tonight, apparently.



I like that this one has the guts to not use Michael Meyers, Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, or that damn pumpkin from the title credit sequence.


This is perfect.


Reminds me that I really, really need to get around to watching this film.


Yeah, why hasn't this one happened yet? Still my favorite Peter Jackson film.


Outstanding.



I like this one for much the same reason I like the fake Halloween cover: It leaves the prom bloodbath out of the equation. We already have enough of those covers out there.


I'm cracking up just looking this one.



I like the real Strangelove covers, but I think this one cuts to the dark heart of the film rather nicely.

File Under Things That Are Made of Awesome: Fake Criterion Covers

The Auteurs' Fake Criterion Collection Covers thread is proof positive that comment boards can be used for good in this world. It's a perfect love letter to the movies, the tricky art of crafting evocative dvd covers, and to The Criterion Collection itself. The best of this fan-made cover art puts 98% of what the major studios slap on their dvd boxes to shame. The images work beautifully in the service of the films inside, eliciting a knowing smile from those who've seen them while serving notice to those who haven't that something's happenin' here and you really should know what it is, Mr. Jones.


This cover for Die Hard will back you up like a true & loyal friend when you get into one of those arguments at parties where sticking up for one of the masterpieces of action cinema elicits nothing but snickers from the Bertolucci crowd. It makes those other three Die Hard movies go away, man.


From the fake Eclipse Series box set of Fritz Lang noir movies. The Big Heat, Scarlet Street, The Woman in the Window....now that's an essential set.


One of my favorite films of the decade. The existing cover is fine and all, but this one serves notice that you are holding a (destined to be) classic in your hands.


Make it happen, Criterion.


Hellman's heady western desperately deserves to be rescued from the cheapie bin.


The existing cover art for Bad Day has always looked a little cheeseball to my eyes...especially having the great Robert Ryan all buffed up like Johnny Weismuller. What's up with that? This cover has so much more heft to it. A great, old-fashioned liberal Hollywood drama.


This is just plain cool.


Criterion seriously needs to get into the John Carpenter business. The existing They Live dvd doesn't even have a commentary by the director and/or Roddy Piper & Keith David.


Quite possibly the best fake cover on the entire thread, which is 105 pages long as of this writing. I will match this one up to nearly any actual Criterion cover as well. It's that good.

I also discovered The Criterion Grindhouse Collection, a fine blog by filmmaker and graphic designer Matthew Flute. I especially like his cover for Jeepers Creepers.

Casting Call: The Venture Bros (live action)

Admittedly, a live-action film version of The Venture Bros is supreme folly (or at least poses a very, very high risk for folly) because Jackson Publick's animated show is to Saturday morning cartoons what Alan Moore's best work is to comic books: A brilliant, remarkably specific commentary on its medium that risks losing everything that makes it special in translation. Making it even dodgier is the fact that it would have to have at least the budget of Snyder's Watchmen to even come close to doing justice to the thing. Since The Venture Bros is a cult show on Adult Swim (which is itself about as cult-y as it gets), it would be about as likely to make Spider Man 3 money as oh, I don't know....Snyder's Watchmen. Or that Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie from a few years back.

Still, making a movie out of a property (or wanting to do so) is just as much a way of codifying what we hold to be our great works (and The Venture Bros is certainly that) as it is a mercenary cash grab. Kinda like reunion tours.

Now in its fourth gangbusters season, The Venture Bros has more than earned the growing number of comparisons to the usual "best tv series of the decade" suspects: The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Arrested Development, The Office (I guess it's appropriate to say both versions now, right?), Firefly, and The Shield. It is the show that Adult Swim will be remembered for fifty years from now.

Now I love Adult Swim as much as the next guy who reads the A.V. Club's comments section, but outside of Morel Orel (and a few others) there is nothing on that network that even comes close to demanding & rewarding your attention and emotional investment like the Jackson Publick (aka Christopher McCulloch) show. We are not allowed to simply shrug it off as merely a hip cartoon that pats us on the back for getting a Nick Lowe reference. The Venture Bros plays for keeps. It has painstakingly developed a mythology and a creditable alternate reality that you can get lost in just as easily as if it were Tolkien.

Given the breadth and depth of the Venture-verse, I have not even attempted to cast every single character. What I have done instead is to offer a streamlined bit of wish list casting choices for the main roles. If I left any of your favorites out, I am sorry. Also, I decided to restrict myself to casting actors who are currently alive and working rather than go full-on fantasy. This means no John Barrymore as Dr. Orpheus, or Ronald Reagan as Dr. Jonas Venture.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: Directed by Spike Jonze, Screenplay by Jackson Publick & Doc Hammer (w/ Patton Oswalt on hand for re-writes/punch-ups)

Jackie Earle Haley as "Dr." Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture

I'm risking being a little too on the nose with this casting choice since Haley, a terrific actor, has built his comeback on playing losers, murderers, and other deeply disturbed creeps. Still, as Ed Harris once noted, many actors have gotten away with playing a cowboy or a coward more than once in their careers, and Haley is just right as the failure pile in a sadness bowl that is "Dr." Rusty Venture. The role of the once great boy adventurer who went on to be a skeeze in college before sinking into adult life as a mediocrity that Salieri might look down on is a feast for any actor. I would rather see Haley at the table for this one than anyone else.

Brendan Fraser as Brock Samson

Brendan Fraser is a fine actor who can juggle the comedy inherent in Brock (I'm thinking of Brock's bloodlust fantasies that usually involve dolphins, dragons, and bikini-clad babes) as well as cut a suitably manly figure as the Venture family bodyguard. Also, we know that Fraser is quite comfortable acting in special effects driven blockbusters without feeling the least bit inclined to look down on the material as an ATM withdrawal on the way to doing a season at the Old Vic.

Chris Colfer as Dean Venture


Colfer not only looks the part of the beyond awkward Dean, he clearly has the comic chops to pull it off as well.

Connor Paolo as Hank Venture

I'll be honest with you, I've never seen an episode of Gossip Girls (the show Paolo is currently on) in my life. Hank is the hardest character to cast and I am going as much by how Paolo looks rather uncannily like the more assertive Venture brother as anything else.

Sacha Baron Cohen as The Monarch

For me, The Monarch is the show's greatest character. An often pathetic trust fund case who has enough resources and emotional intelligence (he can get under anyone's skin) to be legitimately dangerous when he's not laughably inept. The relationship between The Monarch and his arch nemesis "Dr." Venture is fraught with all kinds of icky sexual obsession and I have no doubt that Cohen can go there as an actor in ways we have never seen before.

Penelope Cruz as Dr. Mrs The Monarch (w/ Tom Waits doing the voice overdub)

For starters, Cruz is an actress who can stand her ground next to Cohen without getting blown off the screen. She is also one of the world's most beautiful women, which is vital to the character of Dr. Mrs. The Monarch (formerly Dr. Girlfriend). Dr. Mrs. is a swimsuit calendar cheesecake with at least 30 IQ points on almost every other Venture Bros character who also happens to have the voice of a burly, alcoholic truck driver. Enter Tom Waits as the voice of Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and you have a cinematic gem in the making.


Bill Nighy as Dr. Orpheus


As the fundamentally decent and warm-hearted necromancer, Nighy would bring the perfect mix of eccentricity and nobility to the part.


Oksana Akinshina as Molotov Cocktease

Res ipsa loquitur ("the thing speaks for itself")

Glenn Howerton as Pete White


Seth Green as Master Billy Quizboy

Howerton and Green are both exceedingly deft at this sort of thing and would have no trouble bringing their odd couple to life. Plus, I really want to hear Howerton say "I was the first DJ at my college to play the Bauhaus."

Alex Baldwin as Dr. Jonas Venture


As with Haley, I know this one risks being deadly obvious. Alec Baldwin has been so good for so long at churning out wry parodies of the American alpha male that this is almost like asking a math genius to balance your checkbook for you. Having said (or typed) that, the mere sight of Baldwin as the colossus of a father who fucked Rusty up for life is likely to send audiences into fits of laughter. I doubt anyone could play it better....even if no one has played it as often, either.


Peter Dinklage as Dr. J. Jonas Venture, Jr.

I have no problem seeing Dinklage as the confident, competent, and profoundly anal retentive twin that Rusty absorbed in the womb. There is a quality to Dinklage's acting that always suggests he is resigned to politely tolerating a lot of fools in his life, which is just letter perfect for Jr.'s passive aggressive tendencies.

Willem Dafoe as Hunter
This part requires an ace character actor who can be both an imposing hombre and absolutely fearless in going to some pretty outre places...like having a sex change. Oh, and they must also be able to do a passable Hunter S. Thompson impersonation. Dafoe is just that good.

Werner Herzog as Dr. Henry Killinger


Herzog has developed a nice little side career for himself as a comic actor and he would be given complete license to steal scenes as the mysterious figure who is equal parts Mary Poppins and The Devil himself.

Michael Jai White as Jefferson Twilight ("Blacula" Vampire Hunter)


It is impossible to cast this part any better. Scientifically proven, y'all.

Steve Buscemi as The Alchemist

Nighy, White, and Buscemi as The Order of The Triad makes me a very happy guy.

Saoirse Ronan as Triana Orpheus


This is a case of "just hire the really good, age appropriate actress." Ronan is likely to enjoy a long career as one of our great film actresses; she would definitely bring some unexpected color and depth to a part that could easily fall into goth girl cliche.

Ben Gazzara as Tim-Tom


James Gandolfini as Kevin


For Tim-Tom and Kevin, the murderous moppets who answer only to Dr. Mrs., I decided to go a slightly different route than, say, Danny DeVito and Bob Hoskins. Or Joe Pesci. The moppets are deadly killers who just happen to look like extras from The Terror of Tiny Town; I think a film version of The Venture Bros could wring enormous comedy mileage out of Gazzara & Gandolfini, two of the great on-screen bad motherfuckers, done up with a little CGI to look suitably dwarf-like.

Kyle Chandler as Professor Impossible

I love Friday Night Lights and hold Chandler's Coach Eric Taylor up as one of the most unforgettable characters in the history of American television. I'd love to see him send up his All-American image as the freezing, controlling bastard we all knew Mr. Fantastic to really be deep down.

W. Earl Brown as Sgt. Hatred

Brown, one of our most underrated actors, has both the thesping skills and the physical heft to do justice to one of the more unsettling characters in the Venture universe.

Bruce Campbell as The Phantom Limb

If I could cast any actor, living or dead, as Phantom Limb then it would have to be James Mason. That would be ideal casting. Bruce Campbell would take the mad villain in a different direction from the urbane fiend (like I said, James Mason) we know and love from the show, but he would make it his. Campbell is made for this sort of material and could play the holy hell out of it.

Patton Oswalt as #21 & Martin Starr as #24 (In the roles they were born to play!)