LCB Recap: Best Album of 2009

It's about that time where we start thinking of what holiday parties we will attend/skip and the resolutions we will give up by February. With it being the end of the year, it also means that it's time for the LCB staff to share their thoughts on the year. Over the next couple weeks we will be recapping the year by listing our favorites in the world of sports and entertainment. We all know that listing something as the "BEST" is both ridiculous and absurd, considering it's all due to taste and viewpoints on topics that are absolutely unquantifiable. But we will try our best to do just that. Last in the recaps, our picks for the best album of 2009.

Langston: I have to go with Dark Was The Night, a compilation benefiting the Red Hot Organization. It includes tracks from some of the best indie musicians, most notable LCB favorites: Spoon and David Byrne. I understand that a few of you may think I am taking the easy road out by picking a compilation as my favorite, but I haven't gone more than a day or two since buying the digital copy without listening to the album. And if there is anything I look for in an album, it's replayability (word?). Word.


If the music from Feist, Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, or The National don't do it for you; check out Mastodon's Crack the Skye or A Place to Bury Strangers' Exploding Head.


Teach: I'm not sure I can pick one, so I'm just going to list the few that albums that have gotten the most play from me throughout the year. First, there's Fun's Aim and Ignite, which Deckfight named his second best album of the year. Second, there's Dr. Dog's Fate. These two albums make me think of sitting in the backseat of my parents' car, riding to some distant relative's house, listening to my parents blast the sounds of their first kiss, their first beer, and their first slow dance. The line "I'm gonna marry you out of common sense," from Dr. Dog's song "100 Years," is one of the best lines in a love song I've heard in a long time; and while neither of these albums could be considered revolutionary, it just seems common sense to name two poppy albums the best of 2009, one of the happiest and sappiest years of my life. Cheers to the past. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Also, for your consideration, Coconut Records' Davy and Doom's Born Like This.

LCB Recap: Best Book of 2009

It's about that time where we start thinking of what holiday parties we will attend/skip and the resolutions we will give up by February. With it being the end of the year, it also means that it's time for the LCB staff to share their thoughts on the year. Over the next couple weeks we will be recapping the year by listing our favorites in the world of sports and entertainment. We all know that listing something as the "BEST" is both ridiculous and absurd, considering it's all due to taste and viewpoints on topics that are absolutely unquantifiable. But we will try our best to do just that. Next up, our picks for the best book of 2009.

Teach: If the book had to be published in 2009, then I'll go with Chuck Klosterman's Downtown Owl. More people will read his Eating the Dinosaur because they want to read Klosterman's essays, but Downtown Owl proved Chuck is capable of much more, which makes him a lot more interesting. However, the best book I read in 2009 was probably Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, which is both a trashy mystery book and a work of literary value. Reading this book made me a better writer...I think.

Langston: I thought about making On Rocky Top by Clay Travis my pick for book of the year. As it gave me new perspective to how irrational fandom can truly be, but as a Tennessee fan it most likely would be a biased selection (Though I still recommend it for all football fans, especially my SEC brethren.) So my choice is the aforementioned Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman. The humor of his essays are worth its weight alone, but his use of pop culture as a lens to our lives is what makes this book something special.

LCB Recap: Best Team of 2009

It's about that time where we start thinking of what holiday parties we will attend/skip and the resolutions we will give up by February. With it being the end of the year, it also means that it's time for the LCB staff to share their thoughts on the year. Over the next couple weeks we will be recapping the year by listing our favorites in the world of sports and entertainment. We all know that listing something as the "BEST" is both ridiculous and absurd, considering it's all due to taste and viewpoints on topics that are absolutely unquantifiable. But we will try our best to do just that. Next up, our picks for the best team of 2009.

Langston:  Now I could have taken the easy way out and picked my favorite team in the world, the Los Angeles Lakers. But I'm certain they are on their way to repeating as champions, allowing me the ability to list them next year. Or I could have picked the New York Yankess, who destroyed their competition all season and postseason long. But then again, my fantasy team has more charisma and came at a much cheaper clip. So I went with the Tide, even if their story hasn't ended. Alabama is the prototypical SEC Champion, and going undefeated in the best conference (bar none) makes them stand out that much more. They dominate on defense, thanks to Mount Cody and Rolando McClain. And when their defense wasn't forcing three and outs, their offense was doing their own damage. Passing enough to keep the defense honest and pounding the ball until the defense waved the flag. Most importantly they ruined the most important game of Tim Tebow's life. And even, as a Tennessee fan, I have to admit that is pretty cool.

Teach: This choice seems as obvious to me as Santa following Rudolph's nose on a stormy night. The 2009 North Carolina basketball team was easily the team of the year. The legend of Psycho T, along with Danny Green, Ty Lawson, and Wayne Ellington, returned to Chapel Hill with the single purpose of winning a championship. Mission Accomplished (and not in the Dubya Bush sense of the word). This team compiled one of the largest average margins of victory as they flew through the NCAA Tournament, delivering gifts to Carolina children everywhere. I would name their opponents on that run, but it would be an insult to this Carolina team, who was clearly playing against themselves. I also stand firm to the idea that the greatness of this team will grow as time goes by because Hansbrough is already proving to be a better pro than many predicted he would be, Lawson is already better than anyone thought he would be, and the role players from the '09 team are still writing their own legacies: Ed Davis could wind up being better than the aforementioned players, Larry Drew may be the second coming of Ed Cota, and Ty Zeller screams NBA potential.

LCB Recap: Best Movie of 2009

It's about that time where we start thinking of what holiday parties we will attend/skip and the resolutions we will give up by February. With it being the end of the year, it also means that it's time for the LCB staff to share their thoughts on the year. Over the next couple weeks we will be recapping the year by listing our favorites in the world of sports and entertainment. We all know that listing something as the "BEST" is both ridiculous and absurd, considering it's all due to taste and viewpoints on topics that are absolutely unquantifiable. But we will try our best to do just that. First up, our picks for the best movie of 2009.

Teach: Disclaimer: I still need to see The Hurt Locker, The Road, or Up in the Air. Out of the films I have seen, it's a toss up between The Hangover and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. The Hangover should be studied in film classes as a way to unravel the plot of a comedy. I know many think it might be overrated, but I haven't laughed that much at a movie in a long time. I truly think this film is the Citizen Kane of its genre. The Fantastic Mr. Fox was witty, charming, and moving, offering up insights into humanity's constant battle with its need to be wild and its want to be domesticated. The scene with the wolf, standing in front of a backdrop of untamed wilderness, snow, and ice, and Mr. Fox offering him a raised fist causes a strange sense of warmth in the belly of the audience that can come from no other palce than a need to be both primal and sincere. Perhaps those qualities are one in the same.

Langston: Now I liked The Hangover, but the best? Obviously Teach hasn't seen Old Dogs. FROM THE DIRECTOR OF WILD HOGS, ZOMG!! Oscars anyone? Now in all seriousness, I was going to go with Star Trek. Since it was the first sci-fi movie I remember enjoying in quite some time, but getting enjoyment from a movie in a genre I typically despise doesn't make it my pick of the year. It was a good movie with amazing cinematography/special effects, great pacing, good plot, likable characters, and plenty of replay value. But it doesn't quite match up to some of the other films I've watched this year. From those films I made myself a "best of" list including Bad Lieutenant, Inglorious Basterds (would've been #1, if not for the incessant rambling.), Sugar, and Anvil. Now only one of these films could be listed as my favorite, and that movie is Anvil! The Story of Anvil. A documentary about a hair-metal band that almost made it in the 80's. They opened up for some of the biggest bands of the decade, but failed to find success. And despite their many failures and financial/ family obligations they never gave up on their dream. At points this movie is tragic, funny, and inspiring. Something most movies reach for, but almost always fail to achieve. This movie will have you rooting for the band long after the final credits have scrolled.