This is awesome

And because I love the Top 40 so much...

DJ Earworm's annual United States of Pop, 2009 edition.

18. Casino Royale (2006)

There's a good chance that the Bond reboot might be the coolest movie of the decade.

And I'm seriously in love with Eva Green.

19. Batman Begins (2005)

Don't let anyone fool you - this movie is even better than the sequel. I can forgive the hokey ending as this might be the best super hero movie ever made, and it's definitely the decade's best franchise reboot.

A perfect combination of spectacle and character beats, this is the new prototype for a successful studio tentpole that ushered in the trend of bringing character directors on for huge studio movies.

And Christian Bale is the fucking man.

20. 8 Mile (2002)

As soon as you've stopped laughing, go back and watch it again. Seriously. It's that good. And Eminem's anthem "Lose Yourself" pretty much defined rap for the entire decade.

Who ever thought in 1999 we'd be saying Eminem, Academy Award winner?

Honorable Mention: Cold Moutain (2003)

This one just barely misses the list.

One of the most haunting, and affecting movies about war ever made. It reminds us just how far we've come this decade: Jude Law used to be a movie star, Nicole Kidman wasn't always box office poison, and Renee Zellweger won an Oscar.

A lot can happen in six years.

My Top 20 Movies of the Decade

And after a prolonged absence from my blog, I'm returning... with a countdown. A list to be more exact.

Over the next month or so I'll post (one a day) my top 20 films of the decade.

You're welcome.

And without further ado, let the list begin...

LEAP YEAR in theaters now!

Go see it, it's awesome! Seriously.

And I'm in it, which is cool.

America America by Ethan Canin

So anyone looking for a good read, I would definitely recommend this book. It's one of the most subtle and affecting American tragedies I've ever read - an updating and reimagining of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby with a contemporized take on the American dream and how our country's changed.

It shows our America as it was, what made it great, and it shows America as it is now, and asks the question, have we lost something, or has it merely changed? Things have definitely changed - of that there's no questions - but the novel leaves the reader to decide whether or not they've changed for the better.

America America is the rare case where a story told by a passive and unreliable narrator is both visceral and gripping and real, it's one of the finest American epics we've had, tracing a great American family of the sort we don't have anymore and a town the likes of which is altogether much too rare.

It's written in the tradition of men like Faulkner, but America America is more beautiful, and more elegant, and more drawn out.

As Richard Russo wrote, "Read this novel and weep not just for all that we've lost, but how we've lost it."

LEAP YEAR TRAILER!!!

Everyone check out the trailer and go see the movie January 8th! It's awesome, but more awesome than that you can see my cameo!!!

David Beckham's kids are cooler than all of us

I don't really give a shit about "Posh's new look," but I'm pretty sure David Beckham's kids are about ten times cooler than me. And they look like they're about 8.

Oscar...?

These Things I Wish For You by Paul Harvey

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better. I'd really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

My cherished grandson, I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen. I hope you have a job by then.

It will be good if at least one time you can see a baby calf born and your old dog put to sleep. I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him. When you want to see a Disney movie and your little brother wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope your driver doesn't have to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one, I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books. When you learn to use those newfangled computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get razzed by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and when you talk back to your mother, that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. I hope you get sick when someone blows cigar smoke in your face. I don't care if your try beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandpa and go fishing with your uncle. May you feel sorrow at a funeral and the joy of holidays.
I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbour's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster of Paris mould of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness.